Sri Sri Makes Tragedy Pay
File under: The Siddhi of PR and Sri Sri's March on the Prize
Just as we had predicted, Sri Sri "I Want That Nobel Peace Prize SO Badly" Ravi Shankar has taken to grandstanding in the midst of tragedy once again. Last year it was in Texas in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita... as well as in Jammu and Kashmir for some photo ops with local revolutionaries.Now it's in Varanasi, where last week Islamic extremists set off two bombs, killing 15 and injuring scores of others. In another example of the stunning hypocrisy Sri Sri is becoming known for, he asks politicians to refrain from their own "self-interest." That's kind of like asking a hubris-crippled big time guru to drop their living saint act:
"Political leaders should keep away their self-interests and discuss with each other these events to fight the forces which are against humanity. They have to work for nation’s interests. We should not think that we belong to a particular community or society. We all have to join hands. We pray for all those killed and also all those who have been injured," he said.Priceless. The god of self-interest commenting on the self-interest of politicians, of all people.
We see things heating up in India between the monster gurus. With the Kracki collecting millions to build a totem to his psychotic grandiosity and the Babaster's buying off whole governments to keep from being brought up on pedophilia charges, Sri Sri is going to need to keep his name in the headlines all the more. And just over the horizon looms the beginning of Ammachi's 2006 world tour. No big time guru in India holds a candle to her in the states, and she's already making moves in her home country to shore up her own popularity in light of the others' hijinks.
Can these mega-god-folk keep it civil, or will it take an eyeball lightning storm to sort it all out. These are exciting times in the world of superstar gurudom. We've got our money on Ammachi if it's an eyeball lightning duel, but don't rule out an alliance between Sri Sri and the Babaster against her if it comes to that point.
posted by guruphiliac @ 10:41 AM
24 Comments:
I guess he's got you duped like the millions of others in India looking for an omnipotent space daddy to save them from the troubles of life.
Read the comments below the other Sri Sri posts, especially those of "On The Other Hand." Sri Sri is nothing more than a self-aggrandizing huckster looking to make a star of himself on the backs of the grieving poor.
Rita, you are exactly why Sri Sri, the Babaster and the Kracki are so successful at taking peoples' money. It is the refusal to think critically whenever a guru is the subject.
Grow up, Rita. Your childlike insistence on an uninformed reading of the shastras is keeping you and most of the rest of India in the Dark Ages.
You seem quite jealous of Sri Sri, in fact.
I am enraged that people promote themselves or allow themselves to be promoted as divine above and beyond that which we all share, equally. The truth of the Upanishads is this: there is nobody more divine than anyone else.
Sri Sri uses people's belief in his divinity to acquire devotees and their money. He appears to be doing some good with it, but that doesn't let him off the hook for lying about his divinity, or allowing others to do his lying for him.
The fact is he's just some little guy who worked his association with the Maharishi into his own satsang, and now he's riding high.
Public figures such as Sri Sri are in no position to expect universal acceptance of their motives and behavior. He's been a clear hypocrite on several occasions... and his seeming obsession with acquiring a Nobel Peace Prize belies someone much less than a guru, and much more like a snake oil salesman.
Sri Sri is a public figure under media scrutiny. I am a part of that scrutiny. You may not like it. Great. Don't read it.
You're a drug user and you have the nerve to tell other people about enlightenment.
Yes. Your ignorance in this matter is common and not surprising. It is a moral accretion that's been around and dispensed with in India for tens of thousands of years.
Enlightenment has no more or less to do with drugs than anything else in manifestation. Yet there is a long tradition still very active which regards some drugs as useful in assisting the process of personal transformation.
Ask Ramakrishna about it. Ask Shiva about it. Smell the coffee and see that enlightenment is everywhere, just not in the hands of scheming gurus... or their sanctimonious devotees and their beliefs about things they truly have no clue about.
This broad is too scary for me! Let me know when she's gone! Rita, I'm sure you are just a lovely lady. Adios!
