Ravi Shankar's Hankering for NPP (Part 3)

By “His Holiness Sri Sri Whistleblower Ji”
(Did you notice the extra Ji at the end of my title? nice, hay?)

And the day before the official announcement, AOL people were expecting the NPP to just fall on SriSri’s lap. These kind of emails were circulating:
Friday, 7 October 2005 -Dear All,Jai Guru Dev!Tomorrow at 11am (Oslo, Norway time) will be the announcement we have all been waiting for. Attached is a media release. Please feel free to copy as you like.

Ever pleasing Francois Gautier (SriSri’s puppet journalist) even prepared this press statement for AOL centres:

*** It is with great pride that we receive the news that His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2005. His Holiness has been working tirelessly for bringing peace in the lives of people for the past 25 years.

Attempts to bring peace in society have been largely confined to the realms of economics and politics and have often missed the spiritual perspective. That’s where His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has been making a difference. Using his globally acclaimed breath-based stress-elimination programmes, he has been able to promote a stress-free society as the only permanent antidote to terrorism and violence.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has not only motivated thousands of volunteers to action towards peaceful co-existence, but also traveled extensively to strife-torn places to heal the wounds of victims and calm the aggressors. Thus he has been able to bring together people from opposing opinions. From Kashmir to Kosovo to Israel, he has worked to create a desire and drive for peace among the people from both sides of conflicts. A case in point is Sri Sri’s all inclusive pan-Kashmir approach to promote collective peace in militancy-hit Kashmir Valley, where within a short span of time, he reached out to all sections and rallied them together to create an atmosphere of mutual trust and dialogue.

This award will help encourage people to set aside all barriers of caste, creed, race, nationality and religion and join Sri Sri’s ceaseless crusade for peace. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar hopes that the recognition bestowed by this award will go a long way in realising his vision of a stress-free society.

It could not have come at a more special time when the Art of Living Foundation is gearing up to celebrate the completion of 25 years of service to humanity. Though this event will be feted throughout the year in major cities around the world, the main celebration will be in Bangalore, India in February 2006. Heads of governments, spiritual and other leaders from all over the world will come together at the event, …………..

What a laugh! Sri Sri’s own press office in Bangalore Ashram were so sure about Sri sri receiving NPP that they sent a press kit to all centres, even releasing Guruji’s statement to them, all ready to go:

We are delighted to learn that His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize for Peace. The first ever Indian to win this accolade, His Holiness views this as an affirmation of our country’s long-standing spiritual ideals of knowledge, non-violence and harmony......

Very humble acceptance statement, don’t you think so?!!(Esp knowing he had got it prepared beforehand!!!)

And just to be sure no enthusiastic devotee published the above statement before the official announcement from Norway, they added these warnings to the emails:

...Please note that the statement by the Art of Living Foundation will be shared with the press only after the NPP commitee makes the announcement.

... NOT TO BE SHARED WITH MEDIA UNTIL THE OFFICIAL ANNOUNCENT.

So funny, don’t you think so?! They sure were salivating waiting for the news & most of it from SriSri himself.

And what a shame that all that preparation came to nothing when the next day, NPP 2005 was awarded to the International Atomic Energy Organization & not to SriSri !!!

And before the national coordinators had a chance to breath , after all the work they did for NPP 2005, they received the new directive from Sri Sri through the same project team:

After several consultations with Guruji, we are very delighted to once again invite all colleagues in the NPP project network to embark on a fresh undertaking: to put forward Guruji’s candidacy for the NPP 2006. Guruji’s message to us all is that we should not not lose heart in not making it to our goal this year. Instead, the challenge is for us to strive and persevere with more dedication and creativity in the cause spreading his living legacy of peace. We have learned so much from our past NPP project experience, and we should continue to put to bear our 100% efforts on the noble aim of calling the attention of the whole world to the great works of Guruji.
………..We know that the NPP is a “Euro-centric” political process and we are calling on all European NPP Coordinators to re-double their efforts to secure many more NPP nominations from Europe.

