Sunday, April 18, 2010

Ravishankar's Hankering for NPP (part 2)

BY “HIS HOLINESS SRI SRI WHISTLEBLOWER”

They were starting to believe their own lies:
We have good information that Guruji is one of the top two candidates in the running to receive this prestigious recognition. It will be such a befitting award in the lead up to the Silver Jubilee next year!

At the height of “feverishness”, advice was coming from left & right:
...What we need now are letters of support from influential people in the community. They do not need to have done the Part 1 Course.

.... I NEED TO REPEAT no devotional letters be wise and get influential people to write letter of recommendation.

...Teachers or high-profile individuals connected with doing a lot of activities for AoL is not eligible; This would disqualify the nomination.

Didn’t the other one in NPPP Committee told us , just the week before, he wrote one himself & encouraging others to do so too?!!!!!!!!!
Guruji must be referred to as His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Founder of the Art of Living Foundation;

You have heard that one before, haven’t you? Suddenly conferring on himself all kind of titles. First it was Sri Sri , now he added His Holiness as well! So I decided to rename myself “His Holiness Sri Sri Whistleblower”!!

While SriSri was totally involved in all aspects of promoting himself for a NPP, publicly he & his PR machine would deny that. The following are some such quotes:
Nobel Peace for Indian?
http://www.timesofoman.com/newsdetails.asp?newsid=20475&pn=local
....the ‘Guruji’ was totally nonchalant about the speculation that is doing the rounds in India.Sources note that he is not only dismissive about such rumours, true to his character, he has openly queried as to how being awarded a peace prize or not being awarded one, for that matter, would ever change him, or his work.“Sri Sri is more interested about bringing happiness to people than hoping or wishing for the Nobel Prize,” AoL sources here claim.In fact, the world will remember him for what he has done than for getting the Nobel Prize, others add.

Of course , behind the scenes, SriSri’s PR campaign was still in full swing. see some quotes from the following official directive from his campaign team:
LAST-MINUTE GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS,NPP Project,17 January 2005

RE: Nominations that have been confirmed and are being secured:

1. All NPP National Coordinators and NPP project contacts are urged to re-double their efforts to make sure that nominators who have confirmed their support must sign and immediately send their nomination letters to Norway a.s.a.p.
2. Nominators who are still writing their nominations must be asked to write their nomination letters using their own language and articulating their own personal inspiration. Please note that the ‘model nomination letter’ circulated earlier is a general suggestion only, and is not meant to be copied verbatim. Make sure that individual experiences and local accomplishments are also added and prominently projected in the letter. In those cases where a nominator requests for your drafting assistance, please immediately consult with me so that we can help each other come up with varied formulations to put into the nomination letters.
3. In the remaining 13 days of the project, you can intensify your campaign and multiply results by using a recommended technique, described as follows: If a heavyweight nominator in your country (e.g., Prime Minister, or respected legislator, or professor) has agreed to give you a copy of his/her nomination letter, please ask other qualified nominators to associate themselves with, or express support for, this particular nomination. The formulation in the supporting letter for each of these other nominators would then be:
“ xxx Dear Members of the Nobel Committee, I am honored to associate myself with the nomination for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize forwarded to you by The Honorable .... / Professor ..... I fully share the belief and the conviction that Sir Sri Ravi Shankar is most deserving of this noble award and the great tradition it stands for. Yours Sincerely, xxx”
4. It would be a wonderful gesture on the part of the AofL and National Coordinators to send a thank you card, or a token gift of appreciation, or a flower bouquet, to each person who has written a nomination for Guruji. Kindly note that each one of our nominators is not only distinguished in his/her own right but is also now part of our own network of friends and allies who share Guruji’s vision of ‘one world family’.
RE: Nominations that are still being solicited
5. We need many more fresh nominations to create a truly significant political impact. The NPP as you know is a very political process. So we should not lose the momentum we have already gained in obtaining as many nominations as possible before the February 1 deadline. BUT PLEASE ... make sure that the nominations we are getting are from qualified or eligible people only. As you will see from the attached summary, the list of confirmed nominators includes many individuals who are not clearly qualified to submit nominations. This may lead to embarrassing results for Guruji. So I earnestly plead to all NPP coordinators: let us play by the rules.
.....
9. In your spare moments, please take time to surf through the Nobel Peace Prize website, which is very informative and can possibly give you further inspiration in your NPP project work:
http://www.nobel.no/

