Vineeta Rao
Auckland, April 6, 2025
A self-styled Hindu Guru, Nityananda, has all the elements that can make a Netflix box-office bonanza, but for the wrong reasons, with a cliff-hanging suspense.
Mark Twain’s quip, “Truth is stranger than fiction,” is true in his case.
At the center of this storm is Swami Nithyananda, born Arunachalam Rajasekaran, an Indian Godman who emerged upon the mainstream Indian spiritual scene when his videos on TikTok went viral. His discourses, manner of delivery, and claims of paranormal abilities attracted a large following.
Nithyananda and his followers also set up a whole nation, ‘the United States of Kailasa,’ as a ‘safe- haven for practicing, aspiring or persecuted Hindus.”
The Kingdom was not just metaphysical; there were reports that Nityananda purchased a small island off the coast of Ecuador that, he proclaimed on YouTube, was dedicated to the “preservation, restoration and revival of an enlightened culture and civilisation based on authentic Hinduism.”
The Nithyananda Dyanapeetam, founded by Nithyananda, regularly hosts cultural events in India as well as the US. Nityananda has held discourses on a number of spiritual topics, including Brahma Sutras, Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita. He has also made several pseudoscientific claims, such as making cattle speak Tamil and delaying the Sunrise by 40 minutes.
As a side-hustle, Nithyananda also offered control over the reincarnation process, central to the Hindu spiritual belief system, for his more wealthy disciples. Kailasa also appears to be a hub of activity as it signed a ‘sister cities’ agreement with a US City, and various denizens had photographs taken with global leaders.
In 2022, after a sex scandal with an actress, Nityananda was issued a non-bailable warrant by a Karnataka court in a rape case. A self-styled ‘Ambassador of Kailasa’ represented their ‘country’ at a UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2023 and demanded protection for their ‘Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism.’
The Land Grab
According to a report in the New York Times, 20 individuals linked to Kailasa were arrested in Bolivia after they signed 1000-year leases with local indigenous groups for vast tracts of Amazon land.
A community leader for the Baure Tribe, Pedro Guasico, said its contact with ‘Kailasa’ representatives began in late 2024, after they offered help with forest fires. The Kailasa had pictures of themselves with Bolivian President Luis Arce.
Everything seemed legitimate.
According to the New York Times, the Kailasa negotiated a lease for land “three times the size of New Delhi,” and the Baure agreed to a 25-year deal which would net them nearly $200,000 annually. The ‘Kailasa’ representatives’ draft, though, was for a lease of 1000 years and included the use of airspace and extraction of natural resources.
The Baures signed.
“We made the mistake of listening to them. They offered us that money as an annual bonus for conserving and protecting our territory, but it was completely false,” Mr Guasico was quoted as saying by the New York Times.
The land-grab controversy came to light after Bolivian newspaper El Deber investigated and discovered that Kailasa members had signed 1000-year leases with the groups.
The Bolivian government said that the country does not maintain diplomatic relations with the ‘United States of Kailasa.” Once the deal with the Baure tribe was found out, it was nullified, and the denizens of Kailasa were deported back to their countries of origin, India, USA and China.
Vineeta Rao is an Indian Newslink Reporter based in Auckland.
