In Love, Losing is Winning.

On my way to Ahmedabad last week on Saturday, at Mumbai airport, I saw a poster which had increased the number of sri’s in Sri Sri Ravishankar. It proclaimed Sri Sri Sri Ravishankar. But I think I will stick with the SSRS short form instead of updating it to SSSRS.

One of the perils of reading newspapers in India is that you are exposed to some rather mindless nonsense. Sunday morning in Ahmedabad, I recklessly picked up a newspaper. It was the DNA Sunday. To my horror but not to my surprise, there was Sri Sri Sri Ravishankar’s hirsute image atop a column titled, “In love, losing is winning.”

losingiswinning2

So before we get to the column, let’s deal with the proliferation of “sri’s”. It used to be that the great and the accomplished were honored by others with a “sri” to their name – as in Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Sri Aurobindo, Sri Krishna, etc. It’s not something that one plasters on to one’s name. Ravishankar sticks not one but two sri’s in front of his name. It is a repulsive sight.

Anyway, back to our column, “In love, losing is winning.”

losingiswinning2

That line is hard to beat. In just five words, in just 22 characters, it packs so much inanity and illogic that merely reading that line kills a million brain cells. Making such a statement is plain unadulterated nonsense of course but then if SSSRC were to avoid the nonsensical, he might as well take maun vrat (a vow of silence.)

Logic and sense has never been the strong suit of god-men (and god-women) and their sainted followers. If logic was even remotely involved in the deal, that whole business and the attendant followers would not happen.

“In love, losing is winning.”

If losing is winning, then the loser is the winner, and the winner is the loser. So by losing, you win – which makes you a winner, and as you are a winner you are a loser, but that only means that you are actually a winner, which means you are really a loser . . . it is an infinite chain of insanity.

See what I mean? Insanity does not come in more potent form than that. What I can’t stop marveling about is that not only did SSRS make that absolutely contentless insane statement, but others involved in the chain that terminated in the column being printed in the newspaper – the reporter, the editor – did not find anything the least bit wrong with the statement. Compared to these people, sheep have been known to be more logical.

The headline should keep the wary from reading the piece. But anyway, for a change of pace, I decided that I will actually read the column to see what depths of inanity and illogic the man had plumbed.

For the record, here are a few select quotes.

When in trouble, don’t think “what can I do?” or that you are insignificant. Instead, understand that you, too, have a role to play. Like a tiny homeopathic pill, which has a 1/100th, or 1/1000th potency, makes an impact on a 60-70 kg body, in the same way, every individual has an influence on the cosmos, on this planet.

True true, SSRS looks average enough but his inanity influences millions of people. I like the homeopathy bit thrown in: that’s the bright red cheery on top of a heap of idiocy calling attention to itself.

When you point a finger at others, three fingers are pointing back at you. For instance, if I say, “you are ugly!” I am three times uglier; but when I include you into me, then there is no me. Then there is only one – that is ultimate victory.

Did someone say victory? Well, if you have the ultimate victory, don’t you have the ultimate loss? Oh what an idiot! Three fingers pointing back multiplying the effect of a statement is the sort of logic that would fail to impress even retarded people. What does the man smoke that he can make such asinine statements with a straight face? And what do his followers smoke?

Life is so short. We’ll all live for another 30-40 years and then one day, everybody will be dead and gone. But we cry about what we have and we’re upset about what we don’t have. Is it worth living life like that? We ourselves get depressed and then depress everybody around us. We need to shake ourselves up. Wake up! And when we wake up from this slumber, then we have peace in our hearts and we can radiate that peace and love around us.

No, really, I cannot bring myself to comment on this any more. My vocabulary is limited and I can only feebly describe SSRS’s statements as inane, insane, asinine, silly, ludicrous, ridiculous, senseless, stupid, unreasonable, illogical and empty. Those adjectives are all inadequate.

Related Post: His Most Exalted Holiness Sri Maha Param Pujaniya Gurudevji Bhagwanji Sriman Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji Mahadevji, I presume.

Author: Atanu Dey

Economist.

31 thoughts on “In Love, Losing is Winning.”

