[Reader-list] From Surya; Guru on the Air: Ist I-Fellowship Posting

[surya upadhyay]

Dear All!

This is Surya Prakash Upadhyay, Research Scholar, IIT
Bombay. This is my first posting on Sarai,
Reader-List. I am also an Independent Fellow with
Sarai for year 2007.

The work with Sarai is titled: "Guru on the Air:
Televised Hinduism in contemporary India".  
   
Looking forward for more ideas and suggestions.
   
The work is looking at the contemporary religious and
spiritual gurus in contemporary Hinduism. Though, this
is a case study of one such guru named Asaram Bapu but
it supposes that some general characteristics about
these gurus could be formed through the study.
However, there was no dearth of religious
personalities in Hinduism since very ancient times but
the recent gurus are somewhat different in many ways.
They are not only religious figures but they are also
personal counselor,healers, soothsayers, and medicine
man at the same time. They suggest ways to live life
healthy, happily, and prosperously. They have
rejuvenated Ayurveda, and herbal medicines along with
the keep-fit meritorious value of Yoga. Also, this
particular guru stresses more on the ideal of
self-restraint and achievement of
self-realization. The modern gurus are not based at
any established religious centres or pilgrimages such
as Varanasi, or Allahabad. Rather, they have their own
local ashrams where their followers come together and
instead of praying to god they prey their guru. 

Also, they are not attached to temples, so they are
different from the temple priests. They have their own
way of interpreting Hindu philosophy and these gurus
propagate through  various kinds of amendments in
them. As far as this guru is concerned and whatever
information, I have, gathered through his literature
survey it comes out that he is more inclined towards
the Upanishads rather than Veda. It
does not mean to say that he discards Vedas but he
puts more emphasis on the Upanishads and other puranic
scriptures. Also, he includes Buddhist philosophy and
treaties on Jainism and Sikhism. From my point, it
gives a more broader audience and follower to this
guru. One interesting point that is coming out that
they readily talk in scientific language and for that
they use scientific terms and
scientific researches that endorse their view;
irrespective of the value placed to that particular
research work in the scientific community.
   
Basically, all of these practices are going through
the telecast of satsang programs through television
cable channels, and therefore, I prefer to call these
modern god-people as "Tele-guru". A preliminary survey
done among his followers shows that almost 80% of his
followers came in his contact through listening his
sermons on Sony channel and Sanskara Channel. I am
looking at the instrumentality of
audio-visual media in the construction and maintenance
of religio-spiritual world in contemporary Hinduism
and at the process of mobilization of people,
particularly, towards this tele-guru.
   
The project is an ethnographic work and would likely
to be conducted through interviews, and questionnaire
among the devotes and followers of Asaram Bapu, living
in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Lucknow. The reason for
keeping three different locations is that I want to
see the difference between the responses of the
devotees of these three cities. Mumbai is a
cosmopolitan city and Ahmedabad is the main ashram.
Lucknow is a peripheral ashram. In this way, the study
will throw more light on the varieties of contemporary
religiosity. 
   
However, the study looks at the media practice, both
old and new and will involve the analysis of print
media as well as electronic media and how media is
playing its role in the propagation of his
organisation in terms of increasing his followers.
Till now, I have formed a questionnaire that I will
send on the reader-list for your
valuable suggestions.
   
Cheers

Surya Prakash Upadhyay
Research Scholar,
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences,
I.I.T. Bombay,
Powai, Mumbai 400076
surya_rajan21 at yahoo.com
surya.upadhyay at gmail.com
  




 
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