Spiritual Marketing Techniques
Andrew P. — Octobre 2009 — EnergyGrids
An examination of methods used to market spiritual teachers and teachings. Whether you are an authentic spiritual teacher or just playing the guru-game, there is good money to be made in active spiritual marketing.
SO YOU WANT TO BE A SPIRITUAL TEACHER? You want to have your own paying customers who look to you for inspiration and spiritual support? Why not? Always remember there are many people just like you who have done it very successfully, and you don't actually have to be that awakened or enlightened. All you generally need is to understand and apply spiritual marketing. It really couldn't be simpler. Whether you are someone who had a flash of inspiration on a bus, a simple meditation or yoga teacher, or a fully-fledged guru, these techniques will help you to be more successful by increasing your customer base and your income.
Spirituality is something that many of those in the New Age and New Consciousness movements focus upon. These individuals want to be spiritual because they have a yearning for a more meaningful life than the one officially sanctioned by society, and they have a strong disdain for the limitations of ordinary material perspectives. After all, spirituality usually offers inner happiness; unlimited love; physical, emotional and mental healing and wholeness; and even the ability to create our own realities — having anything and everything we want (even that Ferrari). No wonder spirituality is such a popular buy!
New Age spirituality is currently one of the huge growth industries (and has been since the 60s/70s), an industry that is worth countless millions in annual turnover as individuals, reaching the limits of what they feel society can offer them, reach forward into what spirituality can offer. After all, why settle for the house, the car, the TV set, the family and the food on the table when we can add to these inner fulfillment, God's love, a place in the afterlife, a magical ability to manifest things and events, and even physical immortality?
The thing about spirit is that you can't see it, touch it, hear it, smell it or taste it. Spirit is formless and ephemeral, and so just about anything and everything can be said about it and attributed to it (and has been). Because of this, it is a marketer's dream: it costs nothing to produce; it is in infinite supply; a large percentage of the population wants some of it, especially in desperate times; and it can be packaged in any way desired without risk of trade descriptions legislation. Not only that, but what makes it especially valuable is that spiritual awakening is usually considered a one-way process, making it a one-in-all-lifetimes' purchase. In other words, spirituality is the perfect commodity.
Consider the mapmaker analogy: When you promote your spiritual philosophies you are really promoting maps of a mysterious territory called "spirit". The thing about spirit is that it is invisible to the mind, the senses and the emotions, and so the general public are in the habit of buying maps of this mysterious place from the explorers who claim to have been there — and that includes you. The fact that the territory is actually unmappable is an in-house secret; most people just do not want to believe this. Whilst spiritual maps were culturally integrated for most of human history — basically there was no choice in the matter — today with the burgeoning to cultural and religious freedoms, at least in the West, there are numerous maps now on offer. And you want to be one of those people with a successful trade in your particular spiritual map or maps.
The only snag, of course, is credibility. If spirit cannot be experienced objectively because it is formless, how do you convince your customer base that it exists as you have described it, let alone that it exists at all?
Fortunately, there are a multitude of ways to do this that have resulted in the success of many different teachers and gurus. You can't convince everybody, so do not even try, but you can convince those who are open to being convinced (for whatever reason). To be successful, you should market both yourself as the teacher and your teachings.
Below are listed some of the marketing techniques that have been successfully used. Some of these you might feel are too transparently marketing techniques, but always remember that the type of customer you are trying to attract is pushing for a relationship with a teacher — your target audience is more open and gullible than you could imagine — and will actually thank you for hooking them even with the most obvious marketing techniques. Remember, there will always be people you will NEVER convince so don't even try to set your sights on convincing closed-minded, rational people; it is a complete waste of time and resources.
Although there is overlap between the marketing techniques used on the teacher and the teaching, they will be listed separately for clarity.
Techniques for Promoting Spiritual TeachersHere are some of the main spiritual marketing techniques that are used if we want to become teachers ourselves. The general idea is to present a spiritual image of the teacher to the customer so that the authority of the teachings is not doubted:
1.Psychological Transfer: Encourage followers to psychologically transfer divine qualities and goals onto you, so that both you and your customers are locked into a dynamic system of projection. This way the teacher maintains his or her role as an awakened one, and his or her students maintain their roles as the unawakened ones. You must always keep your students in line by dismissing any show spiritual autonomy as this will only encourage others to believe that they can do without you. The other approach is to inflate yourself to the top end of the spiritual master spectrum — to a full avatar or God's right hand wo/man — which will forever lock your clients in the student role (apart from the odd one that thinks that he or she actually is God).
2.Fashion and style: First impressions are everything in marketing and so your presentation as a spiritual teacher is very important. The first thing a potential customer is going to see is the outer package, so this has to fit with the image expected by the target audience. So if you are going after more alternative lovely-dovey followers, non-conventional attire is required such as white, yellow or orange robes, or a purple, blue, black or white silk shirt; long-hair/shaved head; crystal jewellery; and bare-feet or simple sandals or walking shoes. Alternatively, if you are going after a more corporate audience then you might consider dressing in bespoke dark suit, tie and white shirt, black dress shoes and an expensive watch. It is important to get into the minds of the target audience and really understand their expectations and what they are comfortable with and, more importantly, not comfortable with. Get it wrong, and you could end up with just your cat as a follower; get it right and a whole lucrative organization will form around you.
3.Name change: Changing your name to an exotic sounding one is very important in presenting yourself as a spiritual master. After all "John Smith" does not carry the same weight as something like "Shivananda" or "Mountain Blue Ray". Names should ideally be reflective of the the type of spiritual teaching that you give. So if you are teaching concepts that originated in India, it might appear more authentic to your followers to have an Indian name, whereas if you are teaching concepts that come from South America, using an appropriate South American name is important.
4.Nationality: If you originate from a country far different from the one in which you plan to teach, you have an important advantage in being a successful spiritual teaching. For Westerners, this means that any connections with places like South/Middle American, India, Tibet, Africa, the Far East or any Pacific Island can be very important in your marketing campaign. Having indigenous roots (no matter how tenuous) could mean the difference between success and failure. This is because, to most people, spirituality is seen as something special that comes from outside the confines of their society, so trading on any heritage that places you as an outsider can be very effective. And if you don't have those roots, don't worry, you can always upgrade your spiritual resume by traveling to India or South America and getting adopted by some traditional or native teacher/tradition. (If you can't get any one's attention, just throw around some money. It works a treat in poor countries and you will soon find yourself revered as a spiritual master.) This marketing angle can also be aided by a name change mentioned above. Alternatively, you can claim that you are from far outside this culture but then incarnated into it to teach (a "walk-in" perhaps). Alternatively, you can keep giving retreats in exotic places: not only will you make a greater profit, but some of the exoticness of these teaching locations will rub off on you and your teachings.
5.Behaviour: Spiritual people are generally regarded as very peaceful and loving, so ideally, you have to behave this way all the time, at least in public. The problem with constantly trying to be peaceful and loving is that you end up with a huge unexpressed psychological shadow of all those qualities you try not to express, and so you can often have episodes of acting like a complete jerk (preferably behind closed doors). Fortunately, if such behaviour becomes public it can be justified by presenting it in the context of "crazy wisdom", presenting imbalance and erratic behaviour as a valuable lesson in non-attachment to expectations regarding the teacher. One marketing technique that is becoming increasingly popular today is to just sit and stare at the audience way beyond what is considered comfortable in modern society, and in this way you give maximum space for your audience to project the inner spiritual images onto you, catalyzing a strong attachment. It is amazing how wise we can appear if we just keep out mouths shut!
6.Vocabulary and Phraseology: Most people listening to you will be listening from the heart and not the head (usually with a wistful and/or far-away look in the eyes). Therefore, when speaking to audiences you don't have to actually say anything particularly meaningful because the message itself is not actually that important. For example, you could be talking about your dog and how important it is to give him the right food, and your students will be nodding their heads in thinking that it is somehow an analogy about making sure they give themselves the right spiritual food. So the story itself is not important and does not have to make sense. Even contradictions are okay because they illustrate the paradoxical nature of the spiritual path. Words and phrases that are important to drop into your presentations, to keep the audience impressed, include: "oneness", "infinite love", "loving ourselves", "loving what is", "we deserve", "meditation", "quantum ******", "non-duality", "opening the heart", "letting go", "being yourself", "finding what is true", "authenticity", "opening the chakras", "touching the void", "reaching within", "connecting", "opening the heart", "advaita", "it is simple", "everything is inside". You should also sprinkle your presentations with foreign words and phrases to give your teaching an exotic edge, throwing the weight of religious/spiritual tradition behind you. (This is not to imply that these words and phrases do not have profound meaning, only that they can be used merely to pep-up spiritual presentations.)
7.Self-Confidence and Charisma: Nothing is more attractive to potential customers than if have or can develop an abundance of self-confidence and charisma (a certain amount of narcissism is very attractive). You want your customers to fall in love with you. Egos love these qualities, and most people will choose a confident, egotistical teacher over one that is not so sure of him or herself. You must have the self-confidence not only in yourself as a teacher but also in your teachings. Never show doubt or admit to not knowing something. If you don't know what to say to your customers then just remain silent and let them project their hopes and dreams on to you. If they ask a question you cannot answer, just turn it back to them and tell them to answer it themselves. The benefit of displaying such confidence to your students is that you dupe them into believing that the mind can hold truth. This makes it far harder for them to escape the clutches of conceptualisation, thus trapping them as your students (students with a profound acceptance of their own ignorance can wake up and walk off, so best to bind them in the surety of conceptual truth). A good sense of humour is also very helpful in attracting customers.
8.Comprehensive Teaching Materials and Opportunities: Without a constant stream of videos, lectures and lecture recordings, guided meditations, books, internet updates and weekend courses and holiday retreats in exotic locations, you can make a very good living. Remember, when you have someone first hooked on your teachings, rule number one is to up-sell, rule number two is to up-sell, and rule number three is to up-sell. This cannot be stressed enough as people can get bored and move to another teacher, or become awakened and no longer need your services, so you need to sell them the complete enlightenment package before they lose interest in you. To do this, constant self-marketing is vital, especially online methods such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook. A monthly newsletter (both paper and online) or even magazine is also vital to keep individuals in the fold, as well as regular "satsang" meetings and video/audio downloads. Customers have to have plenty of opportunity to become totally dependent on you and your message.
9.Lineage and Direct Transmission: This is important in order to keep your customers. If they believe that the teacher and the teacher alone energetically transmits spiritual awakening from a long successful lineage of transmitters (an idea that is popular with Hindus and Buddhists) then they are unlikely to take the core of the teaching and run with it themselves. Even secret teachings, after all, can be easily uncovered by a Google search. So if you want your followers to stick around, focus most be transferred from the teachings to the teacher, so that followers will hang around waiting for enlightenment to be bestowed. Lineages can be contrived or genuine: what matters is the perception of them. Whether direct or contrived, spiritual lineages give you the spiritual authority of a spiritual heritage. If you don't have a lineage, a modest amount of money can buy spiritual patronage in any poor country.
