About karma and good manners
Over the years this sangha has seen a dozen people who had many bhumi openings quickly but didn't pay attention to their (bad) attitude, ethics, bodhicitta or didn't appreciate their teacher. They came into the sangha, learned and did the practice for a year or two, burned on a flame too big, not listening and came up with some problems that were really in their own minds, to end up burning bridges to me for good.
It has always felt strange to me how casually people take these things and I have always warned people not to make dumb decisions, especially in this context, because you really don't want the kind of karma that comes from breaking the dynamic with a tantric teacher and their lineage. It is never a problem to leave a teacher and find a new one but to treat the teacher who has enabled one's advancement poorly, badly or in nasty way, creates karma that keeps lineages away of you for long periods of time. The dynamic is a bit different if the teacher in question has done something bad and hurt someone but to burn bridges with a teacher who hasn't done any of that, is one of the biggest mistakes one can do. Once again, we are talking about tantra which is all about energy and energetic connections.
You know about the mahasiddha family, these masters hovering in the atmosphere, observing the mankind and ready to give their blessings if someone asks them. There are of course countless other masters than the ones in ms family, though these masters really represent the creme de la creme of all major yogic and dharmic lineages and traditions. The point is that they aren't somewhere far away from us or from the mankind but very close and like us, they are intelligent. They think and observe, make conclusions and decisions, and of course lots of those decisions have to do with individuals they work with, i.e. the individuals who turn to them for blessings and support.
So if we think about the above described situation that a student comes into a lineage, is fortunate to learn the practices right away, gets the process going and keeps at it for a short period of time, makes a bold conclusion that she/he has advanced and begins to critisize and say bad things about one's teacher (no elements of harm or abuse involved) to then end up in a conflict with the teacher and possible other sangha members, in such a hassle these people usually fail to hit the breaks before saying or doing things that can't be undone. Once or twice some of my students have been gaining momentum, speeding up towards a clash but then managed to hit the breaks, fortunately. Usually, however, because these people haven't developed discrimination and necessary skills to keep one's reactions in control to not let them interfere with one's dharmic relationships, what happens is that these people keep speeding up, jumping into false conclusions, saying things that they will later regret, burn the bridges and end up not having a teacher, practice or a sangha anymore. Unless the students has done something really bad that requires instantly kicking them out (have had those as well) I always try to cool down the situation before their emotional impulses and delusions get the best (or worse) of them but I've seen people disregard those attempts of mine, to keep pouring gas in the fire. At some point, the teacher has to let go and in those instances I always politely ask the person not to practice my tantric teachings anymore. I remember couple of people who replied that it is not my business to ask them that and said they'll do whatever they wish with the practices. It is indeed strange how someone can be completely against the guru and yet wish to practice his teachings but in those cases I've taken the empowerment back. I've had to do that a number of times.
Sometimes, after some time passes, these people come to their senses, apologize and some of them would like to come back. I have received a bunch of apolology letters over the years and it has always been nice to see that they didn't remain in their delusions and compulsive opinions for longer than they did. I always forgive but might not take them back, nor give them another chance in the sangha, depending how bad their crash got.
So, the karma one gets from such blunders... Well, karma is real... but if you haven't yet discovered that it is, then you don't take things that seriously and do whatever you want or whatever your self-based reactions dictate you to do, without thinking about the consequences. Not understanding karma is a sign of immaturity as a practitioner but can't be used as an excuse for deluded behaviour.
So, if one does these things and insults the sources of refuge, the karma that one accumulates from it keeps the refuges away. Mahasiddhas who govern the lineages see this but remain at distance if these karmic causes are there. Person with such a karma simply can't access certain teachings anymore. Then one is left with lesser teachings or some hodgepodge that has no teaching of reality. Basically, what this means is that one's karma sends one back to samsara for a long and hard learning of suffering.
So, I'd like to make a request in case you leave this sangha some time in future. Go in peace and with manners. If I haven't turned into an abusive monster and done all the bad things that many teachers do, leave well-mannered and in peace. If you don't feel satisfied about something keep it to yourself, I don't need to know why you didn't like the buffet. When you want to leave, it makes sense that you stop practicing my tantric teachings. When you wish to leave, talk to me, shake my hand and go. If some day you wish to leave my sangha, please do it like this. Then we'll both feel good after years pass and you won't have to regret about something you said or did, and you didn't create this awful karma. If you leave like this, it is easy for me to take you back should you want to come back.
What I ask here isn't "dharmic". It's just good manners but because I have seen how the most civilized and educated people can turn into the dumbest samsaric fools, is why I felt like clarifying this for you..
Blessings,
Baba, 8.12.2022
