More Poor Kids Set To Walk: Sri Sri Is Building A University
File under: Satscams and The Siddhi of PR
He may not be the science graduate he claims to be, but Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Orissa in India for the construction of a new university:
The curricula of the university, to be named Sri Sri University of Art of Living, will be a blend of both traditional and modern.We suggest adding the courses Avatardation 101, Satscamming 201 and Self-Aggrandizement 301 for those aspiring to follow in the footsteps of their university's namesake.
Traditional subjects such as Ayurveda, yoga and spirituality will be taught along with emergent disciplines such as Basic Science, Medicine, Management, Information Technology, Media Studies, Biotechnology, Engineering, Aviation and Law.
posted by guruphiliac @ 5:39 PM
23 Comments:
Actually he is a science grad, but that's no big deal in India. I met someone who said his uncle went to school with Ravi Shankar at the St Josephs college of Arts and Science in Bangalore...No earth shaking scandals while the boy was in college, I'm afraid, but I doubt Sri Sri has ever been anywhere near the Himalayas...
You have to admit though, the guy has done damn well for himself. And has convered up his tracks very well - where is his early bio ( and i mean the true stuf, not the BS about hi reciting the vedas when he was 4..he can barely recite them now...
The guy pisses me off with his Jesus hair and his Boy George voice, but can't argue with success. He's going to kick Mahesh Yogi's arse, mark my words...And how? Why? Charisma? None whatsoever...Presence? Nyet. Looks? Nein
What then? And don't tell me it's all because people are just looking for a messiah - that's only part of the answer. Plenty of competition out there who are offering an "answer". What makes HHSSRS (the man has added another honorofic while we werent looking) so special?
Anonymouse
PS: Chuck - sorry to disappoint bro but I am from India...
Have to agree with anonymouse a lot but what could be that one statement(not a discourse ofcourse, i get sleepy!!) from SSRS which can perhaps pacify our most agitated anonymouse or his thinkalikes here ??
I wonder!!! any clues ?
What makes HHSSRS so special?
His Jesus haircut and blind ambition.
"His Jesus hair and his blind ambition"
naah man, jody..that's way too glib, brother... you have to come up with something better...(too many jesus freaks with plenty of ambition out there...)
that's way too glib
Not really. Sri Sri decides he wants to be the Maharishi, so he takes a ancient practice and homogenizes it for mass consumption, just as the Maharishi did, and ends up creating a world-wide org based on the strength of his sales and marketing, all backed by his formidable ambition.
He flits around acting holy, flopping on his face every time he boasts about bringing peace to a conflict, collecting accolades with an obsessive's zeal, which he uses to advertise himself on his website.
Sri Sri's popularity is based on a myth, the enlightened beacon of peace. He's working the space-daddy angle with precision. He really doesn't need to speak anything other than empty platitudes. Folks apply their own holiness on to the image Sri Sri has so carefully constructed.
He wanted to be a big-time guru, and he has been successful. That says something about his ambition and connections, not his wisdom and realization. He's good at what he does, which is pose for everyone as some kind of divine being and sell a simpleton's practice as divinely inspired.
OK, that's a good explanation Jody. But, again, there are plenty of people doing the same thing. ..So why our boy Ravi? Of course, that might be a bit like asking , why McDonalds over the mom n pop hamburger place..
Anonymouse
The reason behind his huge fan following lies elsewhere. An Indian familiar with political chicanery would understand instantly.
Hindutvavadis consider only Christians and Evangelization as their main adversary. They resort to negationism when it comes to islam partly because a jihadist will respond alacritously with his sword and mass bombing. Partly I suppose geography plays some role in deciding affiliations whatever.Oil, petrodollars etc.
It is a known fact jihadists also target Christians,Jews practically whoever is not one of them.
This fellow has sedulously cultivated this image as a shrewd saviour.Makes all the appropriate politically correct noises and soundbytes. Add to that his so called brahmin background.Connect all the dots.
No wonder once Bhagavan said:
"If I were to show even the most gossamery glimpse of what God is, not even a fly or a crow would alight here".(my loose translation)
R.W.Emerson got it right as do many Westerners, sincere in their quest and laser like intellect.
On reading Upanishads, Emerson trenchantly observed:
"God does not save souls in bundles".
Recently when I again discussed dubious ravishankar with my acquaintances one of them silenced me thus:
"In national interest, you should keep quiet".