10.Pseudo-Objective Corroboration: If you have the creative nous, formulate a pseudo-objective evaluation systems to "calibrate" levels of truth. This can be applied by something as simple as dowsing or muscle testing. You can then calibrate yourself and your teaching at the highest end of the scale, giving your customers "objective" reasons for buying your books, videos and CDs. In this way, you end up lifting yourself by your own bootstraps — an accepted feat in the spiritual marketplace. It is remarkable how many people fall for these sorts of self-corroborations because they are in ego-mind. The ego loves calibration systems or scales because they justify comparison and judgment — the lifeblood of the egoic mind. And to make these fantasy-systems complete, just calibrate critics of your system as low on the scale so as not to be worthy of attention.
11.Promoting the Rareness of Spiritual Awakening: This is important for you to do as it will keep your customers customers. After all, if they believe that enlightenment is so rare that it may not happen until the next life, your students will not be disappointed when it does not happen quickly (and it won't because such beliefs are self-sabotaging) and will just keep coming back to you for more teaching. Remember that customers who awaken are customers who are lost, so it is very important to plant the seeds of failure early on. Fortunately, the prevailing belief in spiritual communities is that enlightenment is very rare indeed (but like the lottery which has similar odds, seems to be endlessly captivating).
12.Extraordinary Powers: You don't have to actually be psychic or a healer to use this marketing tool. All you need to do is have a few close followers spread rumours about your magical and mystical feats — how you healed so and so etc. Everyone is looking for an energetic handout so any chance to be "healed" will be taken. And remember, everyone is going to want you to have magical powers, so you don't actually have to be that convincing to be convincing. Always remember that the guru is the ultimate placebo effect, and the placebo effect can be very powerful indeed. Also, if you can sit in mediation for 48-hours or go without food for a month, if you can administer shakti pot or manifest vibhuti, all that will help to bring in the punters. You may even able to market themselves on the back of extraordinary levels of love, so that just the promise of a simple hug is enough to attract crowds of followers.
13.Third-Party Endorsements: The New Age / New Consciousness is a close-knit community with different teachers endorsing each others books and teachings. This is usually operated on a tit-for-tat basis whereby endorsements are reciprocated for marketing purposes. This way, even the most contrived of teachers can come with very high recommendations. (One New Age teacher even has an endorsement by Mother Theresa on one of his books, although no proof of such an endorsement has ever been made public.) Another thing that will give you great spiritual credibility is to get a picture of yourself with a spiritual leader such as the Dalai Lama and reproduce it in your book and on your website. This will certainly pay dividends in your spiritual marketing.
14.Build up a Hierarchy of Followers: Hierarchical access to the teacher is important when the teacher become more successful because it separates the teacher from the bulk of his or her students. This makes it much easier to maintain the spiritual front for the majority. Those in the inner sanctum have so much time and money invested at this point that it doesn't matter if they see the halo slip a bit behind closed doors. In fact, they will often conspire to keep private the unsavoury behaviour of their teacher, convincing themselves that the teacher is beyond normal human morality. Hierarchies are also much better control structures that can lock people into an organisation because "rank" gives them spiritual status, something they are unlikely to want to give up easily. The other advantage of hierarchy is that wealthy customers can buy access by making large donations.
15.Start an Educational/Charitable Foundation: This allows you to look like a real do-gooder and will really open your customers' wallets. You can talk about the need for a better world and by telling your customer base how your spiritual message can really make a difference, you can use these charitable donations to support yourself as well. These types of money making exercises when thought through properly can offer substantial tax breaks. Ideally, such foundations should be set up in poor developing countries to garner the most sympathy, and perhaps offer off-shore tax status.
16.Open an Ashram or Spiritual Centre: This adds credibility to your organization by literally placing it on the map. And the good things is that, in league with 14) above, it should be possible to get your customers' donations to cover the entire cost. Once a centre is built, you can then more economically run weekend retreats and spiritual workshops without having to pay expensive hotel/hall rates. And by having a fixed place you really can build up a strong residential core of followers that will bring in a lot more people. And of course the ultimate is to have a spiritual center in some kind of holiday destination or spiritual-mecca destination.
17.Website: It is now vital for any 21st Century master to have a web presence. The domain name should probably be your spiritual name and should be a ".org", which will associate yourself with non-profits and other do-good organizations. The website should have a lot of close-up photos of you looking very spiritual (you know what I mean) and offer tasters for the different talks that you have given. The full versions of your talks and retreats should be available in the shopping part of your site as either downloads or CDs/DVDs. The website should also sell pictures of you and other related paraphernalia.
18.Multiply Yourself But Retain Control: The fact that you are just one person limits your ability to directly teach others, especially if you have proprietary/secret spiritual techniques. So it is important, once you have grown your organization and or spiritual teaching, to multiply yourself, so that your trusty inner circle of customers can go and and repeat what you are doing, not for themselves but for the good of you, your centre and your spiritual message. Think of it as a franchising scheme where you cream the profits.
19.Donation vs Set Price: This is a difficult one, a bit like whether to set a reserve on an Ebay item. If you don't, you could end up with very little, but chances are that donation will outstrip cost. Donations make you look far better as it distances yourself from the world of commerce. In some instances, such as weekend retreats in hotels or centres that need to be booked, set prices may have to be used, but try to generally keep to donational contributions as you will look a lot more authentically spiritual. You can also have a "recommended donation" or "suggested donation" amount to make guilt people into giving more, as well as making sure that someone is always standing right by the donation box to witness your customers generosity.
20.Supplementary Sales: It is not just your teachings that you can market but also your energetic vibration. Apart from pictures of yourself, you can also flog crystals, energized water, pendants, key-rings and other items imbued with your visage/spiritual vibration. These can can be marketed to help develop devotion, protection, success (in finance and relationships), healing, awakening, or whatever.
21.Reward Sycophantic Followers: Keep telling your most ardent followers how fantastically they are doing on the spiritual path so that you feed their spiritual egos. This will give them an ego-investment in staying loyal to you and your teachings, and together they will become an effective controllers for the rest of your followers. This way, your inner circle of devotees end up having a huge emotional investment in making sure that, even when your halo slips occasionally as it inevitably will, that you will be picked up and put you back on the guru pedestal.
Techniques for Promoting Spiritual Teachings The other focus of spiritual marketing is on the teachings themselves. Here are a few of the characteristics of successful teachings (again, these are difficult to separate from the above so there is a certain amount of overlap):
a.Conceptual Spiritual Path: This is the number one rule in successful marketing of any spiritual teaching: present it in such a way that your customers can bring along their minds and their egos on the spiritual journey. This allows them to maintain the illusion of control, so that their concepts of a spiritual person can be acted out. Any system that encourages the development of the spiritual ego is going to be very popular, because it maintains the psychological status quo by not challenging the ego. (Ironically, such ego-centric systems are increasingly being presented as ego-dropping systems so that we egotistically learn to simulate being ego-less. Brilliant marketing!) Ego-centric spiritual teachings are very popular in a modern, ego-obsessed society. They usually involve a story about the world and our place in it, giving us a purpose and a special significance, and has the benefit of triggering attachment to both teacher and teachings, which of course leads to dependency.
b.Promises Immortality: Death is a big fear for most people so any system of spirituality that promotes some kind of immortality (even if it is just the immortality of the soul) is going to be attractive to potential customers. Most people fear death for obvious reasons, so you must ideally not only allay their fears but adequately describe how they will continue after death — give them a road-map into the unknown. There are even some spiritual teachings that promise physical immortality, but this is more difficult to justify over time, but in the short term can be a very lucrative approach.
c.Focuses on the Teacher: Okay, so you have nothing original to teach, but at least you yourself are original. So if your teaching keeps pointing back to the teacher as a key component in the awakening process (perhaps by direct transmission) then you end up with a unique product, one that customers do not feel that they can get anywhere else. So, in effect, by putting yourself squarely in the centre of your teaching, you end up with a monopoly on a unique product.
d.Teachings Offer Certainty: In a world which presents uncertainty around every corner any belief system that offers certainty is naturally going to be very popular. This goes hand in hand with conceptualisation (without conceptualisation there can be no certainty). The certainty that is promoted can even extend to the future in prophecy and prediction. The more areas of mystery conceptually expelled from people's lives, the less fearful they feel and the more attached they will become to you and your teachings.
e.A Promise of Bliss, Health and Happiness: Most like to believe that the final destination of the spiritual path is a state of eternal bliss, perfect health and sublime happiness — enlightenment. This means that there is a huge payback for following the spiritual path, which can be a strong motivating factor. After all, many people start following the spiritual path when they become disillusioned and unhappy with normal life. Maybe they are unwell or maybe they have been through traumatic experiences.
f.Special/Secret Teachings and Techniques: Try to associate yourself with a special type of teaching or meditation/fantasy technique that is kept secret (like any trade secret) and then convince your students that they will only find awakening if they follow these particular teachings/techniques. This locks them in to you very strongly. The increasing problem with this is that, with the internet, nothing remains secret for long, so you are advised to also use some concept of "direct transmission" so that the teachings/techniques are only "activated" if given personally by the teacher or appointed student, not just "stolen" from the internet. You can also claim that each student needs a unique revelation and so stolen secrets are meaningless.
g.Promotes emotional expression: Modern society can be very rigid in how it allows individuals to express certain emotions, more specifically sexual emotions and loving emotions. So any teaching (or community based on particular teachings) that encourages free emotional expression can be very attractive and freeing. This can be a strong component of hijacking feel-good techniques (see "i" below). But be careful if you do this to make sure that if free sexual expression is practiced, for example, that safety measure are also taken. After all, the spread of STD's through an organisation is not good publicity for it!
h.Strict Codes of Conduct: People love to be told what to do. In fact, the impulse for bondage is stronger in most people than the impulse to freedom. So having a strict codes of conduct and attire can be very attractive to many people. This may seem contradictory to g) above but they actually go hand in hand. After all, the excitement of free sexual expression is actually the excitement of letting go to (being controlled by) bliss and ecstasy. Having strict rules also also fits in with the spiritual ego that wants a formula to do everything right.
i.Copyrighted and Trademarked Issues: Even if what you teach is not unique, you can call it a special name and then copyright/trademark that name. This way you end up being able to own and control the teachings that that name represents. Copyright must be added subtlety: too in-your-face and you won't look spiritual. And if you are ever questioned about copyright and trademark you can just blame it on your organisation so that it looks like the master wasn't the one with the attachment. Another successful approach if you are questioned about the legal restrictions you have placed on your teachings is to claim that you are only trying to protect them from being bastardised by a third party.
