Who is Abhinav Arora? Meet the spiritual sensation who dragged YouTubers to court
A self-styled "Bal Sant", Abhinav Arora believes he embodies Balram and worships Shree Krishna as his younger brother.
Social media is buzzing with posts either criticising or celebrating Abhinav Arora, the 10-year-old preacher and spiritual orator who has over 9.5 lakh followers on Instagram.
The child preacher recently made headlines after a video of spiritual leader Swami Rambhadracharya asking Abhinav to leave the stage went viral. In December 2023, he was honoured as India's Youngest Spiritual Orator by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.
His first claim to fame came earlier this year when a video of him bidding a tearful goodbye to a Ganpati idol went viral. In the video, which was filmed last year, the young boy was sitting by the riverbank and emotionally pleading with Lord Ganesha to come back soon, becoming visibly distressed as the idol was taken away for immersion. His heartfelt display of emotions resonated with millions of viewers.
Who is Abhinav Arora?
Abhinav Arora resides in Delhi and has his own Instagram, YouTube and Facebook pages.
A self-styled "Bal Sant", Abhinav believes he embodies Balram and worships Shree Krishna as his younger brother. On social media, he posts pictures and videos of him celebrating Hindu festivals, reading Hindu scriptures, and meeting religious gurus.
According to NDTV, in older interviews, Abhinav said that he starts his day at 3:30 am. After waking up in Brahma muhurta, he does ‘mala jaap’. At 4 am, he does pooja at home. At 6.30 am, he does the Tulsi Puja Parikrama and offers “Bhog” to the Bal Gopal in his home.
His father is Tarun Raj Arora, who has put on his Instagram bio that he's an entrepreneur and a TEDx speaker. He has said in earlier interviews that Abhinav's spiritual inclinations had started when he was three years old.
However, several YouTubers, including OnlyDesi, think he is delivering a pre-written script that his parents crafted. According to OnlyDesi, Abhinav is not qualified to be a spiritual orator and calls his spirituality a 'business idea'. The channel noted in a video that Tarun's past showed him owning a business of ice-cream carts named 'Falooda-Express'.
Arora recently filed a case in a Mathura court against seven YouTubers, accusing them of harassment and defamation.
“Dekhiye main chahta to nahi tha unke khilaf case karna lekin mujhe karna pad raha hai (I didn’t want to file a case against him, but under the circumstances, I had to do so),” he told NDTV.
Abhinav's mother also claimed that the young spiritual orator had received a death threat from Lawrence Bishnoi's gang.