Masters and Gurus, disciples and devotees

 

As I wrote at the end of the previous post, I suggested to get care when you have an approach with those who define or posing themselves as a Guru or a Master.

 

I want to bring you some examples related to the experiences I had during my journey of research to inner evolution.
I began to do this search mostly in India, which is assumed, by a lot of people, to be a country where everything is spiritual. I travelled in almost all parts, from north to south, for more than 5 years, in about thirty trips. I had thus the opportunity to learn about the Indian way of life and the ways of thinking of these people.
The Guru, the Master, is often seen as a part of their integrant and social life. Each Guru usually has different characteristics from the others, which makes it more or less famous and popular; Indian people says that every Guru has thus "one speciality."

 

One of the most famous guru of our times was Osho , who became famous in India initially talking about sexuality as a path of spiritual evolution. This, in a puritanical country like India, has received considerable interest, especially for the fact that he lived in a town very close to a so big city as Mumbai. So many Indians began to attend to his "speciality" and it was began to talk and write about him.

 

 

At that time, his nick name was Acharya (Teacher), he was dressed by white indian cloth and resigned as professor in philosophy. 

He began to receive visits of foreigners, thanks to the fame acquired through the local people; foreigners showed up to have a higher economic budget than Indians. He made a turn and changed its name to Rajneesh, he changed his style steering it to eastern life-style needs, expanded the number of proposed techniques, he asked his disciples to dress in orange and have his picture on a necklace. 

To take part to the activities in his Ashram was necessary to have a document proving the personal sexual health, particular that was inducing to think about the appropriateness of intimate relationships, accepted by all because even proposed as a way to spirituality. He began to accumulate large economic fortunes, to the point that his secretary ran off with a remarkable amount of money. 

He changed again his name to Osho, he went away from India, founded a community in Oregon, again became rich, he began to dress with futuristic clothes, to wear watches studded with sapphires, to have 100 Rolls Royce.

He was a skilled collector of methods and techniques, which perhaps pleased because were proposed in a superficial and undemanding way; he was at the same time very fine in the ability to propose himself and the techniques. His speeches and his books are richly and pleasantly adorned, but the techniques described are quite poor.

 

What could be done consists in identifying how much there was in him the motivation to help others to grow inwardly or rather how much was important for him power and wealth ....

 One might ask: is not that if it was really a self-realized person , he could live more simply and perhaps request to people less money and so give to more people a chance to participate?

 

 Just similarly famous was Sri Sathya Sai Baba, well-known for his "specialties" that were materialization of a sacred powder, small rings or necklaces and healing people. 

 

Let's start by his name: Satya means "truth"; Sai Baba is the name taken from a famous saint, higly loved by the rich people of Mumbai, Shirdi Sai Baba, of which, he has always claimed, to be the reincarnation. What can be inferred from its name? Appealing himself be "truth" could be more difficult  to doubt of him, to think that he could be instead a liar; about what? for example, that he claims to be the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba, an assertion that has no demonstrable assumption ... Would you believe me if I told you to be the reincarnation of Buddha or Julius Caesar or Napoleon Bonaparte or Einstein?  

Asserting to be " truth " even what he was doing could not be doubted, that is his materializations and the eventual healing of people. In addition, he claimed to be an Avatar, ie God incarnate on Earth ... how not to believe him if he claimed to be " the truth"?

Its success was due to the fact that all the devotees of Shirdi Sai Baba headed by him to see the reincarnation of their Saint, to see the materializations; people especially was going there to make requests to whom is God on earth (he collected the requests that were given to him in an envelope).
I have had the opportunity to live in his ashram in Puttaparthi for three months, revealing all the secrets of his false materializations, so now I can repeat all of them in the same way; I can also explain how he pretended to perform healings. I also collected photographs and videos that proved what I say. In addition, in relation to the fact that he claimed to be an Avatar, he had confidence with male young devotees in the Ashram and had intimate relations with them (which is also written in some books about him).
He too received very big donations, but the most important thing for him was to feel himself powerful, to have the power on thousands of people ...

