CURRENT FACT #4: An INDIAN SPIRITUAL LEADER'S BODY Has Been Kept In a FREEZER SINCE 2014

Ashutosh, born as Mahesh Kumar Jha and also known as Ashutosh Maharaj (1946 - 2014), was an Indian spiritual leader, preacher, satguru, and founder head of Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan (DJJS) (Divine Light Awakening Mission), a non-profit spiritual organization. On 29 January 2014, he was declared clinically dead by a team of doctors. His followers believe him to be alive and in the state of a samadhi or deep meditation. As of 1 December 2014 his body has been kept in a freezer by the management of DJJS, with a firm belief that he will come out of meditation.

Mr Maharaj first established his sect in Jalandhar, Punjab, in 1983, to promote "self-awakening and global peace".

DJJS Nurmahal Dera | Source

Over years, it attracted millions of followers across the world and amassed properties worth an estimated $120m in India, the US, South America, Australia, the Middle East, and Europe.

On 29 January 2014, Ashutosh suffered a heart attack and was declared clinically dead by a team of doctors (three of them sect followers and one from Ludhiana’s Apollo Hospital). His followers believe him to be still alive and in a state of deep meditation called samadhi. Since then, his body has been kept in a freezer by the management to create Himalayan-like environment suitable for meditation. In order to replicate the Himalayan temperatures - the traditional destination of gurus and yogis seeking a quiet samadhi spot - a cooling system was installed in Ashutosh Maharaj’s chambers at the Nurmahal dera to keep the temperature near freezing. And thus, the frozen guru and his legend was born.

In July 2017, the Punjab and Haryana High Court granted permission for the followers to preserve his body in a freezer, although it was unclear whether the court had agreed with the sect's argument that its founder was still alive.

Shortly after his death in 2014, the guru's spokesman Swami Vishalanand told the BBC: "He is not dead. Medical science does not understand things like yogic science. We will wait and watch. We are confident that he will come back."


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