TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2005 12:12:44 AM]
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In the aftermath of the tsunami, countries and organisations were judged on the amount they contributed to relief efforts — the US’ initial offer of $15 million was deemed unworthy by just about everybody.
Bringing America’s parsimony into an even sharper contrast were donations from Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Mata Amritanandamayi, who clocked in with $34 million and $23 million each — outstripping the first wave of contributions from all the Gulf states combined. And that’s not counting the hours spent by volunteers from both foundations actually helping victims of the tragedy.
It’s the sort of magnanimous gesture contemporary gurudom is made of — probably a small part of the reason why these gurus are among the best-recognised Indian brands in the world today.
Indian companies often feel they’ve earned bragging rights with products distributed in neighbouring countries or the Middle East, but the current crop of gurus from India have successfully established themselves across the globe; cracking some of the toughest geographies (see box: The World’s A Stage). While every spiritual organisation constantly stresses on its not-for-profit agenda, their liberal donations and contributions to causes barely make a dent in their finances.
Most of the revenue of the Art of Living foundation is event-based. According to Swami Brahmatej, a senior teacher at the foundation and a disciple of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, “We have not taken huge donation from any one person because all our donations come from course participants. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar takes part in 250 satsangs the world over. Each of these generates not less than Rs 15 to 20 lakh. After meeting the expenses for the event, the surplus is donated to our social development initiatives.”
India has traditionally been strong on spiritual leaders, with a whole gamut to choose from: itinerant sadhus who make appearances at events like the Maha Kumbh, to others who operate out of housing localities and place the onus of being tracked down on their disciples — former Bank of India employee Ramesh Balsekar, who is a spiritual advisor to Canadian singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen, for instance. However, few have shown the inclination or have successfully managed to secure a fan base that extends well beyond the country.
Most of the gurus in the big league have a somewhat similar background — of miracles or prodigious feats performed during childhood. Mata Amritanandamayi started life as Sudhamani, devoted to Lord Krishna. She was ostracised from her parents’ house and berated for the generosity with which she shared her family’s meagre possessions.
Sathya Sai Baba had to undergo painful exorcisms in his childhood as his family struggled to come to grips with his spiritual nature. The exact details of their ascent to mass popularity are often unclear. Brahmatej says of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, “You can’t pinpoint a particular date or day when He was declared a Guru. He has been a guiding force, and gradually people started recognising His role. In the Indian tradition, sainthood is not bestowed on you one day. It’s something that gradually grows over time.” Mata Amritanandamayi’s first followers were drawn from the fishing community she was born into and began to gain critical mass in 1978.
Making of the mahatmas
According to Brahmachari Dhyanamrita, spokesperson for Mata Amritanandamayi, “Mostly people relate to Amma as their loving mother. The Guru aspect comes only when people whole-heartedly decide they want to dedicate their life to attaining truth. Such spiritually inclined people began coming to stay with Amma by the end of 1978. The Ashram has been naturally and spontaneously growing ever since.”
Devotees and disciples are amazed at the sheer energy levels of their leaders — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar worked for 36 hours at a stretch in the tsunami relief operations. Dhyanamrita says of Mata Amritanandamayi, “She is one of the best time-mangers in the world! She doesn’t waste a second — and she hardly sleeps, maybe two hours a day.
And she takes only one meal a day. Even these, she frequently forgoes.” In the case of all these gurus, ready access and free interaction with a wide range of people, declarations of universal Love and devoting enormous amounts of time and money to social service (particularly hospitals and educational institutions) are almost hygiene factors.
They have, however, grown on the basis of very well- defined USPs — embracing people, in the case of Mata Amritanandamayi (her website proudly notes that she’s hugged 24 million people over the last 33 years).
The Art of Living (AOL) encompasses everything from yoga and breathing exercise to management development programmes and finding happiness within oneself. Sathya Sai Baba’s early fame, if contemporary folklore is to be believed, was built on the back of his reputation of being able to work miracles, and occasionally even manifest himself physically in order to help aggrieved disciples.
Management consultant Jagdeep Kapoor of Samsika says, “There are three elements that differentiate them — the core value, brand identity (the way they look, or even elements like hair or the sari) and being able to reach out to people. I’d call this combination teach, preach and reach. You teach the core values, preach based on brand identity and reach the masses.”
The spiritual brands, by their very nature, have been built on the basis of word of mouth. And to their credit, they are often able to attract celebrities that regular brands would have to pay an arm and a leg for. In his prime, Sathya Sai Baba counted several national and international leaders among his followers.
AOL finds a huge spokesperson in Vijay Mallya, chairman of the UB group, who has gone on record to say: “Guruji brought my corporate and spiritual worlds closer. Spirituality provides a sense of calm, much needed to run a business.”