AOL Teacher & Sri Sri puppet journalist, Francois Gautier, even published the following article, giving ultimatum , among heaps of propaganda, to Oslo Nobel committee to choose Sri Sri or else he would accuse them of being anti Hindus!! http://us.rediff.com/news/2005/sep/28franc.htm?q=np&file=.htm
and notice that he doesn’t mention being an AOL teacher & his close association with SriSri & the fact that he is one of the top haram journalists & ever ready at “Guruji”’s service!!!! That tells you the amount of journalistic integrity this guy & the rest of “SriSri-bought” journalists have!!

Pay special attention to what he says, the message within reflects the propaganda Sri Sri specifically wanted to promote. Gautier’s writing would have been checked by SriSri before being published, same as the rest of his & other puppets’ articles for SriSri. He even puts down others (including his previous guru/spiritual organisation he was involved with) to promote SriSri!! He goes so far as saying giving NPP to thousand women “would dilute the dignity of the Nobel Peace Prize”. If giving NPP to thousand women would dilute the dignity of the NPP, I wonder what it would do to dignity of the NPP, if they would give it to a megalomaniac, deceitful, self-promoting & psychopath guru !!

Gautier’s grovelling is truly sickening, but of course music to the ears of his master:

Read some of the quotes from his article:
Will Sri Sri Ravi Shankar get the Nobel Peace Prize? (Rediff.com September 28, 2005)

Is there still a prejudice in Western society against Hindus?
Amongst the front runners for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, is Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Guruji, as he is known amongst his disciples, truly deserves the Nobel Prize because he is a universal man of peace.
Yet, it is an uphill task for a Hindu leader to get the Nobel Peace Prize.
Yes, Mother Teresa got it, but she was a Christian and not a natural born Indian. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's teachers and volunteers are from all religions -- Hindus, also Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Parsis, Sikhs etc.

But since then there has been a relapse. As a Frenchman and a Westerner, I have been privileged to have met the Mother of Pondicherry, herself a French by birth. Her association with Sri Aurobindo and her deep knowledge of Indian spirituality helped bring a certain understanding of Hinduism, but that was only limited to France.

It is true that there is untouchability in India, and that it has harmed her image. For instance, by refusing access to Westerners in certain temples, such as in Banaras, Hindus have not created the right picture.

But is also true that Hindus have been made untouchables by a certain section of Western intellectuals (with the help of Indian academic residing in the West), whereas Tibetan Buddhism and the Dalaï Lama, who practice a religion which is derived from Hinduism, are fashionable in the West.

Yet, compared to Desmond Tutu and Mother Teresa, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has done more work and his peace movement is phenomenal, from Argentina to Siberia, from South Africa to Fiji.

Mother Teresa mostly catered to Calcutta, but Sri Sri's social programmes in India are making a difference everywhere through service and spirituality.

I was watching Bono, another front runner for the Nobel Peace Prize on CNN the other day, along with Bill Clinton and Klaus Schwab, chairman of the Davos Economic Forum. True, Bono has done good work raising money for poor countries through concerts, but I thought that it pales when compared to the scope, universality and breadth of Sri Sri Ravi.

There has also been talk of a thousand women getting the Nobel Peace Prize. But this is would only be a face-saving gesture, which would dilute the dignity of the Nobel Peace Prize

And this again raises the question: Will His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, an apostle of peace for all, not get the Nobel Peace Prize, just because he is a Hindu? That would be a sad day for India and for the world.

Francois Gautier is the South Asia correspondent for Marianne, the largest selling French magazine and the editor of La Revue de l'Inde, a Paris-based magazine solely devoted to India.