If you ask sincerely you will discover it is your ego.
Of course it is, Rita. Just as the source of the question you just asked me is also the ego.
Ego is all we have here. Whenever there is communication between two seemingly separate entities, it is from the ego that the communication occurs. There is no escape from this ego as long as we are in bodies. But if the ahamkara is broken, those egos no longer hold sway over the understanding of identity and source of being.
Wealth, fame, respect is what you are seeking.
Actually, all I want is to ski in the winter, backpack in the summer and have a job that I love. I have two out of three of these. I love writing this blog, and if I could turn that into how I pay my bills, I will have everything I want in life.
What I most definitely don't want is for anyone to think I'm any more divine or special than anyone else. If people want to think I'm smart and funny, or stupid and insecure, let them, either way. As an individual I'd prefer the former, but as a snarky asshole I know the latter will be a more common way for people to see me.
Otherwise you would not be enraged to see someone else having it while you do not.
Er... Bill Gates' wealth makes Sri Sri's look like a muddy stone in a sewer well, but I'm not enraged at him (although as a long time Macintosh user I do think he's an asshole.)
Rita, here is the truth. When I saw who I was, I was astonished at how plain, simple, common, mundane, everpresent and ordinary it was. The very last thing I could ever think is that I am extraordinary because I know who I am. People like Sri Sri spent a lot of time, money and effort to get people thinking they are extraordinary because they are supposed to be realized. This creates an incorrect idea in the mind of the devotee about realization. Instead of looking for something that they already have, that is right there at all times, closer than their own breath; they reach for something they will never find. That is occlusion. People thinking that their gurus are God more than you and I does more to prevent realization than every opium den and whorehouse in the world. The fact of the Upanishads is clear: we are all the Self, equally.
Sri Sri appears to be doing everything within his substantial power to have you believe he is better than you... in almost every way. He wants you to think he is a god because he is realized. He may as well be taking a tree branch and beating you with it for all the good it is doing you, in my opinion.
You mentioned asking Ramakrishna. He said that if someone criticized your guru, you should beat them.
And Vivekananda made fun of and criticized Ramakrishna mercilessly, in his presence. I feel I'm continuing Vivekananda's tradition of 1) Making sure everyone knows that the Upanishads say that everyone is Brahman, not just gurus, and 2) making fun of and criticizing those who would purport themselves, or allow others to purport for them, that they are more divine than anyone else.
When you attack someone I have loved and respected, it hurts.
That has much more to do with who you've chosen to love. You are a free being who can choose at any time to not come here. Just chalk me off as a name and fame obsessed, very deluded and quite insecure soul who can't get laid. Then all will be right in the world, right?
Now, now, ladies and fellas.
As much of an asshole that I am, let's try to keep it a bit more civil than what's transpired here, ok? Please? Pretty please with lots of fake siddhis for everyone?
Boys, commander Jody has asked you to be more civil and demure in your choice of words. Let's get back to that higher plane from where we originally came. I say again, Rita be gone!
ontheotherhand, are you saying that she she is a gay blade?
...not that I have anything against a gay blade!
Even Charlie Manson might have been self realized in Jody's mind.
While I would agree that self-realization can happen in the context of a psychotic mind, I've never stated that Charles Manson was self-realized.
Then you will discover jody's guarded admiration for her despite all the lampooning. Granted, she does have a "big ego" (the reason she did not attend SSRS's big bash apparently).
Of all the bigtime gurus I am aware of, I believe her to be the least affected. That said, she–and especially those she surrounds herself with–are all still very much in love with the idea of her being God. They use this idea to a great effect and economic benefit to their organization.
Any public figure receiving that much money in donations is going to have to do something public with at least some it. Hospitals get built, which is good for all. But I think it happens because it is expected for them to do so as much as it is altruism.
I am more impressed with Ammachi as she does put herself on the front line for long hours of giving herself. Many people do take something from it, even though it is entirely by way of a kind of faith healing placebo effect than any real power or "shakti" she is purported to wield.
