While thinking about the reasons why westerners believe in Siddhis and all the magic tricks that gurus show them, I had some more thoughts. I have seen and met many people who deep inside know that it is fake and all just show but who still show their belief in it to others and even use those tricks and the traditions that belong to them for their own business.
Many people work in the esoteric business and sell all kinds of things. How do they get into this business? A lot of them actually start off as disciples and followers of some guru or master. They watch the guru and his higher, closer disciples for some time. After some time they start selling the books, malas and other items that the guru offers for selling and get some commission from this. After some time and with a bit more experience they even begin performing the smaller ceremonies themselves, bless things and do prayers.
Mostly there is however one point at which they get disappointed from the guru. They recognize that he is not the honest, enlightened being that he pretends to be and that they wanted to see in him. They leave him.
But what now? If they are honest with themselves a hundred percent, they also don’t believe in his Siddhis. It would be fully consequent to accept that they have been fooled and turn away completely from this guru and everything connected with it. This would mean giving up the business that they have established through this master. Most of them don’t do this but instead keep on doing their business with just a few small changes. They take out the books of this master or add books of other masters and present it in another way. They don’t sell the picture of this master anymore and don’t send their earnings to their former guru. But they keep on earning their money in this way. They keep on doing the same ceremonies their master taught them but just without taking his name.
I am in general not against it that these people work and earn money by helping others with their experience. On the contrary, I would appreciate it if they were honest and told others what they have seen and heard.
That is however not what they do! Instead, they fool others just as they have been fooled themselves. I know that this sounds harsh to some of you but I have experienced this with many people. In their hearts they don’t believe anymore that those ceremonies and rituals that they did with their guru were really beneficial. They have lost their trust in their guru but they want their customers to believe them. It is dishonest but it is their business and that is why they don’t want to give it up. They have seen that this is all fake but they are involved in it themselves. It is necessary for their business and they live from this now.
I have personally made this experience in my own life. It was a bit different, as I was never a follower but I was in the guru business myself and I decided to leave it. I believed in many things such as ceremonies, rituals and horoscopes and we earned money with this. When our belief changed however, we also decided that we wanted to live honestly and not sell something that we don’t believe in. Of course this decision decreased our business and affected our income. For a while, it was more difficult for us to keep on running our charity because not that much money was coming in anymore. We felt that, of course, but it was the right decision. We changed our way of income to something that we believed in. As a guru I could have earned much more but I chose to go the way of honesty.
I would like to say everybody who is in the situation I described, please don’t sell something you don’t believe in anymore. You can do something else! If you had the potential to convince others of magic tricks, spells and other fake miracles, you can also sell other things! You can go into another field! You can do something else, you just have to start it! And I am sure the experiences you have made will help you in future!
Related posts
The Dilemma of Followers: Knowing about the Crimes of a Guru but unable to accept it – 11 Sep 13
Arranging Girls for a Guru’s Lust, following him blindly even in Crime – 10 Sep 13
The Father of Asaram’s Victim: Bribed, Threatened but still standing strong – 9 Sep 13
You never wasted Time even if you have believed in fake Gurus – 13 Oct 11
Being a Student is better than being a Follower – 16 Jun 11
Celebrity Followers – Free Advertisement and Popularity for their Guru – 15 Jun 11
Personal Followers – always able to approach their Guru – 14 Jun 11
Mass Followers – Following Celebrity Gurus – 13 Jun 11
Flexible Followers of Multiple Gurus – Confused Sociable Salesmen – 10 Jun 11
I look at religious rituals as attempt to express inner world in some language, to project it on the surface, to structure the chaos.
Once the inner structure is strong enough, rituals fall away.
Money is not worth living in dishonesty. These people who make money doing things they don’t believe in will burn out quickly. Their energy cannot suffice to keep up the work and the lie at the same time. Eventually, I hope, they will discover a more honest way.