In the last days there has been a new guru in the media quite often. His name is Nirmal Baba and you may have seen his advertisement somewhere already. I actually had not known his name until my father came home from a meeting with a friend one day and told me that his friend’s son was ill. His friend had asked him ‘There is a guru who gives his blessing and who is getting famous because he has helped so many people. His name is Nirmal Baba. Should I go to him and ask him to bless my son so that he will get better?’ My father obviously replied that he should not do any such thing but consult a doctor. That is how I already thought that it is another guru who fools people.
I got to know more about him in the last weeks and there has also been more and more media coverage about this man whose birth name is Nirmaljeet Singh Narula. I read that he was trying several businesses but was not successful selling garments nor bricks and neither as a contractor. This is how he came into the guru business and finally got really lots of success. His facebook page, called Nirmalbaba, currently has over 345000 fans, more than 42500 people follow him on Twitter and he definitely earned quite a lot of money already.
On TV he himself said that he has a yearly turnover of 238 crore Rupees, which is more than 46 Million Dollar. You can imagine how much he has earned before that or on other accounts! Now let me finally tell you where this money comes from and how this man got so popular.
On 35 TV channels in India and abroad, he has bought time slots of half hours or full hours for his advertisement. I have told before that agents of spiritual channels have contacted me for this before, too, but that I denied. He gives a lecture on TV and then shows video excerpts from his programs, giving testimonies of people who were allegedly helped by his blessing. They report that all their problems were solved, that illnesses were cured and that business got better again just with his blessings. Everyone who would also like to attend such programs is given an account number and has to deposit 2000 Rupees there in advance. Nirmal Baba’s program, called ‘The third Eye of Nirmal Baba’, is booked out months in advance.
There are many people with a lot of different problems and then there is this man who claims to have supernatural powers which heal even problems like cancer or AIDS! Imagine how people run to him! I have never seen any of his programs but saw on that TV show and read about the method how he gives his ‘blessing’. People from the crowd get up and tell their problem like ‘I have constant pain in my belly’ and the reply of Nirmal Baba is ‘Give Idali and Dosa to your neighbours, you will get blessed’. He gives other ridiculous advice like ‘Put a 10 Rupee note into your purse and you will get blessed’. I saw in that small TV clip how he asked the audience ‘Open your eyes and purse’ and he would send blessings for money into the purse. He claims that he reads people’s minds, has the power of the third eye and can even bless you through TV. In this way he claims that things that one could not achieve in years will be done quickly after receiving his blessing.
If you want to have an even greater or more permanent blessing, he encourages people to give 10% of their income to him. He even creates fear: if you don’t give these 10% to him, you will experience financial loss!
Nidhi – The actress who first revealed that questions from the audience are faked
What happens now, after he has become so successful, is that people finally get up and say that he is fraud. People come out and tell that they have paid money, got ridiculous advice and then nothing happened. I read that a junior artist, a young actress called Nidhi, told that she got 10000 Rupees per day to just be in the audience and ask a question or tell how much she was blessed. Other people tell that there are his own people in the crowd at the front and he only points at them to talk for testimonials and questions. It seems as though people now get aware that they were being cheated with funny advice.
The TV channel on which I was watching that show also shows his advertisement but stated clearly that this was a sold slot and that they are not responsible for the content nor do they approve of it. I just wonder why they then show his program at all? The answer is just greed and this, paired with superstition, is what this Nirmal Baba promotes.
There are still many superstitious people in India and many people who are educated but still believe in such nonsense. In this country there are even today cases in which women are burnt alive for the accusation of being witches and cases in which children are sacrificed in rituals performed to get supernatural powers. In newspapers here you can still see advertisement for penis enlargement pills, oils and devices! There are people who do this business and who obviously have the money to advertise in newspapers. They don’t have that much to buy a slot on TV but if they did, they would sell more. There are people who buy that! In the same way there are people who go to Nirmal Baba’s program although you can read now everywhere that he is just fraud!
I am happy that the media shows program against him now but I also think they should have been more responsible in the first place. You know that it is fake, that AIDS and cancer cannot be healed by a blessing, be that in person or through TV, so why do you show this at all, even if you get money for it? Where was the Ministry of India for Information and Broadcasting? They control TV channels but they did not take notice of this high level fraud business! This man is fooling the public, so it is of public interest not to show those things which create superstition and greed in people! If media had not supported him, he would not even have reached where he is now. Now they are thinking to stop his advertisement. Now they are showing programs against him but who brought him there? If they had felt responsible before and had refused to show such program, not so many people would have got cheated. It is only money, they were more greedy than feeling responsible. But where will this take India? A country that prefers money and superstition to education and responsible behavior?
I read that people started going to the police to report that they were cheated. I would like to encourage those people who have been to Nirmal Baba to stand up, follow their example and tell that you have been cheated. I know it is for many not easy to admit that. If someone bought a device for penis enlargement, he would never admit that it did not work because he would look funny. Just like that, people who have paid 2000 Rupees to Nirmal Baba say that they were so blessed because they cannot admit that they were just fooled and nothing happened. If thousands of people come out though, it will have an impact!
I believe it already had an impact that so many people are now writing about him – he was on a TV interview, in which he tried to defend himself. In reality however he looked insecure and could not even properly answer the questions of the journalist. He avoided directly answering and instead claimed again that he has supernatural powers. With those powers however he obviously could not keep people from speaking out against him.
When the first articles against him came out online, the legal team of his organization was obviously quick to go to court. I read that they removed an article on the website ‘hubpages’ which was not written in favour of Nirmal Baba but allegedly called him fraud. Another website however, an Indian website, stated that hubpages simply had no lawyer in India and did not care about the removal very much. They, also having been asked to remove their article about Nirmal Baba, refused and mentioned that they would fight in court for the right to write with freedom. I want to thank them for their courage.
I have had this kind of situations before, too. I have written about Kumar Swami before and we were sent threats of legal action in many different ways but until now nobody came and actually sued me. Why? Because I simply wrote the truth. Kumar Swami’s business is also still going on. He recently gave advertisement in newspapers again – in the same style as before, claiming he can heal everything. He is just another Nirmal Baba.
There are so many fraud people like Kumar Swami and Nirmal Baba who suck money from people due to their belief. They claim whatever they can, whether that is true or not and people run to them in the hope to get help. Don’t fall for any such scam. Use your head and intelligence and accept that you have to take responsibility for your life. You can make a change, nobody else can do that for you.
It is so sad and terrible that people will try and make money out of other peoples misery. People are worried or suffering and are desperate for some help in any way. Everyone wants to earn money but it shouldn’t be at the expense of other people’s happiness!!
Although I think this situation, and others like it, are awful; I do think Nirmal Baba has been very clever! Even though for money problems and similar, this ‘blessing’ won’t help at all, for many illnesses, the pain is in the mind. Doctor are known to give ‘placebos’ which make people think they will get better without actually doing anything. In this sense, some people may have actually benefited from Nirmal Baba. Of course, this placebo should be free or for a nominal charge, since he is not actually doing anything. He is a scam!
I have seen this program on Sony tv i thought it’s religious program but I understand this kind of people every where to take advantage of innocent people Thanx for information
Bhakt: Baba I have a child yearly. Nirmal baba: Condom lagate ho? Bhakt: Ji. Nirmal baba:Mohalle me bhi baant do kripa wahi se aa rahi hai.:> :O X_X =)) :> :O X_X =))