Apart from securing unsolicited celebrity endorsements, these brands are perhaps the most successful instance of experiential marketing. Says Nabankur Gupta, member of the board and advisor to Raymond group, and brand architect and management consultant, “In most spiritual movements, the experience the individual gets is on a different plane: unlike that from a physical FMCG product or service. It creates an aura. The value of the equity is a collective summation of experience.
The greater the number of people who go through this, the greater the brand.” Dhyanamrita says, “People are inspired and drawn to Amma by her qualities of love, innocence, and humility; the fact that Amma respects everyone regardless of who they are and takes their problems seriously, even if they are things that most people might consider as silly. They are drawn by the personal attention that Amma showers on everyone, her genuine and heartfelt concern for them and their family members.” Brahmatej says about AOL, “It’s very practical. There is no talk or philosophy. It’s all experience-based, where instead of being told not to get angry, one experiences a state where anger is just gone from the system. That practicality appealed to people from all over the globe.”
Of course, experiential branding is not always possible, and in these cases, television is an effective surrogate. The popularity of religious TV is rising and many contemporary gurus are regular fixtures on these — Mata Amritanandamayi recently even launched her own channel. Kapoor observes, “Every morning between six and seven, most houses in India have some spiritual channel on, and they return to these at night after watching their favourite soaps.” Mobile phones and SMS helps too, creating what Kapoor calls a greater category-level awareness of spirituality.
The product offering from these brands is all-inclusive and shows signs of highly evolved segmentation. They build experiences of different kinds, a whole plethora of “services to the soul,” as Gupta puts it. He adds, “They wouldn’t be as successful if it was unidimensional and focused on something like miracle cures, in which the failure rate is likely to be high.
Not for a moment am I saying that there’s an intention to market themselves, but by a natural process, a great marketing model is developed.” AOL is a perfect example, with different pricing models from city to city and more expensive advanced courses. Besides, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar also delves into the area of corporate training with his Apex (achieving personal excellence) course. The management programme has been personally designed by the guru, in spite of having no real background in the field.
Brahmatej explains, “Often, he amazes people, even business tycoons and management gurus, with his insight. He works not just at the level of information, but at the intuitive level.” Companies were initially suspicious; Bharat Electronics was reluctant to allow even yoga and meditation 15 years ago. But according to Brahmatej, “It has been growing just by word of mouth. We have not done any aggressive marketing in this area.”
While most gurus start off against a backdrop of Hindu theology, they quickly move beyond to a platform of more secular spiritualism. Which is just as well, since it appears to have contributed in no small measure to their appeal overseas. According to Santosh Desai, president, McCann Erickson, “Religion comes with attendant boundaries. Spirituality speaks to the individual consciousness rather than about doctrines and codes.
For anyone to be successful across borders, some universal prescription or need must get catered to. It’s easier in the case of Hinduism than others, since it’s not by nature, as prescriptive.” It’s also an area where an Indian background is a distinct advantage — Desai thinks the international market is almost automatic, considering the continuing fascination that people, especially the young, have for India. He says, “Many tourists believe the line about how you don’t come to India to visit it but to change or find yourself.”
Even more attractive is the change in the nature of spiritualism. There are few takers for enlightenment or happiness through abnegation and self-sacrifice. While the need for spiritual succour is stronger than ever before, people are willing to walk the path only if it’s not too hard to negotiate, and doesn’t demand significant lifestyle changes. Says Gupta, “The foreign disciple needs levels of comfort that are quite different from those of the average Indian. To get that customer — if I may use the word — material discomfort has to be minimum.”
Desai sees it as another example of the broadening of people’s perspectives on life: “It’s not even about spiritual brands but openness to things like aromatherapy and reiki; educated people believing in things that seem absurd. But we are able to believe since we want to. We want to think we are magnificent people with boundless power that lies within us. Spirituality connects and becomes more powerful, since it aggrandises our sense of self as a source and fount of energy.”
Marketing folk believe these brands need to become more organisation-centric if they are to survive. The Osho ashram at Pune is cited as a good example of an enormous body of writing, a way of life and an identified location which allows that sort of life to perpetuate itself, ensuring the brand lasts long after its founder. Says Desai, “The practise should be delineated well enough to be sustained without the person being present. Transcendental mediation will survive a Mahesh Yogi — I’m not sure there’s a way of life implicit in the hugging mother.”
While some spiritual brands like Sathya Sai Baba have been hit, of late, by bad publicity, the marketing gurus are confident of the ability to bounce back — especially since crisis situations invariably make the loyalists band together more strongly. According to Gupta, “Every brand could get certain flak in its lifecycle. But as long as the experience is sustainable, the brand doesn’t have a problem and never gets pulled down. We never see brand loyalty of this nature in products or services.”
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