stripping the gurus - Brahma Kumaris Info

SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A GOD 155
[O]ne cannot be too dependent upon a truly enlightened person,
Cohen said, exasperated. “The more attached you get to
a person like that, the more free, literally, you become.”
Cohen derided the importance that people in general, and
Westerners in particular, give to independence....
Cohen’s belief in his own specialness kept coming to the
fore. Those who are enlightened, he said, by definition can do
no wrong. They “are no longer acting out of ignorance, in
ways that are causing suffering to other people” (Horgan,
2003).
That, of course, is the most dangerous belief which any human
being could hold. Yet, it is the normal attitude of any loyal disciple
toward his or her “perfect” guru, invariably demanded by the latter,
as we have already explicitly seen with Trungpa, Da, and
many sad others:
Maharishi [Mahesh Yogi] can do no wrong (Scott, 1978).
[Rajneesh] can’t be wrong (Belfrage, 1981).
* * *
It is easy to show, via the same contextual comparison method
which we have utilized for previous “crazy wisdom” practitioners,
that Cohen’s reported rude behavior, like Adi Da’s and Trungpa’s,
apparently lacks any wise or noble basis.
For example, consider that in 1997 an Amsterdam newspaper
printed a generally complimentary review of a lecture there by
Cohen. The piece ended with the ironic but nevertheless fairly innocent
observation that, although the guru had his students shave
their heads, Cohen’s own hair was well coiffed.
When that article was read to Andrew in English, Cohen reportedly
“shows no response until those last lines. Then he pulls a
face”:
“What a bastard, that interviewer. He seemed like such a
nice guy. Call him up Harry! Tell him he’s a jerk.”
When Harry sensibly resists “burning that PR bridge,” Cohen
apparently shoots back:
“He’s an incompetent journalist. Then just tell him he’s no
good at his profession” (van der Braak, 2003).