Re: Unfinished indeed -- you never answered me
Re: Unfinished indeed -- you never answered me -- Jim Top of thread Forum
Posted by:
Andries ®

02/21/2005, 13:59:51
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Do you actually like this whole guru thing? Do you have any lingering hope of finding a good one?

I cannot trust anymore after such a painful betrayal, but that does not mean that I will always voice my distrust because I am very well aware that this is something personal and that I should be careful not to generalize too much, based on my own unfortunate experience. Of course, I think it is good to warn people against transparent incompetent gurus and charlatans such as Maharaji and SSB. But in the case of Maharaji I still think there is a chance that he is not a disgusting charlatan but merely incompetent or a victim of his surroundings. On the other hand, I think there can be no doubt that Maharaji has engaged in false advertizing, which I find unacceptable for someone who claims to tell the truth and spread peace on earth. This may sound naive and idealistic but he never made it clear that he was doing a family business. Vivekananda wrote that the private life of a teacher does not matter except for a religious teacher , who should live a pure life, and this is, I think, how a guru should behave.

Anyway, your scholar here is only looking at one side of the coin. What about all the problems of having a personal relationship with the guru? Isn't that when you get down to even greater abuses, financial, sexual, general mind-f**king, you name it?

I do not even know whether I agree with everything by van der Lans but you are right that the abuse CAN be much bigger when the disciple has personal contact with the guru. I have heard some very bad first hand stories. Personally I find the distinction that Jan van der Lans made between "Eastern" and "Western" very artifical; I do not think that Easternerns and Westerners differ so much.

Andries






Modified by Andries at Mon, Feb 21, 2005, 14:21:02

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