  1. About time we had a sssrs here. His english obviously sucks.

    May be one needs to understand the inner meaning of what he says..! But ofcourse , that is my opinion. Also i wonder how godmen /godwomen get so many followers! I have seen IIT’ians , IIM walla’s in his den preaching his yoga or sudhrashan kriya to be precise. Vija mallya too is a friend i think. Dalai lama and higly renowned spiritual masters VISITed B’LORE for AOL silver jubilee.
    And people talk about his miracles(cured people)..his eye contact which radiates a lot of love(?)…his altruism. If he was such a #%$@ , why would so many important people follow him? Why ain’t media rubbishing him like they do to baba ramdev?

    Im not a follower and btw he does go into silence every yr for 14 days i think.

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  2. Atanu,

    This is new Love2.0 powered by S++RS’ Logic2.0. Such preachings are usually meant for those who don’t have the capability to understand something. S++RS like people usually create an illusion for their followers that only “certain people with certain higher abilities” can understand his language. It is in fact the opposite, people listen to this nonsense and pretend to understand it just to prove that they have these “higher/deeper level of thinking”.

    Now, this Love2.0 is not really a new product, it was well used by Nehru in 1950s for China. Recently by Times of India in Aman ki Asha.

    Logic2.0 is more common. Used by BJP to show how they actually “won” by managing to become the only strongest opposition.
    By congress to show how they have actually reduced poverty.

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  3. Atanu,

    I am with you on what you have mentioned in your blog, I too complete despise the so called God Men, however there is a lot of good that comes out of the pure blind faith that the followers of these God Men have and because of the tons of money they donate. There are various hospitals, educational institutes that conduct free operations for the poor and offer free education. From that perspective it helps.

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  4. SSSRS is a complete looser. I agree he says some good things to people, but at the end of the day he too is a charltan and a liar. At the end of the day even educated people take up make believe fairy tales as a way of life.
    With regards to Amit Roy Chaudry’s comment, if religion has to be reduced to the level of donations, then I feel that the Red Cross and Doctors without borders both of which are secular organisations are not bad.
    However we have freedom of religion in this country and this guy can preach all the nonsense he likes to the already brain dead Hindus.
    Rather than make absurd statements he should ask people to confront the real issues of poverty, education, Islamic terrorism, etc.
    It is these kind of looser philosphies that made India a slave to the Muslims and later to the British.
    Everything is karma, karma is just a word to define the crap that life throws at us.

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  5. Amit

    “Men, however there is a lot of good that comes out of the pure blind faith that the followers of these God Men have and because of the tons of money they donate. There are various hospitals, educational institutes that conduct free operations for the poor ”

    That’s the impression people like Ravishankar want to convey. He is doing some great work, charity and seva etc. But in reality that is not the case. AOL is an elite organization with most of the charity money they collect going into the coffers of a few individuals and their sleazy real estate deals.

    Check their latest buy: http://artoflivingfree.blogspot.com/2010/01/quick-glance-of-la-center.html

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  6. Hi Atanu,

    I have to say you have a very keen intellect. Have been following your blogs for a while now (might have left comments earlier too.. not sure under what name).

    Disclaimer: I am a ‘follower’ of Sri Sri’s teachings.

    Your post makes for a very entertaining read! Your humour is specially suited to the logically minded. Couldn’t help but smile at your post.

    However I am sure that this post does not convey the full range of your thoughts on the article. I’m sure for the purpose of this post you have specifically concentrated on ‘illogic’ as the subject.

    You must be mystified about why SSRS has so many followers, and as one commenter said, it includes many ‘intellectual’ people as well. Are the millions who follow him really so dumb, that they can’t identify a logical fallacy when they see one? You see, there is a logical paradox right here..

    The title of your post has just 22 characters, but the amount of wisdom contained in it could take 22 chapters to cover – if written in a logically consistent manner. Paradoxes do have their use, when applied wisely.

    ps: Hint – ‘Losing’ and ‘Winning’ are not opposites in this case, try to think about the context for each 🙂

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  7. speaking confusing paradoxical and illogic language is one of the mind control tool to blur devotees reasoning. most of ssrs discourses are like that- half true, perplexing and difficult to counteract.His words are bound to change your age old beliefs, reasoning and critical thinking.
    Read all his discourses and find out.you cant punish yourself better than listening/reading his discourses.

