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World Cult-torture Festival

July 4, 2011

by anonymous

Yes, after having wasted precious volunteer resources from all over the world, I thought this was a great opportunity for God to exercise his control over weather, alas he did not. Bu then, please note — The divine plays in mysterious ways.

Instead he claimed that the event’s theme song was rainbow colours, hence the rain had to come …such a strong Sankalp that it became a Sun-“Gulp” ehhhh.

He then said as if to pacify all those forced entries into this really soggy celebration called International Satsang – “If we can celebrate amongst so much trouble, this means that we have achieved something (to a huge applause from a miserable and wet and deeply tortured audience)

Wonder, NOW, if the same rainbow logic can be used to explain the “bringing in of the light and world peace”. Since we asked for a rainbow, the light was not a part of the deal. That will come later.

Anyways he did a better job on day-2. At least the pianists did not have to hide under the tents and dancers did not slip and fall on the floor. On day 1, do you think they fell Grace-fully or was it a fall from Grace ?

God also decided to talk in German with a very strong limited edition South Indian accent in favour of the usual 10 commandments deep booming voice from the heaven (“My children “thou shall have peace…I give you world piece by piece through Sudarshan Kriya ”).

With a few thousand attendees each from India / Poland / Slovenia / Russia…/ rest of the EU / Middle East / South America Other parts of the world……that was the majority of them all. How many that were native German ???? Why speak in German then I wondered. Aha….many local politicians were present. They say like attracts like…..and they attracted a lot of Politicians…..

Also, this time around the Silver Jubilee Angels will be difficult to spot (since they decided to take a holiday…or since the rain God decided to obliterate their presence or perhaps physics denied the camera lenses some dust ???? Just another angle to the angel.
I thought they were going to fill the stands up. I saw many many old people, rich people and some retired politicians with one of them even playing the mouth Organs (literally).
Very Interesting : The ticker message on the bottom kept highlighting “Ramdev Ji’s program telecast will not happen today. You are watching Art of Living Live.”
This is sick any which way you look at it.

1. Any regular watcher of Ramdev’s program would have clearly been able to make out the difference. So, why bother with that ticker message ?

2. For the dumb and the un-initiated, those that are unable to differentiate, and are future potential victims, they may think that such a fabulous event was executed by Ramdev and hence be swayed away !!!!!

And then there were all these adverts for SriSri HR, Sri Sri Matrimony, Ayurveda delivered at your door step (they even have a toll free no now)….Forgive me if the millions of German and EU and NA watchers called the toll free number for home delivery.

For the life of me I cannot imagine a bigger reason for a 30th anniversary other than sheer and extreme narcissistic wants.

And, when I watched him, all I could see were the beady calculating eyes. I noticed the camera caught him many times without the fake smile, but to his credit he was alert and bought it back again reasonably quickly. He is getting a little slower though. Running all the time from the truth …must be tough.

The games up !!!! I am not saying this from anything I see on the outside or from the show…..the energy that emanates from him now is depleted !!!!! Maybe so I choose to see…..maybe that’s how it is…..time will tell…..but in this journey for sure.

21 Comments
  1. stupidseeker permalink
    July 5, 2011 9:50 am

    probably the heading should have been “world Cult-torture festival”

    • The Doctor permalink
      July 5, 2011 8:50 pm

      That actually makes a lot more sense now you mention it. I was wondering what he meant by “Cull” 🙂

  2. stupidseeker permalink
    July 5, 2011 12:57 pm

    This link to HHSSRS website claims 50,000 turned up for the festival. The picture shown doesnt seem to be the olympic stadium though.
    http://www.srisriravishankar.org/content/cultures-unite-peace-world-cultural-festival-berlin

  3. anonymus permalink
    July 5, 2011 2:18 pm

    I was there. There were not more as 25 000 people. 50 000 is false! The olympic stadium is for 70 000 and he was only 1/3 full.

    • Peaceful Warrior permalink
      July 5, 2011 2:43 pm

      25k x 2 days = 50k. That’s how AOL math works 😛

      • Anonymous permalink
        July 5, 2011 4:00 pm

        I had to take a sneak peak because i was just too curious 🙂 From what i could calculate when they at one point took the camera around the stadium it could not be more than 10-15k, 20 tops. The pic was taken and than cropped to make it look like they wanted. It was enough to watch for a few mins to see the situation. And less money than you think. Last week or 10 days before the event they were sending emails out to bring as many people as possible, no need to pay for the ticket. The boss has heard the cry of the poor souls. Funny how it works, he heard it only last minute. And yes, Shankar did look very bored, but tried to fix his face when he noticed it on the big screen. I really felt bad for the dancers. And the mikes did not work. So much for the “great success”. Very sad indeed.

      • The Doctor permalink
        July 5, 2011 8:51 pm

        @PW – hilarious!

        And probably very true, sadly.

  4. anonymus permalink
    July 5, 2011 5:27 pm

    On the all BUS stations in Berlin were AOL reklama, in 3 MLN Berlin and absolutely no interes from germans 🙂 They are not stupid.