To be continued…

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank God you mentioned this shameless sycophant francois gautier Sri Sri Sri Whistleblower !

He had declared the crook ravishankar's intention was to become the sole leader of all hindus worldwide & that like Islam Mullahs would issue fatwas 'edicts' that would be binding on all hindus .

I always maintain hindus have wantonly manufactured persecution complex with their anti conversions propaganda.

So what if I am a hindu ? I love Jesus Christ also equally. I have had certain muslim friends who are far far superior to my own so called hindu relatives & hindu neighbours. I have no problem with atheists , agnostics whatever.

It is ETHICS , INTEGRITY that matter most.

PS: I vaguely recall only one comment telling francois & ravishankar's nexus was to swing some business contracts etc between France & India.

Today Shashi Tharoor the uber suave stands exposed. So nothing surprising about the nefarious ravishankar & francois.

Anonymous said...

Btw , Francois is married to a hindu in India. No wonder he is a tad too lachrymose about the alleged 'plight of hindus'. Plaintively mourns "cry my beloved India" yadayada:)

Lol..he himself wrote Ravishankars's devotees were literally fighting with Mata Amritanandamayi's devotees while 'distributing tsunami aid':)
And how Baba Ramdev warned on tv not to do SKriya , its dangerous side effects.

Mighty comic relief these poltroons provide us.

AoL-Free said...

I wonder how much of it was actually really written by François. RS often takes advantage of people like him in his position to manipulate media. "The Guru of Joy", the book that François supposedly wrote was actually dictated by RS because he did not like anything he had done the first time. He tore it apart, line by line, chapter by chapter, to publish, at the end, a book that only glorifies the miraculous skills of the new messiah. At the end of the day, it is still RS the sickest dude of all.

Anonymous said...

Oh really ? I would have expected Francois a respected journalist to drop RS then & there.

But alas I know how the cult operates stultifyingly.That is why all the pent up resentment takes a long time to heal.

I agree with you Klim absolutely. RS is the sickest EVIL person. I find his eyes evil , his smile evil, his voice arrrghh..

Prairie Princess said...

Again I would encourage anyone who has original source materials concerning this tawdry "campaign" for the Nobel Peace Prize by devotees of the Art of Living Feverishly to forward it to the Nobel Prize Committee. Ravi ravi must have been very upset when Obama won it last year. There is no seva that is done by this organization that is not done by another organization. Perhaps we should all start calling ourselves his holiness sri sri whatever. Great idea, Whistleblower

Anonymous said...

Let us discuss the bottomline: People like Al Gore and Obama eventually got it. Atleast from a peace perspective I personally think Sri sris contribution is way higher towards this award. The feverishness from AOL aspect is what is unwanted. Clearly I see this blog is losing steam based on the last few not so important posts atleast in my mind.

WhistleBlower said...

Dear Prairie Princess,
I wouldn't be surprised if Nobel Prize Committee already has these emails & probably even more from the people sri Sri Cronies were pressurizing to write nomination letters. I know it rubbed few people (VIPs) wrong way. And you know they are not that stupid, just getting all those look alike nomination letters that very first time, would have alerted them. Besides these guys after so many years know when a nominee is blowing his own trumpet & has organised a mass campaign to glorify himself. Sri Sri made a fool of himself & exposed himself. It wasn't first time & won't be last time either. The guy is after fame & glory & power.I will expose him more in my future posts.
In the meantime, if you post in this blog Nobel Peace committee's email address, I will forward all the original emails to them . And other ex-teachers , insiders can do the same. Not to mention those people who were pressurized to write a nomination letter. They can tell NP committee they were approached by AOL Rep & withdraw their nomination.
My main purpose for these posts were not to alert NP committee. Obviously they didn't need my help to recognize a fraud like Ravi Shankar. If he didn't get NPP, it sure wasn't on lack of trying on Ravi's part, year after year!
My main purpose was to expose Ravi himself & his deceitful ways. NPPP is just one of many projects that SriSri showed his true face & real interest. Wait for my future posts. Other ex-teachers can also come forward & expose this psycho for what he is.

