Indian court asked to rule on whether Hindu guru dead or meditating

telegraph.co.uk ^ | 28 May 2014 | Dean Nelson, New Delhi

[BenLurkin]

The family and followers of one of India's wealthiest Hindu spiritual leaders are fighting a legal battle over whether he is dead or simply in a deep state of meditation.

...Shri Ashutosh Maharaj, the founder of the Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan religious order with a property estate worth an estimated £100 million, died in January, according to his wife and son.

However, his disciples at his Ashram have refused to let the family take his body for cremation because they claim he is still alive.

According to his followers, based in the Punjab city of Jalandhar, he simply went into a deep Samadhi or meditation and they have frozen his body to preserve it for when he wakes from it.

His body is currently contained in a commercial freezer at their Ashram.

[BenLurkin]

The late – or living – guru, who was in his seventies, established his sect in 1983 to promote "self-awakening to global peace" and to create a world "wherein every individual becomes an embodiment of truth, fraternity and justice through the eternal science of self-realisation".

30 years later still no peace -- but he sure made a few bucks along the way.

[freedomlover]

Perhaps he’s just pining.

[BenLurkin]

He’s chillin’

[Constitution Day]

He's really, most sincerely dead.

[MrB]

“This. Is. An. EX Guru!”

“He’s merely meditating...”

[NormsRevenge]

Put a little mirror by his nostrils..

Suspended animation? I don’t know..

[a fool in paradise]

A nun with a piece of chalk could tell if he's sleeping. Wouldn't have to get closer than 20 feet, either.

[Red_Devil 232]

Does he smell really really Bad? I mean worse than he normally smelled walking around.

[shotgun]

He’s praying for global warming to kick in ASAP!

[silverleaf]

maybe he’s only mostly dead...go through his clothes and look for loose change.

[GeronL]

He is in a state of suspended animation as a time capsule for the 24th century. Don’t mind the smell and the appearance of decay, it’s all just a side effect.

[william clark]

[clee1]

Just damn.....

If he wasn’t dead when they put him in the freezer, he damn sure is NOW!

[posterchild]

In your freezer you will achieve total shaktipat.

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

Is this worthy of not pinging?

[DanielRedfoot]

Weekend at Shri Ashutosh Maharaj’s

[outofsalt]

I think he's dancing on a cruise ship in a Heineken commercial.

[Uncle Chip]

to promote "self-awakening"

Well there's the problem -- only he can wake himself up.

[Slings and Arrows]

He's on a date with Norman Bates's mother.

[SaxxonWoods]

For people who aren’t supposed to care about material things....someone sure seems worried about material things here.