Bronte writes:
Here is a statement from Amma's former Joint Secretary in charge of accounts
about the fraudulent nature of Amma's charities.
Exerpt from Message 283 in files of ex-amma website:
Im enclosing below a statement that was emailed to the Amma satsang groups
by one of Ammas former swamis when he left the organization. He was the Joint
Secretary in charge of accounts, administration, banking and investments. He
was offered money by the ashram if he would retract what he wrote, but he has
courageously stood by his words despite being now under financial pressure. He
recently started a wholesale export business for religious and devotional
items. The quality and prices of his merchandise seem very good. Anyone
interested should check out his website www.celextel.com
IDEAS IN REALITY - INSIDE STORY
My life of Twenty-Two Years as a Monastic was of never ending struggles in
trying to bring the various Spiritual Ideas as Reality in my Life. While
attempting to narrow down the gaps between the Ideas and Reality, I finally
chose to observe my Life in Reality and had to give up the Ideas that remained
unrealistic in my Life.
Chastity was the main Idea that had failed to become Reality in my Life
primarily due to the highly stimulating environment that I was put in.
Not only in the individual level, but also in the Organization level, I have
seen wide gaps when the ideas are put into practice. To narrate a few
instances:
1. Just before the Inauguration of the Hospital at Cochin, we had suggested
Amma to declare that Hospital as a Charitable One. But Amma had firmly told us
that Amma would declare it as a FREE Hospital as that being Amma's real
intention while establishing the same. Under the Indo-US Agreement, to get the
complete waiver of Customs Duty for all the Medical Items to be Imported, the
Ashram also has given an Irrevocable Undertaking to the Government of India
that the Hospital would provide Medical Treatments at Free of Cost. But in
Reality, as everyone here knows, the Ashram Hospital at Cochin is not a Free
Hospital; Neither it could be considered to be a Charitable One as Certain
Percentage of Beds have not been set aside as Free Ones for the use of
Deserving Poor Patients. Many of the Deserving Patients from the Poorest Strata
of the Society are turned away by the Hospital; Few of the luckiest ones get
Subsidy; Persons from the Middle Class of the Society get affordable
Treatment and the Affluent ones get the Treatment at a Competitive Rate. The
Math which is a Charitable Trust is not supposed to run the Hospital like a
Commercial Establishment as it is doing right now. When would the Ashram make
the Hospital at Cochin as a Free or a Charitable One in Reality ?
2. The Ashram now claims to have completed 15,000 Houses to the Deserving Poor
under the current Housing Scheme. In Reality, the Ashram has constructed not
more than 7,500 Houses [50%] so for. The Ashram also is claiming to have spent
about Rs.28,000/= per House. But in Reality, the cost incurred by the Ashram
for each of the House is not more than Rs.14,000/= [50%]. Why are the False
Claims ?...
Let there be Justice to Every-one;
Injustice to No-one !
Let there be Truth Every-where;
Untruth No-where !
Edited by: Borg108 at: 6/5/03 9:33 am
--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], "ammaex" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>
> You pointed to a post that was posted four years ago from some
> anonymous person. That really does not substantiate these claims. I
> ask that you please back up these claims, otherwise it is all just
> speculation.
>
> thanks - moderator
Re: Save Saint Amma From Greedy Capitalists
I am the AIMS consultant referred to by Borg108 in his posting of
four years ago. I still have in my possession the hospital financial
statements and my original interview notes that substantiate
everything mentioned in his posting about AIMS and the
misrepresentation of its charitable work. You should also be aware,
that based on my discussions with AIMS top administrators, all policy
decisions with respect to AIMS were made through the direction of and
with the knowledge and approval of AMMA herself. Others I know who
can also verify this information are afraid to do so out of fear for
their personal safety.
Those I know who have spoken out
privately about these matters are residing still in India where
violence and political influence against others is a way of life. I,
myself, was warned by two saintly swamis in India to keep my mouth
shut soon after I discovered what was happening at AIMS. But as the
bible points out, even the stones will speak out the truth
eventually.
(posted by HughNMe [EMAIL PROTECTED]) posts 281 and 283, examma
refed (link) in message 283, ex-amma
Amma, Inc.
---------------------------------
I first arrived at Ammas Indian ashram just in time for her birthday
celebration. What immediately struck me was the commercial nature of it. There
were booths set up all over selling everything from food to Amma laundry soap.
My first impression reminded me of the money changers that Christ found in the
Great Temple of Jerusalem. Afterwards, I was struck by the materialistic
orientation that pervaded the ashram even after the birthday celebration.
Westerners were charged a high fee by Indian standards for food and lodging,
Lodging meant a spot on the floor of a small room shared usually with 3 or 4
others. Those who wanted privacy could purchase a tiny one room flat for
$14,000. This entitles you to your own room while you are at the ashram, but
you still have to pay half the room rate while you are there. Unless you
continue paying the fee when you leave, the ashram has the usual 3 or 4 others
stay in the room whenever youre not there. Guests and residents are also
expected to spend time each day rendering service to the ashram. In contrast
to this, traditional Indian ashrams do not charge for room and board. Goodwill
donations are accepted but not required. At Ammas, everything is run like a
business. There is a laundry service, taxi service, travel agency, phone and
email service, as well as several stores, all designed to turn a profit for the
ashram. Devotees are also charged high fees to travel on jam packed buses when
Amma goes on her Indian tours. Food is abysmal, and accommodations usually mean
a spot on a cement floor next to dozens of others on such tours. An Indian
woman told me that on tour she once yelled out at Ammas request All you
people without fathers get back on the bus. What she told me Amma actually
said was All you bastards, get back on the bus
Amma herself travels on these
tours either in her new Mercedes (upgraded from an earlier new one) or her new
luxury RV.
