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Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Not a BIG Deal



I have been asking a few people who have taken courses with the Art of Living Foundation whether they found it too expensive and whether they regretted having invested in the course. Most of them said that they did initially hesitate to do the course because of the cost. But after having experienced the course and noticing the obvious benefits, they did not regret having invested the time and money at all.

I must have talked to probably a few hundreds, but I have yet to meet a person who said that it was really not worth it. I went one step further and asked quite a few who practiced the techniques regularly whether they would give up their practices if they were given ten times the course fee in return. All of them replied in the negative. I must also mention that I came across quite a few people who were given scholarships after they convinced the teacher that they could really not afford it.

Some people in India say that AOL charges exceptionally high amounts for their courses and is only for the rich and elite. Well, looking at the tremendous following that AOL has across India, it is difficult for anyone to believe that all these people belong exclusively to the rich and elite class of society! Most of them seem to be from the middle class. In fact even in Mumbai a course in Mulund or Thane (middle-class suburbs) generally attracts many more people than a course in South Mumbai (pre-dominantly elite class) though the course fee is the same.

It would be absurd to say that all the people practicing AOL techniques in remote Indian villages belong to the rich and elite. And I don't think that people living in the slums of Dharavi would do AOL courses if they were exorbitantly priced. It is obvious that AOL has designed their fee structure based on the socio-economic strata of the population living in the area and this policy seems perfectly sensible.

A little research can clear a lot of misconceptions. I sincerely request the cynics to adopt such an attitude instead of resorting to useless wrangling.

J

3 comments:

In Search Of Myself said...

Expensive! It's measly Rs. 1,000 to 2,000 Rs to the starting level Yes!+ program!
Come on...one spends more on food and clothing and movies, telephone in a month than that...and what yo get in return is so powerful! :)
Plus most part of fees goes to charity.
A Shiv Khera costs 23000, landmark costs 8000 bucks and no body teaches you the baiscs of spirituality there- Meditation!

Unknown said...

i differ a little,i initially thought it to be little expensive but it had really benefited,got rid of my health problems.but i dont practice regularly now,does it cause any problem if done occasionaly??

J said...

of course not.

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