Bhagavan liberated me from all kinds of phobias and isms including nationalisms with His "Ulladhu Narpadhu" (Sath Darshanam)
yeah whatever !!
so what if he does all of this.. he makes people happy.. or perhaps in your perception.. makes people hypnotized to the extent of wrongfully perceiving happiness.. or blah blah blah.. basically whatever u term this feeling that his devotees (which includes me too) carry around.. its been great for them , that they want more of 'it' or him or his techniques..
and if u are gonna come up with 10 people who 'say' : "nah, it ain't any good", after taking the course (which is much better than u folks, who havnt even bothered to, before delving deep into all these 'perceptions'!); i can show u and let u talk to 10m people who are enjoying every bit of this life cuz of all these techniques, not to mention his presence. An then again u can say.. "what feeling.. thats all crap".. and thats ok too ;-D
the point is.. why u wanna waste hours on this blog on such useless stuff.. cuz all that happens is, u post n some like-minded people comment.. somebody like me may(??) counter... n it goes like that...
and trust me, if u were to show these posts to a 'non-AOLite' or somebody-who-has-plans-to-take-the-course theres not even the remotest chance that this content, can manipulate his decision to do the course and try it out. because all people have issues.. and if somebody gaurantees relief from all that (and other people recommend it from their own experience) with just 'breathe-in-and-out', 99% of humans will become curious and some day or the other end up trying it out. And once they have done it 99% of them are gonna SMILE n think how silly this 'guruphiliac' blogger was... or maybe.. they'd just smile ! After all theres always that 1%, eh !! :-D
so now, that makes your blog just about 'finding fault n brooding over it'.. not for information (neither new-comers nor non-devotees are gonna benefit from here like i said)... not for entertainment (entertainment for maybe 0.000...1% of total internet populace, cuz theres nothing new happening here.. its the same viewpoint.. similar storylines.. nothing like an audioblog or a quality personal blog)... just for 5-6 people to make comments of the likes of 'yeah...thats rite', 'yeah.. thats true'
oh cummon, wake up honey.. this is the age of commercial blogging n web 2.0.. start doing something worthwhile and really really exciting .. with all this writing n analytical talent that u have...
... cuz whether u write this or not... these gurus or 'messiahs'.. are gonna have a roll !! and your readers on the other hand, are gonna read some of it, throw it out the next day, and go about with their own decisions..and here u are wastin quality internet time... sheesh!
which also brings up the point that.. i just have this much time for u now.. its your call now.. (as thou it has never been, eh! ;-D)
i am smiling and just letting the breathe in n out... ;-D
have fun,
rock on!
Anand.
anonymouse, that is the EXACT question i've been asking a lot lately.
what makes him stand out?
i guess like jody points out:
-> ambition,
-> connection (this is important),
luck (a pinch of it),
-> a sharp mind (not everybody can pull off such a huge one all the time).
-> realization of cuz, he realized how to make big $. he realized how to stop fighting reality and just copy what works.
is he so special ?
YES, how many people in India / the world has as big as following as him?
u don't have to like him, but don't fight with reality, or else u suffer.
Anonymous wrote:
.. its been great for them , that they want more of 'it' or him or his techniques..
and if u are gonna come up with 10 people who 'say' : "nah, it ain't any good", after taking the course (which is much better than u folks, who havnt even bothered to, before delving deep into all these 'perceptions'!); i can show u and let u talk to 10m people who are enjoying every bit of this life cuz of all these techniques, not to mention his presence. An then again u can say.. "what feeling.. thats all crap".. and thats ok too ;-D
...which raises an interesting question: Can truth be decided by popular voting? There are some philosophers who actually think that it can be.
...and yet another interesting question: One person saw a thief stealing from a store. Millions did not. Whom do we believe?
Anand,
your FROsty anger so patently shows through your :D:D.... Btw, your master is not going to be pleased with you...you forgot to add the mandatory "have a nice day" !
so now, that makes your blog just about 'finding fault n brooding over it'..
That sounds like sour grapes from a wannabe space-daddy who is afraid this blog will impede his market penetration.
I find fault and make an example of it, (most of the time.) It's called discrimination, which is clearly the enemy of the "divine" guru and those who aspire to be the same.
if u were to show these posts to a 'non-AOLite' or somebody-who-has-plans-to-take-the-course theres not even the remotest chance that this content, can manipulate his decision to do the course and try it out.
I thought of taking the course but I just dropped...Thanks Jody.
oh cummon, wake up honey.. this is the age of commercial blogging n web 2.0.. start doing something worthwhile and really really exciting .. with all this writing n analytical talent that u have...
like what?? you want Jody to start teaching "Art of Kicking Ass" and take money from the Gurus.. :-)
Blade said:
Not so fast anand. It IS getting harder for space-daddy's since the internet arose and people like us started to populate it.
I think blade is correct. It takes much less time since the internet to find out information about things like this space daddy stuff. I cycled thru new wage bs more quickly as a result and now have much more clarity about what's real and what's not. I also just find this site kinda entertaining sometimes.
