UPDATED::Dead Indian guru Ashutosh Maharaj in freezer for ‘deep meditation’ | News.com.au

UPDATE::  So what if he’s in deep freeze? Guru Ashutosh Maharaj still commands a following

In January, 2014, when Ashutosh Maharaj was declared “clinically dead” by doctors, following a suspected heart attack, he was believed to be in his seventies. Immediately after four doctors (three of them sect followers and one from Ludhiana’s Apollo Hospital) declared him dead, the dera authorities claimed Ashutosh Maharaj wasn’t actually dead but had gone into a samadhi (a deep meditative state). In order to replicate Himalayan temperatures – the traditional destination of gurus and yogis seeking a quiet samadhi spot – a cooling system was installed in Ashutosh Maharaj’s chambers at the Nurmahal dera to keep the temperature near freezing. And thus, the frozen guru and his legend was born.

You can’t avoid the story if you visit the dera. As devotees approach, a public announcement system relates anecdotes which remind and re-emphasise that Ashutosh Maharaj will be back. When we made our visit, we heard a disembodied female voice tell us that she had been one of the people that Ashutosh Maharaj had confided in and he’d told her that one day, he may have to leave his flock. “Fir woh bole, jab main wapas aaunga to tehelka mach jayega. Ye unke mukh ke shabd the,” she said, her voice ringing with certainty. (“Then he said that when I come back, there will be a sensation. These were his words.”)

To an outsider unaware of the cult of Ashutosh Maharaj, such proclamations sound incredulous and illogical. But for believers, the resurrection of Ashutosh Maharaj is not only plausible, it’s also imminent. And so they flock to the dera, feeding off each other’s belief, anchoring themselves in their community and soaking in the messages that dera authorities broadcast. Once you’re in the dera, there’s no absurdity in the idea of keeping a dead body in near-zero temperatures.

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Devotees placed Ashutosh Maharaj, whom authorities declared clinically dead on January 29, in the freezer and have been watching over his body in the sprawling ashram in a small town in northern Punjab state.

Maharaj, reportedly in his 70s, is one of India’s many gurus or god-men who headed the Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan (Divine Light Awakening Mission) and claims to have millions of followers around the world.

Mission spokesman Swami Vishalanand insisted their leader was not dead but was in fact in a state of samadhi, the highest level of meditation, and was therefore still conscious.

Dead Indian guru Ashutosh Maharaj in freezer for ‘deep meditation’ | News.com.au

UPDATED::Where a Holy Man Lies Frozen, Threat of a Standoff Looms - NYTimes.com

UPDATE:: Two years on: ‘Baba’ Ashutosh Maharaj still in freezer, no sign of thaw

However, the arrival of four Delhi-based DJJS leaders turned things on its head. The dera started claiming that Ashutosh was in “samadhi” (state of deep meditation) and he would come out of it “very soon”.

Two years on, dera managers continue to assure Ashutosh’s disciples that he will be back. The devotees themselves look forward to this ‘second coming’ as Ashutosh had told them: “My soul will disappear and return after completing a few important tasks of mankind.”
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Though the DJJS continues to give the impression that the sect is functioning normally even in Ashutosh’s absence, the Punjab Police’s CID (criminal investigation department) has witnessed a sharp drop in the number of visitors to the dera.

A senior CID official, who is tracking DJJS activities, told HT that due to the controversy over Ashutosh’s death, the number of political leaders usually visiting the dera has also decreased.
“Ashutosh was a spiritual leader whose knowledge of mankind was vast. Since there is no dera leader now of that stature, there is no point in making repeated visits,” said a senior BJP leader who has had an old association with the DJJS.

A Nakodar-based senior sect follower, who is in favour of performing Ashutosh’s last rites, said: “The DJJS may have its reasons to advocate the ‘samadhi’ theory, but the negative publicity has brought disrespect to Ashutosh.”

See also::  Two years on, followers of Punjab Dera chief 'sleeping in a freezer' await his second coming

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But somewhere inside the ashram, Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan, hidden away in a secret chamber, is the frozen body of its spiritual leader, Ashutosh Maharaj, who was declared clinically dead of a heart attack on Jan. 29. The local news media, using a Hindi word for a holy man, have taken to calling him the “frozen baba.”

His followers — men and women who flock to the ashram by the thousands — as well as the ashram leadership, do not deny that “Maharaj ji” is there, frozen in a chamber. But they swear that he is alive, having attained “samadhi,” a high state of consciousness reserved for the holiest of men, beings so evolved they can control their heartbeat, a state indistinguishable to the unenlightened from death.

“Whenever a saint goes into samadhi, it is his disciples’ duty to preserve his body,” said an ashram preacher, Swami Vishalanand, sitting in orange robes under a framed photo of Mr. Maharaj, whose likeness dominates the ashram’s walls.

On Dec. 1, however, the High Court of Punjab and Haryana issued a 129-page order citing the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads, and referring to the embalming of Lenin. The upshot: Government and police officials were ordered to cremate Mr. Maharaj’s body within 15 days.

The ashram’s leaders are planning a monthly gathering on Sunday, just before the deadline, where they expect 60,000 people from all over the state, an event many fear could lead to a violent confrontation with the police.

The last time something like this happened, the results were catastrophic. In November, a powerful spiritual leader, Baba Rampal Maharaj, who was wanted on a murder charge fended off thousands of police officers with the help of an army of volunteers armed with diesel bombs and acid pouches. The standoff left six dead and many more wounded.

Where a Holy Man Lies Frozen, Threat of a Standoff Looms - NYTimes.com

Indian court asked to rule on whether Hindu guru dead or meditating - Telegraph

This is just bizarre although I'm fairly certain if he has been in a freezer and is frozen, he's dead!!

The family and followers of one of India's wealthiest Hindu spiritual leaders are fighting a legal battle over whether he is dead or simply in a deep state of meditation.

His Holiness Shri Ashutosh Maharaj, the founder of the Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan religious order with a property estate worth an estimated £100 million, died in January, according to his wife and son.

However, his disciples at his Ashram have refused to let the family take his body for cremation because they claim he is still alive.

According to his followers, based in the Punjab city of Jalandhar, he simply went into a deep Samadhi or meditation and they have frozen his body to preserve it for when he wakes from it.

His body is currently contained in a commercial freezer at their Ashram.

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Today the group has thousands of followers around the world and owns dozens of large properties throughout India, the United States, South America, Australia, the Middle East and Europe, including its British headquarters in Hayes, Middlesex.

While he is thought to have died from a heart attack, his devotees believe he has simply drifted into a deeper form of the meditation he promotes as a pathway to self-realisation.

A statement on the group's website reads: "His Holiness Shri Ashutosh Maharaj ji has been in deep meditative state (Samadhi) since 29th January 2014."

According to one of his aides, who asked not to be named, "Maharaj has been in deep meditation. He has spent many years meditating in sub-zero temperatures in the Himalayas, there is nothing unusual in it. He will return to life as soon as he feels and we will ensure his body is preserved until then", he said.

Indian court asked to rule on whether Hindu guru dead or meditating - Telegraph