Art of Living International Center — Attraction in Karnataka

From the outset it looks beautiful & they seem to be doing a lot of charity.🙏 Personally, I had followed them for years.

‼️ But once I ventured deep and had a good look at their internal workings, I realised it’s better not to support such a corrupt and vile organisation. People’s feelings and their self-respect is not a pivotal aspect for them. Any person can be discarded at any moment. The founder raves about “VASUDAIVA KUTUMBAKAM” but doesn’t lift a finger to remedy the corrupt, bullying attitudes of his teachers, especially the seniors.😠

He doesn’t care for the individual. The focus is only on amassing more people to show growth and more money to show prosperity. THE WORLD IS HIS STAGE. Literally..🌏

QUALITY is lacking in every aspect. It’s only QUANTITY they are bothered about. 🤦‍♀️

You bring five people, you are a great teacher. You point out, that so and so has bullied so and so, or fired someone wrongfully, you are labelled as a bad teacher/volunteer. You were supposed to keep it quiet. Voicing it out is a crime. STANDING UP FOR YOURSELF IS A CRIME. 🫤

The very founder, who talks about fighting injustice in their grand satsangs with huge gatherings, maintains a sinful silence when a long time devotee/volunteer did something wrong right under his own nose. 🤐 Infact, he ends up granting them greater positions. He garlands them for all their crimes. To top it all, these are those people who never worked a day in their life. The highly corrupt ones there, are dreadful when it comes to work.⁉️

A logical, sensitive and sensible person will not allow corruption to thrive over numbers, whether it's people or money. If he or his organisation is, then, they need to re-think their principles and slogans. A family head will not let the people in the family go vile, cover it up and then maintain silence. He will do something about it for the sake of the family's good health.

Everyone is aware of the bureaucracy, but no one makes a peep. It's so bad, that the lowest of the chain can assure you of the same and they themselves are forced to or end up committing similar actions after a while. Coz it's so prevelant & no one gives a damn. So why not !! It’s akin to survival instinct.

The volunteers are not given minimum wages, are asked to live in UNCLEAN ENVIRONMENTS, are forced to PLAY PUPPETS to corrupt officials and authorities, are not given travel options to & fro from workplace to accomodations. The incompetent reception/ management does not resolve their complaints and in turn forces people who return for answers to retract the complaint or adjust mutely. Else, they are BULLIED INTO IT BY THE HRs via calls to their departments and worse comes to worse - they can always be discarded. Anyone who doesn’t back down is silenced. It’s an OPEN SECRET in the AOL management book.📖

RIGHT TO SLEEP - is not adhered to. The volunteers roam around at nights, there is no regulation to stop it and the innocent sufferers in the rooms are disturbed many a night. Again , it has never been and will never be resolved. In the name of spirituality, people go through sleepless nights and the omniscient GURU is sleeping through it.🥱

People accept it all IN THE NAME OF FAITH AND DEVOTION and end up incapable of supporting themselves later due to lack of growth professionally and lack of finances personally. With no options left,they become slaves to their master and think that's life.They call themselves strong for braving it all when in fact they just slaved all through. It’s the ultimate BRAINWASHING technique.😶‍🌫️

I am not even getting into the rude shuttle service & security guards. Many reviews here speak of the same.

FUN FACT:Their RESEARCH INSTITUTE ’s social media posts say CHOCOLATE 🍫and COFFEE ☕️ are good for your health. Maybe the idea is that helps you get into sudarshan kriya.😜

If observed carefully,you will notice that all the negative comments are deleted from the official Social Media channels. It’s an insight into their hypocrisy, especially after the talks of taking criticism constructively by...

It is my honest and higly analzed review accompanied with genuine on ground observation of Art of living Centres running in the cities

Course Experience – Expensive and No Real Change I attended the Happiness Program (₹2500–₹3000), Sahaj Meditation (₹3000), and Advance Course (₹5000–₹6000). These courses are very costly, and definitely not affordable for poor or middle-class people who actually face more stress and need help. Even if you can afford it, don’t expect big life changes. I personally felt no real transformation. You may feel calm and relaxed for a few hours, but that’s it—no long-term benefit. While some people have benefited from course but I have n't.

Also, the teachers speak in a very attractive way, which makes you believe they’re deeply spiritual. But it feels like they are trained to talk nicely, not necessarily to teach with depth or truth.

In the Happiness Program, most people are already AOL volunteers. Very few are real first-timers. And after the course, they push you to promote the course, calling it “seva.” But it feels more like marketing than service. It didn’t feel spiritual to me at all.

Teacher Review & Social Media Ads The ads are misleading ,whatsapp banners my centre sends in the group always changes the benefits of Sudharshan Kriya every time it conducts a Happiness Course.How is it possible?? Every time course is finished they force you to make a video of your course experience right after finishing the course which is done for making social media posts.Dont get into the trap of their social media handle posts.No one is cared about the long term effects on the participants.It is common sense that you give feedback right after the finishing the course as meditation gives refreshing feeling for sometime but long term benefits is to be questioned.