WhistleBlower said...

@ Anonymous 5:55 PM

Another SriSri's agent? I don't know why you are wasting so much time on this blog rather than going & helping SriSri's next attempt on NPP or other awards he seeks all the time?!

You seem quite bruised by the last few posts. What would you prefer , a Swami Nityananda Sex video?

Does SriSri know you are not doing your AOL work & instead browsing anti AOL websites?

You know he gets really mad with those followers who visit such blogs, apart from those trusted ones who are on special projects to visit Anti-srisri/AOL blogs & do damage control for srisri.

I wonder if this blog is loosing steam or it is you who is loosing steam, trying to defend a psychopath?

And maybe you & other SriSri's close agent want to put some hidden videos in SriSri's rooms, (all of them, he has few, including the ones in his mansion)
& then we can all see some steam from His Holiness mouth!

Voilá said...

The Norwegian Nobel Committee
Drammensveien 19
NO - 0255 OSLO
Norway

Unknown said...

This hoax took the most famous Indian name, Ravi Shankar, A musician par excellence who has strived his whole life for the cause of Music and peace.
By his so called gift of the gab he has sold to every american and has made a huge fortune.

Anonymous said...

Sri Sri Dollar Dollar is now in LA and has already made a reco over the now-defunct Nithyananda Temple and apparently talked to that fallen hero on Friday last. Looks like he's collecting more property and more disappointed followers of the Paramahamsa.

ND said...

Isn't is true that Noble Prize Nominatins are not disclosed for 50years. Then how someone claim that he/she was nominated for Noble prize?
Whether Noble Committee do not take actions against such persons?

Anonymous said...

" Does SriSri know you are not doing your AOL work & instead browsing anti AOL websites?

You know he gets really mad with those followers who visit such blogs, apart from those trusted ones who are on special projects to visit Anti-srisri/AOL blogs & do damage control for srisri.

I wonder if this blog is loosing steam or it is you who is loosing steam, trying to defend a psychopath?

His Holiness SriSriSriSriSriSri Whistleblower ,

Atta Boy !!! Thats the Spirit ! Keep it up!!

Prairie Princess ,

This crook ravishankar & a lot of richierich clout wielding silicon valley colonizers Indian IItians , IIMians blahblah have been sedulously usurping many minds of American Democrats ( Whites , Blacks etc etc).

In fact a hell of a lot of Indians from within America to within India pumped in a whopping amount of money to " engineer" victory of Democrats.

Wake up ! Indians always ally with Islamists & Thisisnotislamists as they simply DON"T LIKE AMERICA & AMERICANS. Period. Most NRIs very much including the alleged philanthropist Rajiv Malhotra are treasonous & treacherous toxins wreaking havoc from within.

Ravishankar the alleged brahminical CRIMINAL is doing nothing but political CHICANERY in the guise of 'seva' & pee ( tamil word for shit) oops 'peace'.

Ditto for all indian faux godmen and godwomen. Our Maker is certainly NOT a beggar.

These crooks beg , extort , demand " donations" all tax exempt.
Connect the dots.

Anonymous said...

" Does SriSri know you are not doing your AOL work & instead browsing anti AOL websites?

You know he gets really mad with those followers who visit such blogs, apart from those trusted ones who are on special projects to visit Anti-srisri/AOL blogs & do damage control for srisri.

I wonder if this blog is loosing steam or it is you who is loosing steam, trying to defend a psychopath?

His Holiness SriSriSriSriSriSri Whistleblower ,

Atta Boy !!! Thats the Spirit ! Keep it up!!

Prairie Princess ,

This crook ravishankar & a lot of richierich clout wielding silicon valley colonizers Indian IItians , IIMians blahblah have been sedulously usurping many minds of American Democrats ( Whites , Blacks etc etc).

In fact a hell of a lot of Indians from within America to within India pumped in a whopping amount of money to " engineer" victory of Democrats.

