Goa-based Hindu outfit, Sanatan Sanstha, has overnight shot to limelight with the arrest of its member Samir Gaikwad in the murder of rationalist Govind Pansare. While the Sanstha has denied the role of Gaikwad, another member Rudra Patil’s alleged role in the 2009 Madgaon blast is being investigated into by the police. Even though BJP MLA from St Andre in Goa, Vishnu Wagh, demanded ban on the Sanstha, Goa chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar ruled out any such move. The spotlight on the Sanstha certainly calls for a close scrutiny of its character.

Going by the Sanstha’s website, it is a registered charitable trust established by “HH Dr Jayant Balaji Athavale, an internationally renowned Hypnotherapist, under the guidance and blessings of His Sadguru HH Bhaktaraj Maharaj”. The aim of the Sanstha is to impart spiritual knowledge to the curious in the society, inculcate religious behaviour in the masses and provide personal guidance to seekers for their spiritual uplift.

Though the Sanstha claims that it works for providing education on dharma in scientific terminology and for the benefit of Hindus, the scientific temper in the values being espoused by it is really debatable. According to the Sanstha, these are just some of the ways a Hindu should aspire to live:

1. Water works

The Sanstha has several sections on it, ranging right from the "Method of bathing", "General conduct associated with pre-bath preparations", "When and where should we bathe", "Prayer to be recited before a bath and shlokas to be recited while bathing", "General conduct associated with bathing", "French scientist – Hindu way of urinating is the best and healthiest way!", "Daily conduct associated with excretory processes" and "Places where urination and defecation should be avoided" to "Spiritual science underlying the acts of urination and defecation".

The page "French scientist – Hindu way of urinating is the best and healthiest way!" has a sub-head "Research by French scientists confirms that the Hindu way of urinating is the best and healthiest way!" However, it nowhere mentions the name of the French scientist. Written by Gurudev Dr Kateswamiji, it says: "A French scientist says, 'Urinating in the standing posture causes urine droplets to fall on the feet and scatter on the floor as well. The Hindu way of urinating in the squatting posture is the best and the healthiest way. The genitals should be washed after urinating. If not washed, subtle crystals of urine will form after drying of the urine and will be responsible for diseases.

"Though European scientists fully approve of our traditional way of urinating, yet they continue to urinate in the standing posture. Hindus emulate them. We take pride in aping the westerners. Tomorrow, when the white-skin people start urinating by squatting, we will follow suit and call it progress!'"

2. What do brides worry about the most?

The dress to be worn by a bride and bridegroom, according to Sanatan Sanstha.

What type of sari should a bride wear? The Sanstha says during the rituals of marriage, chaitanya (divine consciousness) gets attracted to the venue of the marriage. If a bride wears a six-yard sari, she imbibes 30 per cent of chaitanya and if she wears a nine-yard sari, she imbibes 60 per cent chaitanya. Hence, a bride should wear a nine-yard, cotton or silk sari which have "sattvik" colours such as red, orange, blue, yellow, pink. But nowhere does it say how can a bride imbibe more than 60 per cent or 100 per cent of chaitanya.

What should a groom wear? He should wear clothing such as "sovale" (a rectangular piece of unstitched cloth, usually around 4-5 metres long, wrapped around the waist and the legs and knotted at the waist to be worn during ritualistic worship), "uparne" (a shawl or a small single cloth worn loosely over the shoulders) or a kurta-pyjama made from natural fibres like cotton or silk instead of shirt and trousers, coat and tie which are stitched from synthetic fibres. Cotton or silk have the ability to imbibe sattvik waves in greater proportion. The groom’s clothes should not be of very bright (tamasik) colours. They should be of sattvik colours such as white, cream, blue, pink and the likes, it says.

3. Don't forget to wear clean underwear and other (not Victoria's) secrets

The Sanstha is of the view that the modern day youth, under the pretext of fashion, wear multicolored, short, tight-fitting clothes such as jeans and stretchable garments. This reflects a perverted dressing style. In simple words, a perverted dressing style is one which generates Raja-Tama-predominant vibrations. Such a dressing style makes a man’s intelligence depraved, a slave to evil tendencies. He comes under the control of the six foes, such as lust and anger, and becomes a victim to attacks of negative energies. As against this, wearing sattvik clothes enable the wearer to imbibe chaitanya, thereby making his mind and intellect sattvik.

