Sri Sri's Note To Sincere Patsies
File under: Gurubusting
It's all so very clear now:
We attach meaning to words and we distort them, too. For example, the word 'brainwashing.' Like your body, your brain needs washing sometimes. You don't want to walk around with a dirty brain, a dirty mind. What is wrong with the word 'brainwashing'? It indicates a clean brain, a clean mind, but it is used in a derogatory manner.With Sri Sri Ravi Shankar et. al. deciding what constitutes a "clean" or "dirty" brain, you could see this as one of the "smoking guns" of the Art of Living org's cultish psych-ops.
Labels: Gurubusting
posted by guruphiliac @ 4:19 PM
19 Comments:
Spiritual shopping is much like democracy. You get what you deserve. Those who deserve a ramana, get a ramana; those who deserve SSRS, get a SSRS.
listen to Sri Sri's commentaries on ashtavakra Gita and tell me whether there is a difference between Ramana and Sri Sri.
tell me whether there is a difference between Ramana and Sri Sri
I imagine there's none, as all Sri Sri had to know was where to go for material.
Anonymous said...
listen to Sri Sri's commentaries on ashtavakra Gita and tell me whether there is a difference between Ramana and Sri Sri.
You claim that there's little or no difference between trying to get Truth from Ramana or trying to get it from Sri Sri. I dunno, but I won't argue one way or another.
I will say that there's a difference between (1) trying to get Truth from some living or dead teacher like that, or (2) perceiving the Truth that's already appeared, right in front of you.
Stuart
http://home.comcast.net/~sresnick2/socalled.htm
http://stuart-randomthoughts.blogspot.com/
Ask the attendant (if you can find him) who was with SSRS during the time a large portion of this commentary was recorded in Bangalore. You'd find there are very good (cop-out) reasons for some of his commentary -- it served to justify some of his (not-so-secret-as-he thought they would be) actions during that summer.
To compare SSRS to Ramana Maharishi is ridiculous. SSRS is a self-serving, greedy, terribly flawed individual with some knowledge and siddhi from his master. He's a blot on India's tradition of Gurus.
Talking about commentaries on Ashtavakara Gita, a few years ago there was so much of reverence to it that only AOL teachers could own it - meaning they had to pay over 1000K for a set.
Nowadays, the cash register has more reverence, anyone can buy it from the Divine shop for RS5000.
What hypocrisy!!!
I really disatree with freefall and all the others who say that any guru will be a good Guru for the sincere seeker.
Art of Living is scam, Sri Sri is not teaching anybody anything. Offcourse there are some inherent knowledge in everybody that you can get access to if you go deep. But still he steals years of peoples life with his brainwashing cult. A cult is a cult. Maybe cultishness is an integrate part of hindu culture but it should still be exposed as what is, Something that aims at enslaving people instead of setting them free
The whole argument here is always unidmensional.The western way of thought so overwhelms the world today that we have forgotten to look from other (& once great) cultures of the world.The idea of cult comes from the Christian West not the Hindu India.People are looking at India from a Western looking glass.
People are looking at India from a Western looking glass.
Actually, I'm looking at India through a Vedantic looking glass. Most of what gets called Hinduism falls well short of Hinduism's highest standard of wisdom.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a fame-seeking poseur. Many see it, those who don't are blinded by the white robes and saintly acting.
anon said:
The whole argument here is always unidmensional.The western way of thought so overwhelms the world today that we have forgotten to look from other (& once great) cultures of the world.The idea of cult comes from the Christian West not the Hindu India.People are looking at India from a Western looking glass."
There is very little in Hinduism as practiced that reflects the Vedas. Ask any Rg Veda Brahmin who actually knows anything -- he will tell you there is no idol worship in Rg Veda.
The greatest number of critics of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on this page are Indian, dude. Wake up. And you will find his biggest critics in India, not the west. Westerners, bless their pointed little heads, are hopelessly blinded by his games. Educated Indians, who are not in need of his approval (like those who can't be who they are in their own country, except with She She, because of societial 'norms'), are his biggest and most thorough trashers! Westerners can never see through SSRS's cheating as well as people who already know him from Bangalore! Locals who are impressed with Ravi Shankar and follow him have bad marriages, or other problems which will go unmentioned here. Or they are impressionable students who don't yet know what will happen to them with the little creep.
Of course, those who benefit from his attentions because they feel safe there (like you, I guess) will defend him.