    • stupidseeker permalink
      September 8, 2011 8:38 am

      reklama = commercial solicitation / advertisement

  5. Anonymous permalink
    July 5, 2011 7:44 pm

    Any ‘enlightened’ guru should’ve invested this money for a genuine cause like an orphanage or old age home instead of this

    http://www.fabs.co.in/CurrentProjects.asp?PStatus=1&id=73&Cid=4

  6. The Doctor permalink
    July 5, 2011 9:16 pm

    Watch the first 50 seconds of the following video which highlights the reality of how empty the stadium was:

  7. Anonymous permalink
    July 6, 2011 12:36 am

    however idiots like harshal will still not see through this scam. weird people to applause when he justifies the rain. he’s insulting their intelligence, and the fools still don’t see it. there will be many who will drop out now, and the pressure will be on to recruit more new ones. i wonder if this is the fall of aol? and how is ravi, bhanu and rest morale

  8. Jr. permalink
    July 6, 2011 12:51 am

    Another Huffington post article. Someone should post the link to this site on the article.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-cleary/mass-meditation-event_b_888667.html

    • Chamiyaar permalink
      July 6, 2011 2:20 pm

      The writer Lisa Cleary is a pseudo-journalist and could even be an AOL plant. She blatantly lies when she states in the article that 70000 people attended the event. Agence France-Presse accurately estimates 20000 people in attendance http://www.france24.com/en/20110702-yoga-festival-gets-off-damp-start

      Someone with a Huffington Post account should post a correction on that article.

  9. Anonymous permalink
    July 6, 2011 3:46 am

    http://srisriravishankar.org/content/sri-sri-berlin-germany-april-27-2011

    Very Interesting, he committed to the local media that they would have 70,000 guests. And the same media would have been watching. This is not good publicity.

    Well, you could blame it on the rain. Then you are clearly stating that you used up all your divine power to stop all those earlier rains….this time around we are a little short of rainmmunition.

    Better to be seen as bad organiser rather than a powerless God…..So, you have to stick with the Rainbow story…..yeah……all you need to do is whisper this idea into poor Rajita’s ear as you went past her in the morning when she was fretting about the potential attendance !!!!, …..

    Our theme itself was Rainbow….We have to be careful what we ask for…..Can you see what I am saying ??? Subtly transfer the blame onto the volunteers……Next time around be smart about what you ask…..”He gives us everything”….Even things we meant never to ask……a Complete Guru…..

    Since they did a 30 year celeb in Berlin they need to do one in India (Its Us Vs Them)….very interesting…..watch the below. The more and more you look at it reeks of desperation to keep the existing flock following…..

    • The Doctor permalink
      July 6, 2011 5:15 am

      In response to the first question where a devotee is concerned that he can’t go to Berlin, Guruji replies:

      “You see here everyday Guruji is giving Satsangs, there [Berlin] only for a week, not even for a week.” So, I travel because there are many who cannot travel [laughs and receives applause], for their sake I travel.

      He’s a little up himself for someone who is purportedly enlightened, isn’t he?

    • Doreen permalink
      July 12, 2011 1:49 pm

      Honestly I really like what he said in the video. In this video he’s playing the role of the teacher – not the organization’s CEO. So much feverishness can be created by the big crowd’s enthusiasm and, let’s face it, the organizers (they actually circulated a video of Rishiji in which he promised that all of one’s dreams would come true if they came to the event), so I appreciate that SSRS diffuses that feverishness here and puts people’s mind at ease about not going.

  10. The Doctor permalink
    July 6, 2011 5:21 am

    @anonymous – we’ll publish your comment separately in a few days time as it deserves a post of its own.

  11. visitor permalink
    July 6, 2011 6:14 pm

    hmmm…seems like decline of AOL..(from this post at least)..earlier i used to think the group will prosper as long as the guru is alive.
    when i left india for the first time..i was in germany…and i felt thankful to rs that he build such a big group…that i could spend some time with people (aolers) in an alien country..my life was really boring and lonely then. but i didnt find aol that intersting for me. i didnt talk much to europeons anyway, and there were not many indians in that place..i went a couple of times to the bad.antogast ashram. and found the people there even more boring..i mean zombie like plus they can belive in anything!..it was great time if i behaved and belived like they appeared to be…sing and dance..i liked that…but i coulndt keep a fake smile..in fact in my group i was perhaps one with a big frown on face….and our teacher said that i was spoiling the energy of the whole classs. i argued with my teacher a couple of times on different topics incuding the need for rs´s foto in the class….i liked arguing..but you know they have same answers to all questions…perhaps killing..or rather say silencing the question is their answer. (i wonder sincerely sometimes if that´s really the best thing to do with a question!!!…but still NOT in the AOL way). oh yes and the everpresent lie..the course in the presence of guruji. i wanted to have my money back since the guru only appeard for a short time on the last day of the course…but anyway my time was so boring in germany that i ‘enjoyed’ the time in ashram, and i somehow convinced myself that the time was worh paying something..to some extent i was influenced a tweeny weeny bit by the guru stuff…(rs talked to me personally :))…i dont remember what did i pay…something euro 400+ still i found the cost somewhat high..but someone (i dont remember aoler or a guest) also argued that such courses are even more expensve when conducted by private firms for corporates…hmm…i wonder that rs has studied the corporate culture well and hes applying those techniques mixed with spirituality to make money….oh from corporate i just remember…..my boss often tells me that we dont have problems we have challenges…either he went to aol (which is unlikely) or rs came to some corporate to learn this style…well perhaps he learned it from his boss´s corporate (MYogi)
    …..i will stop here..
    regards
    visitor

  12. Anonymous permalink
    July 11, 2011 5:00 pm

    It was indeed World Cul-TORTURE Festival. Freezing temperatuers, pouring rain and blowing winds while we sat out in the cold, wet, windy one-quarter-filled Olympic stadium, tolerating mostly pathetic, unrehearsed, and probably un-auditioned “cultural” performances. This, after paying US$108 for the two day charade.
    I even heard some devotees say they were confident that as soon as SSRS entered the stadium, rain clouds would part and the sun would emerge.
    Shame shame, His Royal Holiness SSRS could not even stop the rain !! Perhaps he IS human afterall.

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