Abhinav Arora, the 10-year-old "spiritual orator" whose credentials recently came under scrutiny, is making headlines again after he failed to answer basic questions about Lord Krishna during an interview. Fondly called “Bal Sant” by some followers, Arora was honoured as India’s Youngest Spiritual Orator by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. He considers himself Lord Krishna's elder brother 'Balram' and worships the deity as a younger sibling.
In the now-viral video clip from an ABP News interview, anchor Kislay Gaurav asks Arora: “Who gave the Sudarshan Chakra to Lord Krishna?” The 'Bal Sant' first replies: “The Sudarshan Chakra that Lord Krishna had was given to him..." He is asked again: “Who gave him (Sudarshan Chakra), Where did he get it from?”
Arora replies: “It is written in the Shiva Purana as well. The Sudarshan Chakra was given to Vishnu. Lakshmi ji is a beautiful woman. It is described in the Shiva Purana that the Sudarshan Chakra was given to Vishnu."
The anchor once again repeats the question, to which Arore replies: “Lord Shiv."
As per legends, the correct answer is Lord Parashuram. It is believed that Lord Shiv had created the Sudarshan Chakra, and given to Lord Vishnu. It later reached Parashuram, who is considered one of the 10 avatars of Lord Vishnu.
Next, the interviewer asks the young orator about the meaning of Lord Krishna's name. Arora replies: “One who removes suffering.” However, the actual meaning of Krishna is “dark” or “black”.
The anchor then changes the question and asks: “Which language does the word Krishna come from?” But Arora repeats the same answer: “One who removes suffering is the meaning of the name Krishna."
The ABP News anchor also asks him who is Vasudev Yadav, the only question that Arora answers correctly as he says, “Vasudev is his (Lord Krishna's) father.” However, there is a catch there. The name of Krishna is pronounced Vāsudev (with a long a), meaning the "son of Vasudev" (with a short a). Notably, Arora said Vāsudev is Lord Krishna's father.
About Abhinav Arora
Abhinav Arora recently grabbed headlines for a wrong reason after a video surfaced showing spiritual leader Swami Rambhadracharya asking him to leave the stage twice during a religious gathering in Vrindavan. Later YouTuber Ankit, who runs a channel called OnlyDesi, published a series of videos 'exposing' the ten-year-old spiritual leader and raising doubts about his narrative. Ankit suggested that Abhinav’s public persona is carefully crafted by his parents, especially his father Tarun Raj Arora and is not a result of his natural inclination towards religiosity.
Recently, the self-styled ‘Bal Sant’ or child saint sought legal recourse over social media trolling and filed a lawsuit against seven YouTubers, accusing them of harassment and defamation.