Q: You said you got demotivated.What kind of incidents demotivated you?
A: Outbursts of anger, small mindedness, lack of a broad vision of some people sometimes demotivated me.
Q: How did you get back?
A: If I am harboring negativity against someone it just means that my own weakness is getting exposed. I need to change myself first. The second important thing to note is that everyone is changing. All the people on the path go through certain phases, good or bad.One cant label people as "bad".
Q: Some people have left the AOL because they could not accept certain things happening in the organization. Does it mean that AOL failed?
A: As I mentioned each one goes through phases. In my long association with AOL I have seen people who were against AOL becoming devotees and vice versa. I have also seen people totally disconnected and then suddenly they jump in and get actively involved. Sometimes so called "devotees" completely vanish after six months and then are again spotted in satsangs after a few years. As people go through life and its teachings priorities also keep changing.
Q: What were the factors that convinced you that Sri Sri is a True Guru.
A: NO factors. All the reasons to figure out who is the true Guru can also be used as reasons to prove that the same Guru is a fake. for eg...
1. Lot of service is happening - Oh you know he is craving for the noble peace prize. If the money is collected in the name of service projects he needs to show something in the name of service.
2. So many followers and they all look so happy - Marketing strategy and by the way any Tom, Dick or Harry grows a beard and long hair and talks some spiritual nonsense will get a large following in no time.Ia m sure he is a expert in skillful brain washing
3. Sudarshan Kriya is really amazing - Its just hyperventilation. Any sort of heavy fast breathing can give you a feeling of well being for some time. its no big deal.
4. He is working hard to uplift the society and is still smiling all the time -: He is working hard to uplift his own organisation and his own image as a GOD man or an Avataar. Smiling all the time is the only USP of all that he does.
we can go on and on
Q: So then how do you know?
A: I have no idea. If I had specific reason or factors to love him and know that he is genuine then I would be the greatest fool fooling myself. Its my own experience of being in his presence. There is no way I can prove that to anybody else. A feeling of love, joy and abundance is a very deep and personal experience beyond words.
to be contd
"J"
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Straight Talk
The purpose of this blog is give an unbiased objective view of the Art of Living Foundation and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Any particular event, action, words can be viewed through different angles and can be interpreted differently by different people and yet all of them put together may not come even close to the Truth.
So I thought I would just like to interview a few members of the AOL and find out what really makes them stick around, what really inspires them to dedicate their lives working for/with the organisation.On the condition of anonymity a few teachers agreed to answer questions and I would like post the answers on this blog. The answers posted here are a compilation of all the answers given by different members.
Q: When you started on this path did you feel that AOL has two faces? One which they present to the outside world and then when you get in suddenly you are shocked to see the other side where there are conflicts, politics, fights, ego clashes etc?
A: I never felt I was presented two faces. I just did the course, I liked it and since then I have been involved.
Q: Do you mean there is nothing negative about AOL?
A: Yes of course there is. Its an organisation run by human beings. So it has flaws and there are arguments and clashes between people.
Q: So how did you react to the negative side of AOL? Were you shocked? Why did you still continue?
A: I did the course. I did not become prefect. We all have our flaws. So I was not shocked. But the important thing is to know to what degree is the negativity present and what percentage. If it overshadowed the good that is being done and if the whole thing was just a scam involving people with bad intentions then I would have left the organisaton long time back. I find the people who are associated have genuinely good intentions and conflicts are just superficial. There were incidents which were demotivating but at the same there were lot of good examples who were always a source of inspiration.I have met so many wonderful people doing such extraordinary work in society. So much transformation is happening that it completely overshadows all the minor conflicts that happen in any organisation.
to be cont
"J"
So I thought I would just like to interview a few members of the AOL and find out what really makes them stick around, what really inspires them to dedicate their lives working for/with the organisation.On the condition of anonymity a few teachers agreed to answer questions and I would like post the answers on this blog. The answers posted here are a compilation of all the answers given by different members.
Q: When you started on this path did you feel that AOL has two faces? One which they present to the outside world and then when you get in suddenly you are shocked to see the other side where there are conflicts, politics, fights, ego clashes etc?
