In the defense of BMW owners of Bakersfield and beyond

In the lecture sessions of Bhagavad Gita held by Chinmaya Mission, Bakersfield (CMB), which are invariably presided over by Mr. Anil Mehta, not a single occasion of looking down upon materialistic aspirations is ever lost. To pity the materialistic tendencies of petty mortals and to look at them with a concealed condescending sneer from the ivory tower of spirituality is an almost regular ritual in these sessions.

To illustrate this, Mr. Mehta's favorite is the symbolism of the BMW, the German made luxury auto brand. He refers to the BMW acronym as Big Money Waste, while asking his audience for the expansion of this acronym. Without pausing for the hapless audience to react and with a barely concealed grin of triumphant scarcasm, he launches into the answer of its being a Big Money Waste. He then ofcourse proceeds into an exposition of how the BMW symbolizes sense objects which spiritual seekers should not possess or be attached to.

It is interesting to speculate if Mr. Mehta knows or cares whether there are any BMW owners among his star-struck audience, which one is sure there could be a few atleast. Obviously it is not a spiritual trait to be mindful of the sensibilities of the BMW owners

Though I am not a BMW owner, it is still difficult to feel any elation at the spiritual compliment paid to those fortunate enough not to own a BMW. This BMW-bashing has happened not once but several times in these sessions. So it is hard not to sympathize with the silently aggrieved BMW owners.

In the vigor of convicting BMW with the darkest colors of material avarice and sensual desires, Mr Mehta conveniently forgets that he or his family trots around in a Lexus brand of SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle). Most people know that Lexus is a Japanese version of BMW and is as much an object of desire and luxury as the BMW. Maybe this is a minor and insignificant detail for the spiritually evolved or maybe the Japanese association with Buddhism accords Lexus spiritual immunity from being classified as a sense object, which privilege is not available to the German cousin BMW. Also we may not have contended with the possibility while to the mortal world, he maybe a deserving owner of the Lexus, he has a complete detachment from it, without any sense of ownership, 'receivership' and 'enjoyer-ship', deserving of the highest spiritual regard, while the BMW owners gloat in the pride of their many 'ships'

In much the same way as spiritual ire is directed at the BMW's of the world, so is the material lives of ordinary mortals a target of spiritual pity. Mr Mehta says it is not wrong to acquire material possessions, have responsibilities in the world and enjoy the pleasures of life as long as one is humble and is striving for 'spiritual progress'. What this statement leaves unsaid, which is typical of spiritual arrogance is that though it is not wrong, it is not right either to acquire material possessions, have responsibilities in the world and enjoy the pleasures of life.

To those who are not bemused by the spiritual sleight of tongue used in these sessions, it is obvious that in spiritual bravado it is easy for this Gita lecture warrior to forget the glass house that he is himself living in and throw stones, nay boulders at the spiritually challenged.

Another claim that would be interesting to examine is the 'Service to Humanity' done by CMB and its chief parton-saints with all its magnificent karmayogic implications to which the Gita lecture audience is regaled to from time to time by its chief spokesperson, Mr. Mehta.

In all the heat and passion of self-congratulation, it would be useful if the CMB's doctor

patron-saints can provide answers to these questions:

• When India with all its malnourishment, underdevelopment, poverty and myriad humanitarian crises provides the most fertile ground (Karmabhoomi) for selfless service, why did these doctors including Mr. Mehta abandon that land which they still seem to maintain, is sacred and holy, for the greener pastures of the already prosperous and developed USA and embrace the culture of material wealth and luxury that the service to humanity here (health and medical practice ) amply rewards with in form of bulging medical salaries,fees and palatial homes.

• What kind of service to humanity is it when affluent medical professionals set up institutions in sparsely Indian populated towns, which are glorified socio-cultural clubs pandering to the insecurities of Indian parents looking for cultural vaccines and antidotes for their children's western cultural peer influence and some ethnic social anchor, which masquerades as a religious and spiritual institution. It is amazing how redundancy can be made to look like a need and service.

• How is the cause of 'Service to Humanity' served when thoughtless decisions were made to purchase/construct CMB property at inflated prices and which error is compounded when such property was financed largely by a commercial terms loan instead of by donations. By honoring the loan terms on a property purchased/constructed at 2M and hardly worth 1M and still declining, the one being religiously serviced is not humanity, but the very gentle and pious loan shark; Bank of America. Ironically the banks of donors are being depleted to enrich the Karma Bank of America.

• How is the cause of 'Service to Humanity' served when Chinmaya Mission (CM) sets up palatial centers in USA and the developed world that consumes more than half of the large and micro donations in maintaining and upgrading these 'white elephants' and supporting the demands and lifestyles of its many 'austere' and 'frugal' Swamiji's and managers and then sending the remaining small change to India for the highly trumpeted yet sorely inadequate social and humanitarian service

• How are the holy cows of CM, the much revered Godmen 'Nandas' contributing to the 'Service of Humanity' by their high flying and jet-setting lifestyles?. According to Mr. Mehta himself 'HH' Tejomayananda spends most part of the week flying from one continent to another for managing and guiding the many and still growing CM centers in the World. As a compliment Mr. Mehta glowingly mentions that Tejomayananda inspite of spending most of the time flying across so many time-zones hardly suffers from jet-lag. It is instructive to note that if only ordinary mortals like us could spend as much time in the sky, we could all be as jet-lag free as Tejomayananda. Also we don't have the luxury of performing austerities in the air-conditioned comfort of Business class cabins that are paid for by the toiling donors, that the great Swamiji has. No wonder the Swamiji having been so close to heaven in aerial comfort most of the time, is very reluctant to plant his 'Lotus Feet' firmly on the ground for a long time and have it soiled by the impurities of terrestrial and mortal contact

• It is not also clear especially in CMB  whether the Godmen are serving Humanity or is the Humanity serving the Godmen. The latter appears more likely to be the case if one looks at the clarion call to arms of service by the CMB management whenever any Swamiji is 'merciful' enough to visit Bakersfield. The CMB manages to materialize enough volunteers to serve the Swamiji from hand to foot( especially the Durvasa of CM, HH Swami Ishwarananda). Every material need of the Swamijis from carefully prepared and audited food (such meticulousness as to put FDA to shame) to their travel and comfort is meet by ever obliging volunteer devotees. While the volunteers egged on by the Chief partons keep toiling in this kind of thankless services of the 'Guru', the Swamiji and their patrons go to town and preside over events of quack medicine and therapy and look for converts for their spiritual wares and bogus theories of 'Happiness' and 'Well-being' and that too with the approval and blessings of organizations of conventional medicine and healthcare, who fall for the charms of these religious casuists.

The questions do not necessarily end here. We could go on further But maybe it could be of some comfort for the BMW owners to realise that 'Hypocrisy thy names are Chinmaya Mission and Anil Mehta'