Spiritual Degeneration of Religious Preachers

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam

9 January 2026

A video, not morphed or AI generated, is making the rounds on social media in which the Hindu preacher Ravishankar is saying that the people of a particular community, not mentioning its name, are removing the seeds of dates using their teeth. You can see the people of that community in the background. Needless to say, it's absolutely baseless and even if you see certain workers of that community remove the seeds of dates using their mouth, it's hard to believe. Remember, seeing is not always believing. I've already written on this issue that it's an attempt to malign the whole Muslim community.

What's more alarming and worrisome is the endorsement of this disgusting and non-existent practice coming from a 'revered' preacher who used to be secular when he started babagiri in the early 90s and became internationally famous for his Art of Living and Sudarshan Kriya. He indeed didn't discriminate between a Hindu and a Muslim at that time but the moment the govt changed and a Hinduvadi government came into power in 2014, this secular preacher began to sing paeans to Hinduism, Hindutva and Sanatan Dharm.

His spiritual 'rival' Jaggi was also secular when he began his babadom. Now he too has become a rabid Hindu. One can understand the lowly Hindu and Muslim preachers' religious and political loyalty and leanings. They're all political preachers on the payroll of the current political dispensation and their only objective is to condemn Muslims, no holds barred.

But when people like Ravishankar and Jaggi become hardcore Hindus, promoting Hindutva and criticising Muslims obliquely, one gets disillusioned and feels sorry for these 'spiritual' people. I call it spiritual degeneration.

Otherwise also, India has become a country of dubious and criminal babas. So, when a bit 'educated' preachers also join the fray and jump on the bandwagon, one gets confounded and disenchanted.

This systematic campaign against Muslims to abuse them for whatever they do is indeed reprehensible. When Ravishankar says that one (read a Hindu) shouldn’t eat seedless dates as they're made halal (kosher) by spitting on them, the majoritarian masses take his words as Gospel truths. This is sad. But who cares? Hindus are ready to listen to these 'gurus' who're demi gods to them.

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A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.

URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/spiritual-degeneration-religious-preachers/d/138367

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