Wake up ! Indians always ally with Islamists & Thisisnotislamists as they simply DON"T LIKE AMERICA & AMERICANS. Period. Most NRIs very much including the alleged philanthropist Rajiv Malhotra are treasonous & treacherous toxins wreaking havoc from within.

Ravishankar the alleged brahminical CRIMINAL is doing nothing but political CHICANERY in the guise of 'seva' & pee ( tamil word for shit) oops 'peace'.

Ditto for all indian faux godmen and godwomen. Our Maker is certainly NOT a beggar.

These crooks beg , extort , demand " donations" all tax exempt.
Connect the dots.

Anonymous said...

BEWARE !

This Shashi Tharoor had interviewed the crook , the 'brahminical' fugitive from Justice aol SSSSS Ravishankar , the shameless self pimping Nobel Peace Prize 'almost wresting' faux messiah some time back.

It was not a hardhitting discerning one. Tharoor was approvingly " promoting" sssravishankar. No wonder ravishankar's clout extends to UN.

Thank God Tharoor did not become almighty in UN.It was the IIT pompous idiot liar Rajeev Srinivasan a malayali manoos alias 'shadow warrior' who was breastbeating booohoo a malayali not being "recognised" .

Treacherous toxins.That "hindu nationalist" blogger shadow warrior ensconced in America ( San Fransisco) is a hard core ssRavishankar footsoldier. And a vituperative hater of Whites & Christians.

Anonymous said...

comments@nobelprize.org

info@nobel.se

Anonymous said...

That solitary commenter pointing out nexus between ssrs & francois for wresting lucrative business takeovers was actually RIGHT !

Recall France & certain European Partners of a well known company (Arselor or Arcelor can't recall) were COERCED into handing over ALL in a platter to stinking rich hindu Lakshmi Mittal's son called Aditya or whatever.

Even certain hindus off the record said lakshmi mittal's son is an arrogant imperious unethical utterly unprofessional thuglike character.

A lot of heated discussion went on. Congress minister kamal nath ( even now holding some portfolio )another breathtakingly CORRRRRRUPT indian hindu bulldozed through the takeover.

Where trillions are involved all politicians & fauxgodmen dance the dervish dance.

Religion or caste has NOTHING at all to with one's character.No wonder indians have been audaciously screaming in high decibels for quite sometime that the future belongs to (sic) only indians. Who are so many in number whereas Whites are not producing children enough.

WAKE UP AMERICA & AUSTRALIA !!!!!

Anonymous said...

I feel conflicted about this particular series of posts, in the sense that I dont think any of this is really so much to be shocked about.

All the big prizes, Nobel, Oscar etc, come about as a result of extensive and detailed lobbying. This is a fact. Whether it was Aamir khan for Lagaan (which attempt failed) or Mthr. Teresa for the Nobel (which succeded), all these prizes are awarded because scores of unseen people actively pushed for it. Even Al Gore, even Obama all these people were pushed and I am sure there were active campaigns for them.

Let me clear one point. Should a Guru (who is supposed to have renounced the world) be actively coordinating this type of thing? Probably not.

But the fact is that to win these international level prizes you need to coordinate on this scale. That to me is not shocking. It is just a fact of life.

Unknown said...

Anonymous@9:18 said

"No wonder indians have been audaciously screaming in high decibels for quite sometime that the future belongs to (sic) only indians. Who are so many in number whereas Whites are not producing children enough.

WAKE UP AMERICA & AUSTRALIA !!!!!"

KLIM you better wake up not to tarnish this excellent blog by publishing such racist drivel.

Anonymous said...

April 18, 2010 7:47 PM Whistleblowers and his supporters - Why are you folks so worked up when I made a very rational comment about the blog posts; Besides taken a couple of courses I did not get attached to the organization like most people who post here! Why getting upset when I give a fair view on these few posts with NO STEAM! I am not going to defend myself any more , my point is made up to you and others to keep this more interesting! I have no stories to share but would like to be aware about things around me; Got it! (Sounds like Sri sri style?)

Peaceful Warrior said...

