24.12.2012 Views

stripping the gurus - Brahma Kumaris Info

stripping the gurus - Brahma Kumaris Info

stripping the gurus - Brahma Kumaris Info

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

508 STRIPPING THE GURUS<br />

on <strong>the</strong> world “with integrity.” It is fur<strong>the</strong>r true even if that voice is<br />

experienced as a nondual (e.g., One Taste) phenomenon by <strong>the</strong><br />

mentally unstable individual. Conversely, if one is going to surrender<br />

one’s will to any guru-figure, one would hope to do better than<br />

an evaluation concluding, “Sure he’s psychotic, but he’s got a lot of<br />

integrity”!<br />

One is <strong>the</strong>n left with very little indeed to cling to in all of this.<br />

For, if even <strong>the</strong> widely recognized “best” Realizers apparently cannot<br />

distinguish between hallucination and <strong>the</strong>ir own ostensibly<br />

valid realizations, are lesser Realizers to be regarded as being<br />

more reliable?<br />

Seen from that perspective, <strong>the</strong> most that any spiritual teacher<br />

can be is a decent, honest, unpretentious, even-tempered and<br />

caring human being, never “divinity in <strong>the</strong> flesh.” Yet, if even onetenth<br />

of <strong>the</strong> allegations made against those figures are valid, <strong>the</strong><br />

overwhelming majority of <strong>the</strong>m would fail miserably at even that<br />

minimal, level-headed decency. Thus, <strong>the</strong> bulk of what <strong>the</strong>y would<br />

wish to teach us by <strong>the</strong>ir own behaviors, no sensible person would<br />

want to learn.<br />

So even let each of <strong>the</strong>m be every bit as enlightened as <strong>the</strong>y<br />

have claimed to be, <strong>the</strong>n. (Again, if <strong>the</strong>se top forty spiritual leaders<br />

are not so divine, who is?) It makes no difference; for, with <strong>the</strong> endemic<br />

reported character flaws which <strong>the</strong>y bring to <strong>the</strong> table, who<br />

of <strong>the</strong>m could ever do more good than harm in <strong>the</strong> world? What<br />

use, <strong>the</strong>n, is <strong>the</strong>ir vaunted “enlightenment”? And, if anything like<br />

karma and reincarnation exist, who could suffer more for <strong>the</strong>ir alleged<br />

actions, in future lives, than such respected holy fools, from<br />

<strong>the</strong> “Christ-like” Ramakrishna on down?<br />

The good news, though, is that none of <strong>the</strong>se grandiose godfigures,<br />

playing unconvincingly at being holy, compassionate and<br />

wise, have any power whatsoever over anyone else o<strong>the</strong>r than what<br />

you, or I, would give to <strong>the</strong>m. Without our obedient submission and<br />

credulous swallowing of <strong>the</strong>ir untenable claims and widespread<br />

exaggerations, <strong>the</strong>y will dry up and blow away as if <strong>the</strong>y had never<br />

existed.<br />

Put ano<strong>the</strong>r way: They need us much more than we need<br />

<strong>the</strong>m.<br />

As Pete Townshend had it, in one of his clearer, non-Meher-<br />

Baba influenced moments: Won’t get fooled again.<br />

Or, in <strong>the</strong> words of <strong>the</strong> formerly born-again Hustler magazine<br />

publisher, Larry Flynt (in Krassner, 1993):

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!