After all the spiritual and religious discussion that i have had with my close friends and family members,i began to think more about the philanthropic saints and babas who have huge fan following – i thought of a strange scenario lately…and since i am in a pensive mood at the moment…i am going to present it as a short story…

In the hilly village called Shyampur lived the priest Shantanand maharaj.All his life he has advocated non-violence and preached Hinduism and its teachings.Shantanand maharaj ages 63 now and is selflessly motivated to spread what he preaches. His teachings are mainly concentrated towards the overall development of the human being although it has a little flavor of Hinduism.He began serving the humanity at a very tender age of 13 when he despised the education system and joined a gurukul in Haridwar(meaning the door to the God),a small pious city in north india…there he read all the vedas,Upnishads and other religious books,helped people. He left gurukul at the age of 18 and went on to the damp and evergreen,wild himalayan jungles and the cloud high peaks with sub zero temperatures.He is said to have performed meditation over there for 4 years and got spiritually reformed.He returned back to his native village after a decade and people and the words that came out from his mouth and the glow in his eyes, his simplicity of talk,down to earth attitude left the villagers perplexed and thinking if he was the same shantanu who despised all the worldly pleasures and flew away from the village to haridwar with a local pandit. Shantanand maharaj used to meditate under a very old banyan tree with a huge trunk,in the village all night in the silence and during the day light he helped the needy people no matter where they were.The tree is still out of bound for all the followers and devotees and only few people are allowed to enter the tree area called known as baba's kutiya(hut).The vicinity around the kutiya is said to be so pure and pious,with religious vibes emerging out of it- that the normal person including the devotees and followers were not allowed to enter it.The reason being the place would get polluted if a person enters the area,and be no longer be suitable for Shantanand maharaj to mediatate  at night.Only a handful of people who are considered special by the baba are allowed to enter the place and that too only during the day time,before baba leaves to distribute qualms to the poor and needy people.

The news about Shantanand maharaj serving and teaching selflessly spread like a wild fire to the surrounding villages and soon people flocked to visit him- seeking advices and to be a part of his ‘satsang' program.And with the followers-came the donations.People began to offer maharaj with money and land. A rich landlord donated 300 acres of his land property to Shantanand maharaj to construct an asharam,and as we see now this sprawling asharam is one of the most advanced in the country and is a heaven for all those folks who wish to learn,meditate and lead a healthy life in an conducive environment ,away from the  drab and dry mundane city life..this asharam is a paradise for the people who need to reform and learn,no doubt the saint is getting huge donations from his followers.Shantanad maharaj trust for human reforms(SMTHR) is getting huge donations not only from the Indians but also from foreigners as well who are becoming aware of the baba's revolutionary teachings and reform methods. Several thousands of people are following him and his golden words as of today and his trust his getting millions of alms from.Despite the fact that he is an Hinduism he is also being followed by people of other religions.I am told all these things about Shantanand maharaj's past by one of his ardent followers with whom  i happened to travel in the train while going home during the winter break.He regards Shanta Baba as a saintly soul and credits him for bringing about a huge positive change in his life.

All the things told by this person intrigued me to visit the place and see the asharam by myself.I felt myself drawn towards the generous baba and since i was very much bored of the monotonous college life i decided that i would spend a few days in the asharam,will listen to some spiritual stuff,meditate,practice yoga. I was indeed thrilled as this vacation was coming by my way after a long time and it had been ages since i visited the countryside,so all these things further encouraged me to see Shantanand maharaj's asharam.After spending a full week with my family i packed my luggage for the awaited trip. Caught the overnight journey train and found myself in the Dehradun city in the morning,the Shyampur village is like 3 hours bus journey from Dehradun.I reached the asharam in the evening and i was completely baffled to see such a thing in the middle of a valley,i had never ever imagined that the asharam could be this huge and magnificent but since it was infront of my eyes so i had to believe it.Later i found out that the not a single word told by the co-passenger was wrong..he did not exaggerate.. about the asharam and the babaji.