Wake up, grow up.
Well, hindu culture is deffinitely being wieved through the proud western tradition of critique of culture. This has freed many in the west from the shakles of culture. And if India was as eager to embrace the free mind behind the materialistic results of the west, as it is to embrace the raw materialism, then it would indeed be able to bring a small miracle to India.
I really disagree with freefall and all the others who say that any guru will be a good Guru for the sincere seeker.
Then you do not understand the dynamics of gurudom. The Art of Living being an aggressive and damaging cult does not eliminate the possibility of real spiritual growth. It's ALL about sincerity and really NOTHING about the guru. The real engine of miraculous gurudom is simply the faith of the devotee.
Hi
To the last comment "10/5, Jodi said". Its all about sincerity and nothing about Guru. The real engine of miraculous gurudom is the faith of the devotee".
You sound tonge twisting, contradictory and confused dear. According to Indian scriptures, the disciple suppose to choose a Guru on the path to God, based not only on his knowledge, but actions etc and the Gurus's duty is to reciprocate in a humble, merciful way to impart knowledge and guide the disciple. So you are really saying the guru can teach anything, practice anything and the disciple must come out"miraculous". How is that? Let me give you some Brains, my dear? You cannot study "law" and expect to be an engineer. Can you? Maybe that's your way of thinking but sorry to say it has never worked for anybody yet, especially in spiritual life.
it has never worked for anybody yet
I'm sorry my sweet, but it is the only thing that has "worked" for anyone, anywhere.
Its all about sincerity and nothing about Guru.
I need to amend this statement to: there are cases where it's all about the faith of the devotee and nothing about the guru, proving that the devotee's faith is the primary engine of spiritual transformation and eventual self-realization.
Jody, that must be the reason I am getting so much from my association with Da Free Jack!
To Vivek,
your comment that western tradition is proud. I totally disagree with you because western tradition is all about having an individual voice and the ability to be public about itinstead of being voiceless and so called tolerant, which translates repression.
ha ha, proud here was a positive word and not a negative word. Must admit that personally I see some unique values in the western tradition that one does not find anywhere else.
In movements like Art of Living the west is constantly put down. The only thing that can save the world is if the devotees stop thinking independently and surrender to the supperior hindu/vedanta culture. This is complete bollocks in my humble opinion.
Dont get me wrong. I am not saying that a lot of the things being done politically by the west is not bad. Offcourse especially with the states arrogantly disregarding the humanistic and legal traditions of the west in its insane Irak war. But when this is said there is no doubt in my mind that the only hope for the poor and less fortunate in the world is the value of each individual as it is given in the west.
If one wants to see the truth about so called hindu human values one can just read the interview with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, where he propose his view on the starving pessants. It truly becomes obvious that SSRS carries the whole brahmanic hindu tradition with its total disregard for humans. If his insane vision of culturally colonizing the whole world would actually become real, this would truly become a dark age.
The whole proposal of giving the nobel peace prize to SSRS is obscene.
Hi Jody, before you strangle me with all your intellectual concepts about the dynamics of gurudom, start by giving me some followers who have actually reached liberation or what ever through gurudom.
Lets see,
Ramana Maharishi, no
Sivananda, no
U.G Krishnamurti, no
J.K. Krisnamurti, no
And even if we go on to the frauds,
Maharishi, no he was never recognised as any thing by his guru
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, no he says he was born inlightened
Osho, no
So what is this gurudom after all? Is it the teaching of yoga,
To be a personal coach on the way?
Or is it just to be a symbol of devotion, a medium for the devotee to reflect her or his spirituality upon?
If it is the last surely the vedantic gurudom in nothing more than the wet dream of hindu vedanta to globalize the basic spiritual sentiment of all times.
Or is it the imparting of the sacred knowledge that the self is beyond the changings of this world and that this self is actually your inate nature? Because if this is it then surely the gurus, masters, teachers, coaches etc. are able to mess it all up by monopolizing the self, and that is exactly what is happening.
People are let to experience there true nature of peace and happiness, maybe it is even spiced up by a few "experiences" and then the so called teacher tradesmarks it and says it was through my power you got it. And that is a bad guru, teacher, master, coach, who enslaves those who come to get knowledge.
The litterature about how the enslaving, and mind manipulation happens around this phenomena is extensive. You should read some of it to give the phenomena the respect it deserves. People are loosing there life and freedom all over the world because of it.
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