There is still much to critique about her satsang, including, as shoonyata has mentioned, her reliance and transmission of Hindu superstition, including the references to mythological bugaboos like asuras.
This combined with their insistence on her special divinity assure that folks will believe in her "magic" and continue to attend (and donate) at the satsangs.
It's just too bad everyone's head gets stuffed to the skull with ridiculous expectations about self-realization based on seeing her as the model.
Despite the momentary warm-fuzzies, it's not doing them any good if they are actually striving for self-realization rather than a magic hug from an inflated "mommy" figure.
Your entire theory of attributing mystical or otherwordly Kundalini manifestations happening in people after being touched by the Guru to simply being there at the right place at the right time (both literally and metaphysically) are just plain erroneous.
I do not deny the existence of shaktipat, nor its power for engendering transformation in those who experience it. What I'm denying is that gurus wield this power at their will. The phenomenon happens in the presence of a guru, usually in the context of a satsang, but the phenomenon itself is actually entirely within the devotee. Nobody has power over kundalini. She does what She wants, when She wants to who She wants. The guru may be there, and may appear to have mediated the experience, but no person has any control over what happens as a result.
The very real phenomenon of shaktipat-induced kundalini experience still doesn't negate other things happening in that situation which are better described as faith-healing. You may get set off when your guru touches you, but that doesn't mean the guru actually did it as an act of will. At best s/he could be described as a conduit or a trigger point rather than a siddha who wields magic power at the behest of their individual will.
I have experienced shaktipat in the context of my guru. However, my initial shaktipat experience was completely spontaneous and happened miles from anyone who I'd call guru at the time.
is it your living, breathing, pulsating reality, 24/7
"It" doesn't breathe or pulse. It "shines" for lack of a better word, or perhaps even more accurately, it simply "is" in a context in which it is continually revealed within the context of day-to-day awareness.
and as a Devi manifestation to those advanced aspirants doing their sadhana.
Certainly. She is a living, breathing Ishta Devata for millions. However, I do not believe she has any more power than any other idol that isn't put there by the faith of the devotee. That faith can move mountains, whether focused on an Amma or a picture or statue of a deity.
I'm not denying that there is power at an Amma satsang, I'm saying that it comes through the faith of the devotees, revealed or hidden, rather than the magic powers that so many attribute to her.
"Despite the momentary warm-fuzzies, it's not doing them any good if they are actually striving for self-realization rather than a magic hug from an inflated "mommy" figure."
I find this remarkable coming from someone who claims that a drug experience can work wonders for someone who is after self-realization.
If the person leaves that satsang with the belief that self-realization will turn them into an Ammachi, they got screwed.
That may not happen all the time. Perhaps it doesn't happen as much as I believe it to, but based on the last 20 years of my life's experience in and around the satsang community, I've seen many more cases of people believing ludicrous things about self-realization than not. I'm convinced these beliefs occlude. It's much better to have zero expectations about realization, and the big time gurus would be assisting their devotees much more were they impart this fact in their teachings.
Regarding the use of entheogens, it cuts both ways. The rishis were always going on about soma, so it's not something unfamiliar to Vedic-based practice. That said, it's at your own risk and at the possible peril to your sanity that one undertakes their use.
How many people that you know are able to truly worship through the idol at a temple?
I know quite a few, actually. They're all Kali devotees.
Guru Yoga is a simple yet profoundly effective way to reach the Self within, the Satguru within.
Absolutely, provided that those minds are not polluted by ridiculous speculation about self-realization.
That's what I'm attacking, any speculation about self-realization. The big time gurus like Sri Sri and Ammachi are cyclones of this speculation, hence my assertion that they are doing more to interfere with self-realization rather than engender it.
The cave of the heart to which he refers is his talks is this very experience
Sounds great, for an experience.
I'm not saying your experience isn't valuable, and your guru sounds pretty awesome. Your story gives me pause in my current rendering of the phenomenon of shaktipat. As I said, I know it exists, I just don't buy into the conventional ideas about its causality based on what I've seen.
