A Message to the Common AOLer: Wake up and Make a Change

by Independent Observer

At exactly this time (a week or 2 after this incident), SriSri had planned to run an international TRM at the Ashram. When this protest happened he hastily moved the TRM to Malaysia. (Vague reasons given).

Also, do you think

1) That the protestors are Jealous of SriSri’s success ? Or perhaps are they in deep pain.
2) Do you think, that unless you had a real cause you would be able to generate these 100s of people who came to protest ? Would you be to generate this protest using false pretenses ?
3) Do you think this has been brewing for a long time ? or Agni Sridhar did it over night by paying some money to the local villagers (like our politicians do for votes…but for much smaller stakes).
4) All it takes is to visit the many of the nearby villages that surround the Ashram and find out the following

a) All the villagers there….how come they are not devotees to the living God just across the fence. (Why does AOL have such big walls…when the key message is ALL ARE WELCOME ?). Once when I was visiting Bangalore last year I did. I could see the fear in their eyes. They are paranoid that the Swamiji in white will usurp their land someday. When they look at Vishalakshi Mandap from a distance, this is what they go through.

Perhaps this explains the paranoia behind the fabricated assassination story that had no witnesses or physical evidence of any sort whatsoever.

Elementary question to the reader here : Do you have any idea how much of an effort it takes to buy contiguous land in Bangalore that too many 100s of acres and that too around an existing enterprise (AOL enterprise). Do you even have a clue ???. And with Yeddy’s totally corrupt BJP govt, running rampant until recently, do you think that all the land acquired by the ashram over the last 5 to 10 to years have actually been gotten by legitimate means. Common, if you give this a more than 1% probability, then the world you live in is a false Utopia….maybe even very naive.

For me—The reason I ever wanted to be in AOL, was because at one time it represented to me the epitome of goodness and balance. It helped me recognize, acknowledge and express the innate goodness in me and provided me a platform to be catalyst for others that were seeking the same experience…..in the tough competitive often cruel world with limited ethics where we lose track of ourselves and miss the opportunity to explore our own silence, compassion, spontaneity, and even develop a sense of grander/larger then life purpose. From the periphery AOL is perfect for all this. Go deeper, and you find out that its just another greedy business that exploits an average person’s lack of relaxation, loneliness, confusion about life, self doubts and insecurity by lacing some finely woven spiritual messaging around a fast moving ponzi MLM business. In the process, they are actually saying “We know everything”….trust us to take charge of your life.

The key here is that the ground level volunteer is FRESH and PURE. They are un adulterated. They are the ones who do the recruiting. Also most part-1, Art Excel teachers and so on are so focussed on the goodness that they are helping to propagate that they have neither had the time or the opportunity to look at the GRAND Deception. Even if they did see it……they would simply brush it aside or bury it under the carpet rationalizing it as just a small aberration. This is what I did. Hence, as long as you stay in the periphery….you are actually OK. ie you dont go deep, just stay on the surface, volunteer whenever it suits you, have limited curiosity and are not spiritually ambitious, not get into any more serious seva but one off volunteering. As long as it as this level…..it is still fine.

Then you start getting deeper…..more seva projects, more hard recruiting, fill up the class, fund raising, money management (or lack of it), TTCs….then then conflicts start to appear clearly. At that time you are given lessons on how Krishna himself was a communist and an innate politician (you are supposed to make the connection now —- hence by association or even as a reincarnation….who is Sri Sri). The tough times you are having are because of your Karma. All the full classes and big funds raised are HIS GRACE. I lapped this all up. After all I was ambitious. I wanted more. However, after many years into this, I missed simple things like integrity and companionship amongst my fellow companions. And yet, I was on this most perfect path. Perhaps something is wrong with me…..spiritually wrong? How come I am not able to generate all the love that I am capable off when I am with my peers and colleagues who are also seniors like I am now. The only true happiness came when I was teaching….because the class was still innocent. The rest of it made me want to run. Until one day I could stand it no more and I started to voice my suspicions about the money management. And guess what ? no one slapped me back. Many even echoed my doubts. I investigated further. Saw that this mismanagement was the case with AOL everywhere in the world. The same politics and management style has been played everywhere. It became clear that this lack of accountability was arising out of lack of information …lack of proper systems. Think, that a person of SriSri’s intelligence does not understand the value of having proper systems (especially with regard to finance). What does it take for AOL to generate a team of 2 CAs per chapter and ask them to financially clean up every chapter where they are operating ??. Just 1 word from the Master…..that is all.

When was in the inside, I volunteered to lead this many times for the organisation. I was told every time, Yes you are right…it needs doing. It did not happen for 7 years. Then I left. The point here is that SriSri is not unaware of any of this ….nor can this always be goofs in the process. The intent is deliberate fraud (especially when he has all the knowledge)….I know, because I have bought it to his attention many times myself. And then you still did nothing. In which case…..you are accountable for everything you do and everything you dont do. Hence it will manifest. There is accountability…..

Its time the common AOLer woke up and roared. You have been taken for great ride. If you are totally enjoying it….thats great. If not, get off and make a change.