According to it, the Hindu Dharma has prescribed sattvik clothes. "The Acharsamhita (Compilation of Code of conduct) to be followed as per the Hindu Dharma gives importance to sattvik clothes such as clean-washed, simple, plain, light in colour with minimum designs. Clothes of a uniform spiritually-beneficial colour, devoid of any design are considered more sattvik. This is because such clothes face no hindrance in attracting the Nirgun (non-materialised) chaitanya waves from the universe and, depending on the need, emitting them maximally into the atmosphere. Plain-colour clothes are a symbol of transparency and are hence considered more sattvik from the spiritual perspective."

It says if the undergarments and the outer-garments are clean and sattvik, and if they have suitable sattvik shape and appearance, the outer-garments can absorb the flow of chaitanya from the atmosphere to the maximum extent and then they can transmit it into the body. The clothes help activate the Sagun Chaitanya. Simultaneously, on the strength of the Nirgun Principle, the introverted attitude provides energy to the karma in every activity.

It is of the opinion that the modern day clothes enhance demonical conduct. In Kaliyug, the Tama component in the atmosphere is widespread, and even clothes in today’s times promote demonical conduct. Having abandoned the age-old Hindu culture, human beings in Kaliyug have become perverted. This perversion is also apparent in the clothes they wear. "Clothes with pictures of animals and ghosts, with a torn appearance, with sequins and coloured hanging threads, those that expose the body – make the individual an easy prey to attacks of negative energies. Ultimately, the individual becomes immoral and spends all his life in a perverted manner," it says.

4. How to wear your hair and keep it too

If the right-wing outfit can have opinion about morning ablutions and dress to be worn by men and women, how can hair be left behind?

For men, the Sanstha says, it is always necessary to have short hair. For an average individual, long hair symbolises fickleness as there is emission of Raja-Tama waves, thus polluting the environment. As a result, there is a danger of negative energies entering the body through the flow of swiftly emitted Raja-Tama predominant waves. Due to contact with Raja-predominant waves emitting from hair, the suryanadi (Sun channel) remains constantly active; this produces heat in the body which keeps spreading in the body, resulting in reduction in the sperm count.

The Sanstha, however, has convoluted explanation to ascetics and Sikhs growing long hair. It says there are different kinds of men at different spiritual levels. At greater spiritual levels, the length of the hair does not matter. For ascetics, long hair symbolises detachment, they emit radiant waves, the effect thus being formation of spherical sheath of radiant waves in the environment, which denotes their reduction in body awareness. As far as Sikhs are concerned, the objective in the birth of Sikhism was to make Hindus powerful enough to defend themselves, and to create a warrior community. Hence, the umbilical cord of the Sikh community is connected with Kshatratej (radiance of a warrior). The hair with Raja component helps in creation of kshatravrutti (combatting attitude); hence the tradition of growing hair seems to have become prevalent amongst the Sikhs. (In the earlier times, the hair of kings used to be long. The reason here is the same.)

On the need for women to keep long hair, it says a woman symbolises Shakti (divine energy). "Since a woman is the bestower of Shakti, it becomes possible for her to make use of Tejtattva predominant energy generated in her body by the movement of her long hair, and with the assistance of Raja component, swiftly emit Shakti waves into the environment. These Shakti waves drive out the Raja-Tama components from the atmosphere. As a symbol of this Shaktitattva (divine energy principle) oriented mission, which is complementary to the activity of the Raja component in the body, a woman should keep long hair. Hindu Dharma stipulates that a woman should keep her hair long since this action is complementary to her basic nature that is based on Raja component."

It further says, "The swiftly moving waves of Kriya-shakti (energy of action) generated by the movement of long hair keeps the vibrations in the form of Shakti tattva in the body of a woman always in an awakened state. Due to this awakened state in the form of Shakti tattva, a woman with long hair looks more humble and polite than a woman with short hair."

5. How to reach God but not pay for sins

The Sanstha has views on the manner in which one should offer prayers to how to climb the steps of a temple and enter inside it, types of vrats (fasts), rules to be followed by those undertaking vrats, ritualistic worship, how fragrance and sound please the deities, importance of water of the seven holy rivers in ritualistic worship, cotton clothes and “janeoo” (sacred thread), flowers offered to deities, qualities to be learnt from the substances used in puja, ritual of offering dakshina, importance of rangoli and panchagavya and akshata, importance of donating after darshan in a temple, actions to be performed while leaving the temple and why should we have darshan of the kalash (dome) as soon as we enter a temple premises.