j.Teachings have Material Outcomes: This can be a good customer puller because it means that those who follow them will find many of their material needs and wants met (including physical health issues). So rather than spiritual awakening being seen as a subtraction of what is not real, it is seen as an addition to our powers, potentials, wholeness and bank balance. This is attractive to customers egos and also justifies any opulence that the teacher may have relative to his customers. (Quantum physics is often used to justify this position.)
k.Hijack Feel-Good Techniques: Most of the more successful systems of teaching will hijack tried and tested feel-good techniques such as meditation, mantras, relaxation, dance, tantra, fasting and breath control to make customers get associate a feel-good fix with you and your teachings. The key is to control the inner process enough for that feel-good fix, but not let customers get carried away with inner focus so that they awaken and leave you. (This should ideally be coupled with copyrighting/trademarking the feel-good technique if you can.)
l.Testimonials for Teachings: Spiritual marketing is like any other kind of marketing, you need testimonials and case-studies for the media to promote a particular spiritual teaching and teacher. Fortunately, with the rise of social networking, this often happens spontaneously. For book covers, publishers will often get endorsements for a teacher from their other clients, making sure that even the dullest of spiritual manuals has rave reviews from someone other than the author who is also regarded as a teacher.
m.Make Teachings Self-Validating: By making the sublime value of the teachings part of the teachings themselves, you help to validate them in your customers' eyes, especially if they are in their heads. It is important to describe your own teachings in the very highest terminology, and make it clear that anyone who does not understand this is just "not ready" for them yet. This goes hand in hand with marketing yourself as the very highest spiritual master.
n.Present the Teachings Sequentially: Don't give it all away in one go — there is less money in that. Instead, spread out the teachings in a series of courses that goes from beginner all the way through to advanced, a journey that might take a number of years to complete. That way your students remain your students for the whole duration as many on the spiritual path believe that the journey to enlightenment is a long and arduous one. And by the time your students have "graduated" they will have invested so much time, money and effort with your system that they are unlikely to quit due to both their investment (the so called sunk-cost fallacy) and the fact that their spiritual ego will be reinforced by feelings of achievement. And you should also tweak it so that when your students reach the final hurdle, you let them know that they still need just a tad more direct transmission to lift them into enlightenment, so they still need to stick around.
o.Give a Pseudo-Scientific Justification: Link your teachings with modern physics as it really does increase credibility of what you are saying to anyone who is not scientific literate (which is most people). And remember that those who are scientifically literate are less likely to be seeking "spirit" anyway. So you are relatively safe. Key terms to use in your teaching are: "quantum", "relativity", "scalar waves", "quantum entanglement", "Bell's Theorem" and "photons". And you might constantly allude to the fact that what you are saying has been "proved" by quantum physics. (Nobody is likely to have any real understanding of quantum physics to challenge what you are saying.)
p.Exotic and Foreign Words and Phrases: Students are always more impressed with teachings that are sprinkled with foreign words and phrases. For example, rather than vaguely speaking about the consequences of actions, use the word "karma", and instead of describing the world as illusion, use the terminology "maya", and so on. This makes your students really believe you know what you are talking about as you will sound very impressive, and using ancient terminology like this helps to strongly validate your teachings by throwing the whole weight of an exotic religious tradition behind them. And as the student learns this spiritual vocabulary, she will feel that she is becoming increasingly spiritual herself. This also serves to link groups together by having an "insider" vocabulary and phraseology. (This is similarly to the name-change technique used by both teachers and students to reflect their new spiritual selves or egos.)
q.Associate Teachings with Exotic Places: As mentioned above, offering holiday and Mecca-type retreats in exotic places not only gives you an opportunity to make more money than local retreats, but whatever you teach is far more likely to be cherished because customers outside the confines of their everyday lives tend to be much more relaxed and focused. Your teachings also get to be associated with feel-good "holiday" vibes, not to mention the fact that you will get a free holiday out of it.
The above is not meant to be an exhaustive list of methods, but rather an outline of some of the main ways that you can successfully market yourself as a spiritual teacher. What is important to stress is that the use of any combination of these methods does not necessarily indicate the value or authenticity of you and your teachings. After all, even an inauthentic teachers hiding behind slick marketing can be useful for some people at some point in their spiritual awakening (if only just to learn not to be so gullible).
However, although both authentic and inauthentic teachers have successfully used many of the above marketing strategies, the type of teacher you are and the type of teachings you teach will determine the emphasis you need to put on the different methods of spiritual marketing.
As a general rule, the more authentic you are as a spiritual teacher, the more you have a tendency to be putting yourself out of a job, which is not good business practice. Authentic spirituality is non-conceptual, and this presents a serious dilemma for spiritual marketing for most of what attracts people is conceptual. Therefore, most authentic teachers strike a balance between marketing and non-conceptual teaching, so that there is enough conceptualisation to hook people (the more you hook the more people you can potentially help), but not too much so that conceptualisation is badly interfering with the awakening process. Inauthentic teachers, on the other hand, let rip with the above marketing methods, hiding their ineptitude behind concepts and dogma.
So whatever type of teacher you are, spiritual marketing can really help you succeed, increasing both your customer base and your income. I wish you every success. Namaste
A retrouver en version originale sur EnergyGrid
Les rues sont pavées d'or fin
LES RUES SONT PAVEES D'OR FIN
Un article de Burkhard Strassman publié dans "Die Zeit" le 23 janvier 1998 et rediffusé sur AntiSectes.net
Cela semblera probablement cynique aux quelques quatre millions et demi de chômeurs allemands: "Que voulez-vous? Vous avez des tas de débouchés! Les rues sont pavées d'or fin!"
Et ce n'est que la pure vérité.
Si quelqu'un n'a guère de scrupules et désire vraiment aller s'installer sur une île paradisaque, si quelqu'un tient vraiment à passer sa vie à s'amuser et à paraître sourire plusieurs fois simultanément, il lui suffira de prendre sa destinée en mains, et de devenir un gourou free-lance.
Petit aperçu du marché potentiel: en matière de ventes, la clientèle classique des gourous free-lance est manifestement intéressante: scientifiques, intellectuels. Des millions de ces gens attendent qu'un gourou leur fasse les yeux doux. Cependant, le gourou à temps partiel risque de ne se faire qu'une trentaine ou une cinquantaine "d'adhérents".
Les commissaires aux sectes des églises qui s'intéressent particulièrement à la carrière des gourous estiment à quelques 300 le nombre des gourous à temps partiel en Allemagne. Cela signifie que quelques 15000 personnes de bon niveau pourraient être consolées par ces gourous, pour l'Allemagne. Même si des super-gourous à plein-temps comme L.R. Hubbard (scientologie) et Gabriele Wittek (Vie Universelle) sont bien installés sur le marché, il manque encore de gourou éclectiques. Bref, il y a là un créneau à prendre.
Et c'est sans compter sur le fait que depuis une dizaine d'années, l'intérêt portés aux gourous s'est accru de manière disproportionnée: c'est là l'effet de la discussion mondiale en cours sur... la fin possible du monde, généralement attendue pour le 31 décembre 1999.
Comment vais-je me préparer à cet évènement majeur? Que se passera-t'il ensuite? Comment puis-je être sauvé? Quand les OVNIs vont-ils débarquer pour me prendre? Voilà les matières à discussion des gourous. La demande ne fera que s'accroître au cours de l'année. Dans ces conditions, le marché est particulièrement prometteur. Et c'est sans compter sur le fait que des femmes, surtout celles qui viennent grossir les rangs des salariés - ont ici une occasion d'envergure, comme le démontre l'exemple qui suit.
Quelles études sont les plus appréciables? Heide Fittkau-Garte, l'une des gouroutes parmi les plus célèbres, garde sa place bien au chaud dans les médias grâce sa tentative ratée de se faire emmener avec ses clients par les extra-terrestres attendus à Tenerife. Cette habitante d'Hambourg est psychologue diplômée, ce qui ne manque pas d'intérêt pour entrer dans la carrière gourouesque professionnelle, bien que ces laissez-passer ne soient pas du tout obligatoires.
Sa grandiose collègue Gabriele Wittek ("La Bouche de Dieu") a de plus obscures provenances et se contente de maintenir le contact avec le commandant OVNIste qu'elle appelle Mairadi, en dépit de son absence de crédences. Parmi les cancres éjectés du régime scolaire, on a eu David Koresh ("Messie de Waco"), qui a emmené avec lui dans la mort quelques 85 "Davidiens", après avoir été gratifié d'une nouvelle éducation de "Septième Ange de l'Apocalypse".
Certificats, diplômes et spécialisation en cours du soir peuvent servir au gourou, mais ne sont pas de première importance. L'activité du gourou free-lance s'accomode bien des à-côtés et des carrières collatéralo-marginales. Un peu d'entraînement à la communication et à la dynamique de groupe ne peut faire de tort. Les visites aux Indes et en Californie améliorent la confiance en soi.
La terminologie convenable - énergie, énergie atma, monde astral, guérison de l'intérieur ou consolateur - peut être acquise sur internet en une soirée. Il est donc préférable d'avoir une vague idée de l'instrument informatique. L'aspirant-gourou devrait aussi être en mesure de produire quelques réserves annuelles. Il vaut mieux qu'il possède une connaissance rudimentaire du Code des Impôts.
Passons maintenant aux bases: les gourous pratiquent beaucoup les expérimentations, même sur le pouvoir symbolique des couleurs. Baghwan, alias Osho, a testé le rose rouge; Mme Wittek a choisi les teintes pastel. Les gourous modernes préfèrent généralement le blanc, des habits assez amples, et préfèrent les immeubles blancs. Avant de pouvoir filer leur retraite bien méritée dans leur villa dorée "Ashram" des Canaries, de Floride ou Californie, les jeunes gourous recherchent la proximité de leur clientèle, par exemple, une villa dans un quartier résidentiel de leur ville.
Toute carrière de gourou commence par des séminaires aux titres colorés: "Thérapie Shamanique Musicale" , "Vivre parmi les Anges", "Réincarnation" ou "Guérison spirituelle", selon les besoins. La publicité est peu coûteuse: quelques dépliants dans les magasins de régime ou les librairies ésotériques ou dans les lieux de rencontre des grand-messes ésotériques.
On peut aussi utiliser l'Internet. Parmi les gourous ayant réussi, on trouve ainsi Meher Baba "Avatar de l'Ere - Avatar of the Age") qu'un OVNI a capturé depuis longtemps, et qui continue depuis à sourire et à prècher. Meher Baba expédie ses solutions du jour aux inquiètes âmes en quète, au moyen de vidéo-clips que l'on peut charger sur site web, avec sa chanson favorite (Begin the beguin, de Cole Porter), également chargeable sur site.
