Be like Yogi, not Chinmayanand: Akhara Parishad head to members

New Delhi: The Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad, which is the top body of 13 major “akhadas” or religious orders of Hindu saints and seers, will hold a meeting next month on “aachran and vyavahar”.

It will focus on the behaviour of its members in an “age of distractions”. This comes after the arrest of BJP leader Chinmayanand on charges of of intimidation and sexual harassment of a law student.

Mahant Narendra Giri, secretary of the Panchayati Akhara Niranjani Akhara, who heads the body told ET that the council meeting to be held on October 10 will look at the cases being reported against Hindu seers and how “truthful they are”. “At a time when many of us are heading mutts with both male and female devotees, women’s colleges and schools, we want to tell our members to behave properly. Such actions create distrust about Hindu saints which is not good for our society. We want our akhada members to follow the example of Yogi Adityanath who still performs his duties as a mahant and lives an austere life.


We will have a discussion on the expulsion of Chinmayanand. We want cases to be tried without prejudice," he said.

Mahant Ram Das from Nirmohi Akhara said there were strict guidelines for the seers that the akharas and the body prescribe. “In the mee-ting, we will emphasise that ashrams should be fitted with cameras and that every mahant should make his life as much public and community-driven as possible, with distractions only being reading or watching the news to be informed of the country.

Seers are supposed to have a way of life which includes, satsang (community meditation), samvad (dialogue).”