{"id":3976,"date":"2010-03-19T14:26:51","date_gmt":"2010-03-19T22:26:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/secularright.org\/wordpress\/?p=3976"},"modified":"2010-03-19T14:26:51","modified_gmt":"2010-03-19T22:26:51","slug":"guru-gored","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/guru-gored\/","title":{"rendered":"Guru Gored"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sanal Edamaruku&#8217;s Bradlaugh moment: The London <em>Times<\/em> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.timesonline.co.uk\/tol\/news\/world\/asia\/article7067989.ece\" target=\"_blank\">has the details<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>When a famous tantric guru boasted on television that he could kill another man using only his mystical powers, most viewers either gasped in awe or merely nodded unquestioningly. Sanal Edamaruku\u2019s response was different. \u201cGo on then \u2014 kill me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Edamaruku had been invited to the same talk show as head of the Indian Rationalists\u2019 Association \u2014 the country\u2019s self-appointed sceptic-in-chief. At first the holy man, Pandit Surender Sharma, was reluctant, but eventually he agreed to perform a series of rituals designed to kill Mr Edamaruku live on television. Millions tuned in as the channel cancelled scheduled programming to continue broadcasting the showdown, which can still be viewed on YouTube.<\/p>\n<p>First, the master chanted mantras, then he sprinkled water on his intended victim. He brandished a knife, ruffled the sceptic\u2019s hair and pressed his temples. But after several hours of similar antics, Mr Edamaruku was still very much alive \u2014 smiling for the cameras and taunting the furious holy man.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Do read the whole thing. It&#8217;s fascinating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sanal Edamaruku&#8217;s Bradlaugh moment: The London Times has the details: When a famous tantric guru boasted on television that he could kill another man using only his mystical powers, most viewers either gasped in awe or merely nodded unquestioningly. Sanal &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/guru-gored\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[498,496,495,497],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3976"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3976"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3977,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3976\/revisions\/3977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}