But apparently “unable to withstand the rigours” of advanced spiritual training at the Ramakrishna Mutt and Mission, Rajasekharan who later turned as the self-styled Godman, Swami Paramahans Nithyananda, “left the monastic order on his own”. Swami Abhiramananda, Manager of the Ramakrishna Mutt in Chennai, in an exclusive conversation with ‘Deccan Herald’ on Thursday, said Rajasekharan had joined the monastic order in 1995.
After nearly four years of training here that included courses in Hindu scriptures, Sanskrit, meditation and ‘yoga’, he was sent for the advanced course at their Headquarters, Belur Mutt, near Kolkata. But he left the Mutt in 2000, said Swami Abiramananda.
All aspiring monks will have to go through the Mutt’s spiritual rigour for ten years before they are each given a ‘Sanyasa name’. Rajasekharan obviously did not qualify for it, but “he was a keen student, sincere and intelligent,” to the extent Abiramananda knew him. Rajasekharan did have “some power in him”, the monk observed.