Stripping the Gurus: Sex, Violence, Abuse and Enlightenment

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Stripping the Gurus: Sex, Violence, Abuse and Enlightenment

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Wednesday, 27 June 2007

Stripping the Gurus: Sex, Violence, Abuse and Enlightenment, Asiaing.com by Geoffrey D. Falk, Million Monkeys Press, 2007

Armed with wit, insight, and truly astonishing research, Geoffrey Falk utterly demolishes the notion of the enlightened guru who can lead devotees to nirvana. This entertaining and yet deadly serious book should be read by everyone pursuing or thinking of pursuing the path of guru devotion. —John Horgan, author of Rational Mysticism

Stripping the Gurus is superb—one of the best books of its kind I have ever read. The research is meticulous, the writing engaging, and the overall thesis: devastatingly true. A stellar book. —Dr. David C. Lane, California State University

This gripping and disturbing book should be read by anyone who finds themself revering a spiritual teacher. —Susan Blackmore, author of The Meme Machine

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Gianna said:

Hello,
My name is Gianna. I admittedly am someone who practices what would be deemed in this society as "Eastern Practices". My opinion on this book as that though some of it very well may be true, and there are most certainly abusive "Gurus" out there, mostly because we live in dark selfish times... I think a lot of it however can be subject to Bias. This book was written by what I am pretty sure is an American Engineer. This person being versed in things such as physics and other Western sciences cannot possibly grasp (as most Westerners cannot) many concepts of the East. Many people who are holy mystics behave in ways that go beyond the norm because through their intense devotion to truth and reality. To attain this truth and reality, social conditioning has to be burned away. When you view a person who has no social conditioning their behavior may be odd and even frightening for someone who still has conditioning of society and social structures. I am not saying that there has never been abusive gurus, by any means because there has and still are. But however the West has NEVER been able to understand the concept of the Guru. They are conditioned in very selfish and non-trusting ways that ever prevent them from being whole heartedly devoted to any person, including 7 out of 10 couples who can't even devote themselves entirely to their spouse. Certain Gurus may very well present you with tasks and things that may seem appalling to most society conditioned people, but in actuality it's meant to break thoughts of dualism and social conditioning so you see everything as one. An old building has to be torn down before being rebuilt. Also in the case of one Guru this man writes about RamaKrishna he criticizes him for ceremonial worship of the Divine Mother that included his own penis and him fondling the penises of his devotees. I am not going to say that RamaKrishna did or did not do any such things, but however I will say that RamaKrishna practiced Tantra. Some schools of Tantric ritual include worship of the penis and vagina as the divine lingam and yoni. Also the fondling of a genital may not be in a sexual context but may be actually a mystical sort of power-touch that can arouse not the sexuality, but the Kundalini Shakti or Seprent Power that resides in the area between the genitals and anus, and the Chakra above it which is roughly located on the pubic mound. Not only do some Tantrics perform rituals that include sex but they also sometimes include the consumption of meat, alcohol, and even ceremonies that take place in cremation grounds involving corpses. I am not condoning or not condoning any practice, but I can see how some very esoteric practices such as these can be misconceived by people of other cultures where such practices seem like madness. However like I have elaborated earlier this is all due to social conditioning that one sees what another does to reach a higher state or god as foul or eveil because they don't understand it.

In Indian beliefs we are in what is called the Kali yuga, or Dark age, where the Tantric scriptures say blatantly that there are many fake gurus with selfish endeavors out there, as many as hairs on the head... But the true Sat-Guru, or truly enlightened one is more rare than the rarest precious stones.

Frankly most of the West cannot and will not ever understand the practices of the East, and especially the Guru concept, which time and time again has been misunderstood since the British inhabited India.

Also I would like to say also that I am not saying that this author is a fool or wrong, or that these gurus have or have not done wrong things, because frankly I have never met any of them... But I just wanted to give an alternative view on what this author may be experiencing.

For anyone who actually read this rambling of mine I give them thanks! And may all people find the path that is right for them and leads them to their highest state of realization.

Gianna

January 17, 2008 | url

Jai Hind said:

This book is written by a complete idiot who thinks he's intelligent. With absolutely no evidence, he makes unsubstantiated claims about some of the greatest souls ever to walk this earth. This uneducated clown claims to be a "guru buster," but has absolutely no understanding of the eastern faiths, and instead spews his own twisted, perverted fantasies througout an entire book, and somehow got someone to publish it.
This book will actually make you stupider. This inbred canadian redneck can go to hell.

August 13, 2007

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