I recently spent some time in the Ashram of a particularly popular Holy Man. I am not going to name him, because I genuinely mean no disrespect to him and have no desire to offend his followers, many of whom I have grown to become exceptionally fond of.
My reasons for visiting and staying at the Ashram had nothing to do with a need for spiritual guidance, or even a curiosity about it. It was a business trip for all practical purposes. Nevertheless I had heard a great deal about this guru, and was promised many times that the visit would change my life forever. Perhpas it will be a more gradual change.
For the moment at least I came away deeply unimpressed. Not with the guru himself, who I only saw once at a distance, but with the Ashram and the majority of the people there*. Can you spell petty? (I can it seems). It was ridiculous. The guru's right hand man, who was to help us with some of our arrangements, lied to us, to our faces and not very well, since we caught him in the lie a few hours later. This from the man who is the most devoted disciple of a guru who preaches truth and honesty above all. It was embarassing. The women who are in charge of seating within the hall where prayers are conducted are entirely power mad. For them, the ability to refuse a chair to a sixty year old woman who couldn't sit on the floor, was clearly exhilarating. Where is all that compassion now?
The other thing that bothered me, and actually bothers me about all religions, is the overwhelming belief of the guru's infallability and omnipotence. I was told many times that I had not come to the Ashram of own my free will, but because the guru had summoned me, a caim I found disturbing and rather demeaning too. It implies that the followers of this man have no free will, no ability to make decisions or chose the path they are on, even if the path is this particular branch of spirituality.
What perhaps bothered me most of all, was the money. The overwhelming mountains of it. I met people who have given up everything to live and work in the Ashram, and still had to pay rent. I saw electronic equipment that would make the Pentagon drool. I saw enough air conditioners in the offices of the higher officials to cool four football stadiums (Renunciation is also a tenet by the way). The purpose of this sect is to help the poor, but they spend crores of rupees on their guru's birthday celebrations.
What was missing, most prominently, was the feeling of peace I had expected. Having embraced the lifestyle preached, the people in the Ashram weren't above pettiness and politics. They were rude, they pushed, they cut in front of you in ques, they lied and fought and were the same human beings that they have alwasy been, except each and everyone of them was a hypocrite in the worst way. Having embraced the tenets of this guru, they seemed to believe that they are somehow better than the 'non-believer' (my word not theirs), whether they adhered to the beliefs of their faith or not. It felt more like a frat house, than an Ashram of a divine being.
I don't doubt the faith, I don't even doubt the man. I just think that his followers are destroying his reputation and need to practise some serious introspection, which is ironically, also a basic tenet of the faith.
*I did mention earlier that there were people I was fond of, and there were, but just a handful. And I may not understand their faith, but I do wish to respect it.