No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not again?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do we have to go through all that again?!!!! Yes, Sri Sri wants a NPP. Can we just give one to him ourselves, to make this megalomaniac happy? No, he wants the one from Norway!! Can we buy him one?!! Well, that is what we have been trying to do & continue to do, ie buy influence!! I wish buying a NPP for SriSri was at easy as buying some stamps with his pictures on it & saying Govt of that country issued them in his honour!! It would have saved all of us so much time & effort!

So here we went again. There were new set of orders from top echelon to win NPP2006:

Last year, we were not able to secure a single nomination from “peace research institutes and institutes of foreign affairs”, as a category of eligible nominators. This year, it should be our high priority to get nominations from these institutions.

Unlike last year where our efforts to secure nominations were concentrated in the month of January, this year we must come up with the needed nominations by end December 2005.

Nominators who agree to write a nomination letter for Guruji will be given assistance in drafting their letter if so requested. Attached to this email are a list of points, duly noted by Guruji, which our nominators can choose to highlight in their nomination letters. Please study these points carefully and consider which ones can be personally endorsed by a nominator whom you have approached. As in the past, drafting assistance will be extended to NPP National Coordinators by members of the International Coordination Team.

…So let us please quickly, discreetly, and with renewed enthusiasm re-launch our NPP campaign. Guruji has given his blessings to each and everyone of us. This round has to be the final round!

The NPP project international coordination team will immediately contact all coordinators by phone for consultations and follow-up.
Jaina Desai
Frederique Lebelley
Ewald Poeran
Christoph Glasser
Fahri Saatcioglu
Werner Luedemann
Peter Payoyo

(Please note Guruji’s secretary’s name, Jaina, appears at the top of SriSri’s NPP project team list.)

We were all wondering, didn’t His Holiness, Himself , bless the project last year? So what was the use of his blessings?!! And if no good last year, what good it would be this year?!!

Only if Norway Noble Committee knew what we had to endure to get this guy a NPP, surely they would have shown some compassion & just give it to him. Just for one year!! That is all he wanted, to be known as the winner of NPP, so he could get more money from George Bush & alike to build his real estate business. What is wrong with that?!! Just another title he could add to his name. Why Oslo Noble team couldn’t get it that this guy was GOD; that he could add any title he wanted to his name. So he was really giving them an opportunity & a great honour to confer Sri Sri the NPP title & earn good merits! What an honour would be for Nobel committee if SriSri got NPP!!! They didn’t think about that, did they? Silly silly boys! As Gautier would have us believe, it would have increased the integrity of NPP so many folds if it was given to Srisri!!! Right Francois?
And if NPP could have been bought by cash, that would have been no problem either. SriSi may be short of integrity & honesty, but not short of cash!

To be continued....

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…

Ravishankar's hankering for the Nobel Peace Prize (part 1)

BY WHISTLEBLOWER

In spite of all his lectures to his followers on avoiding feverishness & just observe their desires & let go, Sri Sri was very feverish about getting a Nobel Peace Prize. The guy , so ever hankering for more fame and glory and power & political influence, wanted a NPP badly and was flogging his senior teachers/members of his inner circle, at full speed, to get it for him. They, in return, hoping for more recognition from the master and earning his favour, were flogging everyone else. Without any trace of shame or humility, Sri Sri , casting all cautions to the wind, was demanding his lackeys to get this NPP for him. When confronted with the question as to why a godman claiming he has no desire for fame & glory wants NPP, he would say he doesn’t want it for himself, he wanted it for his organisation to get recognition for all the good work they were doing. And when asked why he wanted recognition for the organisation (was the work being done to get recognition?) , his reply was so that with a NPP under our belt we can do more work!!!! Oh, ya!!!

Next question of course was how come Guruji, this self-claimed God & Master of universe, who had nature under his command & was reincarnation of Krishna, Christ, Shiva & God & Gurudev & Buddha what not and someone who could perform so many miracles & even bring people back from death & make things happen like magic, how come he couldn’t just wave his magic wand & get a NPP easily. And the answer , for those foolish enough to ask, was that he wanted to give his teachers and followers an opportunity to grow and learn & earn good merits!! If he would make everything happen so easily then they wouldn’t have opportunity to grow!! A reply heard many times from Guruji in sticky situations!!

