Guruphiliac: Some Mainstream Gurubusting



Thursday, January 26, 2006

Some Mainstream Gurubusting

File under: The Siddhi of PR and Hands Where They Don't Belong

A British news organization that covers Asia has taken a stab at gurubusting. The article is ostensibly about the Indian state of Maharashtra outlawing superstition and the practice of black magic. While we're not up on black magic in India, we know that if you take the superstition out of Hinduism, all you have left is Vedanta, and that's a very good thing as far as we're concerned.

This is bad news for Sai Baba and India's other miracle-mongering gurus, most of who rely on the repeated demonstration of their "siddhis" to get their message out (and their hands in the pocketbooks of their followers.)

Asian News takes a particularly close look at the Babaster:
Such an exalted person could not, of course, have had a normal birth. His was a steer on the Christ birth legend. Baba's mother was fetching water when a blue ball of fire emerged from the village well and entered her stomach, she fainted, woke-up and found herself pregnant. The result was Baba born 23, November 1926.

The little lad has come a long way since then. His cult has made the Puttuparthi ashram a sizeable market town with hotels and an airstrip.

Baba lives in a large house with a balcony like a prop from a kitchy Bollywood film. He runs a BMW sedan and a Mercedes-Benz limo.

Part of the power of these top gurus is that they are frequently sought out by politicians. Politics in India is often an uncertain profession but often the door to great wealth. To be seen paying homage to these figures is good for gaining support especially in the gurus home state.
And no investigation of the Babaster is complete without a reference to his darker desires:
Baba's kingdom has now been tarnished with accusations of corruption and homosexual child abuse. Worldwide many of his centres are shutting down.
One down, a few thousand to go. Kudos to Asian News for putting this matter to paper and pixel. We'd love to see them go after the Kracki with an equal enthusiasm.

Form follows function, corruption follows greed and cash follows gurus who sell themselves as living deities. It's about time the Asian press, especially in India, took a look at the money mills of the Hindu godmen who poison the minds of their masses with a self-serving goulash of superstitious nonsense. If they all became pimps serving sex instead, they still wouldn't be doing more damage to the spiritual aspirations of their devotees than they are now.

4 Comments:

At 1/26/2006 7:27 PM, Blogger Steve said...

What is true about Sai Baba? Is he a total fake, which I find hard to believe, or does he have some spiritual qualities about him.

How does he do all these feats, is it all trick, like a magician, or is he really manifesting things.

Did he not do good for some parts of India, with charity and building hospitals, or was all that false, just to get more money.

I have not been following Sai for a long time, but at one time admired him and read some of his books. I just do not know what to think about him and many of the gurus anymore.

How do we know where the money is going to. Like Amma does a lot of charity too, and seems to be doing a lot of good for India, just like I thought Sai Baba was doing.

Luckily I do not follow him, so it is not a big deal for me, but it seems there are very few genuine gurus out there who do not fall into some abuse or scandal or greed or corruption sometime during their lives.

 
At 1/26/2006 11:13 PM, Blogger ananda said...

It sure is regrettable, how gurus in India are giving a bad name to spirituality, in a really, really big way. The last one year or so has been particularly bad with the Shankaracharya being in the news for all the wrong reasons - murder, rape, money, political promiscuity, the works. I dont know whether you picked this up, Jody, this was around Nov-Dec 2004, and the entire country stank of it. And there was not one but several scandals going on at the same time.

Making it very difficult for anyone to be "spiritual" or a seeker, since everyone around you (family, friends) thought you were falling into the trap of yet another of these chaps. The damage done by these folk has not died down - there's always someone else who's making away with the daughters of his devotees, who have been gifted to Him in exchange of immeasurable grace.
(In India (if you didnt know) daughters are a convenient way of tying up with big business families, politicians, and God).

 
At 1/26/2006 11:16 PM, Blogger ananda said...

http://greatbong.blogspot.com/2004_11_01_greatbong_archive.html

Above is a link that might give you a pointer.

 
At 1/27/2006 9:57 AM, Blogger facedog said...

These fallen human gods are aother reminder that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Even the exalted-their-own-minds can't stand against that truth. There is such a need in us to deify people, then destroy them. When we feel weak we want our gods and later we want our freedom. I certainly have done this and I would imagine that Jody has as well. One of the hardest things to do, when you realize that you have participated in this kind of thing, is not to throw the baby out with the bath water. If you have a Guru, protect that teacher by not needing him/her to be a god. Be alert and attentive and be faithful to your own beingness. We know why gurus claim to be gods: they are insane or they need the money. But why do we need to make them gods, ourselves?

Also, this is not just an Indian Guru thing. It is a human being thing. A few years ago in my little town, half the Christian ministers had to give up their churches because of sexual misconduct of one kind or another. Guru, priest or politician, school teacher, father or mother---if you take the power or are given it, you will fall---if you don't know who you are, or if you only think you know.

 

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