From a 'careless' engineer to a godman women can die for: Who is Hisar's Sant Rampal?

Chances are, even a couple of weeks back, most of India was unaware of a gentleman called Sant Rampal. You can’t blame them for their ignorance either. After all, we can presume that our country is teeming with ‘godmen’ and only the most renowned… err, notorious, make it to the top and to prime time breaking news TV. Say for example the newest pin-up for Indian godmen Baba Ramdev - he has recently bagged Z category security. Ramdev’s page has 3,911,846  likes. Compare that to the number of likes on Sant Rampal’s page - just 1,211. No wonder then that the world hurried to Google his name when news broke that his supporters have come to fire at cops, who went to arrest him from his ashram in Hisar, Haryana. All we know right now is Sant Rampal is a ‘godman’ who must be wielding some magic for his women followers to declare they can die for him. Rampal’s rags-to-divinity story starts in Sonepat, where he was born on 8 September, 1951 to a family of farmers. His website says, “Maharaj Ji after obtaining a diploma in Engineering was appointed as a J.E. in the irrigation department of Haryana Government.” A report on MailOnline, however, notes that he was removed from the position in 2000 for ‘carelessness’ to his duty. The article also notes that Rampal, by then, had already started dabbling in godman-hood. In fact, he was sworn as the disciple of one Swami Ramdevanand. [caption id=“attachment_1808559” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sant Rampal. Image courtesy: Facebook page.[/caption] In 1999, he set up the Satlok Ashram in Rohtak’s Karontha village.  He had by then declared himself an incarnation of Kabir. His website states: “One day, you met a 107 years old great Kabir Panthi Saint Swami Ramdevanand Ji Maharaj. You asked Swami ji that how can one achieve God and acquire mental peace?” That meeting, claims his website, was what put the former engineer on the path to sainthood. The MailOnline report says: “Before long, the ashram gained popularity and Rampal Dass began to court the title of ‘Sant’.” However, his website says that Rampal is as Gen Y as a godman can get. For example his swanky website says that his satsangs (prayer meetings) can be live streamed, you can download videos of his satsang sessions and also get mp3 versions of the same if you fancy listening to them on the go. In fact, the engagement analysis of his Facebook page reveals that ‘most engaged insights’ are from 18 to 24-year-olds in New Delhi. And joining his tribe of disciples is no mean feat. His official website lists 22 points with which a prospective disciple should familiarise himself or herself with before applying for disciple-hood. While it has the usual suspects - no meat, alcohols, weed and cigarettes - it has some rather mindboggling ones too. For example, he says, ‘unnecessary charity’ is prohibited. He says, “Do not have to give anything in form of charity anywhere and to anyone. Neither money, nor unstitched cloth etc, nothing. If someone comes asking for any charity then feed him and give something to drink like tea, milk, lassi, water etc, but do not have to give anything else. Who knows that beggar might misuse that money.” Now, how wonderful would that sound to average middle class Indians? Among the other things banned are untouchability, adultery and ‘vulgar’ singing and dancing. Like his website lists ‘false cases’ against him, his Facebook page too has taken up cudgels against the judiciary. The page has been uploading cut-outs from papers which talk about cases of corruption against judges, thereby implying that it is the court who is at fault to summon him in the first place. His website reads: “Do not criticize your Guru even by mistake, nor hear it. To hear means if someone says false things about your Guru Ji, then you do not have to fight, rather should think that he is speaking without thinking i.e. is telling a lie.” Obviously, the Haryana Police didn’t read this bit. Else, they would have been better prepared!