In Sep 2004, all AOL centres received an email saying:

The Nobel Peace Prize (NPP) Project has been launched with Guruji’s designation of an international team to work quickly and quietly on this initiative, initially with the following members:
Peter Payoyo, overall coordinator, Netherlands
Christopher Kiran Byrt, Norway
Christoph Glaser, Switzerland
Werner Luedemann, Germany
Ewald Poeran, Netherlands
Fahri Saatcioglu, Norway

and were duly advised in the same email:

A final note: We urge everyone to be very discreet about this matter. It is the standard policy of the Nobel Committee that nominators and nominees must not publish nor advertise their nominations. Guruji’s nomination will be unnecessarily jeopardized if we allow the NPP Project to be exposed publicly. So let us all just keep the smile, keep the silence, and wish for the best.

ie, even though WE know & even though YOU know the orders for getting a NPP for Sri Sri comes from Guruji himself, we all have to keep this as a secret!!

These top echelons in turn were asking for National coordinators (NC) to assist with this project. But in no time, as Sri Sri’s pressure on them increased, they changed their tone to the NCs from one of asking them for their assistance to one of demanding for reports re how many letter of nomination they have got.

It went from:

The National Coordinator will act as a focal person for our collective efforts and will become part of the global coordination network to assist in Guruji’s NPP nomination.

to:

To the National Coordinators who have not shared any news to the International Coordination Team, you may wish to get in touch ASAP and kindly let me know what is the real score on your grounds.

In the coming days and weeks in the run up to February 1st, I and the other members of the International Coordination Team will be calling you individually by phone so that we may be able to share personal updates about progress made on the project. This is in line with the instructions given by Guruji yesterday to the effect that the International Coordination Team must call each one of the National Coordinators for encouragement and solidarity.

Guruji has the list of NPP National Coordinators and he mentioned that he is counting on you, and each one of our national coordinator-colleagues, to rush this project to the finish (end of this month) and to accomplish our mission with a smile.

In line with this latest directive from Guruji, may I therefore request each one of you to send me a.s.a.p. (at the latest this Friday night) the NAMES OF NOMINATORS whom you have approached in your own countries.

The committee members & Guruji’s secretary Jaina, would send personal emails to those involved saying things like:

Gurudev asked me to get in touch with you personally. HE said approach parliamentarians and professors... and finish the work by end of January

so there was no doubt whatsoever Guruji was personally pushing this project & exerting all pressure he could on his senior teachers & they in return were pressurizing others!

The above NPPP committee members were sending emails left & right, saying things like:

Yesterday in Brussels, I had the opportunity to talk to Guruji about our project. His message and his blessing to all of us is:

Let us work harder and give our very best to come up with many NPP nomination letters before the end of this month.

The pressure is building and is wonderfully upon us to make a miracle happen! May I enjoin everyone, in typical Art of Living fashion, to rush and make haste, and create wonders for Guruji and the NPP project during this auspicious New Year.

This Saturday, January 15th, Guruji will meet with the members of the International Coordination Team in our Ashram in Bad Antogast (yes, he will be in Germany this weekend). His instruction, relayed by phone last Sunday, is for us to come up with the LIST of people who have definitely agreed to write NPP nomination letters.

They were sending draft letters & glamorised biography of Guruji to coordinators & basically harassing them to get nomination letters, throughout quoting Guruji said this & that, making it plain obvious the orders came from Guruji himself & using it as an opportunity to boast about their closeness to Guruji!! And for these lackeys to get closer to the Guru, everyone else had to bust their butts, so they could get the credit!

Guruji met with of the NPP Project Coordination Team last Saturday afternoon in his room in the Ashram at Bad Antogast, Germany. The members of the team that went to see him were Christoph Glasser, Werner Luedemann, Ewald Poeran, and myself. Also in attendance in the meeting were some Art of Living colleagues who had an interest in the project.