Lorsque le gourou a franchi les dures étapes de début, ses activités peuvent être largement amplifiées par des annonces radiophoniques sur des stations spéciales, comme "Cosmic Wave" - la radio d'Universal Life - dont les moments forts sont les "Conseils sacrés pour la Journée" ou la Bible réécrite par le nouveau Dieu Internaute.
Venons-en au principal: à quel volume de ventes peut-on s'attendre? Cela dépend tout à fait des rentrées des adhérents du gourou, mais on peut faire dans les 50000 dollars par mois. On améliore ça grâce aux potions magiques, poudres de perlinpinpin, élixirs, livres et autres programmes diététiques. Ensuite vient le temps d'investir dans la pierre et le béton: on fonde alors des sociétés. Le gourou américain de scène Deepak Chopra se fait quelques 60 millions de F annuels au bout de 20 ans d'exercice.
Une des questions que se poseront les gourous débutants: comment fais-je pour faire croire à des gens intelligents et dotés d'une forte aptitude critique que j'étais Hitler dans une vie passée? - ou que je peux empècher une troisième Guerre Mondiale grâce au "vol yogi", - ou qu'ils doivent avaler du poison pour déménager vers Sirius, étoile distante de 8,8 années-lumière?
La réponse est particulièrement simple: plus un gourou est abscons, abstrus, incompréhensible, plus il est convaincant. S'il a des rituels particulièrement dramatiques, les adeptes recevront en pleine figure la réponse d'illumination nécessaire à tout gourou. Cela suffit à définitivement exciter la personne. Elle appelera cet instant "une expérience inoubliable" et l'interprètera comme émotion d'origine divine. (On peut faire des copies de ce choc en transmettant toute la fortune entre les mains du gourou). Les discours du gourou Monika Azura Jadsinski, (de Luebbecke by Minden) à ses disciples pour "augmenter la lumière interne de leurs cellules" et "créer des empreintes bleues pour le rajeunissement de leur corps" sont prétextes tout trouvés à se mortifier mentalement.
Le mot de la fin: le gourou risque toujours de se trouver pris à ses propres suggestions et fantasmes, et le monde s'effondre alors. Cette idée est contre-productive dans l'univers affairiste gourouesque : elle n'a pas cours chez les gourous professionnels.
Contre-exemple qui vaut la peine d'être imité: les Témoins de Jéhovah. Il ont si bien repoussé la fin du monde à plusieurs reprises qu'ils peuvent se resservir du truc et d'un nouveau produit à chaque fois.
La prochaine a lieu en l'an 2000. Jusqu'à la suivante.
A retrouver sur Antisectes.net
Un article de Burkhard Strassman publié dans "Die Zeit" le 23 janvier 1998 et rediffusé sur AntiSectes.net
Cela semblera probablement cynique aux quelques quatre millions et demi de chômeurs allemands: "Que voulez-vous? Vous avez des tas de débouchés! Les rues sont pavées d'or fin!"
Et ce n'est que la pure vérité.
Si quelqu'un n'a guère de scrupules et désire vraiment aller s'installer sur une île paradisaque, si quelqu'un tient vraiment à passer sa vie à s'amuser et à paraître sourire plusieurs fois simultanément, il lui suffira de prendre sa destinée en mains, et de devenir un gourou free-lance.
Petit aperçu du marché potentiel: en matière de ventes, la clientèle classique des gourous free-lance est manifestement intéressante: scientifiques, intellectuels. Des millions de ces gens attendent qu'un gourou leur fasse les yeux doux. Cependant, le gourou à temps partiel risque de ne se faire qu'une trentaine ou une cinquantaine "d'adhérents".
Les commissaires aux sectes des églises qui s'intéressent particulièrement à la carrière des gourous estiment à quelques 300 le nombre des gourous à temps partiel en Allemagne. Cela signifie que quelques 15000 personnes de bon niveau pourraient être consolées par ces gourous, pour l'Allemagne. Même si des super-gourous à plein-temps comme L.R. Hubbard (scientologie) et Gabriele Wittek (Vie Universelle) sont bien installés sur le marché, il manque encore de gourou éclectiques. Bref, il y a là un créneau à prendre.
Et c'est sans compter sur le fait que depuis une dizaine d'années, l'intérêt portés aux gourous s'est accru de manière disproportionnée: c'est là l'effet de la discussion mondiale en cours sur... la fin possible du monde, généralement attendue pour le 31 décembre 1999.
Comment vais-je me préparer à cet évènement majeur? Que se passera-t'il ensuite? Comment puis-je être sauvé? Quand les OVNIs vont-ils débarquer pour me prendre? Voilà les matières à discussion des gourous. La demande ne fera que s'accroître au cours de l'année. Dans ces conditions, le marché est particulièrement prometteur. Et c'est sans compter sur le fait que des femmes, surtout celles qui viennent grossir les rangs des salariés - ont ici une occasion d'envergure, comme le démontre l'exemple qui suit.
Quelles études sont les plus appréciables? Heide Fittkau-Garte, l'une des gouroutes parmi les plus célèbres, garde sa place bien au chaud dans les médias grâce sa tentative ratée de se faire emmener avec ses clients par les extra-terrestres attendus à Tenerife. Cette habitante d'Hambourg est psychologue diplômée, ce qui ne manque pas d'intérêt pour entrer dans la carrière gourouesque professionnelle, bien que ces laissez-passer ne soient pas du tout obligatoires.
Sa grandiose collègue Gabriele Wittek ("La Bouche de Dieu") a de plus obscures provenances et se contente de maintenir le contact avec le commandant OVNIste qu'elle appelle Mairadi, en dépit de son absence de crédences. Parmi les cancres éjectés du régime scolaire, on a eu David Koresh ("Messie de Waco"), qui a emmené avec lui dans la mort quelques 85 "Davidiens", après avoir été gratifié d'une nouvelle éducation de "Septième Ange de l'Apocalypse".
Certificats, diplômes et spécialisation en cours du soir peuvent servir au gourou, mais ne sont pas de première importance. L'activité du gourou free-lance s'accomode bien des à-côtés et des carrières collatéralo-marginales. Un peu d'entraînement à la communication et à la dynamique de groupe ne peut faire de tort. Les visites aux Indes et en Californie améliorent la confiance en soi.
La terminologie convenable - énergie, énergie atma, monde astral, guérison de l'intérieur ou consolateur - peut être acquise sur internet en une soirée. Il est donc préférable d'avoir une vague idée de l'instrument informatique. L'aspirant-gourou devrait aussi être en mesure de produire quelques réserves annuelles. Il vaut mieux qu'il possède une connaissance rudimentaire du Code des Impôts.
Passons maintenant aux bases: les gourous pratiquent beaucoup les expérimentations, même sur le pouvoir symbolique des couleurs. Baghwan, alias Osho, a testé le rose rouge; Mme Wittek a choisi les teintes pastel. Les gourous modernes préfèrent généralement le blanc, des habits assez amples, et préfèrent les immeubles blancs. Avant de pouvoir filer leur retraite bien méritée dans leur villa dorée "Ashram" des Canaries, de Floride ou Californie, les jeunes gourous recherchent la proximité de leur clientèle, par exemple, une villa dans un quartier résidentiel de leur ville.
Toute carrière de gourou commence par des séminaires aux titres colorés: "Thérapie Shamanique Musicale" , "Vivre parmi les Anges", "Réincarnation" ou "Guérison spirituelle", selon les besoins. La publicité est peu coûteuse: quelques dépliants dans les magasins de régime ou les librairies ésotériques ou dans les lieux de rencontre des grand-messes ésotériques.
On peut aussi utiliser l'Internet. Parmi les gourous ayant réussi, on trouve ainsi Meher Baba "Avatar de l'Ere - Avatar of the Age") qu'un OVNI a capturé depuis longtemps, et qui continue depuis à sourire et à prècher. Meher Baba expédie ses solutions du jour aux inquiètes âmes en quète, au moyen de vidéo-clips que l'on peut charger sur site web, avec sa chanson favorite (Begin the beguin, de Cole Porter), également chargeable sur site.
Lorsque le gourou a franchi les dures étapes de début, ses activités peuvent être largement amplifiées par des annonces radiophoniques sur des stations spéciales, comme "Cosmic Wave" - la radio d'Universal Life - dont les moments forts sont les "Conseils sacrés pour la Journée" ou la Bible réécrite par le nouveau Dieu Internaute.
Venons-en au principal: à quel volume de ventes peut-on s'attendre? Cela dépend tout à fait des rentrées des adhérents du gourou, mais on peut faire dans les 50000 dollars par mois. On améliore ça grâce aux potions magiques, poudres de perlinpinpin, élixirs, livres et autres programmes diététiques. Ensuite vient le temps d'investir dans la pierre et le béton: on fonde alors des sociétés. Le gourou américain de scène Deepak Chopra se fait quelques 60 millions de F annuels au bout de 20 ans d'exercice.
Une des questions que se poseront les gourous débutants: comment fais-je pour faire croire à des gens intelligents et dotés d'une forte aptitude critique que j'étais Hitler dans une vie passée? - ou que je peux empècher une troisième Guerre Mondiale grâce au "vol yogi", - ou qu'ils doivent avaler du poison pour déménager vers Sirius, étoile distante de 8,8 années-lumière?
La réponse est particulièrement simple: plus un gourou est abscons, abstrus, incompréhensible, plus il est convaincant. S'il a des rituels particulièrement dramatiques, les adeptes recevront en pleine figure la réponse d'illumination nécessaire à tout gourou. Cela suffit à définitivement exciter la personne. Elle appelera cet instant "une expérience inoubliable" et l'interprètera comme émotion d'origine divine. (On peut faire des copies de ce choc en transmettant toute la fortune entre les mains du gourou). Les discours du gourou Monika Azura Jadsinski, (de Luebbecke by Minden) à ses disciples pour "augmenter la lumière interne de leurs cellules" et "créer des empreintes bleues pour le rajeunissement de leur corps" sont prétextes tout trouvés à se mortifier mentalement.
Le mot de la fin: le gourou risque toujours de se trouver pris à ses propres suggestions et fantasmes, et le monde s'effondre alors. Cette idée est contre-productive dans l'univers affairiste gourouesque : elle n'a pas cours chez les gourous professionnels.
Contre-exemple qui vaut la peine d'être imité: les Témoins de Jéhovah. Il ont si bien repoussé la fin du monde à plusieurs reprises qu'ils peuvent se resservir du truc et d'un nouveau produit à chaque fois.
