Sanatan Sanstha: What you need to know

New Delhi, Sept 24: The call for a ban on the Sanathan Sanstha is nothing new. Two days back there was a call to ban the organization, but the same was ruled out by the Goa Chief Minister, Laxmikant Parsekar. He made it clear that if one person of an organization is involved in some offence then it is not right to impose a ban on the entire outfit.

The calls for banning the Sanathan Sanstha is nothing new. In a recent interview with OneIndia( Interview: Hindu organisations don't murder rationalists ) the spokesperson of the organization Abhay Vartak said that these ban calls are nothing but a conspiracy.

The Sanathan Sanstha has most of the times been in the news for the wrong reasons. However is that all that there is to the Sanathan Sanstha? Here is what needs to be known about this organization.

Spiruality and science:
Founded in the year 1990 by Jayant Balaji Athavale, the Sanathan Sanstha's main aim is to present spirituality in a scientific language. Athavale was a consultant clinical hypnotherapist from Mumbai.

After practicing as a hypnotherapist for twenty years, he realized that nearly 30 per cent of his patients did not recover with the usual treatment regimens.

He also found that those patients recovered fully after having gone on a pilgrimage, or having followed the spiritual advice of a saint.Although Athavale was an atheist at that time, this phenomenon intrigued him and prompted him to take steps to study reasons behind these cures the Wikipedia states.

Controversies:
Over the years the Sanathan Sanstha has faced all sorts of allegations. The recent allegations blame members of the Sanathan Sanstha to be behind the murder of rationalists in Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Prior to this two members of the group were accused of carrying out a blast at the Panvel cinema when the movie Jodha Akbar was being screened.

Another blast at an auditorium in Thane which was screening a play called Aamhi Pachpute was also blamed on members of the group. However the members were released on bail

Further allegations of members of the group being involved in a blast at Margao. The accused were however acquitted in the case.

A petition was filed in the court stating that the group was indulging in terrorist activities. It was alleged that the Ericksonian Hynosis was being practiced by the group.
Several pleas to ban the organization have been made, but they never materialized.

It is a conspiracy:
The spokesperson of the organization, Abhay Vartak tells OneIndia that there have been several conspiracies hatched against them to ensure that they are banned. None of the cases against us have been proven and false allegations are made against us. We practise spirituality and nothing else Vartak added.

On the killings of the three rationalists, Vartak says that these are again baseless charges and are part of a large conspiracy. No Hindu believes in killing and Hindu organizations do not indulge in such acts, he also pointed out.