The Great Indian Political Debate - 2

03-09-2005, 08:53 PM

Direct results of Pissecism!

QUOTEAkhtar laughs off Laughing Guru
Author: Kounteya Sinha
Publication: The Asian Age
Date: February 27, 2005

He teaches people Sudarshan Kriya - breathing exercises that help
them stay calm.

The techniques came to his rescue too on Saturday afternoon.

In a duel between an aggressive, passionate poet and a smiling
guru, Javed Akhtar went up against Art of Living chief Sri Sri
Ravi Shankar (founder of Sudarshan Kriya) to produce what was
definitely the India Today Conclave's most entertaining session
in New Delhi on Saturday.

Talking on "Spirituality - Halo or Hoax", Akhtar took on "modern
age gurus" from the word go. Taking a direct dig at Sri Sri Ravi
Shankar by saying "that spirituality should be more than teaching
the rich how to breathe", the poet claimed that "modern day gurus
have opened a chain of ashrams where the restless elite buy
spiritual fast food".

Refusing to compare old Indian saints with modem age religious
teachers, Akhtar said, "Gautam Buddha and other great spiritual
leaders left their palaces to go into the wilderness. Modem age
gurus, however, are coming out of the wilderness to enter
affluent palaces."

With most of his arguments being received with thunderous
applause by a packed hall, Akhtar continued to steal the show by
comparing today's spiritual leaders with the film fraternity.
"Cinema and modem day gurus do the same things. We both sell
dreams, create illusions and create icons. Fortunately, cinema
has a 'The End' board after three hours," he said.

Claiming that "spirituality was the tranquilliser of the rich",
Akhtar also took the example of unhappy rich wives who needed a
shoulder to cry oil after being ignored by husbands "who were
either busy with work or with other women". "So they seek the
help of modem age gurus, who promise to rid them of all miseries.
The spiritual get-togethers today are nothing less than points of
contact and network building exercises for the elite. Like all
corporate honchos found on a golf course don't necessary love
golf, similarly, all those found at spiritual get-togethers aren'
t necessarily spiritual," he said.

Pointing out that people must think with their brains and see
through the garb of these gurus, "who themselves claim to have
achieved nirvana but can't promise to take you there," Akhtar
added: "Spiritual leaders need to do more than teach about cosmic
consciousness. Where are the spiritualists when there are
communal tensions? How many have taken dalits to a temple where
they are not allowed to enter? Gautam Buddha, Krishna and Kabir
had all raised their voices against social injustice." 

{Ah! The promise Spiritual Utopia ->Segway->class warfare->caste->Hindusim BAD BAD->India Worse->Welcome CommiePakis}Â <img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='laugh.gif' />

Sri Ravi Shankar, who just sat, smiled and waited for his turn to
refute Akhtar's arguments, then joined the argument. "To say that
all spiritual leaders are hoaxes would not be right. Similarly,
to claim that the over two lakh religious gurus ill this country
have attained halo wills be equally erroneous. One should not
accept anything that is irrational. Indian spiritualism, which
goes back as long as time, is based on science. Today, in the US
alone, spirituality rose 500 times more in one year. Yoga alone
is a $27 billion industry there. Spirituality binds India,
without which there would be no India. It would become like Congo
and the former Yugoslavia, fraught with ethnic conflicts. Studies
have shown that violence is highest where spirituality is the
lowest," Ravi Shankar said. Akhtar continued, claiming that arms,
drugs and spirituality were today the world's three biggest
industries. "Most of the modem day gurus have affluent clientele
that provide him power, status and money. In return, the rich get
a crash course in spirituality, nirvana and cosmic consciousness
in four easy lessons."

To this, the guru promptly replied: "There is nothing wrong in
including the rich in popular spiritual practices. They go
through tremendous stress. We help them relieve it. Not only are
my followers rich, there are a few million prisoners benefiting
from my programme. Mr Akhtar's views reminds me of 135 Naxalites
who recently visited me with the same doubts. I think the world
has stopped trusting teachers."

SRI SRI's work (Letter to Editor)

Author: Vikram Hazra
Publication: The Asian Age
Date: March 8, 2005

Sir, I was deeply saddened to read about Mr Javed Akhtar's
denigrating views on Indian spirituality at the recent India
Today Conclave (Akhtar laughs off Laughing Guru, The Asian Age,
February 27). Mr Akhtar had clearly not done his homework before
coming to the meeting, and was out to establish an agenda. Did he
not know, for instance, that one of the biggest meetings of Dalit
leaders was hosted at Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's ashram in Bangalore,
and that thousands of Dalit as well as tribal youth are not just
beneficiaries but active organisers of the community service
projects initiated and run by Sri Sri's Art of Living Foundation
(AoL)? Perhaps Mr Akhtar would do well to visit one of the nearly
25,000 villages across India that have been touched by this
humanitarian's efforts; or maybe trek through the dusty paths
that lead to one of the 40 free schools run by the rural youth
trained by AoL in the impoverished areas of eastern and
northeastern India. Sri Sri himself has visited these places,
including the tsunami hit areas of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka,
where dedicated volunteers have been working to alleviate people'
s misery. These visits (and the work) have been going on in
various parts of the world for well over 10 years, but have been
conducted with the participation and empowerment of the local
populace, and without any media hullabaloo. The media would focus
on how many Bollywood personages do the AoL course rather than on
instances such as Sri Sri's visit to Dharavi. Over 22,000
prisoners in Tihar jail have benefited from AoL programmes in the
past four years alone, and 120,000 prisoners worldwide have
undergone the programme in countries such as South Africa,
Germany and the United States to name but a few. The money paid
by the so-called elite to learn stress elimination is channelled
totally into these seva projects. In addition, Sri Sri's
Sudarshan Kriya technique has been widely documented to be one of
the most effective and practical tools for eliminating fear,
violence, stress and negativity from the human mind. It should be
clear to the meanest intelligence that Sri Sri has created that
most unusual of phenomena in our times - a win-win situation for
all, one that can bridge not just the communal divide but which
also bridges the urban-rural divide. I was especially glad that
Sri Sri did not stoop to take issue with Mr Akhtar at the
conclave. Mr Akhtar, however, has lost face and respect; a
vitriolic outburst to draw applause from a small audience would
not fool any thinking mind. Mr Akhtar is probably representative
of that increasingly popular brand of "fancy-dress activists" who
hog media mileage in elegant Fab India ensembles; they have it
easy, they never run out of causes to shout about, and are spared
the responsibility of actually taking action or providing
solutions. I am sure that many dedicated volunteers who have
risked life and limb to work for the upliftment of their
community in remote villages do not see Mr Akhtar and his ilk as
their voice; however, these same masses come together in service
when spiritual leaders like Sri Sri reach out to them with so
much love, responsibility, pro-active attitude, compassion as
well as practical solutions. Lastly, does Mr Akhtar feel that a
spiritual teacher is credible only if he lives cloistered in a
forest hermitage and travels on foot? Does he imagine his own
poetry would be richer if he were a penniless alcoholic? Such
stereotypes exist only in books.
Vikram Hazra
Programme Director
International Art of Living
Foundation

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