His Holiness penchant for lying and deceiving- Part 2

So let’s get this right. SriSri claims that he can’t do charity from an empty bowl, hence charging hefty course fees so he can use the proceeds for charity.

 Then he says “There are expenses involved in renting a place for so many days, a teacher to come. We hardly save 10 to 15 percent on course. Sometimes it is little higher.”

So here he claims that 85-90% of the income from each course goes to expenses.This contradicts his instructions to AOL centers and teachers that expenses for each course should stay below 25% (in some countries maximum expenses allowed for each course is indeed even lower than that, i.e. 10%).

 And if he saves only 10-15% per course, then why do AOL teachers tell course participants that most of their course fees goes to Charity? Why aren’t students told that only 10-15% of their fees goes to charity, based on SriSri’s own admission.

Also AOL teachers tell course participants and volunteers that they are unpaid volunteers and that they keep the course expenses to a minimum so that more money can go towards charity. Venue rentals and travel costs of the teacher (if any at all) cannot explain where that 85-90% of revenues goes to. So the question remains: “WHERE DOES ALL THAT MONEY DISAPPEARS TO?”

 Also, how can SriSri justify 85-90% expenses per course when he also claims that AOL admin costs are below 5%, see below:

4 POWERS OF ART OF LIVING

 1)      Zero Corruption: Because of Guruji  H.H. SRI SRI RAVISHANKARJI there is no corruption in the whole organization as such. There is total transparency in every process. All records regarding funds and other resources utilization are maintained strictly.

2)      Techniques /Processes / Courses: THE ART OF LIVING has techniques /processes /courses / Sudarshan Kriya through which the mindset of people can be changed and human values are uplifted.

3)      Minimum Administration and other costs: Most of the NGO’s spend about 40 – 50% but our experience is that AOL admin costs are only 2 – 5%, which is a very healthy practice. We spend the donor’s money for the seva work with minimum expenditure on admin procedure.

4)      Solutions: AOL courses offers solutions to many problems concerning the present day situations, starting from Prisons to Corporates, from children to senior citizens, from schools programs to colleges and universities, from agriculture to environment and health; trauma relief and war victims.

 If he mocks other NGOs for having high admin costs of 40-50%, what can we tell about AOL admin cost of 85-90%?

 On the other hand, If Michael Fischman (AOL US president) instructs that the course expenses must be kept to below 25%, then a minimum of 75% of gross income from each course end up in the accounts where he and Jeff Houk (treasurer) have guardianship over. Where does this money go from there? It sure doesn’t go to any charity. Even their own accounts don’t show any spending on charity. Where does it then go to? How much do Michael and Jeff take for themselves or are they offering their services for free like other AOL volunteers (you know the ones that actually organize all those courses (all free of cost to AOL) and send them 75% of the gross income).

 Please don’t tell us that this money goes to the upkeep of the AOL Ashrams, when we know that Ashrams are very well self-funded from the expensive residential courses they hold. Each part1,part2 , blessing course, TTC course, Guru Puja, Sahaj, Youth courses etc. taught in any Ashram is priced heavily, so a small percentage of revenues from those courses are enough for running of the Ashram. Bear in mind also that all those poor volunteers, who work in the Ashrams in the name of Seva, don’t get paid. So free slave labor, low overheads, huge course fees and huge revenues. Indeed we should ask what happens to the rest of the money from these courses as well. Not to mention that many of these courses like DSN, etc become yet another fund generating exercise, as participants are asked to collect huge amounts of donations or to fundraise for AOL as part of their course project/homework (this on top of their original course fees!).

Also Ashram teachers, when they teach courses in other cities or other countries, take all the proceeds from those courses back to the Ashram, minus a percentage for themselves.

Even to buy the land or building for a centre (or any needed repairs or upgrades) the local devotees/members have to collect donations or donate their own money or  do their own fundraising and the resulting centre will end up belonging to AOL totally free of cost!

 So where else the course fees disappear to, apart from SriSri’s and his family’s personal bank accounts, properties and businesses? Oh yes, to full-time teachers!

