Sri Sri Reincarnations

Here is a list of the divine rumors I recall, spread by devotees, teachers, his holiness himself about the divine reincarnations of AoL devotees and Sri Sri, “the embodiment of God”, yours truly. Others may have more to add to the list. One can laugh at them, or believe in them. It is too much coincidence or too much narcissism that all great names, except those Sri Sri does not like (e.g. any Muslim related), reincarnate in the AoL community.

It is claimed RS is the reincarnation of 1. Krishna, 2. Shiva, 3. Vyasa, 4. Adi Shankar, 5. Jesus Christ, 6. Buddha, 7. Swami Brahmananda Saraswati.

Nitin, now Rishiji, claims to have been Arjuna.
Suki, now Swami Sukchaitanya, claims to have been Ravi’s brother in a past life.
Most senior teachers claim to have been some emperor, queen, yogi some previous life time, as well as Jesus Christ’s apostles (btw, the 12 of them and Mary are there!)
Wolgang Amadeus Mozart is apparently in the holy family too: Arvind, the holy nephew.
Pitaji is the reincarnation of Rama, whereas Sita is a teacher now "on leave" - another scandalous secret the holy family managed to cleverly cover.
Inevitably, about a thousand women claim to have been his gopis when he was Krishna, and Bhanu, of course, who knows what she claims!
Mary and Joseph, parents of Jesus Christ, were also in the AoL(though no longer with the organization. Some problem with accounting, board, … no further comments).

When the Eternity Process was first introduced, some old timers came out saying they saw themselves being crucified in the times of Christ. SriSri’s response was, “Oh, it still bothers you?” Which immediately confirmed they were indeed the great apostles and he, the reincarnation of Christ.

I’ve heard him speak in first person when talking about Christ and Krishna. Exactly what people need to confirm the rumors. I’ve even heard him elaborate a great story about how before Christ was born, a congregation of rishis approached Vyasa asking him to “save” the West because there was too much ignorance (the Middle East). Vyasa told them he’d born there to “save it.” (note: India, according to him, is always sacred and more evolved, the West is dark, thus India saves the West, as it continues to do so, since, according to him, produces all enlightened spiritual masters). He gave instructions to 3 rishis – the 3 Wise Men, and he, Vyasa, was born in Bethlehem (while he remained Vyasa in India – Star Trek already already existed in the times of Ramayana!). The 3 Rishis traveled from India to Germany to reach Israel, and stopped where the AoL German ashram is today in their way in and out of the expedition! In fact, they meditated exactly where SSSRS sits in the Spring Hall to give satsangs! Very conveniently magical.

When he went to Israel for the first time, he claimed children ran to him yelling, “Messiah! Messiah!” But the elders, “stressed out, angry Jews”, would pull them away from him. His explanation: “Children always recognize me.” (though I also have seen many children freaking out in fear in his presence too! Of course, it’d be cleverly explained as some terrible past life impressions that were being lifted upon his presence!). I clearly heard him say he did not like Israel, a country of ignorant people who have no chances this life time, and would never want to go back. He claims the Middle East will never have peace. Yet, he went back after that because he needed brownie points for his Nobel Peace Prize campaign.

A swami said that once Ravi called while he was on tour in South America and said he was in hell. In case you need translation: he meant hell is where South America is (apparently, to be more precise, Brazil). I find it awful, but maybe his Latin devotees should know what he truly thinks of their homeland (maybe they’d consider moving out of “hell”), instead of that show he puts up for them in international events: “Ay, ay, ay, ay ….! Bonita ...” When he actually means, “Bonita my ass”. Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!”

In one way or the other, all these rumors were used to further convince people of his proclaimed grandiosity and that he is not just a simple con-man of southern India, but God on Earth himself. If anyone attacks him, he and devotees will typically say, “Christ was also attacked but few were able to recognize him. Time will show.” As cleverly elaborated in the Ashtavakra tapes: one glorifies the prophets of the past or waits for a future one, but cannot recognize the one living in the present.

He once had an akash reader tell us, “Soon the world will know who he is.” Back then, I was excited the world would find out he was God on earth! It’s been over 10 years and most of the world still does not know who he is (though AoL claims the contrary, he is not that famous in the real scale). Looking back, I wonder if the “soon the world will know who he is” meant, “soon the world will find out he is a fraud, a con-man, a sociopath.”

There was a senior teacher who went to India to teach one of those advanced courses, which I will not name – a course that did not last long. It was held for top VIP/CEOs of India and it was a course that relied on verbal and psychological abuse. One most powerful CEOs got mad and sued the teacher and the organization. The teacher had to immediately flee the country, cannot go back to India and the whole story is a big guarded embarrassing secret. Instead of simply humbly recognizing the mistake of both the arrogance, ignorance and psychosis of the teacher and the irresponsibility of the organization, removing the teacher from her position, even not allowing her to teach anymore, Ravi and the teacher justified it with a past life story about her having been some queen and an unrequited love story the man not knowingly acted out on. Of course, the CEO was in fault, not able to transcend his impressions. The teacher was just a messenger, expressing his repressed feelings/memories.

I could go on and on - I know the stories of reincarnations of so many AoLers! I think I may have even met Napoleon! But there are only two points worth making,

1. If one is truly that great, does one really need magical thinking stories to prove it? Would a true enlightened spiritual master use these arguments to hold and acquire more followers? Would he/she really care to mention any of this? Is it not too cocky??? Too not humble? Too irrelevant in the spiritual path?

2. Many other well known gurus also claim to be the reincarnation of all the above listed characters, ie. Krishna, Jesus, Buddha … Can the so-called enlightened gurus please raise their hands and decide who is who for real?! Or has Ravishankar also monopolized all the claims, as he has in the NGO world: "the largest NGO of volunteers"?

So much for living in the present moment!