During my time as a Hare Krishna I was taught to rely on my guru for basically the whole of my practice. I spoke with him nearly every day even though we lived in different states.
When I left ISKCON I found a new guru, thinking that now that I'd left the corrupt organization everything would be better, but it was just more of the same. Still, I regarded him as nearly infallible... up to a point, it turns out. One day he told me that Krishna would be returning as Kalki-Avatar within our lifetimes, an material existence would be ending. Once doomsday entered the chat, I saw myself out.
Today I can see the methods that gurus use to enthrall and entrance their students, and the methods they use to subtly shame and demean them, keeping them both subservient and motivated to please. I can see it, and I feel disgusted when I do... and yet, I still feel the attraction to working at the feet of a guru. As if ... if I could just find the one, the truly enlightened master, then I would finally find my place.
Since leaving Krishna Bhakti I've become basically Buddhist. I studied with a Secular Buddhist group for quite a while, under the guidance of a monk from the Gelug tradition. It's a secular group, there were no claims of divinity or proselytizing. He never characterized himself as enlightened, or as an authority over anyone in any way. The group is, objectively, NOT a cult. But I still have distanced myself from it, just because I have such mixed feelings about being part of a group like this again.
And I hate that, because they are wonderful people and I support what they are doing.
Lama Tin :kverified: /
npub1qs…szw3n
2023-06-27 02:54:17
Author Public Key
npub1qszyc4q4jqq0tzgqs4wzth9l7mlejj8x2608wk36l0ksv4tgnhhsxszw3nPublished at
2023-06-27 02:54:17Event JSON
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"content": "During my time as a Hare Krishna I was taught to rely on my guru for basically the whole of my practice. I spoke with him nearly every day even though we lived in different states. \n\nWhen I left ISKCON I found a new guru, thinking that now that I'd left the corrupt organization everything would be better, but it was just more of the same. Still, I regarded him as nearly infallible... up to a point, it turns out. One day he told me that Krishna would be returning as Kalki-Avatar within our lifetimes, an material existence would be ending. Once doomsday entered the chat, I saw myself out.\n\nToday I can see the methods that gurus use to enthrall and entrance their students, and the methods they use to subtly shame and demean them, keeping them both subservient and motivated to please. I can see it, and I feel disgusted when I do... and yet, I still feel the attraction to working at the feet of a guru. As if ... if I could just find the one, the truly enlightened master, then I would finally find my place.\n\nSince leaving Krishna Bhakti I've become basically Buddhist. I studied with a Secular Buddhist group for quite a while, under the guidance of a monk from the Gelug tradition. It's a secular group, there were no claims of divinity or proselytizing. He never characterized himself as enlightened, or as an authority over anyone in any way. The group is, objectively, NOT a cult. But I still have distanced myself from it, just because I have such mixed feelings about being part of a group like this again. \n\nAnd I hate that, because they are wonderful people and I support what they are doing.",
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