I can't claim to be qualified to comment on the methods of your guru. But I'm very certain that jnana is not an experience. There is an echo of experience around jnana in the mind of the individual, a memory of it being known, but the understanding itself is just not anything that ever gets handled by the senses, which are pretty much the extents of the realm of experience.
I am not interested in indulging in intellectual gymnastics about Vedanta
I can't blame you for that. But intellectual gymnastics is just about all you can do with Vedanta, whether or not you've come to know your Self.
I'd have to agree with rita that kalyani mainly seems concerned about the money she's loosing to ss. Not wealthy but has a maid? The Indian culture is so into treating people lower in the social pecking order like shit, it's no wonder that rich Indians need someone like ss. He's just treating them they way they treat their own "maids" ie servants, ie slaves. It's a sick culture that makes the deep south in the 1950's look good by comparison. Indian society deserves ss, sb, and lots more like them.
I am not saying that SSRS has no faults, or that u are saying are lies... but thin[k] about the possibility that u received what u needed to improve at that moment.
This illustrates one of the primary tenets of this blog, that even bad gurus can work wonderful good in the lives of their faithful.
It's not what you believe, it's how you believe it. If you are truly sincere in your faith and belief in your guru, it's going to work out regardless of what a hack or crook s/he is.
However, that's no reason to withhold discrimination in your evaluation of the gurus you are considering applying your faith to.
But also think thatz its dif[f]icult to evaluate a great master.
Sri Sri a great master? Please!
About his eyes, i can assure u all that is incredible to look deep into his eyes...
In my case, was the most pure expression of love i've ever seen..
It all proves my point. It's not about the guru, it's about the projection of the devotee. You are seeing what you want to see in Sri Sri. He's got the guru "look" down, and you project the "expression of love" there for yourself.
Just don't give him any money. He's got enough already.
Kalyani said,
"...it is no Uncle Tom's Cabin scenario.You must have been fed manufactured saint teresa's accounts of "squalor" of India."
OTOH said, "Gee Chuck, didn't realize that you were such a racist!
India is a beautiful country. Indians are no worse to their poor than western countries."
......................
What bullshit!
I think that anyone raised in the US South in the 50's and 60's, as I was, would hear in your voices typical answers given by middle class and wealthy southern whites. OTOH points out that the Indian version of “house nigras” are luckier than the ones who work outside. But wouldn’t it be better if they were paid enough to take care of their own children’s education, so the parents would get the respect due them for their labors, not the good master. Perhaps as the southern whites would have said, the poor Indian workers are too uneducated or foolish to take care of themselves.
I and many others have seen the incredible gap between rich and poor in India, something that is quickly spreading west. I have seen thousands of poor Indian families living in plastic tents and sleeping near busy roadways, a short walk from gated mansions where they work for slave wages that barely cover the cost of food. Just like blacks in the south, the poor Indian workers are constantly accused of stealing.
OTOH himself has spoken about the lack of compassion Indians have for their own poor. Maybe that’s OK with him unless the culprit is Sri Sri. Maybe it only matters to him if it gives him an opportunity to vent. Normally I see this site as an opportunity to have a little fun but I just got tired of Kalyani’s whining about money. She has shown very little concern for her relative’s emotions, heart or soul in regard to Sri Sri, only what it was costing her in money.
I have been around Indian culture and spiritual groups for more than 30 years and I have seen first hand how superficial they are. 99.9 % of people from East or West, approach gurus, temples or gods for strictly selfish reasons: jobs, relationships, male children, health issues, or spiritual experiences. The entire Indian society is corrupt from the lowest taxi driver to the highest politician. Even the gods demand and expect a bribe to deliver the goods. Just like the American blacks flattered their white masters, devotees flatter their gods and gurus, hoping for a handout. Is it any wonder that most gurus are corrupt as well?
