Advaita teacher proliferation

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The Advaita Disease:

On the Tendency to Proliferation

Perhaps there have always been so many gurus. They were certainly

never so able to have such a high profile though, nor such a

worldwide following. Mind you, this is a Good Thing; we need lots of

them in these trying times. But my skeptical mind wonders: how many

of them, especially in the burgeoning field of Advaita, are really

enlightened? Is there any kind of quality control here?

The Advaita position is unassailable. Almost a non-position, it is

consistent with the experience of all the mystics of all

traditions. To see more of Sarlo's cartoons

 

It is its insistence on the process of attainment – in fact a non-

attainment, because blah blah, etc etc – that puts it at odds with

the weight of tradition. In many ways. The most important here rests

on the observation that all other processes take time, lots of it.

Never mind that time is an illusion. Never mind even that some of the

processes, such as zen, admit theoretically of an instant

enlightenment, but in their practice take years to bring the disciple

to the point where it can instantly happen. Much preparation is

needed.

It can be argued that in the case of Papaji's disciples, they may

well have done the preparatory work before they come to him, so they

are ready for that last nudge. It can also be argued that Advaita is

such a superior "path," the direct path that is no-path, that it

leaves all others in the dust. Bullock cart methods are no longer

needed for the modern intelligent seeker. Etc etc. And there are so

many women, especially among Papaji's disciples, who have come this

way. If nothing else, this is an equal-opportunity method. It can't

be all bad.

There are some large but's here though. One is the certainty that

this direct enquiry, "Who am i?" is not suitable for everybody. Even

assuming all the apparent successes of Advaita to be genuine – a big

assumption – there is only a very narrow segment of the population

who can benefit from this. And the path has its dangers. Not the

dangers of the devotional/surrender to the master path, the chief of

which is exploitation, but the dangers of self-aggrandizement, of

getting lost in the mind. To be sure, that danger is always present,

but here, with all the conceptualizing about "There is nowhere to

go," and "I am a buddha as i am," etc, it is easy to see the

possibility of enlightenment as the biggest ego trip. And it has

happened.

In the early 90's a sannyasin couple who went to Papaji "got

enlightened" in very short order, started holding satsangs and pretty

soon had a group of fifty people around them who had also "gotten

it." The bubble did burst and no harm was done. In this instance

quality control was achieved because Papaji was still in the body.

Since he died in 1997 however, many who were with him only a short

time are getting into the biz. The number of people who have actually

been told by him to go and give satsangs is said to be quite small, ‡

(more on this below) much smaller than the number of claimers. So

there you go.

The most prominent of Papaji's disciples is Gangaji, who, if size of

org and links with Papaji's site are any indication, could be thought

of as his official successor. Yet she was with him only a year and

she does not inspire universal respect, coming across to some as

fairly lightweight and even inarticulate. It is not my intention to

pick on her, and i have rated her fairly high by my "tough" standards

as she is also said to have inspired many seekers including some

others claiming enlightenment. My point is more that if she is shaky,

many of them are shaky. Mira, who spent almost thirty years with him,

is obviously not in this category, but almost all the rest have

been "drive-throughs" by comparison. It should give one pause. It

does give me pause.

Then there are those who are so new or so retiring that they have not

yet stood out from their masters very much. It's a booming business,

so they want in, but their individuality – what's a good word for a

master's persona, whatever they project to the public that is their

uniqueness, their market niche?– is not very developed. Nothing much

can be said about them although they may have web pages, so i will

throw them and their links, at least for a while, into Newbies.

 

Another Take on This:

‡(Not my original analysis, borrowed from NonDuality Salon):

Papaji made it clear in the book "Nothing Ever Happened" that those

he sent to teach not only are not enlightened, they are not even

temporarily enlightened.

#1. When asked about those he sent to teach, Papaji said that the

purpose was to have them point the way to Lucknow, not to pose as

awakenened teachers.

#2. Papaji said that many can fool others into thinking they are

liberated but they are the false coin.

#3. When asked about the experiences that so many people had in

Lucknow, he said they were false experiences.

#4. When asked, "Why did you give them false experiences?" he said to

get the leeches off my back.

#5. Papaji said he met only two Jnani's in his lifetime. One was

Ramana Maharshi. The other was a man who appeared from out of the

jungle into the town of Krishnagiri.

#6. Ramana Maharshi said that there is a false sense of liberation

that aspirants reach that very few ever go beyond.

Actually, more text from "Nothing Ever Happened" enlarging on this

can be found at A Guide, along with extensive quotes from Ramana, J

Krishnamurti, Nisargadatta and others.

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