There must be a foundation, firm principles, to build our spiritual practice upon that serves to lead us to freedom—not create further bondage to the ego, to the things of the senses and this world. In the East this foundation is called dharma, sometimes defined as “right action,” such as what is spelled out in the ten commandments. But, there is also inborn dharma—seen as transcendent truth. By knowing this truth you will be automatically guided to right action—or, living in conscious harmony with God. Attunement with dharma leads to spiritual freedom, ignoring or going against those principles of ultimate truth leads to wrong actions and further binds the soul in ignorance and darkness.
Spiritual teachers and practices are here to liberate us from darkness and ignorance—the word guru means from darkness to light. Dharma has become encoded into spiritual principles and laws, but just as a lawyer can look for loopholes, without sincerity those principles can be used for bad ends. For instance, I have seen people “just telling the truth,” who are actually using facts like a bludgeon, to hurt and maim. For dharma to be fulfilled, truth must be combined with compassion, love and ahimsa (do no harm).
In the spiritual field, even as in the fields of politics, business and psychology there are those who come along who seek to rewrite the rules of right action, either through their public teachings or their private behavior. It never turns out well. These “false prophets” become a law unto themselves, and though they begin with a promise of freedom and liberation, they, and those around them soon become ensnared in their own ignorance.
Some devotees let me know about a documentary of a spiritual teacher named Rajneesh, later called Osho—a teacher from India who came to America for a time and was expedited back out some eight years later. We have watched three of the five part series, but have found it well done, interviewing people actually involved on both side of the issue. It is a disturbing story of actual events, and comes as a cautionary tale.
Rajneesh came on the scene when many Westerners were looking for alternatives to their own culture. He combined some traditional teachings of India (he had been a professor of philosophy in India) along with what he termed to be revolutionary methods for awakening. He taught followers to access the deepest emotions and desires, act them out, then find calm in meditation—this, he called transmutation of the energy.
In theory, and rightly understood, there is some element of truth in this. For instance, a married couple can enjoy a sexual union that is transformed by love, caring, commitment and spiritual attunement that transmutes a purely physical act into one of pure love and spiritual union. Or, anger may be channeled in a safe environment where ground rules are understood and achieve a catharsis of deeply held feelings.
However, in practice, the groups led by Rajneesh, anger was acted out in group shouting matches, brawling, which sometimes resulted in broken bones and injuries. Then, group sex was engaged in, traditional marriage was dismissed as irrelevant, and defined as what two or more chose to define it for as long as they wanted to do so.
Being a sannyasin was completely stood on it head, with free sexual expression without restraint, and being wealthy were encouraged for his “sannyasins.” Wearing the color of red, orange and purple was recognition of being such a sannyasin. These “principles” attracted many people of the time, a seeming release from old rules, promising a new freedom. I worked at an same agency with some who wore these “sannyasin” colors, but they worked at another facility and I did not have an opportunity to speak with them while they worked there.
Rajneesh himself was not averse to money or the finer things in life. One could not own too many Royal Royce, he had twenty or more, he wore a million dollar diamond watch, you get the picture. On the other side there were interviews with those who were profoundly affected and whose lives were changed by Rajneesh. The fact that he was irreverent, revolutionary and threw out the old rules was attractive to many. But with the rules thrown out, greed and ungoverned avarice, the unravelling was inevitable—like watching a head-on train wreck in slow motion.
The “ashram” in eastern Oregon had a disco, a casino, Rajneesh was not giving talks, said to be in silence, but took calls from his Rolls Royce dealer when ordering new cars, he was reported to be hooked on drugs, alcohol was served to the “sannyasins” every day—it was painful to see words like ashram and sannyasin turned on their head and used in opposite ways to their true meanings.
It can be tempting to think the spiritual path does not require self-discipline, rules of conduct, sacrifice, hard work, and death of the ego—that anything goes—definitely tempting to the ego-mind. Rajneesh came to the point that he privately said he admired Hitler and that opponents in Oregon would need to die. Ah, so painful to see.
And the lesson for me: Thank you Mother! Thank you for standing against the tide of free love/ casual sex, recreational use of drugs and alcohol and smoking. Thank you for upholding the eternal values of dharma. Observing my own life, and observing the lives of others, has only reinforced that necessity for living by these eternal values. Truly, there are traditions that need to be questioned, and when found faulty to be done away with. But, this should not be a wild foray into hedonism, expediency for the ego, definitely not living by the creed, “If it feels good, do it.” Such license of behavior promises easy freedom, but ends in karmic jail.
So, thank you Mother, Guru-lineage and true saints and spiritual masters for showing us the Way—for being the examples of right action. It is not the easy path of no rules, but it is the path that leads to freedom. My eternal gratitude to blessed Guru and Guru-lineage for being the Way for all of us.
Travel Note: We are driving north, actually Carla is driving right now while I am sending this out. We look forward to seeing everyone for Easter! With loving pronams