Quack endorsed by shankaracharya claims he awarded ‘cosmic jewel’ to President Pranab Mukherjee

NAINITAL/HARIDWAR: Fresh allegations have surfaced against the alleged quack Kumar Swami who claims he can cure people through a ‘miraculaous mantra’ and whom Jyotish Shardapeeth shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati has also been endorsing.
According to RTI activist Ajay Gautam, Swami who is holding a two-day event in Haridwar where he is claiming he can cure people of any incurable disease, had released ads in February alleging that he had awarded a ‘Brahmand Ratna’ (Cosmic Jewel) award to President Pranab Mukherjee.In a brochure published by Kumar Swami’s trust, titled ‘Ray of Hope to Millions Around the World’, there are references to 79 ‘honour citations, proclamations, awards and felicitation messages’ Swami claims to have received. One of the pictures shows him giving the President what has been called the “amazing supernatural Brahmand Ratna that is superlative in three worlds.” According to Gautam, the office of the President in an RTI reply has denied that any such award had been given to him. “The government of Himachal Pradesh also denied that the Himachal chief minister had ever issued any “message/advertisement for publication in a newspaper endorsing Kumar Swami,” Gautam said.
The ‘dukh niwaran samagam’ of Kumar Swami -- during which he claims to provide a ‘miraculous matra’ (adbhut paath) that he alleges is “1000 times more powerful than the Hanuman Chalisa” -- has also irked many sadhus in Haridwar. Sources said that one of the seers, Swami Achyutanand has challenged Kumar Swami to a religious debate while other sadhus, too, were critical of him. There were allegations that the shankaracharya had also sent a legal notice to Kumar Swami earlier but had now done a volte face and was endorsing him after “a deal was struck between the two.”
When contacted, Swami’s secretary SK Verma said that “the President had been given a mantra, not an award” even though the advertisement released by them claimed it to be an award. On the supposed altercation between the shankaracharya and Swami, Verma said that it was due to a misunderstanding. “After the Ambassador of Peace award was given by the British Parliament to Kumar Swami on November 15, 2011, the shankaracharya's disciple Swami Sadanand wrote to him a congratulatory letter on the shankaracharya's letter head. Based on the letter, Kumar Swami was subsequently referred to as "a preacher of Hinduism in the tradition of Adi Shankaracharya" in a publication. However, the shankaracharya was enraged at this and sent him a legal notice. The matter was resolved when Swaroopanand was shown his disciple's letter.”