Guru

 

A few years back, I had the privilege of attending a Bhagavat Gita discourse conducted by a Hindu spiritual organisation in Melbourne. The one hour I spent there was worth every second. The Swamiji was an excellent orator and had deep knowledge in Vedas and other Hindu religious texts. During the discourse, a slipper ( Methiyadi , A wooden slipper ) worn by Swamiji’s Guru , who is no more was passed around in a silver plate, so that  the devotees can pay their respects . After that everyone stood in a queue and bowed and touched the feet of Swamiji . Swamiji raised his hands and blessed all the bowing devotees. Touching the feet of a Guru has very high significance in India. In Indian culture Guru has a place one step below God and above everything else. As per the Indian culture Humility is an esteemed human virtue every student should cultivate. Touching the feet of the Guru is only the first step to root that character trait in children and adults alike.  Vedic texts give elaborate narrative on who should be considered as a Guru.

 

 What sort of respect a Guru deserve ? . Skanda purana has an answer for that.

 

Gururbrahma gururvishnu gururdevo maheshwarah |

Gurusakshat parabrahma tasmai shree guruve namah ||

 

“The Guru is Brahma, the Guru is Vishnu, the Guru is the Great Lord Shiva. To be near the Guru is to be near the ultimate Oneness – I adore you, O venerable Guru!”.

 

 

But fortunately or unfortunately we are not living in vedic times. We are living in Kaliyuga and Vedic texts warn about Adharma in Kaliyuga . Is it really necessary to consider Guru equal to God? If someone acquire knowledge in spiritual texts, like Khuran , Bhagavat Gita or Bible , will that uplift them to a level par with God . There are countless professions in this world: from tradies to computer professionals. Some professions are more productive than the other. Every one contributes to the upliftment of the society in one way or the other.

 

  Isn’t it time to change our approach towards Gurus and spiritual leaders? This extra respect that we show towards people who mugged up religious texts, always been used as an exploitation tactic.

 

 

In the above incident those who bowed Swamiji should consider themselves a level below him to stoop to that level.  The  Swamiji who was more than happy to bless the devotees like some great soul , should consider himself worthy of the respect to behave like that . In either case something is not right. A tendency to control others is an inherent human personality trait. These religious preachers utilise it to the extreme when they are given an opportunity like this. I know a Bible preacher in Melbourne, who don’t allow his church members to keep any statues in their homes, spiritual or other . At first , it may look like an honest effort by someone who read the”  idiots version” of bible and trying to implement what he understood from it. Someone who understood what Bible and Jesus stands for would never make such a foolish demand. If we look deep into it, it become crystal clear that, it is a crooked move by a person to exert his control over his church members. He derives a sort of pleasure by exerting that control. If not for a religious preacher, would you allow someone to decide, what you should keep in your home?

 

 

For generations, Indians have been exploited by the trust they placed on people who mugged up religious texts.  No one attains any extra power by this mugging up process. It is time to change. The western approach of treating Gurus as a professional is more appropriate. A guru is paid for sharing his knowledge. If you don’t pay the Guru for his or her service , they will take much more than what they deserve .

 

Here are a few examples

 

 

The swami is alleged to have amassed Rs.140 crore in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. He loves to sit on a 24k gold-plated throne wearing heavy gold chains. Nithyanada was planning to buy an Island for personal use.

Sai Baba was estimated to be worth $40 Billion

This Christian preacher’s ministry collects $200 million a year of which he takes a salary of half a million US dollars every year . He owns a private jet , lives in a home worth $10 Million and lives a lavish life only Brunei sultan can match.

 

Since 1999, Joyce Meyer’s ministry has spent at least $4 million on 5 homes for Meyer and her children. Meyer’s house is a 10,000 square foot home with an 8-car garage, a large fountain, a gazebo, a private putting green, a pool, and pool house with a new $10,000 bathroom. Her salary was reported at $900,000 back in 2003, and she also enjoys use of a private jet and luxury cars. Needless to say, Meyer has been questioned for years, and she is once again under investigation by the government for possibly violating non profit laws.

 

There are many more examples. All spiritual leaders eventually start a charity organisation. For every hundred dollar they receive they spend one dollar for charitable causes . Rest of their life , they live on the laurels of being the kings and queens  of charity .

So for this Kaliyuga let us rewrite the rules.