We talk about those unsung heroes whose only fault was that they attempted to develop India and put facts in front of people and some are still striving hard to free India from ‘˜dhongi babas’.
We grieve and mourn when a spiritual baba passes away but how many of us mourned the death of Dabholkar who went from village to village to educate people about the science behind the ‘miracles’ performed by babas?
While FIRs are being lodged and the so called spiritual leaders all across the country are talking about banning PK starring Aamir Khan, well this is not the first time someone dared to bust the miracle myth practices.
This war had been going on for over the years between godmen and rationalists.
Let me give a glimpse of those unsung heroes whose only fault was that they attempted to develop India and put facts in front of people and some are still striving hard to free India from ‘dhongi babas’.
These people were not challenging faith but they firmly stood and fought against blind faith and that is exactly what is highlighted in the movie PK.
1) P. C. Sorcar, Jr. busted Sathya Sai Baba
“Whatever magical powers he showed, I can do all that without claiming myself to be a god,” P. C. Sorcar was reportedly quoted saying this about Sathya Sai Baba.
World acclaimed magician who made the Taj Mahal disappear in broad daylight could have easily fooled people wearing the mask of God but P. C. Sorcar, Jr. chose to call himself magician and not take advantage of people’s faith.
In the 1970s when P. C. Sorcar, Jr. met Sathya Sai Baba, Baba had produced a ‘sandesh’ from thin air. In response Sorcar, Jr. produced a ‘rasagulla’ from nowhere making it clear that what baba did was pure magical tricks and no miracle.
This news was immediately hushed as sentiments of people were hurt. Playing the godman card in India is a successful business hub because we hush away the rationalists in the name of faith and sentiments.
2) Narendra Dabholkar on black magic
He was assassinated by two unidentified gunmen. They shot four rounds at him from point blank range and fled on a motorcycle.
Narendra Dabholkar was a qualified medical doctor and as per reports he gave up medicines at the age of 40 and devoted his life educating Indians against blind faith and superstitions.
He faced immense pressure and threats against his demand to pass ‘Anti-Jaadu Tona Bill’.
Well the Maharashtra Cabinet finally cleared the ‘Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Ordinance’ after he was shot dead.
The sympathy factor works in our country. After a person’s death we wake up to realize the cause of his fight. He kept urging the Govt. when he was alive and hoped for a progressive India.
Critics accused him of being anti-religion.
In a press conference he cleared that the bill wasn’t about God or religion, that the freedom of worship couldn’t be taken away from anyone but the bill was about the fraud practices taking advantage of people’s faith.
3) Prabir Ghosh threw an open challenge to all those who think they can do miracles and revealed secrets behind Baba Ramdev and other spiritual gurus:
Last but not the least the most courageous challenge ever thrown towards the paranormal activities and people who perform them is this one.
Prabir Ghosh is a rationalist and has busted myths about all the mysterious things that we have heard of.
He threw an open challenge to give Rs.2 million to anyone who claims to possess supernatural power and proves it without any tricks in a location that Prabir specifies.
Baba Ramdev might be shouting on news and appealing people to unite and ban the movie ‘PK’, but can he hide from the book that claims to expose his secrets?
Prabir Ghosh in his book ‘Paranormal Exposed’ had listed all the mysterious happenings around the world and even revealed the secrets behind the attire right from Baba Ramdev to the witch-queen Ipsita.
With the New Year approaching let us all take an oath to encourage films like PK.
Movies like PK question the miracles and myths.
Let us all take an oath to encourage such questions and not hush away the rationalists who really slogged and are still striving hard for the progress of the nation.
