The stress of having to cope.

So, Ram Rahim Singh has been sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined Rs 3 million, for raping 2 women. Singh is the guru of Dera Sacha Sauda. Dera means an 'encampment', perhaps an ashram in this case. Sacha means 'truth', and Sauda means 'deal', so an ashram where you get a real deal. As guru of the Dera, Singh enjoyed enormous wealth and power. His wealth came from land, petrol pumps, from making movies, song recordings and donations from devotees. In 2012-13 the Dera earned over Rs 290 million, which is exempt from income tax. Why do people go to these places? Because they are non- sectarian, there is no caste and give poor people a sense of belonging. Singh used to preach against alcoholism and drug taking, which attracted women, laid down a code of ethical behavior and encouraged people to change their surnames to 'insaan' which means 'human being', thus getting rid of caste identity of the usual Hindu surnames. Although of humble background, Singh was appointed guru of the Dera at the age of 23 years by the previous guru and went on to become one of the 5 richest gurus in India. His power came from local politicians who craved his support because of his hold over his followers. His son is married to the daughter of a Congress leader of Punjab and politicians of BJP regularly visited his Dera. Are Indians fools to blindly believe in these fake gurus, all of whom are incredibly rich and many guilty of serious crimes? Cults are not restricted to India. In 1993, 76 people were burnt to death during a gun battle at Waco in Texas, between FBI agents and followers of David Koresh, who was the leader of the Branch Davidians cult. In 1995, Aum Shinrikyo, led by Shoko Asahara, released sarin gas inside Tokyo subway during rush hour, killing 12 people and sending 5,500 people to hospital. Since India has a humongous population, if not the largest in the world already, it is no surprise that we also have the largest numbers of of these rascals conning people into following them blindly. How blindly is demonstrated by the letter of a woman who was being raped by Singh over 3 months. The letter was written anonymously 15 years ago to the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Thankfully, he took it seriously and ordered an investigation which led to conviction and punishment. It is ironic that despite increasing material comfort and luxury people feel unable to cope with stress. India is poor so we have fake gurus, the US is rich so people resort to drugs. Perhaps, fake gurus are the opioids of the poor.