After taking part in most of the human development activities and the magical satsang's in the asharam i decided to finally see baba and thank him personally for providing such a wonderful environment for people to grow.i was certainly feeling a change in myself and was felling relaxed and lighter…and yes stressfree too!!..

Despite knowing that babaji doesnt meet people in his kutiya(hut)…i went near the main entrance gate and waited for him hoping that i'll meet him personally as he gets of out of the kutiya for his routine benevolent acts.The place was really peaceful,but totally free from humans…but yeah there were a lot of animals who caught my attention..saw a group of squirrel jumping around on the banyan tree-persistantly getting in and coming out of the the hollowish trunk birds flocking and chirruping..overall it was a great sight.As i got lost in the birds and the squirrel i heard a big banging noise,which i guess came from baba's kutiya…..I got an indication that babaji is going to come out soon.

After 5-7 minutes Shantanand baba walked out of his kutiya with three stout persons two of them dressed in casuals.The other one dressed in orange clothes like babaji.I got an opportunity to thank babaji personally for all that he is doing for the sake of humanity.It was a very short conversation though lasting for less than a minute,nevertheless i was very much content.

As i started walking away from the tree towards the asharam main gate, i heard a thud of something big and heavy falling on the ground and it most definitely came from inside babaji's kutiya.As i turned back i saw smoke billowing from the farther part of the kutiya.damn! i said..but instead of shouting for help or calling 101..i ran towards the kutiya to make sure it was really an fire situation…and then as i crossed the garden gate i realized that i have entered into the forbidden region.i froze for once..but seeing the smoke getting thicker and thicker i ran towards the source crossed the banyan tree and then the hut..got behind the hut in the open area only to notice that the smoke was coming from the raked leaves.Took a sigh of relief but at the same time i was afraid too.. afraid of being caught red handedly for entering into the forbidden zone..so i took cautious steps to get out of the unsecured region…took my way behind the hut that led to the tree and finally to the main entrance gate. While i was passing through the windows i got a glimpse of what was inside the hut….and i could not believe what i saw. There was a huge LCD television inside along the couches.ah!! is that a "hut"…i rubbed my eyes out of amazement but it did not help me .i saw a LCD and couches and it was for real..no hallucinations!!…well i found myself standing still in the chill trying to think what to think and what not to think….i got perplexed…now i was curious to see as much as i could from the window..i peeped inside from the muddy window.and oh my..! there was a laptop on the bed..and the interiors were really suspicious with …the floor was carpeted and all…to my amazement there was no photos of Gods and no prayer room as was expected…it started to get a bit sunny..i could see the sun rays penetrating the tree branches laden with leaves glaring into my eyes..now i was longing to see as much as i could..no matter someone catches me.."either this saint is not a real saint or the God has been really kind to babaji showering him with all the wealth and lavishness"…i said to myself.

I moved along the walls of the hut towards the broken window through which i could get a better view of inside,it was kind of dark from this end but enough light to understand what was inside.I saw a huge carton on which were written the words "explosive material inside".."handle with care"…."ordinance factory-jabalpur"..i read again and again to make sure if i am reading the words correctly.and as i moved my eyes to the left side,i saw a gun…yea it was a gun!…what has Shantanand baba to do with a gun!…and that too with a gun that looks like those used by the players in the Counter Strike game..i was really suspicious.i got dubious about Shantanand maharaj's authenticity…and i had every reason to be..indian saints dont have LCD tv's,a look alike hut with 5 star interiors,carpeted floor,etc etc.

