“Sometimes people
don't want to hear the truth because they don't want their illusions
destroyed.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
Some of you will laugh but I had
to put my guru’s picture away to day. I
had been fighting for some time to come to terms with allegations of his sexual
and physical abuse of his followers.
After all he preached love, nonviolence, truth and yoga as a spiritual
discipline far beyond the studios that are popular these days. I believed in him as a living saint, a true
yogi and master. Although I have been
separated from his organization for many years I still kept his picture mounted
and prayed to him when I practiced meditation.
And, honestly, for me he was a benevolent guru who taught me wonderful
practices, guided me in spiritual philosophy and, up until now, represented the
model of a true realized being. However,
a recent first-hand account of his sexual and violent misuse of some of his
followers hit home hard.
I am incredibly embarrassed and
at the same time grateful that I was unable to fully commit myself and my
family to him and his organization. At
one time I sincerely wanted to, however I encountered some of his followers and
some of the sick politics of the organization which put me off. Somehow, though, I clung to the belief that
he was not part of that. It was all just
the unenlightened garbage of his disciples.
However it is now clear that he himself was at the center of the abuse
and dysfunction of his organization.
Did I mention that I am a
licensed family therapist in practice for nearly 30 years? Honestly, my intuitional guidance system was
alerting me from the start. I originally
studied yoga with one of his closest followers who came here to the US. He impressed me with his calm manner,
apparent nonattachment to material wealth and his charisma. However he pressed me to accept his guru as
mine as well. I looked at his picture
and felt uncomfortable. I passed it off
though as a reaction of my “ego.” I was
already accepting indoctrination in the philosophy of ego-surrender.
Watch out for any teacher or
organization that tells you that you need to surrender your ego. In fact watch out for religious organizations
and leaders in general. Here is a good
article which applies as much to organized religion as it does “cults” http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/10-reasons-you-should-never-have-a-religion/ Never, never, never surrender your sovereignty
to another person or organization. Not
even to seemingly benevolent aliens, angels or archetypes. The individual sense of self-hood is a
miraculous gift. Don’t relinquish it to
anyone except maybe God herself. You can
transcend your limited ego-identity in meditation and come to an understanding
of your interconnectedness with all beings.
That is enlightenment. To massage
guru’s feet while he sits on a throne and you take his or her abuse is
darkness.
The guru system, the priesthood
system, the authoritarian system is and always was spiritually bankrupt. It is a con that appeals to our deepest
longings to have someone else responsible for our difficult existential
search. Spiritual awakening means taking
responsibility for our own search, condition and selfhood. As soon as we do that we are well on our way!