 

The currently living Guru, Amma, Mata Amritanandamayi, renowned for its "speciality" that is to embrace the people. Amma means "mother "; In fact, this is the part that she took in relation to the people. His fame rests on the fact that , in Indi , people who do not know each other, never would embrace, especially with a woman. This "special contact" with indian gents and ladies shocked and called a lot of local people.
Just when many Indians frequented her for this "speciality", began to be well known as a very special person; then droves of foreigners heard about this famous lady and soon joined. 

From here to the pass that she is having an unconditional love for all, was not requiring a lot of processing. In his Ashram nowadays, when she is present, you have to take a ticket and you are entitled to get in line to receive his embrace for a few seconds. Certainly, after a long trip to India, after waiting days and doing hours in queue, when you'll receive her embrace, it is impossible for you don't fee something great! 

 Amma also give lectures, which are very skinny and with no particular merit ... what is left? Embracing with love ... maybe ... even if for a few seconds every person , sometimes more than a thousand people in a row, that is, for 8 or 10 hours ...
She too has received large amounts of donations and has many activities in various parts of India. She was a poor woman, but now,  embracing she is very rich ...

 

Very famous was Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the inventor of Transcendental Meditation, TM, which consists in repeating a mantra; became famous because he hosted in his Ashram, in Rishikesh, the Beatles band, when they had the greatest fame. Hundreds of journalists were present there and it was easy for him to reach the celebrity, although the Beatles themselves criticized him a lot. 

His  Mantra technique was sold expensively in all the world ... but it is a so simple method, already famous in ancient times and in some other places it is taught for free  ...

 

 

Consequently to him, also became famous in Rishikesh the Guru Sivananda, Yoga practitioner, who followed behind the fame of Maharishi, proposing to the journalists, to disclose to the Yoga Asanas (postures). So also the name Shivananda began to spread throughout the world and many centres were established everywhere. 

But ... if you go to Rishikesh and you buy the oldest and the original books in the Shivananda Ashram, you will see that what is proposed is extremely simplistic and approximate, without specific instructions, details and explanations; nothing related to a real competent person.
He made not great wealth but was really respected in his area and famous all over the world.

And I could go on with a long list that gathers people who claim to be able to receive power from God and that they can distribute to his followers, or others that sell gymnastics for being super-flexible as being the purpose of Yoga(that instead is a method of evolution of consciousness); others who say they can awaken Kundalini power with fitness exercises or other asking for a blind faith in exchange for the fact that they can mediate with God.

And so many other games based on the power of faith are present throughout our history ...

So ... what did I want to tell you?

That you haven't to believe anyone?

That all Spiritual Masters are fake and untruth?
No, absolutely not!
I propose only to have care of what you want to choose and follow, nothing else...

Some ideas:

• use discernment in choosing to frequent who is  teaching something about inner evolution and spirituality ....
• have broad appraise, use criticism, ask many questions .... doubt, by the sole purpose of being able to weigh well ....
• not use blind faith ... which, I believe, is for those who want to be blind and not see the reality of things, not only what is told by words ....
• pay no attention to what people say ... but take care of what is realistically, and not hypothetically, possible to observe ....

As about a person that you can meet, the same thing can also be applied to what is written in a book or when you go to a conference or a seminar.
The feeling to be a good follower and a good devotee, maybe we will feel safer and more part of a group .... but it depends, in my opinion, from what is behind all.

Even if the main purpose is to gain money, you will be served up as somebody representing how to earn money; if the purpose is the power you will be at the mercy of those who want power over you ... and so on.

In my opinion the best disciple is one who sees the Spiritual Master, the Guru, in everybody and therefore he will be able to learn from everyone; the best disciple,  at the same time, is who is going in with an open mind and evaluates in depth, with the curiosity of a real researcher, who has in advance the right idea of what and how much can learn from somebody. That's all, a very simple concept, but it requires a commitment to not only make choices emotional or following the mass .....

I'll wait you for the next post , on a very specific topic : "Mudra, the energy from the positioning of the fingers"