Guru Sant Asaram Bapu delivers a sermon at Morabadi ground in Ranchi. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, May 18: On his first visit to the state capital, spiritual guru Asaram Bapu, it was claimed, formally accepted 15,000 people as his disciples. The number of disciples here till yesterday, conceded the organisers, hovered just around five hundred.

While achieving purity of mind and action remains one of the objectives of the godman and his disciples, the organisers today sprang a surprise by claiming that all the arrangements at the sprawling Morabadi maidan cost them only Rs 2 lakhs. The figure is obviously and absurdly low even by ?local wedding? standards.

The elaborate arrangements made for the two-day discourse, attended by a large number of dignitaries including the chief minister, would have cost the organisers a lot more than they are evidently ready to acknowledge.

The ?investment? , however, appears worthwhile since Bapu?s disciples claim to have turned a new leaf after coming in contact with him. Listening to the discourses, they said, had filled them with new energy and fresh purpose in life.

A jewellery shop owner, Dilip Kumar, claimed his life had changed for the better after a chance encounter with the guru at Puri. Retired teacher Ishwar Sahu claimed to be a more focussed person. Ashok Mukherjee claimed he had finally attained mental peace. His spiritual as well as material life too have changed for the better, he added.

The organisers informed that they plan to construct an appropriately majestic building at Chutia. Asaram Bapu visited the proposed site and is learned to have given his consent to the plan.

Before he flew back to New Delhi, the guru also visited the Maharishi Mehi Ashram at Chutia as well as the Yogoda Math close by.

Director General of Police, Shivaji Mahan Cairae and IG vigilance, Jagdish Raj were among those who called upon the guru before he left.

The visit has left in his wake a divided house here. The disciples swear by the guru and believe that now that he has stepped on the soil of Jharkhand, the situation in the state will change for good. The sceptics on the other hand scoff at the faithful and question why godmen seem to prefer the well-heeled.