La prochaine a lieu en l'an 2000. Jusqu'à la suivante.
A retrouver sur Antisectes.net
Le règne des gourous médiatiques
Le règne des gourous médiatiques s'installe en Inde
Un article de Françoise Chipaux, ancienne correspondante du Monde sur le sous-continent indien, diffusé sur le site du CCMM et paru initialement dans le Monde du 12 avril 2006.
Assis sur un fauteuil posé sur un piédestal, habillé d’une robe de satin jaune, Nirmal Swami jauge d’un air satisfait les deux cents personnes qui se pressent à ses pieds. La cinquantaine chauve, il a abandonné ses mains aux massages des femmes et ses pieds à ceux de Maneka Gandhi, belle-fille de l’ex-premier ministre Indira Gandhi. Il est 21 heures dans cette villa d’un quartier huppé de New Delhi, et les visiteurs, la plupart issus de la haute bourgeoisie, attendent. Tenu par ses fidèles pour une incarnation de Shiva, le " gentil " dieu consolateur des affligés, Nirmal Swami reçoit les jeudi, vendredi et samedi. La séance dure de 21 heures à 2 heures du matin. Les élus appelés par lui à exposer leurs problèmes sont peu nombreux parmi ceux qui attendent, mais tous repartent illuminés, comblés.
" Le gourou n’a pas besoin de parler, il illumine par sa présence ", affirme Sanjiv Kakar, fidèle de Sri Ravi Shankar, fondateur de The Art of Living, qui revendique plus de vingt millions de fidèles à travers le monde. Consubstantielle de la civilisation hindoue, la spiritualité connaît un renouveau. " Le phénomène s’amplifie parce que notre engagement dans la modernité est très nouveau ", affirme Anand Kumar, professeur de sociologie à l’université Jawaharlal Nehru. " Pendant longtemps, les grandes villes indiennes étaient plutôt profanes, mais, maintenant, les gens, en recherche d’identité, assument avec plus d’assurance ce qu’ils sont ", ajoute-t-il.
L’écoute des commentaires ou des textes religieux revit avec les moyens de communication modernes - télévision, vidéo, disque compact. En moins de deux ans, sept chaînes de télévision religieuses. " Dans les cinq prochaines années, ce genre va s’étendre, les jeunes générations étant accros au contenu spirituel, yoga ou méditation ", affirme M. Yugantar Saxena, de la chaîne Maharishi. Ces chaînes ont toutes plus ou moins le même contenu, cherchent à rompre avec l’image de chaînes de vieux en visant des audiences plus jeunes. " Avant, les gens pensaient que seulement les vieux regardaient Maharishi, mais maintenant c’est un fait reconnu et accepté que les jeunes ont toujours été intéressés par le fait de connaître leurs racines sociales, spirituelles et culturelles ", ajoute M. Saxena.
Ces chaînes ne se limitent plus à l’Inde, mais visent les Indiens de la diaspora et par là même des marchés nouveaux. Aastha (" croyance ") est par exemple diffusée aux Etats-Unis et le sera bientôt au Canada et en Grande-Bretagne. Les gourous ciblent aussi des publics nouveaux, prêts à payer des sommes importantes pour soulager leur stress ou améliorer leurs performances. " Dans les grandes villes, le programme de sept jours d’un gourou peut se monter à 1 million de roupies - environ 19 000 euros - ", affirme M. Kumar. M. Sanjiv Kakar enseigne d’après les préceptes de Ravi Shankar à des hommes d’affaires anxieux " de développer leurs capacités, d’obtenir un esprit clair pour être à même de prendre de meilleures décisions, de contrôler leur tension ".
Selon la luxueuse brochure de The Art of Living, des compagnies comme American Express, Crédit suisse, Citibank, la Banque mondiale ont envoyé leurs employés suivre le " Programme pour les cadres de société ". Ravi Shankar a des programmes pour toutes les catégories imaginables de publics - femmes, prisonniers, drogués, malades du sida, etc. Des cours sont destinés aux enfants de 8 à 15 ans " pour les éveiller à ce qu’ils sont et au monde dans lequel ils vivent " et aussi aux adolescents " pour leur permettre de relâcher leurs émotions négatives ".
Le phénomène englobe toutes les catégories de la population, des politiques aux acteurs de cinéma en passant par les grands capitalistes. " Sanctionné par les élites, il est devenu un fait commercial ", explique M. Kumar, qui souligne " la compétition engagée entre différents gourous ". Au-delà du commerce, ce regain traduit aussi, selon M. Kumar, " une indication du désenchantement face à la modernité, une recherche de bonheur et de satisfaction ".
A retrouver sur le website du CCMM
Un article de Françoise Chipaux, ancienne correspondante du Monde sur le sous-continent indien, diffusé sur le site du CCMM et paru initialement dans le Monde du 12 avril 2006.
Assis sur un fauteuil posé sur un piédestal, habillé d’une robe de satin jaune, Nirmal Swami jauge d’un air satisfait les deux cents personnes qui se pressent à ses pieds. La cinquantaine chauve, il a abandonné ses mains aux massages des femmes et ses pieds à ceux de Maneka Gandhi, belle-fille de l’ex-premier ministre Indira Gandhi. Il est 21 heures dans cette villa d’un quartier huppé de New Delhi, et les visiteurs, la plupart issus de la haute bourgeoisie, attendent. Tenu par ses fidèles pour une incarnation de Shiva, le " gentil " dieu consolateur des affligés, Nirmal Swami reçoit les jeudi, vendredi et samedi. La séance dure de 21 heures à 2 heures du matin. Les élus appelés par lui à exposer leurs problèmes sont peu nombreux parmi ceux qui attendent, mais tous repartent illuminés, comblés.
" Le gourou n’a pas besoin de parler, il illumine par sa présence ", affirme Sanjiv Kakar, fidèle de Sri Ravi Shankar, fondateur de The Art of Living, qui revendique plus de vingt millions de fidèles à travers le monde. Consubstantielle de la civilisation hindoue, la spiritualité connaît un renouveau. " Le phénomène s’amplifie parce que notre engagement dans la modernité est très nouveau ", affirme Anand Kumar, professeur de sociologie à l’université Jawaharlal Nehru. " Pendant longtemps, les grandes villes indiennes étaient plutôt profanes, mais, maintenant, les gens, en recherche d’identité, assument avec plus d’assurance ce qu’ils sont ", ajoute-t-il.
L’écoute des commentaires ou des textes religieux revit avec les moyens de communication modernes - télévision, vidéo, disque compact. En moins de deux ans, sept chaînes de télévision religieuses. " Dans les cinq prochaines années, ce genre va s’étendre, les jeunes générations étant accros au contenu spirituel, yoga ou méditation ", affirme M. Yugantar Saxena, de la chaîne Maharishi. Ces chaînes ont toutes plus ou moins le même contenu, cherchent à rompre avec l’image de chaînes de vieux en visant des audiences plus jeunes. " Avant, les gens pensaient que seulement les vieux regardaient Maharishi, mais maintenant c’est un fait reconnu et accepté que les jeunes ont toujours été intéressés par le fait de connaître leurs racines sociales, spirituelles et culturelles ", ajoute M. Saxena.
Ces chaînes ne se limitent plus à l’Inde, mais visent les Indiens de la diaspora et par là même des marchés nouveaux. Aastha (" croyance ") est par exemple diffusée aux Etats-Unis et le sera bientôt au Canada et en Grande-Bretagne. Les gourous ciblent aussi des publics nouveaux, prêts à payer des sommes importantes pour soulager leur stress ou améliorer leurs performances. " Dans les grandes villes, le programme de sept jours d’un gourou peut se monter à 1 million de roupies - environ 19 000 euros - ", affirme M. Kumar. M. Sanjiv Kakar enseigne d’après les préceptes de Ravi Shankar à des hommes d’affaires anxieux " de développer leurs capacités, d’obtenir un esprit clair pour être à même de prendre de meilleures décisions, de contrôler leur tension ".
Selon la luxueuse brochure de The Art of Living, des compagnies comme American Express, Crédit suisse, Citibank, la Banque mondiale ont envoyé leurs employés suivre le " Programme pour les cadres de société ". Ravi Shankar a des programmes pour toutes les catégories imaginables de publics - femmes, prisonniers, drogués, malades du sida, etc. Des cours sont destinés aux enfants de 8 à 15 ans " pour les éveiller à ce qu’ils sont et au monde dans lequel ils vivent " et aussi aux adolescents " pour leur permettre de relâcher leurs émotions négatives ".
Le phénomène englobe toutes les catégories de la population, des politiques aux acteurs de cinéma en passant par les grands capitalistes. " Sanctionné par les élites, il est devenu un fait commercial ", explique M. Kumar, qui souligne " la compétition engagée entre différents gourous ". Au-delà du commerce, ce regain traduit aussi, selon M. Kumar, " une indication du désenchantement face à la modernité, une recherche de bonheur et de satisfaction ".
A retrouver sur le website du CCMM
Les gourous rendent-ils fous?
Les gourous rendent-ils fous ? un article de Sylvie St-Jacques dans La Presse (Canada), publié le 5 novembre 2010
Pour mieux se nourrir, apprendre à méditer, élever des enfants 100% bio, chercher du réconfort ou gérer une entreprise de façon créative, les gourous contemporains ne demandent pas mieux que de nous montrer la lumière. Et beaucoup ont maintenant recours aux médias sociaux pour répandre leur bonne parole. Portrait d'un phénomène qui se manifeste partout, de la réunion d'entreprise aux gobelets de café.
Votre propre mère est trop occupée par ses séances de biofeedback pour vous serrer dans ses bras et vous dire que tout ira bien? Pas de problème: vous pouvez toujours vous réfugier dans ceux d'Amma, celle que l'on surnomme la «gourou des câlins». Son ashram dans le Kerala, dans le sud de l'Inde, est toujours plein à craquer d'Occidentaux avides de chaleur humaine. Pas les moyens de vous envoler vers l'Inde? Eckhart Tolle et les autres ont la solution: le moment présent.
Jadis associé à des leaders spirituels charismatiques qui faisaient de la bouillie avec le cerveau de leurs fervents disciples, le mot «gourou» est désormais repris et accommodé à toutes les sauces.
L'exemple le plus célèbre est sans doute Eat, Pray, Love, récit vendu à plus de 5 millions d'exemplaires qui trône toujours au sommet du palmarès des grands succès de librairie chez Renaud-Bray. L'auteure américaine Elizabeth Gilbert y parle ouvertement de sa gourou, qui dirige un ashram près de Bombay, en Inde. Ce qui n'a pas été dit à Oprah ou expliqué dans le film tiré du livre: la fameuse gourou de Gilbert s'est fait accuser de manipulation, d'inconduite financière et d'intimidation.
