I got exploited by a guru, I have lost faith in the spiritual system

You got exploited by the mafia called Gurudom. Its a bigoted lobby that feasts on human vulnerability. They are motivational orators, scripture decipherers and problem solvers. Basically, con artists who are experts at pretending to fulfil your need for feeling loved and rescued in life situations beyond your control. 

Don't confuse the sanctity of a Guru with gurudom.

When you engage with gurudom, you are bound to catch up with the truth at some point. The problem is that in every other field a con artist is called a con artist. But due to cultural appropriation in the field of spiritual awakening, a con artist who was posing as a Guru is still referred to as a Guru. It is immature to make Guru an umbrella term where even the scamsters can be accommodated. Guru is too sacred a word and concept for us, Easterners. 

An exploited and angry victim lashes out in rebellion, proclaiming. “Who needs a guru!”. “They always have their hideous agendas.” “Gurus are fake.” “They are here to get your money.” “Gurus brainwash you.” “Gurus cheat you.” “Gurus get you in a cult.” “They want to control you". 

Let me correct you right here.

What you are describing is not the doing of a Guru. You are describing gurudom, a clever profiteering lobby interested in scamming you out of your wits.

Seeker 👱🏻‍♀️: So you have labeled these spiritual scamsters as gurudom? 

UG 👳🏼‍♀️: yes! This cultural appropriation has led to spiritual appropriation too. With total disregard for the word Guru and the timeless wisdom that it is. It's like messing up with the sanctity of learning Kung Fu in the Shaolin temple. 

Guru is both a sacred word and a sacred concept in the Eastern tradition.

Self-realizing under a Guru is NOT akin to obedience to the Guru as is commonly projected by those who got exploited by gurudom. 

Seeker 👱🏻‍♀️: Please elaborate. 

UG 👳🏼‍♀️: The spiritual scamsters exploit your need to feel safe and looked after. They know there is a specific kind of person who can be exploited. These are people who will listen to guidance from anyone other than themselves because they lack self-trust. The scamsters know that this kind of seeker is not interested in awakening their own inner clarity or self-trust. Instead, they enjoy dependency and a false sense of security. They are also out for quick fixes rather than taking a journey of self-realization. They avoid accountability by facing their own toxicity first. So that's what the scamsters give you, a false sense of security until the pack of cards falls apart just like your heart. 

On the other hand, the problem with a Guru is that they don't want your obedience. Instead, they look for your willingness to realize your own self. They wish you to become who you truly are, an infinite being with a purpose that is much larger than survival. 

A Guru is a dangerous entity because they can see through your emotional bratism right at your authentic self and what you are capable of becoming. 

They won't compromise even when you are more than happy to compromise. Gurus are savage. You should be very careful about engaging with a Guru because they won't settle down for a watered-down version of you. 

Seeker 👱🏻‍♀️: You mean I've engaged with gurudom so far? I have not known a Guru at all? 

UG 👳🏼‍♀️: In the Eastern tradition Guru is considered holier than God because God doesn't bother to intervene to help you. God just is. As the sun just is. Whether you need to expose yourself to the sun or hide away from it is the kind of wisdom the Guru gives you. Just like a mother who knows how much of the sun will provide vitamin D to her child and how much of it will cause sunburn.

Guru takes this unwanted and painful job.

Unwanted because on the personal level Guru has transcended existential crisis and stepped into the eternal bliss of enlightenment. Guru is inner and outer freedom incarnate. So the last thing they want is to put their hand into the worldly dirt.  

Painful because just like it's painful for a parent to make a teenager acting out under peer pressure understand how drugs will ruin their life. A Guru has to help humanity understand that lying to yourself, living in your conditioned illusions, and acting out of them is detrimental to personal and collective human consciousness with unprecedented results. 

Seeker 👱🏻‍♀️: You mean a Guru is not interested in me personally? 

UG 👳🏼‍♀️: Yes, a Guru is not interested in you personally.

A guru is interested in you the being and what impact you have on the collective.

This is why someone like Buddha stayed back. Even though he had transcended his humanness, he did not leave. He could have just left and enjoyed his bliss. But he stayed back, engaged with people, helped and healed humanity. 

Before you embark upon this journey, you must ask yourself who are you looking for?

Are you truly looking for a Guru who can help you realize yourself? Or are you looking for help to resolve your life issues? Or are you looking to fill the gaping hole of low self-esteem?

For life issues, we have excellent coaches, guides, therapists, and healers. This is where you can apply the understanding that every person teaches us something, that every life circumstance is a teacher. People and circumstances are teachers, not Guru. Don't deprive yourself by confusing a teacher with a Guru. 

There is only one Guru for your life and that Guru remains your backbone even when you continue to learn from everywhere else. 

The socio-spiritual appropriation is blatantly violating the sacredness of the relationship of Guru. We call everyone a Guru now. We have tech Gurus, style Gurus, and even lust Gurus. If you are better than others at something and you are adding the word Guru to your expertise, you are participating in a massive cultural and spiritual appropriation. An elderly lady once started to chat with me at an airport while we waited for our flight. I cut my introduction short by saying I teach Reiki. She exclaimed oh that's fantastic, I am a Reiki Grand Master. To be honest, I swallowed my judgments about that statement but I wasn't judging in vain. A moment later she said "I learned Reiki 15 years ago in a week. I did not practice much after that. In fact, can you tell me how to draw that symbol again"? Labels, titles, and even expertise don't make you Guru. 

So stop violating a sanctity that is held sacred to the Easterners since time immemorial.  

Instead, how about we stop bullshitting ourselves? How about we consciously cut away from gurudom and create a space for our Guru to appear, the brazen being that we have prepared lifetimes to meet. 

💕 & 💡 

Udumbara Gesu

A fan of your soul & its strength