Guruji was presented with the list of all confirmed nominators as of Saturday morning, which was a compilation of all the names of individual nominators that you have sent me, or which you have notified to other members of the international team. The list of confirmed nominators is subdivided into three categories: (1) those who have actually already sent nomination letters, (2) those who are already writing their nominations, and (3) those who are very likely to send nomination letters before the Feb 1 deadline. The list also indicates the NPP country/project coordinators responsible for the confirmed nominations..... Guruji went through the list page by page for several minutes. I can certainly report to you that Guruji expressed satisfaction on the fact that we have secured at least 130 confirmed nominations as of Saturday morning. It was mentioned to him there were four heads of government (1 president and 3 Prime Ministers) who have supported his nomination so far. It was also mentioned that many more new nominations will be secured in the coming days.

Guruji sends his love to all. He has also given specific instructions addressed to particular countries and coordinators which I shall communicate individually to those concerned in due course.

Guruji’s general directive remains: the members of the interntional team as well as our roving NPP project contacts will continue to call you via phone or email to facilitate progress and to exchange information up to the last day of our project. So please have patience with us on our follow-up calls, and do kindly keep the international team directly posted on the most recent developments concerning particular nominators in your own jurisdictions.

May I take this opportunity to thank all of you for the assisting in the effort to prepare the report presented to Guruji last Saturday. Gurji was certainly happy with our report, and with our overall performance thus far. May I also thank the NPP coordinators and AoL leaders who were there in the Ashram to give me personal updates concerning the NPP project in their respective countries.A full and final report on our project will be submitted to Guruji in February.

And after sending those involved particular drafts of Nomination letters & asking them to send those, suddenly they sent an email saying:

Due to widespread concern, and on account of numerous feedbacks received by the International Coordination Team, may I reiterate the following reminders:

1. The ‘model nomination letter’ circulated earlier (Word document: “Example and Elements of a Model Nomination Letter”) is for your guidance only. Use this document to get a general idea about the particular nomination letter which you need to draft, when this drafting is called for. The ‘model nomination letter’ should NOT be copied verbatim. Some nomination letters have already been forwarded to the Nobel Committee in Norway using the text of this illustrative nomination letter. The sincerity and political impact behind the massive nomination of Guruji to the 2005 NPP will be seriously impaired if there are any more letters sent to Norway using the monotonous text and style of the ‘model nomination letter’.

Henceforth, new nominations that are in the process of being obtained by NPP coordinators must ensure that the nomination letters are original and worded differently – to reflect the unique personality of the nominator, and describing his/her personal experiences with Guruji as well as the local/national situation concerning Guruji’s work. If you need any drafting assistance, please let me know.

The email below sent by the above NPPP committee exposes the sham so beautifully. It is so revealing:

The continuing CONFIDENTIALITY AND SECRECY of the NPP project – our concerted and collective campaign to solicit nomination letters for Guruji – must be absolutely maintained and protected with utmost diligence. One leakage of any single aspect of the NPP project to the public domain, or public knowledge of any written suggestion that Guruji is somehow involved in this project, will spell immediate disaster.

To preserve the integrity of our mission, I ask everyone involved to take a step back and examine each and every communication that you have sent out (especially faxes and emails) to “others”, even those addressed to other Art of Living colleagues. Please check whether you have mentioned any fact or reference about Project that may be interpreted wrongly and cause prejudice to Guruji. For example, have you communicated to some other person a message to the effect that “Guruji has instructed that he wants you to get a nomination from so and so” or, “Guruji wants to know who are nominating him” or, “Guruji is asking whether you can help us in the NPP” or, “Guruji has asked us to work fast on nominations”? If you have, please let me know a.s.a.p so that we can rectify the situation.

Lapses or mistakes along lines that could prove damaging to Guruji might have been made at the height of your eagerness or excitement to obtain nomination letters for Guruji. It is part of our responsibility to immediately correct these mistakes.

The confidentiality and low-profile approach underlying our NPP Project does not mean that what we are doing is wrong. On the contrary, we are engaged in a quiet, noble mission. The reason why we keep our Project top secret from start to finish is simple: we must not give any reason to the Nobel Committee (or political opportunist therein) to mis-characterize what we are doing as a self-promotion campaign by Guruji. The secular politics behind the selection of the Nobel Peace Prize winner will never be able to comprehend the meaning of our “Jai Guru Dev”.

And from time to time, the use of the words were so revealing too, Freudian slip perhaps,:

For NPP Coordinators and Contacts who have notified me of their 'harvest', please check the numbers reported against your own records.

