MUMBAI:Around 25 years ago, they used to discuss hypnotherapy and spirituality at the dinner table. While Dr Shyam Manav was a rationalist, Dr Jayant Athavale was inclined towards spirituality. But the common interest of hypnotism bound them together.
Today, hypnotherapy has created a vertical rift between them. It has turned the good friends into vociferous enemies. Manav, the most vocal anti-superstition activist in Maharashtra, has opened a front against Athavale, the chief of Sanatan Sanstha, alleging that he had created “human robots” who are indulging in terrorism. According to Manav, Athavale had brainwashed Sanatan Sanstha sadhak (a full-time worker) Sameer Gaikwad, a suspect arrested in the murder case of veteran CPI leader Govind Pansare.
“Police have not succeeded in extracting information from Gaikwad because he has been deeply hypnotised... he does not remember anything that he did,” says Manav, a trained hypnotherapist, who has been conducting training classes since 1991. Interestingly, Manav learned hypnotherapy from Athavale in 1984. Athavale, a reputed hypnotherapist, had returned from London, where he had practised hypnotherapy for almost a decade. Manav had launched his organisation against superstitions, Akhil Bharatiya Andhshraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (ABANS), a year ago.
“Athavale’s knowledge on hypnotherapy is scientific and up to date. He was a lovable person. I used to refer some patients to him. In fact, he had helped me financially in widening the work of ABANS. He used to give me money for taxi fare and his books to be sold to raise funds,” Manav says. Athavale’s inclination towards spirituality proved a turning point. He used to tell Manav that he could not transfer his powers to him because he had evil in him. “I realised at that time that he had started cheating people and was shifting slowly towards becoming a baba (spiritual guru). I had no idea he will instigate violence,” Manav says.
Manav’s battle against Athavale began in 2006, when a Sanatan Sanstha worker attacked him at a public function in Pune. Police caught the attacker, but could not extract information from him. Athavale uses hypnotherapy to make people do what he wants, Manav alleges and says until he was caught, Pansare case can’t be cracked.