Trop de sincérité, c'est comme pas assez...
Selon le philosophe et journaliste canadien Andrew Potter, auteur de l'ouvrage The Authenticity Hoax, la «pensée gourou» transmet une «vision enchanteresse de l'individu et de l'âme», du rejet du capitalisme et de la logique de marché.
«On définit la modernité par son caractère séculaire induit par le libéralisme. Dans un contexte où le sens disparaît, les gens se tournent vers l'intérieur et regardent vers la nature en espérant y trouver quelque chose de «vrai».»
Potter, qui rend Oprah Winfrey responsable de plusieurs maux de notre société, suggère que l'animatrice, tout comme les Deepak Chopra ou Matthieu Ricard d'aujourd'hui, a remplacé les Jimmy Swaggart et Billy Graham d'autrefois. «Ce qui est intéressant avec les gourous d'aujourd'hui, c'est qu'ils proposent une forme presque «boutique» de thérapie spirituelle», estime celui qui attribue à une quête d'authenticité le recours à la pensée gourou. «C'est une forme personnalisée de spiritualité, qui vous révèle ce qui cloche dans votre vie et la façon de changer.»
Il reproche aussi à Oprah Winfrey d'avoir perverti la littérature en lui donnant une portée plus individuelle que sociale. «Quand Oprah parle d'un roman, elle cherche d'abord à déterminer ce qu'il nous apprend sur notre place dans le monde.»
Les mouvements antitechnologie, anticapitalistes, le culte des produits locaux ou biologiques et de l'alimentation crue sont tous des manifestations de cette recherche d'authenticité, pense Andrew Potter. «Le problème, c'est que seules les élites peuvent adhérer à un tel mode de vie: acheter local coûte très cher, tout comme l'écotourisme.»
Selon lui, notre époque est celle du «culte des sentiments», qui s'est déployé lors de la mort de Lady Di et se manifeste jusque sur les gobelets de Starbucks, sur lesquels sont imprimés de petits messages positifs. «L'ancien système de valeurs qui nous aidait à tracer la ligne entre le privé et le public ne tient plus. De nos jours, les gourous tentent de nous convaincre du fait que si nous n'exprimons pas publiquement nos émotions, c'est que nous ne sommes pas sincères.»
Ciel! J'ai oublié mon mantra!
Les conférences de la société TED (pour Technology, Entertainment, Design) sur le web (dans lesquelles d'éloquents spécialistes se prononcent sur des sujets aussi variés que la créativité, le leadership ou le design) et les rencontres de consolidation d'équipe témoignent de l'incursion de la pensée gourou dans plusieurs pans de la société. Le monde des affaires n'y échappe pas, avec ses motivateurs et communicateurs qui carburent aux mots-clés et aux phrases qui sonnent.
L'un des gourous d'entreprise les plus controversés des dernières années est sans doute Chip Wilson, fondateur de la société de vêtements de sport Lululemon. Celui qui imprime sur ses sacs des mantras comme «la vie est parsemée d'épreuves» et «la jalousie n'a généralement pas les effets souhaités» a été associé au Landmark Forum, entreprise californienne fondée sur la psychothérapie de groupe. En plus d'avoir droit à des cours de yoga gratuits, le personnel de gestion et certains employés de Lululemon sont tenus d'assister à des séances de croissance personnelle du Landmark Forum.
«J'ai l'impression que la culture du management ainsi que la montée des MBA et des écoles d'affaires ont favorisé l'émergence des gourous», avance le communicateur Thomas Leblanc. De façon moins extrême que Chip Wilson, certains communicateurs et directeurs d'entreprise ont aussi axé leur leadership sur le charisme et le recours à des «expressions-chocs». À Montréal, Martin Ouellette, de l'agence Twist, s'est fait connaître pour ses présentations très provocantes, à la limite du freak show.
Dans les années 60 et 70, les Beatles et Peter Sellers s'affichaient en compagnie de gourous indiens, et ils ont entraîné dans cette vague leurs contemporains hippies en pleine quête spirituelle.
Faut-il s'étonner de ce que plusieurs rescapés des années hippies aient conservé des traces de cette philosophie? Le grand patron d'Apple - qui a séjourné en Inde dans les années 70 et flirté avec le bouddhisme - fait par exemple référence à son dharma (qu'on peut traduire par «religion») quand il donne des conférences sur son cheminement personnel et sa philosophie de gestion.
«Il est extrêmement convaincant et emploie une rhétorique très claire. Il utilise souvent des termes comme awesome, great et d'autres mots génériques que peuvent comprendre des gens qui ne maîtrisent pas l'anglais. Il y a chez Apple une dimension «magique» qui cherche à convaincre les gens que ces produits sont absolument uniques», dit Thomas Leblanc.
«Twitter permet de véhiculer une mentalité idéalisée à l'image d'un monde rêvé. En ce sens, c'est une plateforme idéale pour les gourous», pense Andrew Potter. Ces jours-ci, on peut y lire les épanchements de la nonne bouddhiste Pema Chodron sur les élections américaines ou ceux du gourou de CNN Anderson Cooper sur le pouvoir de Sarah Palin.
Dans une scène célèbre d'Annie Hall, de Woody Allen (1977), l'acteur Jeff Goldblum, paniqué, appelle son gourou parce qu'il a oublié son mantra. Aujourd'hui, il aurait l'embarras du choix pour en trouver un nouveau...
A retrouver en version originale sur Cyberpresse.ca
Pour mieux se nourrir, apprendre à méditer, élever des enfants 100% bio, chercher du réconfort ou gérer une entreprise de façon créative, les gourous contemporains ne demandent pas mieux que de nous montrer la lumière. Et beaucoup ont maintenant recours aux médias sociaux pour répandre leur bonne parole. Portrait d'un phénomène qui se manifeste partout, de la réunion d'entreprise aux gobelets de café.
Votre propre mère est trop occupée par ses séances de biofeedback pour vous serrer dans ses bras et vous dire que tout ira bien? Pas de problème: vous pouvez toujours vous réfugier dans ceux d'Amma, celle que l'on surnomme la «gourou des câlins». Son ashram dans le Kerala, dans le sud de l'Inde, est toujours plein à craquer d'Occidentaux avides de chaleur humaine. Pas les moyens de vous envoler vers l'Inde? Eckhart Tolle et les autres ont la solution: le moment présent.
Jadis associé à des leaders spirituels charismatiques qui faisaient de la bouillie avec le cerveau de leurs fervents disciples, le mot «gourou» est désormais repris et accommodé à toutes les sauces.
L'exemple le plus célèbre est sans doute Eat, Pray, Love, récit vendu à plus de 5 millions d'exemplaires qui trône toujours au sommet du palmarès des grands succès de librairie chez Renaud-Bray. L'auteure américaine Elizabeth Gilbert y parle ouvertement de sa gourou, qui dirige un ashram près de Bombay, en Inde. Ce qui n'a pas été dit à Oprah ou expliqué dans le film tiré du livre: la fameuse gourou de Gilbert s'est fait accuser de manipulation, d'inconduite financière et d'intimidation.
Trop de sincérité, c'est comme pas assez...
Selon le philosophe et journaliste canadien Andrew Potter, auteur de l'ouvrage The Authenticity Hoax, la «pensée gourou» transmet une «vision enchanteresse de l'individu et de l'âme», du rejet du capitalisme et de la logique de marché.
«On définit la modernité par son caractère séculaire induit par le libéralisme. Dans un contexte où le sens disparaît, les gens se tournent vers l'intérieur et regardent vers la nature en espérant y trouver quelque chose de «vrai».»
Potter, qui rend Oprah Winfrey responsable de plusieurs maux de notre société, suggère que l'animatrice, tout comme les Deepak Chopra ou Matthieu Ricard d'aujourd'hui, a remplacé les Jimmy Swaggart et Billy Graham d'autrefois. «Ce qui est intéressant avec les gourous d'aujourd'hui, c'est qu'ils proposent une forme presque «boutique» de thérapie spirituelle», estime celui qui attribue à une quête d'authenticité le recours à la pensée gourou. «C'est une forme personnalisée de spiritualité, qui vous révèle ce qui cloche dans votre vie et la façon de changer.»
Il reproche aussi à Oprah Winfrey d'avoir perverti la littérature en lui donnant une portée plus individuelle que sociale. «Quand Oprah parle d'un roman, elle cherche d'abord à déterminer ce qu'il nous apprend sur notre place dans le monde.»
Les mouvements antitechnologie, anticapitalistes, le culte des produits locaux ou biologiques et de l'alimentation crue sont tous des manifestations de cette recherche d'authenticité, pense Andrew Potter. «Le problème, c'est que seules les élites peuvent adhérer à un tel mode de vie: acheter local coûte très cher, tout comme l'écotourisme.»
Selon lui, notre époque est celle du «culte des sentiments», qui s'est déployé lors de la mort de Lady Di et se manifeste jusque sur les gobelets de Starbucks, sur lesquels sont imprimés de petits messages positifs. «L'ancien système de valeurs qui nous aidait à tracer la ligne entre le privé et le public ne tient plus. De nos jours, les gourous tentent de nous convaincre du fait que si nous n'exprimons pas publiquement nos émotions, c'est que nous ne sommes pas sincères.»
Ciel! J'ai oublié mon mantra!
Les conférences de la société TED (pour Technology, Entertainment, Design) sur le web (dans lesquelles d'éloquents spécialistes se prononcent sur des sujets aussi variés que la créativité, le leadership ou le design) et les rencontres de consolidation d'équipe témoignent de l'incursion de la pensée gourou dans plusieurs pans de la société. Le monde des affaires n'y échappe pas, avec ses motivateurs et communicateurs qui carburent aux mots-clés et aux phrases qui sonnent.
L'un des gourous d'entreprise les plus controversés des dernières années est sans doute Chip Wilson, fondateur de la société de vêtements de sport Lululemon. Celui qui imprime sur ses sacs des mantras comme «la vie est parsemée d'épreuves» et «la jalousie n'a généralement pas les effets souhaités» a été associé au Landmark Forum, entreprise californienne fondée sur la psychothérapie de groupe. En plus d'avoir droit à des cours de yoga gratuits, le personnel de gestion et certains employés de Lululemon sont tenus d'assister à des séances de croissance personnelle du Landmark Forum.
«J'ai l'impression que la culture du management ainsi que la montée des MBA et des écoles d'affaires ont favorisé l'émergence des gourous», avance le communicateur Thomas Leblanc. De façon moins extrême que Chip Wilson, certains communicateurs et directeurs d'entreprise ont aussi axé leur leadership sur le charisme et le recours à des «expressions-chocs». À Montréal, Martin Ouellette, de l'agence Twist, s'est fait connaître pour ses présentations très provocantes, à la limite du freak show.