Who are these full time teachers and how much each one of them gets paid? AOL has been registered as a charity in India, US, Europe and many other countries. They are obliged under registered charity laws to show any salaries paid, esp. to themselves!

 And again let us get this one right too. Are they expecting that the majority of AOL teachers and volunteers work hard to organize and teach AOL courses, so this minority of full-time teachers live off their backs? Majority of teachers and volunteers have jobs and family and organize courses and fundraising events in their spare time to bring huge revenues for AOL, believing the money goes to charity. Do you think they would be happy to know that these minority teachers live a parasitic lifestyle with the hard earned funds raised for the purpose of charity?

And if these full time teachers are so valuable to the organization that they have been offered salaried jobs, aren’t they capable of bringing at least enough funds to the organization to cover their own salaries? Otherwise what is the point of making them salaried staff when there are so many volunteers who are happy to do their jobs for free?! So either they are capable of making enough money for the organization to cover their salaries (instead of living off AOL revenues meant for charity) or they are just a sink for AOL funds, in which case they should be sacked and be replaced with true volunteers.

 If these so called full-timers are so useless that a huge proportion of course revenues goes to their salaries, why doesn’t SriSri sack them? Is it because they know too much? Is it because they know that none of AOL money goes to charity anyway, so they are also helping themselves to the same “charity pool” that SriSri and family are helping themselves to?

 And why AOL teachers tell their students that their course fees go to charity if the money goes to pay for a bunch of full-timers lavish life style, not to mention SriSri’s or his family?

Do you think AOL would be able to get registered as a charity and enjoy all those tax benefits and huge donations if truth would be revealed about the end destination of course fees and donations? Do you think anyone would think of AOL as a charity if they knew that donations and the money earned from the courses go to salaries and to finance certain individuals parasitic life styles rather than funding charity projects?

 If the income from AOL courses go to SriSri, Bhanu Didi, her husband and their sons Arvind and Ajay and selected so called “full-timers”, shouldn’t AOL be registered as a company and pay taxes like everyone else? Isn’t it about time IRS in US and similar government agencies in other countries revoke AOL charity status? Isn’t it about time that media start investigating AOL and it’s charity status?

  Isn’t it about time that AOL teachers stop deceiving people by claiming that the course fees go to charity? If they want to give their time and their lives to finance SriSri, Bhanu Didi, Arvind and Ajay and other “full-timers” extravagant lifestyles they are more than welcome to it, but they have no right to deceive AOL students, general public and the tax man and the Government and do so in the name of charity!

 All AOL teachers and volunteers and donors and students have every right to ask for detailed accounts and to see where the money trail leads them to.

And be wary of those full-timers and AOL spokespeople (esp. those who have their heads deep in trough alongside SriSri) when they dismiss any legitimate question by saying look at the transformation/benefits of the course, etc, etc. This is a common technique they all use and I have covered it in the post “Original Sin in AOL & the final Salvation!”. I urge you to read it ASAP and stop letting your spiritual experiences be the justification for widespread abuse in AOL in every aspect possible.If you have any question about it, please put it under comments there and I will reply. Understanding of it (Original Sin in AOL) may well be the key to your freedom from AOL. When you understand it then you realize how AOL PR machine frequently resorts to it instead of answering the legitimate questions regarding its fraudulent practices. Your spiritual experiences should not be used as means of enslaving you or others or stealing money which was given towards charity.

AOL charges for every course. YOU DON’T OWE ANYTHING TO AOL. And your spiritual experiences are yours and YOURS ALONE. Don’t let them use this “Original Sin” to enslave you to work hard to finance their lavish lifestyles using money which was meant to go to charity. Don’t be an accomplice in this web of deception.

 And what a joke is this one:

1)      Zero Corruption: Because of Guruji  H.H. SRI SRI RAVISHANKARJI there is no corruption in the whole organization as such. There is total transparency in every process. All records regarding funds and other resources utilization are maintained strictly.

But I will leave that for part 3!

To Be Continued…..