AOL is not the ONLY way, like you are lead to believe.
By Just No One
For many AOL-ites at Art of Living its become an “ALL of living” affair
1. They are kindoff like the Amway sales folks….everybody they meet is bakra for Sudarshan Kriya (I have lived that version myself for many years)
2. You strongly believe that GOD (SriSri) is on your side (a derived but subverted conclusion being — GOD is not in the non-AOL fellow’s life)….and therefore it becomes your dharma to bring God into other’s life….. a key that only you have and its your privilege/prerogative and GOOD karma (you see thats the only thing you will carry from this lifetime to another…another AOL brainwashing) to deliver Sudarshan Kriya to other non-suspecting souls out there who currently have not GOD in their lives.
3. There are also famous sayings in AOL….it goes like this…..”There are only 2 categories of people in the world….People who know they are AOL and people that dont yet know they are AOL”….Classic Nazi like mentoring….and it creates that short term adrenalin and rush….and unsuspecting normal day to day people fall for it…..and so do IIT grads, IIM grads, Harvard grads…and the rest
4. They exploit the inherent goodness and the aspiration for goodness and the child/romantic in every heart to the extreme.
5. One so badly wants to believe all this, that unconsciously folks do anything to fit all the events that happen within the organisation and their lives to fall within these adopted and accepted false beliefs (SriSri is GOD (soft implication——others are not as GODLY as him, Teachers are chosen by him therefore they are special, HE operates through the physical body of the teachers when they are in class (BTW thats GRACE and Knowledge flowing), HE knows everything about anything that is on this planet and beyond (Just like he did about the stray bullet from a farmer’s gun which recently which wandered into the Ashram and tried to assassinate him and just like how he predicted that the BJP would win the last elections and how Obama would lose his), His current Avataar is a combination of Krishna, Jesus, Siva, Buddha…and so on, Its not Sudarshan Kriya but the Grace of the master that heals, All his teachers are his step down transformers).
In summary……you get so brainwashed with all these stories subtly delivered to you, and YOU PAY big sums to be brainwashed …..and you walk around wearing a name tag that everyone can read (Mr XXXXX, AOL Volunteer…I work for love) …whereas in short for most parts you are a mislead person that has for sometime not really sat aside to look at things the way they are without all the stories and beliefs.
A very simple thing right……there are so many stories about his enlightenment…..now if you carefully observe, anyone propagating such a story needs to a 100% sure they know what they are saying (including what does it mean to be enlightened)….but the truth of the matter is that, depending on the number of people you meet and ask, you will get that many definitions and understandings of enlightenment. Hence, unless you yourself are enlightened, will you really be able to recognize the other ???? I conclude therefore that everyone that propagates this story propagates it because it is convenient and its a piece of information that has been repeated so often that no one doubts its veracity. Also, your ego goes on a trip when it feels that you are attached to the ENLIGHTENED….you too feel like a CHOSEN one.
I used the words P-art of living to send a message to all the Hardcore AOL-ites out there…..there is much more that existence on this planet can authentically offer you in terms of a rich, loving, compassionate existence. AOL is not the ONLY way like you are lead to believe.
Enjoy the rest of your journey
Comments are closed.
Beyond The Art of Living 
I like this post because it gets at the crux of the matter – guru mythology. When you equate guru and God as one a whole heap of mythology follows: the grace of the master, the omnipotence and omniscience of the master, the master can do no wrong, being devoted to the master makes you special and more connected with God, and on and on. There is a well known saying in Hinduism that says that God, guru and the Self are one. What I see happen in many guru organizations is that guru and God get linked up and the Self is forgotten about. People forget that the Self is guru and the Self is God and everyone focuses on the oneness of God and the guru. This makes the guru way above the average person and thus everything the guru says is holy writ, forgetting that the real guru is the Self – our inner nature. The result of this misunderstanding is that trust in guru supersedes the trust in oneself which opens one up to a whole host of abuse. Obedience to the guru becomes paramount and clear and honest thinking are given lip service but not really wanted or respected.