Excellent post whistle blower.

I remember I used to be an active volunteer, when they asked us to go around asking cities to declare sri sri ravishankar day. It was so embarrassing! We had hardly done any work in the area.
I knew it was wrong, but somehow justified it by blaming in on my inability to see the bigger truth.

Many teachers would just repeat the talking points about NPP nomination to people (and many such obvious falsehoods), with such conviction, that it made me question whether these people were really fit to be teachers of spirituality.

It was only later that I realized, that to be a teacher it is not necessary to be spiritual or an ethical person. All one needs to do is obey RS without questioning. So these people are either stupid, or very brainwashed and twisted. The good people had lot of dissonance inside them, which they were trying to brush under the rug all the time.

I tried to maintain high ethical standards myself, but realized it was futile, when I realized that the source of the B.S was the man himself.

My heart goes out to you guys (teachers) who endured this for so many years. People justify these things as tapasya - but it is not that. Tapasya is the opposite - going through the discomfort of being a whistleblower.

More power to you!

Anonymous said...

Taken from an AOL teacher's blog:
Q> I am a staunch follower of Art of living and have done part 1, part 2 and Sahaj Samadhi courses. I thoroughly enjoyed them and love Guruji. But I always felt the courses are expensive. I thought spiritual knowledge should be distributed at the minimal cost and it is upto the seeker to offer how much ever it pleases him/her for Guru Dakshina. There were a few other situations when I was a bit under financial pressure to donate atleast $300. This has bothered me quite a bit even though I am a philanthropist. If people are rich and can afford it, it is a different matter. Sorry for my ignorance. I am not really clear. But if you can please explain to me in detail, I would really appreciate it.
A> Spiritual Knowledge has never been at minimal cost .. earlier you would have had to go and do Seva in an Ashram for 10-15 years before you even got a whiff of learning about meditation… Then after all that, you would give a Guru Dakshina if at all
The Art of Living courses are typically 18-40 hours in length, assuming you are paying $300 for an approximately 25 hour course, you are paying $12 per hour which is utterly exploitative … Would you even be able to get your toilet fixed for $12 an hour? Are you not willing to spend more money on getting your mind fixed, than you would on your loo?!
You talk about yourself, but you do realize that there are so many teachers and an entire organisation to run which has expenses… No government, corporate, UN agency funds Art of Living. When teachers travel, they have to pay the bus/train/air fare. In our homes we have to pay telephone and electricity bills, and for the food we eat.
We have to pay for the hall rent, the rent for the audio system used on the course, etc … Many people work to make an Art of Living course happen, we have to pay them at least their expenses. There is a pretty big bill thats there at the end of the course.
$300 is peanuts to pay for a course that you know gives you so very much.
Another thing that we wanted was that we did not want people to be obligated and pay. We charge a certain fee for a service rendered. Its nice and clean.
Finally, if you want to buy yourself a car, a solid education, a home… at this point you dont say its too expensive do you? You take a loan and get it. An Art of Living course is on par with these big investments of life. If needed, take a loan… you know its worth it.
Finally, some of the money collected on courses is pumped back into society, it doesn’t line anyone’s pockets. It could be used to rehab prisoners, or in some disaster area, or in some war zone to help people. It could be used to help children, women, etc … It could also be used to take care of our full time teachers and their families whenever needed, It could also be used to build up our Ashram infrastructure so that when you come there, you can be taken better care of…
Our idea of doing Seva is not out of an empty bowl, so that we have to go to various people to get us money so that we can do Seva. Our teachers and volunteers work hard to make courses happen, a solid value is given to the participants in the course and then out of the profits that are made on the courses, our bowl are filled. Out of a full bowl which has been made so by dint of hard work, we do philanthropy. (Though of late, quite a few funding agencies have finally woken up to the fact that Art of Living is doing some great work and have expressed a desire to partner with us towards mutual goals… and thats a nice feeling too
I think thats quite noble, and you should feel privileged to give money to such an organization… even if it means a bit of a stretch for you.
I cannot get over the fact that he thinks that its a 'privilege' to give money to this organization..