A: I never felt I was presented two faces. I just did the course, I liked it and since then I have been involved.
Q: Do you mean there is nothing negative about AOL?
A: Yes of course there is. Its an organisation run by human beings. So it has flaws and there are arguments and clashes between people.
Q: So how did you react to the negative side of AOL? Were you shocked? Why did you still continue?
A: I did the course. I did not become prefect. We all have our flaws. So I was not shocked. But the important thing is to know to what degree is the negativity present and what percentage. If it overshadowed the good that is being done and if the whole thing was just a scam involving people with bad intentions then I would have left the organisaton long time back. I find the people who are associated have genuinely good intentions and conflicts are just superficial. There were incidents which were demotivating but at the same there were lot of good examples who were always a source of inspiration.I have met so many wonderful people doing such extraordinary work in society. So much transformation is happening that it completely overshadows all the minor conflicts that happen in any organisation.
to be cont
"J"
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
The Doors are open
One of the most ridiculous things to comment about the Art of Living Foundation and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar would be to say that they are really great in marketing their product. The volunteers seem hardly trained and quite a few times they blabber nonsense in their excitement to share whatever they have to say. Sometimes even simple questions/objections are not handled properly. The media is not properly used at all. There is hardly any planning or strategy. Everything happens in a haphazard and a chaotic way. Art of Living desperately needs good lessons in marketing. If at all the claims that it is a super rich organisation and the founder is hungry for fame/power are true, I would say they are doing a very sad job with their marketing department.
The wonder is, with such poor skills of organising how is it that the Art of Living foundation manages to organise such huge events?? And thousands of courses get organised in so many thousand cities all over the world.
How does this happen? To me the only logical answer seems that the people involved are really inspired to share and are genuinely been benefited by the techniques learnt in these courses. The power of experience, the power of the intention to share and contribute towards society is the only reason I feel, makes such great things happen in society. People who fail to understand this phenomenon generally say that the only reason AOL is successful is because of its extraordinary marketing skills. I beg to differ.
Such a huge volunteer based organisation obviously will consist of a few idiots here and there, some of them not just good enough to represent spirituality. One of the teachers say that the biggest drawback of working in a spiritual organization is that devotees cannot be hired or fired! But at the same time there are no illegal activities happening, people are getting benefited in some way or the other. Isolated examples, stories cooked up by a few disgruntled morons do not define the values of an organization that is involved in so much good work all over the world.
Lastly if anyone does not like it, DO NOT GET IN. If you are already in GET OUT. The doors are open. Nobody is going to stop you. Nobody is forcing you to stay. If you are allowing someone to force/fool you, you anyway deserve to suffer. But still the doors will always remain open. At least now you know that this does not work for you or you failed to make this work for you. In any case you have grown wiser. Move on.
“j”
The wonder is, with such poor skills of organising how is it that the Art of Living foundation manages to organise such huge events?? And thousands of courses get organised in so many thousand cities all over the world.
How does this happen? To me the only logical answer seems that the people involved are really inspired to share and are genuinely been benefited by the techniques learnt in these courses. The power of experience, the power of the intention to share and contribute towards society is the only reason I feel, makes such great things happen in society. People who fail to understand this phenomenon generally say that the only reason AOL is successful is because of its extraordinary marketing skills. I beg to differ.
Such a huge volunteer based organisation obviously will consist of a few idiots here and there, some of them not just good enough to represent spirituality. One of the teachers say that the biggest drawback of working in a spiritual organization is that devotees cannot be hired or fired! But at the same time there are no illegal activities happening, people are getting benefited in some way or the other. Isolated examples, stories cooked up by a few disgruntled morons do not define the values of an organization that is involved in so much good work all over the world.
Lastly if anyone does not like it, DO NOT GET IN. If you are already in GET OUT. The doors are open. Nobody is going to stop you. Nobody is forcing you to stay. If you are allowing someone to force/fool you, you anyway deserve to suffer. But still the doors will always remain open. At least now you know that this does not work for you or you failed to make this work for you. In any case you have grown wiser. Move on.
“j”