As the pressure was building higher on NPPP committee members, they started to send contradictory directives. One minute it was:

Only eligible nominators must be approached to write nomination letters. Potential nominators who do not fall clearly and categorically in the list of qualified nominators should NOT be requested nor invited to write a nomination letter for Guruji. Please disregard any rumor or message saying that the Nobel Committee has relaxed its rules concerning eligibility requirements for nominators. Dignitaries or high officials who are not included in the list of nominators, are to be excluded. Stick to the relevant guidelines set in previous NPP Bulletins.

The next minute was:

At this critical juncture, Guruji’s candidacy urgently calls for our support, literally everyone’s support, to ensure victory. How do we give our support? This is what we propose to do: let us send “letters of support for Guruji” in the thousands to the Nobel Committee in Norway. The elements of this new campaign are as follows:
1. The names of the individuals and organizations officially nominated to the NPP 2005 have been published. After the nomination process, any person can now send a letter or communication or declaration to the Nobel Committee to express support for, or make a comment on, any nominee.
2. Given this opening, we are in a position to harness the power of world opinion in favor of Guruji. We will ask anyone and everyone FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE to write a letter of support for Guruji, to endorse his candidacy to the NPP 2005, and/or to thank all those who have nominated Guruji to the NPP 2005.
3. A letter of support from anyone means exactly that – anyone inside or outside the Art of Living community can write a letter. Children, students, soldiers, policemen, prisoners, business people, government officials, households, community leaders and shakers, Muslims, Christians, professionals, migrant workers, fishers, the sick or hospitalized, those in conflict zones, the wealthy, womens’ groups, scientists, artists, politicians, school teachers, VIPs, etc., etc. – in short, anyone who cares for Guruji and his cause for peace and human values can send in a letter of support.
5. I myself have written a letter of support for Guruji, in my capacity as the head of a non-profit foundation extending care to seafarers in the Port of Rotterdam. Each one of us, and all those around us who have been touched by Guruji, can surely send a letter to support Guruji’s bid to the NPP this year.
6. The only CAVEAT is: a person should NOT identify himself or herself as affiliated with the Art of Living Foundation or the IAHV (or any other organization founded by Guruji) when s/he writes a letter of support, because this will be seen as an unethical and indirect self-promotion by Guruji. If an author cannot affiliate himself with a proper role or position (like, “as a Budhist” or “as a 10 year old child” or “as a businessman”, or “as an ordinary worker”, or “as a citizen of Norway”), then he can simply write: “as a human being who is deeply concerned with the peace situation in the world [or, peace situation in my country] , I am very happy to know that Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has been nominated to the Nobel Peace Prize. Our world will be a more harmonious and peaceful place for all if Sri Sri Ravi Shankar wins this award. So please make him win. Thank you, xxxx”, or something to this effect.

The good news is that Guruji’s candidacy, from all indications, is being taken very seriously indeed by the Nobel Committee. But Guruji is not the only leading NPP contender. There are other NPP candidates that have launched powerful, mass-based campaigns. Let us back up Guruji with the power and a force that the Nobel Committee cannot afford to ignore, namely, the inspiration and peace that Guruji has himself gifted to all who celebrate his grace.

[Did you read number 6 caveat carefully? Even though they were emailing AOL members to write these letters of support, they were telling them to lie & do not reveal their connection to AOL/Guruji. This widespread act of deceit of course was not confined to NPPP, but is a common strategy in all AOL PR. All those articles you see by so called independent journalist praising the Guru & his work are witten by AOL Teachers, his communication team & his PR machine.]

And then in their next email they would say:

It has come to our attention that the email I sent earlier this week, which was addressed to all former national coordinators of the NPP project, has been circulated indiscriminately by one or two of our colleagues, treating that email as if it were a ‘chain letter’. As a result, that email has reached people who could potentially misunderstand the purpose of our undertaking.

To avoid further confusion and misunderstanding about our enterprise, I am therefore sending out this cautionary reminder to everyone concerned:

1. The goal of our campaign is to have many 'letters of support' written and then sent to Norway. The best approach to realize this goal is to have intensive person-to-person meetings or discussions in order to explain our campaign and to get results. If a national coordinator or focal person feels that my email should be shared to other people for information purposes, then please please be extra-cautious in your choice of contacts or addressees to whom you forward that email. Make sure that only responsible and discreet colleagues get it. Like this email, that email was meant as a confidential and very personal communication.

