Vancouver Province

Self-styled Indian “Godman” Swami Nityananda, who has a huge following in Greater Vancouver, has assured his devotees he is “innocent” after after video footage of his alleged sex scandal involving an actress was aired on Indian TV.

Nityananda appeared on his official website to convince wellwishers and devotees he is not involved in anything illegal.

“I assure all of you that nothing illegal has been done by me or my organization. We are in the process of collecting evidence to establish this lie and the motive behind this false campaign.”

Swami Nityananda has a worldwide following in Canada, Asia, Central America and Australia.

In Vancouver his followers have established the Life Bliss Centre on West Broadway. They gather every week in Surrey, North Vancouver and Burnaby.

“He has a lot of followers in the Vancouver area…many of them have given money to him,” said a South Asian restaurant owner.

“Some say he is a fraud…others think he is being set up,” he said.

The 32-year-old popular spiritual and mystic guru is the founder of Dhyanapeetam, a worldwide movement for meditation and healing.

The movement claims to have 1,000 branches, ashrams and Life Bliss Centres across 33 countries and more than two million followers.

Last week, India’s leading Tamil TV channel, Sun TV, aired the shocking sex video of Swami Nityananda and South Indian actress, Ranjitha.

The video was shot by a disgruntled disciple who said he was out to expose the self-styled Godman as a fraud.

Following the release of the footage, furious mobs attacked the Swami’s ashrams, Indian media said.

India's "godmen", self-styled Hindu ascetics, have millions of followers ranging from farmers and housewives to politicians and rock stars.

Just before the latest Swami sex scandal erupted, police in the Indian capital of New Delhi revealed they had arrested another godman, Shiv Murat Dwivedi, for allegedly running a vice ring involving air-hostesses, college students and housewives.

The sex scandals show that many Indian godmen, despite their spiritual air and claims of mystical powers, are nothing more than confidence tricksters craving cash and power, AFP reported.

"Ninety-five per cent of godmen give the remaining five per cent a bad name," joked Dipankar Gupta, a former sociology professor at Jawarhalal Nehru University in New Delhi.

"Most of them are not (holy). They're charlatans. That's why they crave indulgence from the rich and the gullible. This happens all the time. I don't know why people fall for them."

But for many Indians, these gurus play an integral role in daily life, taking their place in the country's vast spiritual supermarket to be handpicked as a pathway to enlightenment.

Foreign tourists have flocked to India seeking spiritual awakening and an escape from their hectic lives in the West, ever since the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi captivated The Beatles with his teachings on transcendental meditation.

Today, popular gurus include Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, the so-called "hugging saint" of Kerala, and Sathya Sai Baba, a wild-haired south Indian godman who claims to be the reincarnation of a 19th century yogi, Sai Baba of Shirdi.

Both have massive followings and hundreds of spiritual centres and charitable foundations working in areas like health and education around the globe.