A spiritual leader tried to take advantage of me when I was 18: Aashram actress Anupria Goenka

By Tanmayi Savadi

on November 12, 2020 04:20:32 PM

Bobby Deol's recently released web series Aashram throws light on how self-proclaimed Godmen exploit innocent devotees and their religious and spiritual beliefs for their own interest. The series directed by Prakash Jha focuses on the dark secrets of fraud saints and Godmen. As the second part of Aashram season 1 premiered on MX Player on November 11, Anupria Goenka, who plays the role of Dr. Natasha in the series, spoke to a leading daily about a real-life incident. Talking about a shocking incident, Anupria said a spiritual leader tried to take advantage of her when she was 18 years old.

In the interview, the actress said, "Whenever I am flustered or clueless, he is my go-to person. He gives me a sense of peace. It's almost like hearing the voice of God, it's a treasure to have someone like that." She further added, "Having said that I need to be laying my faith in my hard work and my capabilities. In case if certain things don't work out for me they are either because of my shortcomings or not meant for me. A human cannot turn your life upside down and do miracles for you. I can trust someone but cannot empower that person to control me and lose my instincts."

Anupria revealed that her father was extremely spiritual and would resort to Godmen and babas. "My father was extremely spiritually inclined. My definition of spirituality is believing in the universe, believing in the existence of some external force that is above us, believing in good thoughts and doing things to help others. I like to believe there's God as it makes me feel better. But for my dad, spirituality was always finding babas and godmen, going completely berserk and dedicating one's self to a certain aastha. He lost focus and it harmed the family as it incapacitated him to work and put all of us in a difficult spot," she said.

She further added that the incident scarred her for a long time. She said she didn't allow him to take advantage of her. "My family trusted him very heavily. Even I had started to believe in him. He sounded reasonable and said just the right things, he sounded very practical. But he tried to take advantage of me. I was 18 then. That scarred me for a very, very long time. Thankfully, I did not let him take advantage. I was able to escape the situation. I knew I had to hear my instincts, though I had to fight them for a while. I had started to see signs and gauged from prior meetings that something was amiss. I kept doubting myself because I had believed in him for so long and didn't think it was possible," Anupria told.

(Source: Times Of India)