2. This campaign is NOT Guruji’s campaign. Basically, it is a campaign of independent, like-minded individuals all over the world who believe that Guruji should win the NPP 2005. This means that it is NOT an official project of the AofL or the IAHV. To illustrate the point, may I refer you to my own letter of support (attached) which was mentioned in my last email, and which will perhaps clarify the important guideline that letter-writers should NOT be seen as AofL or IAHV officers/representatives when they write their letters of support.

Two other guidelines for your kind and immediate consideration:

4. I mentioned “children” in my last email as subjects included in our campaign. However, the focus should instead be on “young people” (or teenagers) who have achieved a certain level of maturity and discretion. So let us please focus on encouraging young but sufficiently autonomous/mature people to write letters of support for Guruji (and not little children, lest we be accused of manipulating infants for our campaign).

Yes, you read it right (#2 above), suddenly we went from Guruji designated a team to win him NPP & Guruji chairing the meeting &his hands on approach to project and Guruji said this & that to it “is not Guruji’s campaign”!!! That It had nothing to do with Guruji, it was “a campaign of independent, like-minded individuals all over the world who believe that Guruji should win the NPP 2005”.

What fun!!!

Let every city declare my day

BY ART OF LEAVING

I fell for the charm of SSRS in 2006, the year of AOL’s Silver Jubilee celebrations. The short Silver Jubilee film made by Chinese photographers was shown ad nauseam at satsangs. At each showing we were told the coloured lights in the sky represented devas or angelic beings that came en masse to grace this special occasion organised by Guruji.

There was a massive stage with politicians, celebrities and thousands of musicians. AoL claimed two and a half million humans from half the nations of the world filled the airfield below and hosted heavenly visitors the skies above. The presence of the latter had been expertly captured, they claimed, through today’s advanced technology and the skill of the photographers. Never mind that the lights did not look particularly special to the ordinary observer (they actually seemed more like reflections of stage lights on the camera lens). The point was if you had the ability to see auras, you would have known that the lights contained tiny figures in lotus posture and the like. It was suggested the huge bright light hovering over one part of the stage was His Holiness himself, much brighter and bigger than the ones in the skies - a great blessing bestowed on humanity.

I was new and the film made some impact on me yet I found it a little strange SSRS attached so much importance to the whole thing. With or without heavenly guests, it did not seem to me much more than a big show.

A few months later I found myself at darshan given by him to international devotees during the Navaratri celebrations in the Bangalore ashram. We were shown one or two certificates from Canadian cities that had named him honorary citizen and declared a SSRS day. SSRS then urged us to organise the declaration of an AoL day in our own cities when we returned home.

He impressed upon us that since it was the year of Silver Jubilee, a once in a life time happening, we must not miss the opportunity and three or four people together should seek local politicians, tell them about the AoL Silver Jubilee, show footages and give them a folder with copies of all the certificates already conferred. He then added, with a dismissive gesture: “Of course, we know these things really mean nothing but for the sake of those who think it is important...”

Perhaps to reassure devotees who might disagree with asking their cities to declare a day in his name, he added: “We made sure at Silver Jubilee I did not sit on a big chair. I sat in the same chair as everyone else so it wouldn't cause a problem.” He seemed amused at this fact. It was a kind of admission that he was deliberately presenting a more secular and humble face to the world but that the devotees were in on the secret of who he really was – divine enough to deserve a special big chair (as if that was a sign of divinity or importance!).

I felt uneasy by this running after name and fame, and the strategy used did not strike me as honest, humble or spiritual. Normally one would hope that honours and awards are conferred on a person because it is clear to the public eye or to respectable institutions that the work s/he has done is for the common good and of great benefit. One would hope that it is not due to a lot of lobbying by the followers of the person in question. I wondered how on earth one would convince one’s city to declare a day in honour of AoL on the basis of Silver Jubilee. I thought the event had great value in its own right but it would be difficult to make it seem relevant to cities in other parts of the world.