On of the best profit sources for the ashram is the ayurvedic center that
offers a few weeks of pancha karma treatments (for about 2 hours a day) at a
cost of around $1500. Unpaid Indian devotees do all the treatments so the
overhead to the ashram for this service is practically non-existent. One Amma
devotee who gets treated every year told me that Amma said to him that one
round of pancha karma treatments is worth 10 years of sadhana. So he, in
effect, expects to buy his way to heaven by having pancha karma treatments done
every year
The US and foreign tours are also very profitable for Amma owing to profits
from retreat fees, donations, and the sale of high priced books, tapes, and
other items. I once asked a man why he bought a tabla set from the ashram when
he could have purchased the same kind of instrument at little more than half
the cost outside the ashram. He told me that the ashram profits were going for
a good cause. This is a common misconception perpetuated by the ashram itself.
At all of Ammas programs there are announcements encouraging donations to
Ammas so-called charitable activities and saying that the profit from selling
books, tapes, and other items goes toward these charitable activities, which
fall into 5 main areas: orphanages, schools, housing, and hospitals. I decided
to look into all of these when I was in India. I visited her orphanage near the
ashram and was disturbed to see how the children there were living. Four
children shared each bunk bed, which was just a metal frame
with no mattresses. The food was just watery rice with a little overcooked
vegetable. I was told the children would have had no clothing to wear except
for the generous donations of clothing from some local Indians. When I asked
who was paying for the few caretakers I saw there, I was told the state was
paying them, since they were the childrens teachers.
Ammas schools are also listed as one of her charitable activities, but they
are a very lucrative business for the ashram. Only those who can pay to attend
are welcome. This applies at all levels from grade school up to trade college.
Devotees are sometimes recruited to teach at these schools for little or no
pay, but students are always required to pay for the privledge of attending an
Amma school. The engineering, management and computer colleges are particularly
profitable for the ashram. As for housing for the poor, the costs and numbers
of such units built have been grossly inflated. The ashram will not build a
dwelling unless the people own the land on which it is to be put. Obviously,
not many of the poor are land owners.
Perhaps the most egregious misrepresentation of Ammas charitable activities
occurs with respect to the AIMS specialty hospital in Cochin. This has been
used as the center piece for Ammas money raising efforts. It is always touted
as a charitable hospital meant to serve the poor and needy. Ammas websites and
the hospital website have always maintained that over half the hospitals work
is charitable in nature. But this is absolutely untrue. I know a man who went
to India (a friend of soulcircle) to do some consulting at AIMS a few years
back. He interviewed the management and doctors there and obtained copies of
the hospitals financial statements. He was very surprised to find out that
less than 5% of the hospitals resources were devoted to servicing the poor,
and even that amount wouldnt have been there had it not been paid for by the
government of India. Even the few poor people who were given medical care had
to pay for their medications, which many could not do.
This man was very disappointed to see poor people being turned away from AIMS
and refused treatment. He approached Amma with this information and asked why
monies were being raised adharmically under false pretenses. Amma, who knows
and directs all these matters, told him that he was wrong and that 50% of the
hospitals activities are charitable. He could hardly believe his ears and
politely asked to be shown how this could be so. So Amma had the hospitals VP
of Finance present their case, which went as follows: There are a few private
hospitals for the wealthy in India that charge more than AIMS. Some might even
charge twice as much as AIMS for the same procedures. Therefore, the difference
between what they charge and what AIMS charges should be regarded as
charitable.. The fact that the poor cannot afford care at either place somehow
got lost in their logic. Meanwhile, Ammas organization puts out false
brochures with photos of suffering children saying that
contributions to AIMS will go towards saving these poor children.
The consultant mentioned above was also surprised to find out that many of
Ammas devotees at AIMS or in her ashram were well aware of these
misrepresentations and seemed able to rationalize them away. Amma herself told
others that AIMS could not afford to give any more care to the poor at that
time because the hospital was expected to pay its own way (where have we heard
that before?), which contradicts all the messages given about sales revenue and
donations being used for charitable purposes, with AIMS being the most
prominent activity. Amma said she expected the charitable work at AIMS to pick
up later. Since then, however, instead of using AIMS cash flow or ashram
donations or sales profits to fund hospital care for the poor, AIMS has built a
very large profit oriented medical college at AIMS that overshadows the
hospital itself. Kerala, a state the size of California, already had 5 free
medical colleges before this one, and wasnt in need of another. But Ammas
medical college, like her other colleges, is using the goodwill of her name to
attract paying students and create more and more profits for the organization.
In fact, even at her ashram now they have established another college with
paying students outnumbering paying devotees.
It should be obvious now that empire building is the driving force behind Amma
and her organization. This is similar to SRF, which has spent outrageous sums
of money on legal and accounting fees in order to solidify its organizational
standing and stature. As a final note, Im enclosing below a statement that was
emailed to the Amma satsang groups by one of Ammas former swamis when he left
the organization. He was the Joint Secretary in charge of accounts,
administration, banking and investments. He was offered money by the ashram if
he would retract what he wrote, but he has courageously stood by his words
despite being now under financial pressure. He recently started a wholesale
export business for religious and devotional items. The quality and prices of
his merchandise seem very good. Anyone interested should check out his website
www.celextel.com
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