Dans les années 60 et 70, les Beatles et Peter Sellers s'affichaient en compagnie de gourous indiens, et ils ont entraîné dans cette vague leurs contemporains hippies en pleine quête spirituelle.
Faut-il s'étonner de ce que plusieurs rescapés des années hippies aient conservé des traces de cette philosophie? Le grand patron d'Apple - qui a séjourné en Inde dans les années 70 et flirté avec le bouddhisme - fait par exemple référence à son dharma (qu'on peut traduire par «religion») quand il donne des conférences sur son cheminement personnel et sa philosophie de gestion.
«Il est extrêmement convaincant et emploie une rhétorique très claire. Il utilise souvent des termes comme awesome, great et d'autres mots génériques que peuvent comprendre des gens qui ne maîtrisent pas l'anglais. Il y a chez Apple une dimension «magique» qui cherche à convaincre les gens que ces produits sont absolument uniques», dit Thomas Leblanc.
«Twitter permet de véhiculer une mentalité idéalisée à l'image d'un monde rêvé. En ce sens, c'est une plateforme idéale pour les gourous», pense Andrew Potter. Ces jours-ci, on peut y lire les épanchements de la nonne bouddhiste Pema Chodron sur les élections américaines ou ceux du gourou de CNN Anderson Cooper sur le pouvoir de Sarah Palin.
Dans une scène célèbre d'Annie Hall, de Woody Allen (1977), l'acteur Jeff Goldblum, paniqué, appelle son gourou parce qu'il a oublié son mantra. Aujourd'hui, il aurait l'embarras du choix pour en trouver un nouveau...
A retrouver en version originale sur Cyberpresse.ca
Le business des dieux
Business of the gods, un excellent article publié dans Tehelka le 30 juin 2007 sur Tehelka :
BUSINESS OF THE GODS
YOGA, MEDITATION, AYURVEDA, ART OF LIVING. HOLDING ON TO FAITH AND LETTING GO OF STRESS IN THESE TROUBLED TIMES COMES AT A PRICE. BUT MILLIONS ARE READY TO PAY. THE HEALERS, AMASSING FORTUNES AND BUILDING EMPIRES, SEEM TO BE THE HAPPIEST, WRITES SHANTANU GUHA RAY
LAST MONTH, the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) received a strange complaint from disciples of one of India’s top godmen, a figure immensely popular for his crowded, five-star discourses in select farmhouses on the Mehrauli-Gurgaon road on the Capital’s southern fringes.
The bizarre incident revolved around a disciple who offered Rs 35 lakh in three installments as donation to gain instant access to the godman’s inner circle. Enthused by the donation and the disciple’s meteoric rise in his business, the godman requested his help in a personal investment that would guarantee quick returns. Rs 4 crore — the amount could even be higher — changed hands. The disciple disappeared overnight.
No one knows why the godman and his followers did not press charges, but the general perception among those who attended that meeting at the EOW office, was that the issue was buried instantly because the complainants felt investigations would actually create more tensions for the godman than for the offender. What if the police asked about the source of that cash?
“Obviously no one wanted to reveal the godman’s source of money, which is mostly in cash and collected after the discourses. The collections are just huge,” a top EOW officer told TEHELKA.
Baba Ramdev is building two universities in Uttarakhand and MP on subsidised land offered by the state governments
SOLACE COMES FOR A PRICE
As per estimates with the finance and home ministries, the total turnover of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s empire is approximately Rs 400 crore that includes his Art of Living (AOL) institutes, pharmacy and health centres, and a hill 40 km from Bangalore on lease from the Karnataka government for 99 years. In the same league are others like Asaram Bapu (turnover Rs 350 crore, includes the multicrore controversial ashram in Delhi’s Ridge area close to the Rabindra Rangashala); Mata Amritanandamayi, “Amma”, of Kerala (turnover Rs 400 crore, includes a virtual corporation that runs schools and hospitals and receives mega donations from all over the world); Baba Ramdev of Hardwar (turnover Rs 400 crore, includes pharmacies and land for two universities); Sudhanshu Maharaj (turnover Rs 300 crore, includes meditation centres across the country and special discourses at the homes of the rich and famous in India and abroad) and Murari Bapu (turnover Rs 150 crore, includes special discourses at political rallies and at private residences in India and abroad).
“Godmen seem to be the biggest beneficiary of the economic boom,” says Pradip Ghosh of the Kolkata-based Science and Rationalists’ Association (SRA). His personal interaction with Baba Ramdev on NDTV some time ago ended in a virtual fracas when the self-styled healer refused to cure a bald man whose name Ghosh suggested.
Writes Ghosh in his book Yoga: Control of the Mind and Meditation, “If Cadbury’s, Samsung or Maruti depended only on the quality of their product, and cancelled all their advertisements and promotions, we can imagine what would have happened in this era of competition. Indian yogis are men of clever business acumen."
On the outskirts of Hardwar, the gigantic ashram of Baba Ramdev welcomes visitors with a huge board that has rates precisely cut out for those interested in his healing touch. Ordinary membership: Rs 11,000. Honoured membership: Rs 21,000. Special membership: Rs 51,000. Life membership: Rs 1 lakh. Reserved membership: Rs 2.51 lakh. Founder membership: Rs 5 lakh.
Money talks, all the way. “Funds are required for a whole range of our activities because nothing is free in India,” explains Swami Balkisen, who is helping Baba Ramdev construct two of India’s biggest universities in Hardwar and in Madhya Pradesh on highly subsidised land offered by the state governments. This, he says, will become the central point from where the jet-set yogi hopes to cure millions of Indians from a host of diseases. “I am not saying I will do everything for free. It is not possible. The scale of the business will go. Our papers are all audited,” Baba Ramdev recently told a Hindi news channel.
Adds Swami Tijarawala, the yogi’s repre-sentative in Delhi: “More than 3,000 patients visit us on a daily basis for treatment. Once we start this operation, the numbers will multiply. But if you are expecting it to be free, then it is like asking for the moon.”
Glance through the price chart and you will have your answer. The rates of medicines and other products are sky-high at all these centres, the majority of which work through trusts that seek huge Income Tax (I-T) concessions. Recently, the I-T department revealed in a note that the Divya Yog Mandir Trust of Baba Ramdev has emerged in just a few years as one of the richest of its kind in India.
Is the godman route the best to earn big bucks? Or to avoid the tax net? Consider the latest case in Delhi where I-T sleuths discovered 19.55 acres of prime land worth Rs 1,900 crore in the illegal possession of religious bodies ranging from the Sant Nirankari Mandal to the Jwala Mukhi Durga Mandir to the Sanatan Dharma Sabha Shiv Temple to the Asaramji Trust.
“The Asaramji Trust has defaulted on tax payments worth Rs 2.15 crore while the Roman Catholic Church in India has not cleared dues worth almost a crore of rupees,” says Ashok Singh, a senior I-T official in Delhi, adding: “This trust business is becoming very, very murky. If the ownership of the trusts is kept among family-members, there will be no question of income tax.”
On the southern fringes of Delhi, farmhouses routinely host discourses conducted by these godmen where devotees wearing spotless white pay an entrance fee of Rs 5,000 per head for a one-hour pravachan that comes with vegetarian dinner.
CASH SPEAKS. CASH RULES
No wonder, then, that business is booming. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has a sprawling, threestorey ashram on a hill 40 km from Bangalore. It comes with an artificial lake, a helipad, dining halls, cyber cafes, a bookshop, pharmacies, residential quarters and a dedicated channel on Worldspace satellite radio. Devotees from more than 125 countries came here to attend AOL’S silver jubilee celebrations. There are plans to start an online university to teach Vedic mathematics.
And it is not cheap: delegates pay Rs 5,000 each to attend the annual AOL festivities. This year, nearly 5,50,000 attended. “You have to run it like a corporation to make it financially viable,” Sri Sri Ravi Shankar told TEHELKA in an interview (see box). Pune’s plush Koregaon Park neighbourhood is home to the 40-acre Osho International Meditation Resort (OIMR) that has white marble pathways, blackpainted buildings and landscaped gardens. “OIMR is run as a trust. It is a combination of meditation centre and resort, which makes it unique,” says Ma Sadhna at OIMR. Osho’s business has grown almost 300 percent after his death. Osho’s books are published by 49 international publishers in 55 languages — next only to Harry Potter (64 languages), and the website www.osho.com is among the world’s top sites with approximately six million hits last year. The Osho guesthouse has 60 air-conditioned rooms with double beds and attached bathrooms. Four are designed to accommodate people with physical difficulties. You can even book your room online. There is a special Amazing Weekend Package offered from April 1 to October 31 which makes the five-star facilities available at three-star rates: two nights and three days for one person at $184 (Rs 8,250), and for two persons at $ 268 (Rs 12,500). This covers registration fees, food, two robes, meditations, health club facilities (including an Olympic-size swimming pool), Buddha Grove classes and evening celebrations. “This is the best nirvana and it comes for a price,” says Ma Prem Usha, who heads the Delhi centre of OIMR.
DESPITE HER lower-caste origins, “Amma” Amritanandamayi — the saint of Kerala who has hugged at least 21 million people over the past three decades — has a huge following. She runs her own Amrita television channel, as well as 33 schools, 12 temples, a state-of-the-art super specialty hospital, and a deemed university whose yearly turnover would easily touch the Rs 175-crore mark. As per home ministry records, she is the second largest recipient in India of foreign funds. In 1998- 1999 alone, she earned foreign funds worth Rs 51.55 crore ($11.5 million). When she celebrated her birthday in Kochi some years back, all Kerala dailies got a highly paid, four-page colour supplement.
She spent Rs 100 crore for tsunami rehabilitation, helped victims of the Kashmir earthquake and donated $1 million to the Bush-Clinton Hurricane Katrina fund two years ago. This year, she has promised Rs 200 crore for the distressed farmers of Vidarbha. Her ashram has a UN special consultation status for non-governmental organisations and she is firmly ensconced in the top echelons of the Sangh Parivar.
Kerala’s Amma is the second largest recipient in India of foreign funds
“She is sitting pretty on an empire worth Rs 1,200 crore. Amma runs high-power institutions through which big favours can be distributed to people who matter. The payment for a medical seat at her super-specialty hospital-cum-medical college is Rs 40 lakh. There would be concessions in the case of children of VIPs,” says U. Kalanathan, noted Malayali atheist. “Amma’s benefits are going to the devotees. So where is the question of this huge annual turnover?” argues Swami Dhyanamrita, a long-time Amma confidant.