At the time I was not aware of the big push to get SSRS the Nobel Peace Prize and that the “SSRS day” drive was part of that strategy. KLIM’s post Gandhi also did not get the Nobel Peace Prize enlightened me about the extent of the strategising and lobbying that goes on in the AoL.

Exactly how successful or unsuccessful devotees were in their “SSRS day” attempts can be gauged from http://www.srisri.org/biography/awards-and-honours. Gullible cities are listed under “His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Day” and “International Honours”.

Flies: musca domestica

For a long time I kept wondering whether I did right leaving the AoL. I was told so much there was no life outside or after AoL, that people fell in disgrace, that being on the path was the most amazing opportunity in life, that having an enlightened Guru was such a life time blessing not everyone could enjoy, that all my talents were given to me by him, etc. I kept actually digging my own hole deeper and deeper thinking perhaps I was the worst thing in the world, like SS tried to convince me of, and, without him I was nothing. (He himself warned me I would “burn” if I left him, and that I would, in two years, crawl back begging him to let me in (I must add, he is such a poor psychic!)).

For a long time I was haunted and imprisoned by these thoughts, until one day my doctor said,

Then shit must be very good because trillions of flies like it.

Other than a big laugh, it helped me wake up one day with the realization AoL is only less than 1% of the entire planet! What am I afraid of? What did I really loose? They tried to convince me AoL was the biggest thing on the planet and that the whole universe would be his, but come on! Out of 40 people in a course, how many really stay? If lucky, 4 or 5. Out of those 4 or 5, how many actually become devotees? Maybe 1 or 0. Out of those, how many become teachers? Out of those teachers, how many stay for a long time? All the numbers given to us were usually fabricated. If there were 300 people in a talk, he’d say there were 1,500. If there were 2,000, he’d say there were 10,000 and so many who could not go in! I remember one day we even asked him if he counted the extra spirits in the room because we never agreed with his numbers. He’d just laugh and exaggerate even more each year! The lesson was “think big, make it bigger than whatever it is, then it will become that big.” Maybe this works, yet I rather achieve, small or big, with integrity rather than with deception. A man is great because of his greatness, not because of the publicity he showers on himself.

That is how one day, we heard over 20 million people had done the course. Even a teacher then, I wondered how had they come up with those calculations. AoL was and is a very disorganized organization, from bottom to top, from top to bottom. We never kept track of anything at all. And courses were so small … over 20 million people seemed like too large of a number. But of course, there was always India, where according to him, everyone fought to join the AoL! Even then, how many really remain?

Somehow, keeping things in perspective constantly has been of great help. 20 million is a marketing figure, AoL represents less than 1% of the world and it is not going to take over the world, even if he wins the NPP! And a trillion flies like shit!

A note from wikipedia: Flies have often been used in mythology and literature to represent agents of death and decay, such as the Biblical fourth plague of Egypt, or portrayed as nuisances.

Relax, SOMEONE will get the Nobel Peace Prize

He was obsessed with getting the Nobel Peace Prize. As a consequence, we were all obsessively working to get him the prize. Actually, I can’t think of anyone more spoiled than him. Except, he does not pout when he does not get what he wants, he slays.

I just did not know how obsessed he was with the NPP. Someone who left the organization secretly shared that the last time they met Sri Sri, he asked them to take him to a psychic. They found him two. And to the two, he only asked one question: “Will I get the Nobel Peace Prize this year?”

It is hilarious and I am confused.

1) Wasn’t it that he knows everything?
2) Wasn’t it we should never consult psychics, astrologers, etc.?
3) Wasn’t it we need to live the moment?
4) Wasn’t it we need to practice “dispassion”?
5) Wasn’t it enlightenment comes with dispassion, the state of no desires?
6) Wasn’t it “we are not the doers, it is all a happening”?
7) Wasn’t it awards, etc. do not matter? “All those actors and actresses, so insecure … blablabla … the Oscar awards …blablabla”

I would have loved to be a fly to hear the conversation between the guru and the psychics and see the expression in their faces. I understand one of them told him he was too caught in his big ego. I cannot imagine anyone telling him that but I am glad someone did! (Thank you Mr/Mrs psychic).