Very good analysis, DW. I totally agree.
Very well written.
Not only is AOL not the “only way” – it is not even “a way”. Lot of jargon and mumbo jumbo that they justify with “opposite values are complementary” – but not much clear direction. The only clear direction is – do kriya daily, and organize courses to spread the knowledge. AOL only tells you to advertise their courses, so they can make $$. A proper teacher will teach you how to bring spirituality to your daily life, so life is more enriching. I did’nt see this earlier, but I see it clearly now.
‘The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing.’
This is for those of you AOL-ites that are frozen where you are, don’t know what to do next, have followed Klim’s Blog and are able to relate to material in this particular blog. If you have understood the above quote in its entirety….”Know that you are paying a price ….a rather heavy karmic price if you DO NOTHING”.
Why ? Heard of the battered housewife syndrome ? The drunk, violence habituated man beats up his wife…….then apologizes profusely, even cries about his weakness himself, and then continues to repeat this behavior the next time he is drunk. The woman (seemingly the victim) has to take as much responsibility for this situation as the guy…..do you see his ? The kids in this household grow up thinking that its OK for women to be brutalised and manhandled as long as you apologise and makeup later. The fact that the woman continues to suffer such physical abuse under the guise of subscribing to some social/family norm (Even though She can just leave, report the matter to the law, defend herself….so many options) ….is as much to blame as anything else.
Sri Sri and the AOL 2nd line coterie continue to
a. mislead the masses eventually bringing in mistrust and disrepute and lack of faith in so many ordinary people
b. they propagate some very popular and often repeated untruths in the name of KNOWLEDGE
c. they exploit the unsuspecting and the innocent (eg some of the latest Land Grabbing issues)
d. They indulge in brainwashing and fear mongering (the don’t travel, don’t do sports type of stuff)
e. Rip people off with their course fees
.
.
.
They create more doubt and less confidence. While there are always legitimate claims “this course changed my life”….it sure would have…..but remember that only lends itself to further exploitation. The AOL courses sometimes do deliver some value, however you later end up selling your soul if you are not careful and fall prey to surreptitious elements within AOL.
If you do not stop yourself, and then not stop others then please realise that what goes around comes around. You not doing anything is the same as being a willing accomplice in a crime…..Life is so designed that the accountability factor (cause and effect / karma) cannot be sho shooed away…..there is a price to pay…..the more you wait the more you pay….in this lifetime
It would help to be sensitive to domestic violence victims by not making pronouncements such as (Even though She can just leave, report the matter to the law, defend herself….so many options) , (seemingly the victim), etc… There are several shades of gray involved and unless you are speaking about your own situation, assumptions tend to be rather broad and off-base.
I was going through the gurupurnima website , to look at their current enrollment statistics. It says that more than 1200 people are currently enrolled for these courses with 5 days remaining. The course fees range from US$ 350.00 (for the basic course) to US $ 800.00 ( for advanced level courses like silence, gurupuja-2 etc). AOLF also plans to earn from food sales and US$15.00 per day from online telecast of satsangs on 3 days connected with gurupurnima. AOLF is also planning to collect an undisclosed sum of money through gurudakshina and sale of teacher refresher courses.
If we assume that the average price per course is US$500.00 , then AOLF or ved vigyan would be raking in close to US$600,000.00 in a week’s time.
I would like to know from senior AOL people, if these numbers are in-line with the previous year’s sale of courses. What would be considered as a good yardstick for measuring the effectiveness of blogs like these ?
Based on my experience in AOL, most if not at all times the participant numbers are inflated. sometimes it is even ten times the actuals. if 100 people are attending we used to say 1000 people would be attending. Another thing, is this also a old sales technique which is used in aol. we say all the batches are full and only and couple seats available although in reality there is nothing like it.