ABSTRACT

Few people join a religious group for the purpose of breaking the law or expecting to come into conflict with the state. But a spiritual quest sometimes takes unexpected turns. In the 1980s I visited a Hindu-based religious group whose leader, Swami Okarananda Saraswati (1929-2000) had been jailed in Switzerland during several years. As I was visiting the ashram, I was led through an office where I noticed a wall covered with thick bound volumes. Without looking closer, I asked my guide: ‘Have you collected and bound all the discourses of the guru?’ He answered: ‘No, those are our legal books.’ For years, the group had attempted to get the sentence overturned and their leader exonerated, pursuing this struggle for redress even after he was released. I realized that several disciples had turned into legal experts and were spending most of their time immersed not in meditation, but in law books – an unusual kind of spiritual practice, but one that could probably be interpreted by a Hindu group as a service (seva).