Catholics declare "The Love Guru" "morally offensive"

Rajan Zed, acclaimed Hindu leader, has lauded the remarkable interfaith gesture of United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) by giving Hollywood movie “The Love Guru” its highest rating “O” (morally offensive).

USCCB, headquartered in Washington DC, is an assembly of the hierarchy of the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands who jointly exercise certain pastoral functions on behalf of the Christian faithful of the United States. Its Office for Film and Broadcasting (OFB) in New York is responsible for reviewing and rating theatrical motion pictures.

Harry Forbes, Director of OFB, in his review of “The Love Guru”, said “…Unabashedly vulgar and tasteless, the film, which wallows in endless penis jokes and fairly yucky potty humour…”. “O” is the highest of the five classifications granted by USCCB.

We are thankful to the Conference of Catholic Bishops for having a feel for the pain of the Hindu and spiritual community by categorizing “The Love Guru” as “morally offensive”, Zed stated.

Meanwhile, Rajan Zed has given a worldwide boycott call for “The Love Guru” by Hindus and other religious people because it lampoons Hinduism and Hindu concepts and uses Hindu terms frivolously.

Zed, who launched campaign against this movie starting in March, urging other people of faith (besides Hindus) also to boycott the movie, said, “Today it is Hinduism, tomorrow Hollywood might attempt to denigrate another religion/denomination.”

The antics of Guru Pitka of “The Love Guru” are a mockery of the esteemed institution of guru, who is a highly revered spiritual teacher/master/preceptor in Hinduism and who helps remove the ignorance of the seeker and who leads one from darkness to light.

On the other hand, guru in “The Love Guru” instigates a bar fight, repeatedly narrates penis jokes, mocks yoga (one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy), wears female jewellery, mocks the concept of third eye, makes disciples drink tea passed through his nose, orders alligator soup, induces elephant copulation in front of the crowd, introduces himself as “His Holiness”, lives in a lavish ashram staffed with scantily clad maids, and whose goal in life seems to appear on Oprah Winfrey show, Zed said.

When did Hindu gurus become available “for hire”? When and who started rating them? When did shishyas (disciples) start joining ashram for the sole purpose to make girls like them? Which Hindu ashram organizes fights of disciples with mops soaked in guru’s urine? Which guru urinates in the midst of disciples? Rajan Zed asked.

A prominent Jewish Rabbi, Elizabeth W. Beyer of Nevada (USA), has already called for boycott of “The Love Guru” because it “…lampoons Hinduism, mocks Ashram life and Hindu philosophy…”

Meanwhile, signature campaign launched by Hindu groups against “The Love Guru” has crossed the 6,400 mark.

“The Love Guru” (88 minutes), a comedy starring Mike Myers (of Austin Powers fame), opened Friday in USA and Canada and will be released in different parts of the world in the near future.