Does anyone know about the Art of Living program?

Is it legit? Is this just another movement?

Any information would be great,

Thanks

MR

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Its got a pretty HUGE following in India.

My parents joined this in India and were VERY impressed..

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Are you there?

Thanks for the replies.

Some people have denounced it as a'cult' or 'scam' (a few online).

My parents have joined it. I just find it weird that everytime they want to "redo" the "course" they have to pay $200 plus.. and recruit other people.

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It is very popular here & abroad & what they teach is Pranayama & certain basic philosophies of life to make one's life happier.

Once you do it, there is no compulsion on you to do it again. You can practise it at home. I did the course once & haven't repeated it again but I do practise it at home.

As with any other religious sect, do not go very deep unless you want to devote your life.

Rgds.

Rajan.

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Let's make India a better place !

Think twice and look around before crossing the road.

There are two issues:

1.What good does the program/initiative offers to the individual/society ?.
2.How is the whole process managed ?.

When we study Satya Sai Baba of Puttaparthi, his efforts have done a lot to the people of Andhra Pradesh, he is running an hospital/medical program for the needy and he has brought water to areas totally arid with out a single cent from the government.

How does he go about getting attention by performing miracles, not humanely possible/beyond the realms of scientific reasoning.


When we look at The Art of Living we would realize it has been initiated by a person who is one of the best \\\"Marketing\\\" successes in the world.

If you look at him, he presents himself like Jesus, white robes, long hair and he makes himself universal. He has taken a simple concept of Pranayamam that is breath control, which somebody can learn over a week end and packaged it into a big program. He started with a Bollywood moviestars and later went over to Hollywood also. He always pictured with Bush, Pope, movie stars, rock stars and corporate honchos. He travel Business class(may be he has his own gulf stream by now), drives around in mercedes, stays in Five Star hotels. He has now positioned his product from art of living to Peace Activist with nomination for Nobel Prize.

He has a circle of die hard youngster professionals who have given up their life to follow his preachings. They are die hard with one eye on recruiting others. They have their own prayer satsangs, and once you get in you cannot get out. They charge US $ for all basic stuff. If you see his meetings he sits on a throne with Jasmine flowers strewn over, with people dancing around him.

The second issue what good does it to the society ?. I do not know and may be some one else has answers.

There was the murder case of Shankaracharya of Kanchi; plenty of sexual advances towards males, murder attempt, live recording of a miracle caught on tape by DDTV for Sai Baba of puttaparthi and everybody had their own waterloo.

What is it for this guy called Ravi Shankar, only time will tell but knowing something about his personal life(which I cannot share in the open) the time is not too far away !.

Once you are in you are in, you cannot come out and complain about the whole issue as you would be considered off balance as there are many others believing in the same. Does this statement sound familiar and often repeated on CD ?.

There is no business like God Business !. May be some body in Canada can think about a similar MLM - God Business !

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Speech by Thomas Friedman of The New York Times....

"When we were young kids growing up in America, we were told to eat our
vegetables at dinner and not leave them. Mothers said, 'think of the
starving children in India and finish the dinner.' And now I tell my
children: 'Finish your maths homework. Think of the children in India
who would make you starve, if you don't.'"

-deleted-

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