Following on from another users post I felt I would create this thread, Source - http://www.strippingthegurus.com/ The list of supposed tainted gurus includes some big names, such as Aurobindo and Ramakrishna, I haven't read the book, anyone think there is a grain or a whole field of grain of truth in it?
A lot of these allegations have been in the public domain for some time. Probably some are true and some false. Of those mentioned, I think Adi Da, Rajneesh (Osho), Maharishi Mahesh yogi and Trungpa were definitely dodgy. I don't know about Ramakrishna, but I've heard tales of paedophilia before. Aurobindo and the Mother both made claims which are somewhat absurd. Others not mentioned I have grave doubts about include Sai Baba, Guru Mahraji (Prem Rawat), the current ISKCON crop of gurus and others, such as the current Pope, and many Christian evangelist type preachers. A lot of the troubles seem to come from the attitude such people preach regarding sex. Perhaps the whole thing of sexual 'renunciation' is to blame, as it creates a false standard, and actually not one which is either desirable or realistic for human beings. That's one of the things I like about Aleister Crowley - at least he was honest and made no secret of his use of sex and drugs.
krishnamurti did have an affair but the stories of ramakrishna being a homophobic paedophile are fabrication and developed out of a scholar not having a good understanding of the nuances of the bengali language if vivekananda visited brothels??? (hardly doubt it), i am sure it was to deliver sagely advice to men there exploiting women i noticed there was no mention of chaitanya mahaprabhu's brother, nityananda's fondness for bars or places where alchohol was drank... his compassion was extended to the most distraught
Mr. Philuk, In my opinion, like the hindu scriptures say, even if a little kid tells you something good, then there is good in following it, but even if brahma tells you something bad , then only bad will come by following it. So, what I am saying here is that, there is no way for us to know whether these allegations are true or false, but if these "gurus" say somethings that appeal to the sattvic mind in you, then use them to follow on your own path. We should not attach ourselves to these gurus, they are not our saviors, only God is our savior. If these gurus are fake and want to make money off of this, then they don't know what they are missing...they should listen to themselves and their own teachings. I pity the people who think they will gain some sort of enlightenment by following the guru , it is simply ignorance that lets them think so. The scriptures clearly declare, the only way to find the enlightenment is through introspective analysis of oneself, or through one's surrender to God, it will not happen with austerities and it will not happen with one's devotion to another man/woman.
thx for the replies, after further investigation it seems that Vivekananda may have visited brothels, but, and I may be mistaken on this, I think that was prior to him becoming a monk. And, there are many cases in spiritual histories of people who did things like this before becoming spiritual luminaries. So some things in that book maybe questionable.
It's an easy way to make money if you write a book of this nature - maybe some of the allegations are true, others may be groundless. There's no doubt though that many charlatans exist, and are eager to take over your life on the promise of enlightenment or whatever. I think you can learn a ceratin amount from teachers - but the cult of personality, or worship of another human being is a dangerous thing. Also, in reply to Jedi - Krishna himself advises approaching a guru in the Gita, so it's not quite correct to say that this is not encouraged in some scriptures. This site has a lot of info on this topic: http://www.globalserve.net/~sarlo/Map.htm
I noticed Srila Prabhupada wasn't listed, and rightfully not. He brought a number of traditional Indian practices, traditions, values, and attitudes with him. Some worked here, others didn't, and there were some unfortunate consequences when ISKCON very quickly and unexpectedly got too big for SP to oversee everything...he was put into the position of handing over large responsibilities to often-immature and inexperienced Western followers; some with, in hindsight, very questionable motives. His age-contemporary Gaudiya Matha Godbrothers in India didn't show enough of an interest to come here and assist him, or allow their own followers to come. When they saw his success, a few came over and started preaching on their own. Srila Prabhupada's personal intentions were never less than the purest of the absolutely-pure.