i somehow stopped myself from investigating any further as it was dangerous. Getting out of the place safely and unnoticed was my topmost priority. I somehow managed to sneak outside the fences into the safe region and took a huge sigh of relief.But it was still hard to believe my eyes…the picture of carton (possibly filled with explosives) and the scary gun kept on flashing in front of my eyes.So i decided to give a call to my friend who is a DIG in  police department,delhi.I told him about everything i saw,and obviously it was hard for him to believe that a saint of such a reputation and moral values could have anything to do with the word ‘crime'.I had to keep telling my friend that i really saw all those things inside is hut to convince him that i wasn't drunk or pranking.He told me to wait for his call and hung up.I went to the asharam help desk to check out.My phone rang and no surprise my friend was on the call..i answered the call and he told me that he just confirmed from the intelligence and this saint is an ass..a traitor.. and is compromising with the nation's security..he also told that the intel had been keeping a close eye on babaji's suspicious activities.The intel was waiting to find some concrete evidence to nab this bastard..and if what i told them is true..the intel has enough evidence against him to catch a hold of him and bring him to book.

I was a precious gem for the intelligence now and they wanted me to report to the nearest police station ASAP but warned me not to utter a single word about all this to anyone including the local police.I special squad reached the police station in no time and they took me off to the headquarters.My statement was recorded there and since this was supposed to be a high profile case.So they decided to take the steps cautiously and without letting the media know about all this.Since i was the only eye witness and i knew the exact position of the things plus the geography of the so called kutiya,so they decided to send me along with two special officers to the site and we three were made to dress in the religious orange attire so that the outsiders dont get suspicious while we attempt to enter into the hut.

It was early in the morning when the mission started and we dashed inside the hut carefully and cautiously..and seized the whole lot of illegal materials including exported guns,rifles,magazines,bullets and hand-grenade and what not.The Shantanand baba stood silent and still at one corner of the hut… the policeman pointed his gun at his head while the other person and i collected the whole death designing stuff.It was still dark outside and we were instructed  by the HQ to bring the fake baba to the nearest police station where the setup for interrogation was already done.We managed to take the baba out safely..thanks to the darkness.

After much interrogations,it was reveled that the babaji was working for ISI and they were carving evil plans to assassinate some of the major political leaders of the country and he told that there is a huge basement under his hut which was used by them as a godown to hide the destructive weapons.We also came to know that the babaji after completing his learning from haridwar never went to himalayan forests or the chilly peaks to attain siddhi(utmost spirituality) but instead he went to the POK where he got trained by LeT commanders. He was backed up by several reasons for getting into this horrendous business.One of them..and the most important was that..it is too easy to fool others by the name of religion and its the fastest and safest way to make money(donation rocks!)…funds needed to plot and carry out the plans can easily be attained by it…We also came to know that he never meditated at the night under the tree… instead he used to slip inside the room taking advantage of the through the lid inside the trunk of the old banyan tree….and the people who were allowed to enter his hut(including the 2 i saw in the morning) were his crime partners..While the interrogation+investigation is under way (a special squad has already been sent to nab the other artists of this deadly plan yet to be executed),i am quite certain that more shocking revelations are yet to be made by the "saintly soul"..Its quite evident that the donations he received were overwhelming…the followers and devotees donated  enough money that he managed to construct a beautiful asharam apart from all the other expenditures needed to craft  his deadly plans.This man is surely a mastermind and yeah not greedy.

At the end i feel pity for all those followers,thousands of them..who followed this fake religious guru with all their heart and dedication and changed their lives for good,who acquired some really good humane qualities through his teachings….but how would they feel when they would come to know that their guru..their  was fake and a traitor.Thousands of people (like the one i met) regard him as a saintly soul would forever lose their faith in religious gurus and will be afraid to learn what the genuine preachers/religious gurus say(that kinda desolates me).I know for sure that a huge thunderstorm is yet to come once the media take notice of all this and i only wish that media is kept out of this case………….TO BE CONTINUED!

P.S.-This is not the ending,several questions still remain untouched.I know of many unanswered questions like why/how did Shantanand  left india..what motivated him to become a terrorist..what all facts were revealed in the interrogation..and so on… you too let me know if you pop up with any questions/loopholes in the story..i will try and include the answers in the continuing part of the story.Since this is the first time i am writing such thing, u can expect some grammatical errors,so bear with me and thanks for reading!