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"