Outside the huge complex in Delhi that houses the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) temple, a large billboard says, “Become a life member — all donations accepted here.” The price tag for a life membership starts at Rs 10,000.
“We run 400 temples, 100 vegetarian restaurants, and a wide variety of community projects,” says Vrajendra Nandan Das, vice president of the million-member strong organisation that almost went bankrupt a decade ago. Today, new projects are being taking shape in Bangalore, Noida, Ghaziabad and Tirupati through big donations that come from an impressive list of donors, which includes veteran actor and Rajya Sabha MP Hema Malini and one of the sons of Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav. “ISKCON needs the cream, not the crowd,” says Das.
Obviously, the crowd’s contribution is abysmal as compared to the cream. That’s the thumb rule if you are seeking solace, sorry, sampurna nirvana.
With inputs from KA SHAJI in Kochi, SHALINI SINGH in Mumbai, and HARSIMRAN SHERGILL in New Delhi
Jun 30 , 2007
Retrouvez BUSINESS OF THE GODS, en version originale.
BUSINESS OF THE GODS
YOGA, MEDITATION, AYURVEDA, ART OF LIVING. HOLDING ON TO FAITH AND LETTING GO OF STRESS IN THESE TROUBLED TIMES COMES AT A PRICE. BUT MILLIONS ARE READY TO PAY. THE HEALERS, AMASSING FORTUNES AND BUILDING EMPIRES, SEEM TO BE THE HAPPIEST, WRITES SHANTANU GUHA RAY
LAST MONTH, the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) received a strange complaint from disciples of one of India’s top godmen, a figure immensely popular for his crowded, five-star discourses in select farmhouses on the Mehrauli-Gurgaon road on the Capital’s southern fringes.
The bizarre incident revolved around a disciple who offered Rs 35 lakh in three installments as donation to gain instant access to the godman’s inner circle. Enthused by the donation and the disciple’s meteoric rise in his business, the godman requested his help in a personal investment that would guarantee quick returns. Rs 4 crore — the amount could even be higher — changed hands. The disciple disappeared overnight.
No one knows why the godman and his followers did not press charges, but the general perception among those who attended that meeting at the EOW office, was that the issue was buried instantly because the complainants felt investigations would actually create more tensions for the godman than for the offender. What if the police asked about the source of that cash?
“Obviously no one wanted to reveal the godman’s source of money, which is mostly in cash and collected after the discourses. The collections are just huge,” a top EOW officer told TEHELKA.
Baba Ramdev is building two universities in Uttarakhand and MP on subsidised land offered by the state governments
SOLACE COMES FOR A PRICE
As per estimates with the finance and home ministries, the total turnover of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s empire is approximately Rs 400 crore that includes his Art of Living (AOL) institutes, pharmacy and health centres, and a hill 40 km from Bangalore on lease from the Karnataka government for 99 years. In the same league are others like Asaram Bapu (turnover Rs 350 crore, includes the multicrore controversial ashram in Delhi’s Ridge area close to the Rabindra Rangashala); Mata Amritanandamayi, “Amma”, of Kerala (turnover Rs 400 crore, includes a virtual corporation that runs schools and hospitals and receives mega donations from all over the world); Baba Ramdev of Hardwar (turnover Rs 400 crore, includes pharmacies and land for two universities); Sudhanshu Maharaj (turnover Rs 300 crore, includes meditation centres across the country and special discourses at the homes of the rich and famous in India and abroad) and Murari Bapu (turnover Rs 150 crore, includes special discourses at political rallies and at private residences in India and abroad).
“Godmen seem to be the biggest beneficiary of the economic boom,” says Pradip Ghosh of the Kolkata-based Science and Rationalists’ Association (SRA). His personal interaction with Baba Ramdev on NDTV some time ago ended in a virtual fracas when the self-styled healer refused to cure a bald man whose name Ghosh suggested.
Writes Ghosh in his book Yoga: Control of the Mind and Meditation, “If Cadbury’s, Samsung or Maruti depended only on the quality of their product, and cancelled all their advertisements and promotions, we can imagine what would have happened in this era of competition. Indian yogis are men of clever business acumen."
On the outskirts of Hardwar, the gigantic ashram of Baba Ramdev welcomes visitors with a huge board that has rates precisely cut out for those interested in his healing touch. Ordinary membership: Rs 11,000. Honoured membership: Rs 21,000. Special membership: Rs 51,000. Life membership: Rs 1 lakh. Reserved membership: Rs 2.51 lakh. Founder membership: Rs 5 lakh.
Money talks, all the way. “Funds are required for a whole range of our activities because nothing is free in India,” explains Swami Balkisen, who is helping Baba Ramdev construct two of India’s biggest universities in Hardwar and in Madhya Pradesh on highly subsidised land offered by the state governments. This, he says, will become the central point from where the jet-set yogi hopes to cure millions of Indians from a host of diseases. “I am not saying I will do everything for free. It is not possible. The scale of the business will go. Our papers are all audited,” Baba Ramdev recently told a Hindi news channel.
Adds Swami Tijarawala, the yogi’s repre-sentative in Delhi: “More than 3,000 patients visit us on a daily basis for treatment. Once we start this operation, the numbers will multiply. But if you are expecting it to be free, then it is like asking for the moon.”
Glance through the price chart and you will have your answer. The rates of medicines and other products are sky-high at all these centres, the majority of which work through trusts that seek huge Income Tax (I-T) concessions. Recently, the I-T department revealed in a note that the Divya Yog Mandir Trust of Baba Ramdev has emerged in just a few years as one of the richest of its kind in India.
Is the godman route the best to earn big bucks? Or to avoid the tax net? Consider the latest case in Delhi where I-T sleuths discovered 19.55 acres of prime land worth Rs 1,900 crore in the illegal possession of religious bodies ranging from the Sant Nirankari Mandal to the Jwala Mukhi Durga Mandir to the Sanatan Dharma Sabha Shiv Temple to the Asaramji Trust.
“The Asaramji Trust has defaulted on tax payments worth Rs 2.15 crore while the Roman Catholic Church in India has not cleared dues worth almost a crore of rupees,” says Ashok Singh, a senior I-T official in Delhi, adding: “This trust business is becoming very, very murky. If the ownership of the trusts is kept among family-members, there will be no question of income tax.”
On the southern fringes of Delhi, farmhouses routinely host discourses conducted by these godmen where devotees wearing spotless white pay an entrance fee of Rs 5,000 per head for a one-hour pravachan that comes with vegetarian dinner.
CASH SPEAKS. CASH RULES
No wonder, then, that business is booming. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has a sprawling, threestorey ashram on a hill 40 km from Bangalore. It comes with an artificial lake, a helipad, dining halls, cyber cafes, a bookshop, pharmacies, residential quarters and a dedicated channel on Worldspace satellite radio. Devotees from more than 125 countries came here to attend AOL’S silver jubilee celebrations. There are plans to start an online university to teach Vedic mathematics.
And it is not cheap: delegates pay Rs 5,000 each to attend the annual AOL festivities. This year, nearly 5,50,000 attended. “You have to run it like a corporation to make it financially viable,” Sri Sri Ravi Shankar told TEHELKA in an interview (see box). Pune’s plush Koregaon Park neighbourhood is home to the 40-acre Osho International Meditation Resort (OIMR) that has white marble pathways, blackpainted buildings and landscaped gardens. “OIMR is run as a trust. It is a combination of meditation centre and resort, which makes it unique,” says Ma Sadhna at OIMR. Osho’s business has grown almost 300 percent after his death. Osho’s books are published by 49 international publishers in 55 languages — next only to Harry Potter (64 languages), and the website www.osho.com is among the world’s top sites with approximately six million hits last year. The Osho guesthouse has 60 air-conditioned rooms with double beds and attached bathrooms. Four are designed to accommodate people with physical difficulties. You can even book your room online. There is a special Amazing Weekend Package offered from April 1 to October 31 which makes the five-star facilities available at three-star rates: two nights and three days for one person at $184 (Rs 8,250), and for two persons at $ 268 (Rs 12,500). This covers registration fees, food, two robes, meditations, health club facilities (including an Olympic-size swimming pool), Buddha Grove classes and evening celebrations. “This is the best nirvana and it comes for a price,” says Ma Prem Usha, who heads the Delhi centre of OIMR.
DESPITE HER lower-caste origins, “Amma” Amritanandamayi — the saint of Kerala who has hugged at least 21 million people over the past three decades — has a huge following. She runs her own Amrita television channel, as well as 33 schools, 12 temples, a state-of-the-art super specialty hospital, and a deemed university whose yearly turnover would easily touch the Rs 175-crore mark. As per home ministry records, she is the second largest recipient in India of foreign funds. In 1998- 1999 alone, she earned foreign funds worth Rs 51.55 crore ($11.5 million). When she celebrated her birthday in Kochi some years back, all Kerala dailies got a highly paid, four-page colour supplement.
She spent Rs 100 crore for tsunami rehabilitation, helped victims of the Kashmir earthquake and donated $1 million to the Bush-Clinton Hurricane Katrina fund two years ago. This year, she has promised Rs 200 crore for the distressed farmers of Vidarbha. Her ashram has a UN special consultation status for non-governmental organisations and she is firmly ensconced in the top echelons of the Sangh Parivar.
Kerala’s Amma is the second largest recipient in India of foreign funds
“She is sitting pretty on an empire worth Rs 1,200 crore. Amma runs high-power institutions through which big favours can be distributed to people who matter. The payment for a medical seat at her super-specialty hospital-cum-medical college is Rs 40 lakh. There would be concessions in the case of children of VIPs,” says U. Kalanathan, noted Malayali atheist. “Amma’s benefits are going to the devotees. So where is the question of this huge annual turnover?” argues Swami Dhyanamrita, a long-time Amma confidant.
Outside the huge complex in Delhi that houses the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) temple, a large billboard says, “Become a life member — all donations accepted here.” The price tag for a life membership starts at Rs 10,000.
“We run 400 temples, 100 vegetarian restaurants, and a wide variety of community projects,” says Vrajendra Nandan Das, vice president of the million-member strong organisation that almost went bankrupt a decade ago. Today, new projects are being taking shape in Bangalore, Noida, Ghaziabad and Tirupati through big donations that come from an impressive list of donors, which includes veteran actor and Rajya Sabha MP Hema Malini and one of the sons of Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav. “ISKCON needs the cream, not the crowd,” says Das.
Obviously, the crowd’s contribution is abysmal as compared to the cream. That’s the thumb rule if you are seeking solace, sorry, sampurna nirvana.
With inputs from KA SHAJI in Kochi, SHALINI SINGH in Mumbai, and HARSIMRAN SHERGILL in New Delhi
Jun 30 , 2007
Retrouvez BUSINESS OF THE GODS, en version originale.
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