Mr. Indian said...

[[Religion or caste has NOTHING at all to with one's character.No wonder indians have been audaciously screaming in high decibels for quite sometime that the future belongs to (sic) only indians. Who are so many in number whereas Whites are not producing children enough.]]

Mr. Anonymous: you think, these corrupt people love India. They are just a curse for us. Law of karma will catch up with these rascals and they will pay the price for their crooked deeds. And you all please do not generalize your remarks to include India and Indians - that's plain unfair.

Hope, you get it.

jivani said...

I doubt Obama had time to run a campaign to get himself elected to win the NPP what with the economic crisis. A person who runs a campaign like that is seriously narcissistic. It takes a special personality to do it. Most people don't qualify, for all their faults. So, I don't put Obama, Gore, or Mother Theresa in those categories. We're talking the ultimate narcissist, power-hungry, low-down dirty person who would do such a thing.

Someone told me there was some damage control going on on Bawa's blog. He posted a video encouraging people not to listen to negativity about the Guru. Sure, most of us don't want to dwell in negativity or gossip but let's not drop critical thinking!

Anonymous said...

@Anon 5:10 pm

they will always give you the same answer - I've done it to many times. About seva projects (hardly any money goes there). They give a twisted interpration of tradition. Most traditional mathas charge minimum fee - to this day. Check out bihar school of yoga, divine life society, ramakrishna mission, chinmaya mission.

The fee is minimal, and very reasonable.

Anonymous said...

I had posted few comments about this blog on bawas site..Firstly,he never accepted those comments..he has even blocked me .. loser he is ...

Anonymous said...

Anon @ April 19, 2010 5:10 PM said: "Spiritual Knowledge has never been at minimal cost .. earlier you would have had to go and do Seva in an Ashram for 10-15 years before you even got a whiff of learning about meditation… Then after all that, you would give a Guru Dakshina if at all"

Now read this quote from e-mail about "historical inauguration of a landmark building for the Art of Living foundation in Los Angeles"

"April 15,16 and 17
Morning – 10am to 12:30 - Commentary on the Upanishads.
Afternoon – 3pm to 5pm - Commentary on the Upanishads.
Evening – Satsang.

Location – 948 West Adams Blvd., Los Angeles – 90007

To attend the commentary on the Upanishads, the Guru Dakshina per person is $1,100 ($900 Dollars of your Guru Dakshina is tax deductible). On and after March 17, the Guru Dakshina will be $1,500 per person. Dakshina is the skillful act of giving an offering out of gratitude and without expectations of reward. It is a sacred practice that opens the seekers heart to receiving grace and blessings."

My question is what is Guru Dakshina? How is this "sacred practice" skillfully guided by RS different from rip off? Why only $1100-$1500 can "open the seekers heart to receiving grace and blessings"? Did Indian gurus always ask you big bucks to bless you?

AoL-Free said...

- Shouldn't Guru Dakshina be a DONATION?
- Does that mean only those who give/ $1,100 show gratitude and without expectations of reward?
- Does that mean only those who can give $1,100 have SKILLS? (Dakshina is the skillful act of giving an offering out of gratitude and without expectations of reward)
- Isn't that great? Even the Divine gives tax deduction! ($900 Dollars of your Guru Dakshina is tax deductible) BUT, taxes and prices also go through Inflation in the World of the Divine: "March 17, the Guru Dakshina will be $1,500 per person." - Does it also mean that only those who can - - GIVE/PAY between $1,110-1500 will be able to open "heart to receiving grace and blessings"?

Wasn't it RS who said Divine Love is unconditional? Didn't he also say noone will be denied knowledge if they cannot afford it?

Looks very conditional to me ... at least, under the condition that you have at least $1,500 to spend, you will receive love, happiness, blessings and the Grace of God. - Translation: IT IS SICK, sick sick twisted sick.

Anonymous said...

People want to pay $1,100 to purchas fun and bliss and getaway from their normal life work environments. Faith Rules!