Its amazing how gullible one can be at certain points in life. Its also amazing how important it is to have parental support in such times.
When I was around 20, I attended an art of living program in bangalore. I must admit that I sort of did it out of ignorance. I thought it was going to be some kind of yoga, it turned out it was sort of an opportunity for the group to identify young and gullible people and lure them into the group. By the third day of the course it became clear to me that I was never going to agree with the things they said or did - some of it involved bowing down and treating their guruji like God. In fact, they advocate that their Guruji is God.
I went home feeling confused, because it seemed like they were right about everything. It took all the strength I had and some pressure from parents to not go for subsequent meetings. The fact that one of the coordinators / organizers kept calling every other day to ask me to come to one of their satsangs did not make it any simpler. Finally, they started sending me their magazine without me even paying for it! The magazine as such was alright, although at times I felt that there was some underlying problems with what they said. I could never pinpoint what it was that felt wrong, so I kept wondering for a long time..
Then one day I met this coordinator and found out that he had flunked out his PhD program and had to transfer to a neighbboring institution. I was a little surprised, because he was one of those "Guruji will take care of everything if you do his work..." kind of people. I guess I was surprised that Guruji did not take care of his things... He continued to work for his Guruji, it looks like.
Another one was when I found these people circulating emails asking people to protest against putting flags at half mast when the Pope died. In my mind, a religious group should not have done that, given that a god should respect representatives of God, wherever they were found. But that was not what happened. To me it looked definitely like propaganda Hindutva. Worse, I heard from someone that Ravi Shankars followers were behind the attacks on Benny Hinn. So it was that I decided this was all a scam. But long after that, although I was relieved that I didnt join in, I didnt think it was per se a "cult"
Now, years later, some blogs have surfaced that show that the groups activities are not really what they claim to be. The blog is maintained by an aol teacher who left the org out of disillusionment.
I sometimes think about how close I was to believing it. How effective brain washing can be. I wonder how they were so successful at brain washing so many well educated and apparently thinking people. The most surprising thing is the number of people they have managed to lure to their courses. Although very few of them go back to them or join them, it is impressive that they have managed to make most people take at least one basic course. I guess that speaks volumes about how well trained their teachers are in catching people. I noticed that to places that contain educated people, they send their best and brightest. For example, to speak at a place like IISc, they sent someone who had similar branding. They had a few people with these brands, and effectively utilized them to impress others. A number of students from places like IISc keep going for Satsangs from then on. Perhaps the other aiding factor is that all of them have unfinished PhD thesis to complete which they are worried about...
In any case, the teachers they send manage to be fairly effective people snatchers. Once they get your email id and phone number, they keep pestering until you agree. And it is done in such a lovely way, one will not realize it was even cajoling. I wonder what keeps people there. The breathing exercises dont really do much I think... I practised it for a while and found no big difference, except that I was losing about one hour in the morning every day. I dont think it had enough benefit to warrant that.
An interesting thing I found in IIT : I went once for a yoga class and found that the lady there had exactly the same attitude. The last day of class was Palm sunday, and I told her the day before that I would have to leave early the next day. A friend of mine had agreed that she would ring my cellphone when it was time for me to leave for church. Naively, I told this lady that I was expecting this call and would leave when it came. I also told her that I was leaving to attend church, trying to impress the urgency of the situation on her. She reacted in a way that irritated me quite a bit. She told me to go into meditation, promising that she would make me leave when the call came, and said she would keep my phone. Believing that, I tried to get to meditation... I was however very conscious of what was going on around me, possibly because in the back of my mind the only thing I knew was that it was a day of obligation and that I should be getting out of there. My phone rang, and she picked it up, and told my friend I would be out soon. I kept waiting and waiting, pretending to be in meditation, but she did not come and tell me that the call had come. I was a little flustered, and tried to get up, but she insisted that I continue. By now, obviously I was not meditating at all, and just wanted to get out of there. She however wouldnt let me, and made me sit there the whole time until that exercise was over. After that when I said I wanted to leave, she insisted that we eat the food that she had prepared. I tried to stuff myself with something and get out, but she tried to delay me as much as she could, insisting that sitting there was the same as sitting in church! I was astonished that she had tried to influence me and my actions... Needless to say, that was the last time I went there. I wonder what it is in people that makes them want others to follow only their path.
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