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  8. Salman Rushdie on India’s great gurus:

    The creative imagination possessed by a great scam artist is of high order, one can’t help but admire. What surrealist boldness he displays in the conception of his deceits; what high wire daring, what mastery of illusion. The flim flam maestro is a superman for our times; disdaining norms, scorning convention, soaring beyond the gravitational pull of plausibility, shucking off puritan naturalism that would hold most ordinary mortals back. And if in the end he comes unstuck, if his ruses fail like the melting wings of Icarus, then we love him all the more for revealing his human frailty, for falling fatally to earth. In his moment of failure, he deepens our love and renders it eternal.

    We have been privileged, in India, to observe at close quarters some of the very best–the best of the best–members of the trickster hall of fame. As a result we are not easily impressed, we demand the highest level of performance from our public crooks. We have seen too much, yet we still want to be made to laugh and shake our heads in disbelief. We rely on the scamster to rekindle a sense of wonder dulled by the excess of our daily life.

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  9. Intellectual and non Intellectual people who are followers of SSRS are still humans and humans have this need to belong to a group or community. People in general like to hear that all problems in their life will work itself out, and when you are part of a large organization, it is most likely that you will find a solution to the problem by having access to a large social network.

    My point is that, it doesnt matter, how illogical a leader sounds, because if he can motivate the group and make them feel good about themselves, there will always be followers.

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  10. In love you lose yourself!!!!
    The title “In love, losing is winning” is absolutely correct and so is the whole article. Many of the statements made in the Ravi Shankar’s article are symbolic and have to be interpreted in a proper way so as to derive the intended meaning.
    Let us see what losing means first:
    In love you lose means: “you” lose i.e. your ego vanishes. Ego essentially separates you from all that is around you and it is root cause of most of human suffering. Losing ego is essential to happiness( Read Burtrand Russel’s ‘Conquest of Happiness’ if you are skeptical about this simple statement, it is a common sense actually)
    Thus when you lose(i.e. when your ego is anhhilated) you end up winning(here again winning means: you end up being happy) I think this is plain common sense and I find comments made by Atanu absolutely rubbish and childish. This theme “You lose youself in love” is ubiquituos in writings/work of many great novelists, poets, philolosophers, artists.
    When you become too entangled in academic distinctions and logic you lose sight of common sense and deviate from what is true. This is what has happened with Atanu and it is really disgusting and ironic that many of the people who posted their comments here have done so in the name of Reason and critical thinking.

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    1. Well, Mr/Ms Not Pseudo Intellectual:

      I am amused by your contortions in explaining why “in love, losing is winning.” I am amused because you claim that it is “symbolic” of “you lose yourself in love.” If that is what your great guru meant, why the fuck did he not say so? (I use the word “fuck” symbolically, of course, and what I actually mean is “why the fuck did he not say so in so many words?”)

      See I am not an intellectual. I say it the way I mean it. Your guru, however, being the great intellectual that he is, has to be symbolic and abstract. He does not put it in plain words that are understandable by all and instead speaks in mysterious symbolic parables. Then you, you who claim to be “Not pseudo intellectual” go into an orgy of intellectualizing and explain away the trivial shit that your guru spews.

      You have been flamed royally. Go suck your guru’s dick. And just by the way, that is a symbolic way of saying that your guru is big — or at least that you like his big one. Now go and analyze it symbolically.

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      1. I have had it up to here with the crap that SSRS’s devotees deliver by the truckloads. From now on, I will not use polite words. The followers of SSRS are on notice here: I will tell them that they are full of shit. They should be prepared for a frank appraisal of their intellectual capacities.

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  12. Atanu:
    You said:

    what I actually mean is “why the fuck did he not say so in so many words?”

    Welll, as I said in my previous post that its just a matter of plain common sense to understand what “losing” means and it is evident that you are utterly lacking on that front. Even with infinite words creatures like you would never understand. Its laughable that on one hand you call it abstract and on the other had you dismiss it as trivial shit. Actually I wasn’t very surprised to see your reply. Anything but a shit that you mentioned in your previous posts could be expected from an insect like you. Its definitely not meant for retards like you. Insects like you deserve some more public thrashing but I will stop here as i know its not going to benefit you in any way.

    For others:

    Interpretation of what we see, what we feel, we experience in our lives is what we call our knowledge, but when a person starts doubting that only means he or she does think that he or she can think more beyond the limitations of their mind no matter whether we know our limitations or not. See under the impression that we understand we interpret and under the impression that we can interpret we proceed further to the quest; dipper and dipper inside.