Teachers are more focused on growing social media followers than practicing what they preach. Some lack maturity and spiritual discipline, yet are made teachers easily. Anyone can become a teacher now—it’s not based on deep spiritual quality anymore.Some very immature people are now being made teachers.

Bad Experience with Sri Sri Ayurveda & Kaal Gyan Session Getting an appointment took 7–8 days. The staff were lazy, not helpful, and often forgot to send prescriptions. Most of the time they just say “come to Bangalore” instead of helping.

The Kaal Gyan session was a disaster. There’s no clear process, and you are left to deal with volunteers who don’t pick calls or reply of Mr. Sunil Gambhir. His volunteer behaved rudely, sent impolite response, and ignored me. Even Mr. Gambhir cut calls midway and never responded when my family reached out.

I attended another Kal Gyan session from some other person , the details shared about me were mostly incorrect in the session, and no useful help was given.How can kaal gyanis give wrong information about me ?? Were they trained enough ??Was making only wage gusses about me.Kaal gyanis are just scams.He could not predict what problem i was going through.Useless session.

Fake Seva – No Real Service on the Ground In many city centers I visited, they do seva only in name. For them, bringing more people to the course is seva. But when it comes to real community service like helping the poor or planting trees, most of them disappear.

They do nothing without money. Instead of helping poor communities, Sudarshan Kriya should be free for them. Even platforms like YouTube offer student discounts, but Art of Living doesn’t. They only offer free short meditations just to attract new people.

Final Words It acts like a spiritual movement, but functions more like a private business. In fact, some businesses are more honest at least they don't pretend to be spiritual. Please be aware of their business model. If you're clear about that and just want to attend to relax or meet new people, it's fine. But don’t get trapped by volunteering or getting too involved. My only aim is to aware others, so they don’t...

This place is located around 3 kms from Knakapura nice road junction. The place is very peaceful and a must visit place for especially people of Bangalore to enjoy the nature among the greens. You can spend an entire day here. The campus is spread around 250+ acres with the following. The Registration/Housing Desk is located in Main Reception and is accessible from Gates Number 4 or 5. Vishala Canteen and Annapoorna Kitchen and Dining Hall : The Ashram canteen serves vegetarian snacks such as Indian Fast food, an assortment of condiments , canned juices and bottled soft drinks. The Canteen is a cool place to hang out any time during the day or after an evening of devotional music popularly called satsang. A juice center serves fresh juice of a variety of fruits handpicked from the Ashram orchards. It is housed in a 3-floor building, each floor has an area of 25,000 sq feet. Whereas the old kitchen catered to 500 people, the New kitchen has the capacity to feed 60,000 people per day. The main dining hall is situated on the ground floor of the building. On a normal day, food is cooked for 20000 people. This includes course/conference participants and ashram residents. Vishalakshi Mantap: The Vishalakshi Mantap is the focal point of the Ashram, where all the positive spiritual energies come together. This beautifully crafted architectural marvel has been conceived and designed by His Holiness Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar himself. This magnificent structure of the thousand-petals fame, with an entirely white marble floor and a lotus-shaped edifice is a wonderful blend of Vedic architecture and modern technology . The Mantap, known for its intricate craftsmanship, stunning illumination and elegant décor was built with the dedicated efforts of 7,000 workers and volunteers. The glass dome that tops the building is adorned with a magnificent ‘kalash’ – 15’ ft 3”in high- the biggest in Asia. Krishna Kutir – The Ayurvedic Spa : The Panchakarma center is a retreat, which employs therapists trained in the ancient knowledge of Ayurveda to give Panchakarma treatment. Yagnashala: A residential building outside which the Navratri festival is held each year. The Yagna is a special form of pooja (worship), practised in India since ancient times. Goshala: The Goshala means a “place where cows are cared for”. The project’s primary aim is to protect indigenous cows from slaughter and to increase their numbers. Since ages, Man has shared a unique relationship of interdependence with the Cow. You can see more than 2000+ cows being looked after here. Veda Agama Samskrutha Maha Pathashala: aims to preserve the age-old rituals of temple worship – the Agama. The school offers a five-year course and training programme, whereby students from all over India, learn to conduct temple Poojas, Abishekams and other rituals. They learn the Dravidian style of Vedic chanting. Sumeru Mantap: The Lotus shaped Sumeru Mantap is a must-see sight for all visitors to the ashram. Geographically located at the highest point in the Ashram, this open air auditorium with an upper balcony yields a breathtaking view of the Ashram grounds and the surrounding areas. With a beautiful water pond at the center, twelve pairs of pillars, representing the twelve signs of the zodiac around it and encircled by ornate lotus petals, the Sumeru Mantap is sheer poetry in architecture. Amphitheater: The new amphitheater, with its lotus shaped marble stage, a 20,000 plus seating capacity and the beautiful Vishalakshi Mantap for an enchanting backdrop, is the ideal venue for ashram Satsangs and...