OTOH also came to Sri Sri for ego enhancement. He was willing to pay and expected to be treated in a first class manner. When Sri Sri began to condescend to the fellow or worse still, demanded that he work, that was that! OTOH has told us a number of times how lazy he is. It’s no wonder that Sri Sri didn’t think he was paying enough to be kept on a velvet pillow next to the guru’s chair. I am not a racist, OTOH, but you are an elitist crybaby. Now Kalyani says her maid is part of her extended family! Bull! The southern whites also used to go on and on about how much they loved their good nigras.
Kalyani said,
"Do your homework first by reading undoctored History before you fulminate,foaming at your mouth."
.....................
Are you saying it is the British Empire or the invading Aryans that make you force (like Sri Sri forces your poor unfortunate family member)your maid to clean your own toilet, while paying her next to nothing? Is it the British who force wealthy Indians to live in mansions while their servants live in plastic tents? No, it's the same greed working in them that also works in the British. Why don't you clean up your own shit for a change.
Most of the Indian society is corrupt, therefore most of the gurus are corrupt. But I guess we shouldn't point out the obvious. Hey Kalyani, why don't you join your maid's extended family for a while, then when you come back home you won't miss the money your relative has given to Sri Sri. Sri Sri is just what you all deserve.
This has been the longest whine fest in Guruphiliac history.
And what a silly way to take what facedog did say. You just can't deal with people not seeing it your way. Your comparison of Sri Sri to Hitler brings your entire self pitying rant against him into question. Do you really think your ego wounds compare to what the Jews went through under Hitler? Neither do I. Neither does facedog, I suspect.
If you cared as much about justice as you seem to believe, you would be making these claims against Sri Sri public.
If you cared as much about justice as you seem to believe, you would be making these claims against Sri Sri public.
There will be no justice. Sri Sri is a juggernaut now, a big time guru. It's going to take a major scandal to bring him down. If he's careful, it won't happen.
ontheotherhand is looking for private justice, i.e. revenge.
He has already had justice because he came to Sri Sri to get ego gratification and received it. Like Sri Sri himself he wanted to be the "master", not remain a "master's" lapdog. The same thing happened to several of Maharishi's boys. They got tired of being a big cog in the wheel and wanted to be the wheel. Johnny Gray of "Men are from Mars...infamy, Deepthroat Chopra, and Sri Sri, to name a few. It is justice that these guys left and embarrassed Maharishi. It is justice that otoh left Sri Sri and is embarrassing him on line.
Real revenge will cost otoh a little more. He would have to stand out in the open and give his name, rank, and serial number. For Maharishi, things started getting difficult when people began to file lawsuits. Now he is seen as a joke. Even people who follow him must be hoping that his time on earth is short.
After that all the structures Maharishi has worked so hard to build will blow away like a fart in a breeze. That is also justice.
OTOH,
You're right, I missed the last thing you wrote. Sorry. I can only take so much about Sri Sri. He is too empty a vessel to spend so much anger on.
There is still nothing racist in what I said. Your depiction of the changes in India are bogus. The caste system is alive and well and as ugly as anything that happened in America. Your hatred of Americans is noted. My crystal ball tells me you are British and ashamed of it. Remember that you criticized and pointed the finger at me first. Last but not least you are definitely an angry crybaby.
Why do we go to a guru, for search of peace, happiness. Now if we logically think, both of these do not exist. It is only a state of the mind. Unless you have a preconceived notion about happiness or peace you cannot actually experience it. It is a sensual experience not a spiritual one. So if you go to a guru and try to experience everlasting peace and happiness, devoid of sorrows technically it is impossible for there is no permanent happiness at all. To be in that state you need to first have an idea of permanent happiness and based on this you begin to experience which is so thought induced than the actual experience. It is like learning about heat and trying to feel how heat feels. This can never be achieved. Everything we do to attain this fictious state of mind, is taking us away from what we are. Unless we realize this and question every action of the guru and test him, before blindly accepting him, we will have people like this blindly following and doing and believing everything in blind faith.
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