    Among the several parameters of life, if I set some fixed set of parameters only for myself and don’t want to come out of that then how can I understand, hence interpret? For drawing a bigger picture, u always need a bigger canvas. How big that depends on how bigger u r drawing, right! So decide how big u want to draw.
    Think, that’s what will lead uou to get what you want and not getting. It’s human characteristics that when he hears something about him good, he is happy and bad, then unhappy, and about others good and bad; depends who is that other!!!
    That’s why we r humans, consequently we can think.
    Think !!!

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  14. Please not-pseudo-intellecttual, don’t let these other fuckers bound by reason and logic and the ability to string together coherent sentences stop your godly spiel. All this talk of “losing” and ego and doubt and parameters is giving me a Sri Sri Boner.

    Thank you for clarifying also that you are DEFINITELY NOT an AOL Platinum member or an acolyte of his Sri Sri-ness. It really was obvious though.

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  15. This is ‘AG’ as u so fondly refer to me in one of ur blog post.

    The mail sent to you years back was from a youth fresh out of college and so the stupidity of even responding to the farce of that post.
    I have experienced Art of Living for 4 years now and am truly greatful to everyone (you included, as my faith is much stronger in the good and right things in life and in sri sri and the art of living way of life, despite all your half informed posts).

    Every field has some good, some bad.Lot of people have fantastic experiences, few not so good. As you yourself mentioned somewhere – ‘Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth. Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact.’ It is much easier (though waste of time) to dissect a comment or a mail in 1 line, taken out of context, comment on it and make a blog post out of it, much difficult to touch the lives of people all around the world. I choose to be the latter and DO something.

    That first post on ravi shankar had some trace of genuine seeking of truth on your part but since then your entire effort seem to be directed towards maligning art of living, venting your stress out against sri sri or provoking people. There is tremendous work being done, if you look for the positives you’ll find it and that will be much more useful to everyone, rather than being stuck at 108 sri sri’s (Amusing it is, how many people can’t even get past 2 words to reach the real person 🙂

    Thanks Atanu. I am glad that I questioned my belief, went through my doubts and am greatful to sri sri and art of living. Not only am I more joyful and at peace but I got a platform to spread peace too in the life of youths like me.

    Jai Gurudev! (It’s not what you think it means :))Somethings ARE experiential, words just distort the truth, in mu humble opinion though I am still learning. 🙂

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    1. And you, Shri AG, don’t find it the least bit discomforting that the man promotes himself to the hilt, asks people to address him “Sri Sri” (which you find so bloody amusing but cannot avoid saying Jai Gurudev and Sri Sri)?

      I don’t suppose you have the humility to consider the possibility that you have been brainwashed by the organization?

      Your kind with the fake piety and oh-so-holier than thou attitude is sickening. You believe that you are superior since you have been brainwashed. Well, guess again — I pity you more than I feel disgust.

      Thanks for visiting. Now go and do your guru puja. And don’t forget to pay your money — after all, without your payment, he will chuck you out.

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  16. Atanu..i KNow u said u r too intelligent for common people and u don’t answer them.

    But i have a few questions.

    1. Why do i see so many intelligent people follwing ravishankar?

    2. Why many say AOL is helping the world?

    3. why atanu days talk talk all day n make no impact while sri sri’s help chile etc when they r struck hard?

    4. Why ravishankar is compassionate to a loser while atanu fuks a watchmen whose only interest is to help his family n don’t understand security too well?

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  17. i Want to say..i was in bangalore ashram for 2-3 weeks and i suffered quite a lot. The so called sri sri’s volunteers used to talk non-stop in night n disturb others. When confronted they wud say to stfu. Ravishankars advice to my anxiety problems were less than helpful. He had more time for vijay mallya’s and nagma while i was ignored more often. His answers to common questions say bs answers which only his follower can understand. He sells books, yoga, etc which shouldn’t cost a thing if it is service. Man, if u r really doing service…why the phuck sell it?

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  18. Dear Atanu,
    No argument about SSRS however I am assuming you understand bengali, this line ” losing is winning” made me remember something…I wanted to tell you of a couple of lines I remembered from a bengali song that I found relevant…
    “Charan dorite diyo go amare….Shesh joye jeno hoye she bijayi..tomari kache te hariya” from Dadar Kirti

    I always understood those lines and thought it was beautiful petry..you probably thought that this was also a circular reference meant to destroy brain cells 🙂

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  20. Bcos Sangita the media controls the way most people think, hence it becomes important to pose questions to what the media does and says.