Of course, the devotees who took him to the psychics dropped out not long after this.

Gandhi also did not get the Nobel Peace Prize

It was not until Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize that the feverishness to get him the award mellowed. Otherwise, every year prior to that, we all felt the pressure of working towards getting the prize we all knew he deserved but it was time for the world to know about his greatness.

First, it was to get him nominated by getting letters from university professors, members of parliament, members of international organizations. Teachers were pressured to produce at least 5 to 10 letters. Constantly, we’d get emails from the “NPP team” making us feel bad if did not get any. When, on the other hand, it was always obvious those in the NPP team had pressure from the Guru himself, and they wanted to win more affection and approval from him by making us all get letters. Our hard work would be their Guru prize. Their Guru Prize would be the Guru’s prize.

Once nominated, it was about getting him meetings in Norway to brown nose officials, so-called “VIPs.” Bottom line, he claimed to work towards getting this prize for the world, not for himself: We all knew he deserved it. He did not care about awards. Bu the world is shallow and needs these kinds of recognition in order to value someone’s work.

I never really understood this hype, although, I must confess, I eagerly worked in favor of it as well, even if it did not make sense at all. For example, the year that we were asked to get as many support letters as possible and send them to the Nobel Committee. I even heard a teacher encourage everyone to get letters from everyone, anyone, “grocery keeper, the butcher, the bus driver … write a letter, write anything, have anyone sign it, our Guruji needs to get this award.” The result was, of course, chaos and hundreds of funny letters such as, “I am writing to support Sri Sri Ravishankar to the Nobel Peace Prize. Since I did his AoL course I no longer suffer of PMS.”

Of course, he did not win the award that year, and the NPP committee woke up to the realization it requires a lot more than just support letters to win the NPP. It required subject, content, focus. Why should Sri Sri win the NPP? Because he is teaching millions of people breathe and feel relaxed? Because he ONCE took a picture or two in the areas affected by the tsunami? Because he included projects in the prisons? Because he invited a few terrorists and few Iraqis to the Bangalore Ashram?

After I left the organization, I was invited to an event held by Amma’s group. I could not believe my eyes when they showed their video. It was almost the same as AoL’s: Amma at the UN, Amma accepting this and that award, Amma with such and such famous person, Amma helping out in the Tsunami, Amma in the prisons, Amma building hospitals, Amma’s rural schools, Amma’s work with terrorist, Amma … Actually, I have to say, Amma has done a lot more than Sri Sri and her video is a lot better than his! I wonder, is Amma also lobbying to get the NPP?

It was weird to see Ravishankar intensely follow the news when Bono showed up as a strong candidate. He would shut us up to watch the news. His eyes, wide open, focused, intense. Even then, a devotee myself, I found his attitude strange. For someone so enlightened, he seemed too feverish about winning this US$1 mi award. For someone who claimed to have done such great work, he was actually worried about the possibility of losing to Bono? Of course, if someone else won, “it is all about politics. Gandhi was nominated many times and never won. Mother Theresa was recognized only post-mortum.” When it came in handy, Gandhi and Mother Theresa were mentioned in positive manners, otherwise, he’d always speak ill about them.

Thank God Al Gore won. Otherwise, every year prior to that, we’d get statements: “Guruji says he will win the NPP this year. We need to work for it.” Now that I think about it, what an incoherent statement! Why did we have to work hard for it if it was a given he’d win it? Oh yes, of course, I forgot the knowledge: we are not the doers, it is all a happening, but we need to take responsibility for it and do something. (I am now confused, am I or am I not the doer? Is it, or is it not all a happening? Does he or does he not know everything?).

It is funny. Even after missing it so many years, the dissonance of the group was so big, noone wondered about his false prediction (again). Every year’s disappointment would be interpreted as, for example, “He would have won it if it wasn’t because of Al Gore. He obviously had a stronger pull. It is all politics. Guruji was going to win it this year though.”

What about the previous years though? Ah, what does it matter? Gandhi also did not get it.

I, of course, have lost respect for the Nobel prizes and every year, close to the deliberation of the winners, I worry Sri Sri may win the award. If that ever happens, I would have confirmed the world really is suffering of a hopeless crisis.