Medieval
vs. Modern View of Guru
Chidambar
wrote, "I watched it happen from the early days in
Tiruvannamalai. I know an ex-girlfriend of (famous guru) when he was
(known by his real name) who, while admitting that he definitely had
developed some power to communicate the bliss of here now awareness,
he had also always wanted to make it big, be a rock star and be
worshipped and loved by many."
Kim:
It is quite likely that someone who hasn't really done training,
which includes ethics, will screw up like this. Even those who have
done the training can screw up!
If
he wanted to be a rock star, have fans, make millions and bang
chicks, I wonder why he didn't pursue the path of becoming a rock
star, instead. I mean he must have heard that there is this thing
called karma that is ruthless especially towards those who being more
enlightened than others, take advantage of those less evolved.
The
feudal view, that the guru who is sitting in the front is perfect and
cannot make mistakes, is laughable in its childishness. But even
highly educated people, who otherwise exercise their intellect and
reason, want to believe that! People want to see miracles and be
enchanted by spirituality, by their guru, by the whole "spiritual"
scene. They think that spirituality is about being special, about
special experiences, about something extraordinary, out of this
world, about learning levitation and magic. People want something
special. This becomes their main pitfall, when they seek for a
teacher because they hope, sometimes desperately, that their guru
would be really special. So they go and find someone who seems to
offer that. Someone with charisma, an exotic accent and who is
comfortable being in front of people can become a famous guru
quickly, when rumours spread among such people, and everyone wants to
be part of that specialness. But then, after some time the whole
thing comes down crumbling when it turns out the guru was after money
and ass, like a lot of people. The poor fellow himself was confused
whether he should become a rock star or a spiritual teacher, in the
first place. I think many "gurus" confuse the two.
With
the above, I don't mean to give the impression that it was people's
fault that they become abused by charlatans. It's just that teachers
need to be measured by their teachings and its effectiveness, rather
than by the mundane features of charisma and outer looks. There are a
lot of people in the world who have charisma, or in other words, some
energy or power to their presence. But this is not an indication of
realisation. Also, when we consider satsangs or events joined by many
people, we need to remember that they themselves have energy. It is
often the case that people confuse their own energy and hysteria to
be energy emanating from the guru figure. So they feel the energy,
and how special it is, and they become convinced they have found God.
People want that specialness...
What
is unfortunate is that after people get hurt or hear of people
getting hurt by bad teachers, they go from one extreme to the other,
from thinking gurus are the best and greatest to thinking gurus are
worst scum, completely needless and that the true guru is within us.
This is foolishness, throwing baby with the bath water. We cannot
learn any art without a teacher. There are some, very few, exceptions
to that rule but in general, teachers can be very beneficial,
especially those who are clear about what they teach, why and how,
and are good in teaching, pedagogy. Think of school teachers you
studied with. Beneficial, no? The same needs to happen in dharma.
This kind of view about the teacher needs to replace the medieval
view.
We
should become well educated about spirituality or dharma. We should
not make decisions of following this or that teacher overnight, and
we should certainly not make decisions about the direction of our
life because we had some impressive experience in some group or its
teacher. Have common sense. A teacher who is grounded and ethical
would never allow his or her students to abandon their friends and
family, or even jobs and school suddenly, out of whim. Balance is the
key.
We
need to become educated, learn what the main point of spirituality is
(which is eradication of self-based confusion), and then find out how
effectively the teacher in question can help us. It is important to
focus on the task, not on externals, and see the positive change in
us. We need to demand this change through the practice from the
teacher. Dharma and dharma teachers are there to help people to
become free and natural. This means lessening of fear, anxiety,
limited views, separation among people (also spiritual) and increase
of calmness, clarity and kindness towards others.
