RIDDLES OF SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR’S PARASPIRITUALITY
My all friends, you must have seen Sri Sri Ravishankar pulled and ridiculed (not intentionally) by Prabhu Chawla in Seedhi Baat on Aaj Tak in June 2008. This is a charge sheet on charlatan Sri Sri (Shri Shri) Ravishankar. This man has spoiled the idea of spiritualism and has upheld hysteria in the name of spirituality. There are some riddles of Sri Sri Ravishankar’s extra-spiritual activities that I have befallen to. Most of the riddles are over and above the questions raised by Prabhu Chawla.
1. Ravishankar started AoL (Art of Living) as a spiritual movement. Why did he diversify to social leadership and ventured into education, hospitals, agriculture, reconstruction (as in Maharashtra) and many other things?
2. If he justifies his foray into education, social work and politics, then can he remain a Guru or Guruji? What kind of Guru is this who is attached to the same things with the same fervor and ambition as a non-Guru is? Isn’t a non-Guru better, who at least says, “Yes, I am attached”? If this is not attachment, then what should the inner driving force behind his entry in extra-spiritual domains be called as? Whatever he calls it as, will that be different from “attachment”?
3. I have been to his campus called Ashram in Bangalore. His AoL is based on Bhakti Marg. Why isn't there a single temple in his ashram of even a single Hindu God or Goddess, when his path is Bhakti Marg-based? Even non-idol worshipping churches have Christ’s idols! Isn’t this a lame attempt to attract the intelligentsia by exhibiting a non-idol-based “scientific” path? Then what about the Bhakti path that is actually taught by him? Can there be Bhakti Path sans idol worship? And he is not against idol worship as such. Then why no idol or temple inside AoL campus? Isn’t this a dichotomy of his preaching and his practice?
4. He doesn't earn anything and he is not an industrialist. That means the charity he is doing is out of charity of others. Why should there be a free food for all in most hours of the day in his ashram? Is it to impress the masses with charity? What kind of charity is this which is not his own? If he is using others' donations for this free food etc., then isn't this an unjustifiable extravaganza (on others' help) that has nothing to do with spirituality?
5. Why does a spiritual Guru color his hair? If it is because of his chele-chapate (disciples), his disciples' desire to see his hair black renders the Guru a failure. Why does he have to be in agreement with the thought of his disciples about his hair color?
6. His ashram has a shop named “Divine Shop”. Can a shop be divine just because it vends some so-called spiritual merchandise? Isn’t AoL itself a divine shop that sells spirituality for fee? If he can give free food to hundreds or thousands of non-course-takers each day, why can’t he give free spirituality? Why can’t he trade off food for spirituality? If he is not in a position to give spirituality, his prime business, without fee, why is he making that unsolicited charity in secondary business of giving free food to any visitor in the campus? Does he feel compelled to do the same as his rival Gurus are doing in their premises?
7. He had to be apologetic about the book on Islam. Doesn't that reveal an untrustworthy Guru? Doesn’t that suggest a lack of coherence of thoughts? If he is apologetic, he was wrong. If he is wrong, then how can he teach and claim to be a Guru.
8. He convened a meeting of Hindu leaders in June 2008 for AIDS and Swami Agnivesh attended it. Why was it called caucus, a term that has never been used in this context? Was it to impress the media who were talking of American caucuses at almost the same time? Wasn't that a blatantly unacceptable term, nevertheless?
9. It is a mentality of common man or good man or a naive man to say, "We should take what is good in him and leave bad". Isn't he taking an advantage of common man's condoning ability?
10. There is a lot of spirituality merchandising going on in AoL. You read a catchphrase "Music relaxes the soul" on each CD of AoL. Does or can the soul really relax? If this is "Just Like That", then what is NOT “just like that” in AoL?
11. People who have low self-worth (divorcees, criminals, sociopaths, anti-social personality disorders, failures) are seen taking recourse to AoL. Is it to learn spirituality or to take a recluse in AoL to save themselves from the onslaught of society? Isn't there an evaluation process as to who is coming for what? If this was for spirituality, it was OK; but what about those who hide in the fold of AoL to escape societal criticism? Is the Guru turning a blind eye to this for creating a mass base for his own career?
12. Why does a spiritual Guru have to start a marriage bureau? Does the Guru have a statistics of how many people are coming in AoL for getting married? Is the Guru giving these 'Value-Added Services" to widen his base?
13. If the marriage bureau is for the disciples to marry among themselves, are his disciples so weak that they cannot get along well with non-AoL spouse? If he advocates such marriages for growth in spirituality, how many such couples have grown to become saints? Isn't he denying “spiritual" spouse to a non-AoL bride or groom by this idea of intra-AoL marriages? Is spirituality taught by the Guru so effete that a disciple requires only an AoL spouse to practice it?
14. If his disciples are so strong in art of living, why are so many getting separated? If the art is not contributing to even keeping the marriage, what exactly are they learning? Are they learning how to separate and not have remorse? Are they learning how not to suffer and how to chill in spite of separating?
15. In Gujjar issue, the Guru went to Rajasthan to solve a problem. Wasn't that an attempt to make a foray into "peace politics" after "Hindu politics" with LK Advani? Didn’t he go there because of ease and acceptability in a BJP-run state? Was or is that the only problem in India? What about naxalism in Bihar? The Guru wanted an extremely red hot problem to solve, and not a simmering one like naxalism. In actuality naxalism, like many others, is a far more complex problem that requires mediation; but it is not amenable to getting resolved easily, there is no instant reward, and the Guru is not acceptable to non-BJP-run State politicians. Moreover, the Guru requires an absolute peace problem, not something related to communism as in naxalism. Isn't this longing for brokering peace, because there is no Nobel for non-peace-making politics? Why doesn't he solve the problem of his own mind that is so passionate, runs incoherently and pines for Nobel or Magasaysay?
16. He will, in a year or two, five at maximum, get a Magasaysay for social leadership because of his work in extra-spiritual field. But the real question is, will the prize not accrue to Art of Social Work and be wrongly credited to Art of Living?
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