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  22. dear atanu

    i agree with u
    all this SSRS kind people try to fool others by making such illogical
    statements

    the news media and all other sinister propeganda methods are employed to spread this noncense
    we need to abolish all this

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  23. Oh! Atanu… I love the rest of your blog and the variety of topics you touch, but once it comes to multi-SRS, your prejudiced, illogical, teenage-like I_know_it_all side gushes out!

    Once blinded by a perception, done for life huh ? Nobody deserves the childish disrespect you hold in your heart, such as to the subject of this post…

    I couldn’t stop laughing at the immaturity exuded in your testy “analysis”. Seriously man, anger blocks intellect.

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  24. People who disrespects or defames other Gurus, please wake up!! What you see or think is mostly due to anger, ignorance or false ego 🙂 My Guru- Sri Sri Sri Sri Ravi Shankar- never expects people to worship him. Infact, he doesn’t even like people touching his feet!! Guess What?? He did not even ask me to add extra Sri’s!! But it is us, the people, who love him so much that we forget that foolish people like U exist on this planet who are born to criticize good things!! Atanu Dey, do you know the meaning of “Jai Gurudev??.” It does glorify the Guru BUT (take the course to know what it really means)!! Be sure @ what you are saying- don’t guess!!

    I truly PITY you IGNORANT people esp. Atanu Dey!! Your brother has made a wise decision by choosing to be on a spiritual path BUT you are wasting all your precious time n energy criticizing others!! Hope you find a good spiritual path (of your kind?? 😦 )in this lifetime!!

    Best Wishes!!

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  25. Atanu, please start looking at brighter side of things. SriSri has been doing alot of service for the world and not just for any sect or country. Yes these knowledge will not be of any use to you, because its not for everyone and especially ignorant and foolish ones like you. There needs to be some maturity to understand and grasp it. You might say, well Parmahans Ramakrishna thakur also said the same.. yes he might have, but are you implementing it? Sadly if you know how to row one boat you would definitely be able to row others. And lastly, its because of sinister thoughts in people like you, violence and terrorism still exist, because you dont value the aspect of spirituality that is so needed in society.

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    1. Let’s be very clear about one thing. Your leader is not the only one who claims to do good work. Most people do good work. Indeed most people work and get paid for it. Your leader is in exactly the same business as any other business, such as Walmart or Apple or Google. They sell stuff. Being a commercial operation is not a crime.

      SSRS makes oodles of money. His property is estimated at a few thousand crores. He’s done well for himself, thanks to his followers like yourself. I don’t know the first thing about you but I can bet my shirt that you have forked over a significant amount to him.

      The problem you face in reading someone like me is this. If I am right, you have to admit that you are a gullible sucker. So to resolve that rather painful psychological distress, you have to believe that I am wrong.

      You have my sympathy. You are not alone. Hundreds of millions of people fall for this kind of crap. In your case, you got trapped into the SSRS cult. It could have been worse. So let’s all be very grateful for small mercies.

      Take care and don’t let the door hit you on your way out.

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      1. Ok.. So do you not pay money to buy a tv? Do you not pay money to purchase your latest iphone? Are they not selling? Well looking at your statements it really seems that you have not got proper education because i think you refrained from paying them.. !!

        Instrad of not taking responsibilities lift your butt from a comfortable home and come to Nepal. You would see the hard reality and truth my dear friend. Its not about how much is being earned, but what you do out of it.

        I think its useless to discuss, if you have to do something stand up and do something good and not just compakining in your little blog well. Go to Iraq and help the people who have lost homes, go to the middle east and help the yezidis..

        Else if you dont want to spend the money for actual service work and betterment of society, which is possible for a miser like you.. Go to a mental hospital.. Oops wait even they charge money !! Pity you bro !!!…

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        1. You are confirming what I keep saying about the rabid followers of SSRS — that they are stupid and are incapable of even simple reasoning.

          In my previous reply to you, I pointed out to you that there’s nothing wrong in running a commercial organization. I pointed to Apple & Google and said that’s for the good. People value their products and pay for them.

          I said SSRS does that too. Takes money from people for what he peddles. That he peddles horseshit or not is not the main point. People like you pay for horseshit and therefore more power to SSRS.

          But I will not waste any more time responding to you. However I am inspired by this recent exchange to write another post on SSRS and AoL.

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