I agree with Durga. I think the gurubusters on the Web do offer a valuable service. In fact, I found this blog because I was looking everywhere for information on Tilak, whom I'd never heard of, but who seems to be the darling among the Law of Attraction crowd and other folks I like to make fun of on my own blog. I couldn't find anything about Tilak except the propaganda on his web site, till I came across Jody's blog. And I saw that Tilak apparently has a long history of scamming.
Granted, I wasn't a would-be follower of Tilak. In fact, I guess you could say I'm a member of the choir to whom this blog is preaching. But at least the info is up there on the Web, and it could potentially save someone else who might have otherwise fallen for Tilak's "blowing lights" crap.
But as a long time devotee of SSRS I will say that the time where I have been so devoted to him have been soo beautiful. But not only have it been beautiful it has also given me so many skills through my seva work, and so much awareness and knowledge of the workings of my mind.
Now that the time has come to see life from another angle I feel only gratitude. I know that all the beautiful things I have experienced all these years can not be taken away from me no matter who or what SSRS is. That is what is so beautiful with devotion. It is not the object of devotion but the devotion itself that transform. And what ever short commings or limitations the form of SSRS has it can not limit the self of the devotee. Why the bitterness???
Jody and others,
Do you know what Tantric practice is? Do you think people who do it acquire any ability to influence people with weak minds?
What do you think about a guru who secretly practices particular Kali/Durga practices only after midnight and on a red cloth?
Yeah, ultimately, nothing makes any difference. But in the world of the relative, gross and subtle, are you aware of this type of person and the effect they can have on people?
SSRS is this type. That is what makes him "special". That's all. He is not enlightened. He simply uses Bija mantras in a particular way.
You may not believe in these things, but beliefs and facts might be different.
Why would someone use something beautiful like mantra to control or injure others? It's even warned against in the Durga Saptashati (the text often chosen for such practices as well as for benign uses). The Rudra (SSRS's only real training in life) is another.
SSRS has acquired his "driver's license" in this way. He chooses not to drive on the road and follow the rules because of his enormous ego. He just hits whomever he pleases and drives away. Eventually the "police" will catch him.
Get my drift? If not, no matter. But it is exactly how he manages to sway so many people. Few people understand this about him. He is not enlightened, but, rather, a little talented, so to speak.
If you guys have guts, why do you speak anything without experiecingit. First go and experience, use your mind. Do you really want to face the trurh? It needs lot of courage. Do you have it...Just by closing your eyes and keep on repeating same thing wouldn't help. It's like closing your eyes when someone is about to hit you. So go, experience and than share. Even budhha said: Don't take something as good because someone wise has said,
Don't take something as truth because it appears that way.
Just go have your own experience.
And than trust.
So go do the courses offered and if you find something wrong share it here. If you have guts, do the DSN course offered by AOL. share your experience.
write to me personally
r_cheater@yahoo.com
uh, dareyou.......
Been there, done that (like for some years, dude, including being a SSRS teacher). The whole thing is fraud and bunk. Sorry. You are the one who has to open his eyes and experience the truth. The truth IS hard when you are brainwashed by Ravi Shankar. Try leaving. I dare you. Say anything against him, then leave and watch what happens. Watch while all the "loving" followers trash you and your good name, create all sorts of stories about you to defame you, and while SSRS himself (yeah, himself) creates any and every lie to avoid you telling whatever awful truth you may know about him. The man is a loser. I know. If you don't know him, then, find out for yourself. Get close. Stay with him for some time (not like a sheep, but I mean live with him) then come talk about the truth.
drrrrryou,
read the complete blog. This blog is not just what you see in the front page. explore it..it is as fascinating as Skriya.
You seem to be a big idiot to me who is jealous about H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji. What are you upto? You don't have something better to do in your life? At least don't speak about people who are striving selflessly for the betterment of millions of people.
When you point one finger at anyone, remaining four fingers are pointing towards you only. Think about this.... May God give you some good thoughts.
You seem to be a big idiot to me who is jealous about H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji.
Jealous? No. Somewhat taken aback by his self-aggrandizing ways? Yes.
What are you up to?
Discrimination.
You don't have something better to do in your life?
I have lots of good things to do in my life. This is one of them.
At least don't speak about people who are striving selflessly for the betterment of millions of people.
That's the thing, it's not selfless. Sri Sri does it to make Sri Sri more adored. It's all about him, the "NGO" status of his org notwithstanding. Helping people is a means to an end, which is worldwide guru status. Sri Sri is trying to outdo his daddy the Maharishi.
When you point one finger at anyone, remaining four fingers are pointing towards you only. Think about this.... May God give you some good thoughts.
May God show you why my thoughts are already good.
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