No, no, no, not another Guru thing!!!

Hopefully this will be the last, or mayen't be because we write about India and (at least some of) India is fixated with Gurus so there maybe more on the subject (and objects), but anyways we got this very preachy message from one CV Rajan at http://www.sulekha.com/.

Not that preachy messages are a bad thing, but this one rankled because:

1. we did not ask to be preached to
2. CV shared his vision of a true guru - which had nothing to do with our blog, so this man was commenting not on our commentary but using our blog to preach his views
3. did a poor job of preaching as he said nothing to substantiate or quantify his views - (he) used trite, oft quoted घिसा पिटा rhetoric to describe spirituality and Gurus (only when you understand what true spirituality means, then you will start searching for a true Satguru)
- firstly we did not ask how to find a Guru
- (he) did not quote any text to support his views, nor to prove his knowledge and authority of the subject (What? Every Indian knows what a true guru is just being Indian?)
- (we) did not criticise true gurus
- the blog was about bearded media darlings worth crores
- blog said "Gurus should be like Krishna and Drona" so its obvious we know who we think a true guru is.

So the questions are:

1. why does an average Indian turn blue and red at the (critical) mention of a guru?
2. why do all Indians say the same thing/ same wrods when it comes to the describing gurus and spirituality in a nation of great divides?

My take on that - notice mine, not ours - is that

• At least since the time of Kautilya there's direct evidence of the caste structure in India with Brahmins at the top of the social chain, in control of all existing knowledge and disseminating it.
• Brahmins preached that they alone knew what was in sacred texts and only they could teach and preach sacred texts, making themselves God's Oracles if Gurus, or learned Ones if Teachers - but in all cases Scriptures could only be taught by Brahmins, and only Brahmins could be Gurus
• Therefore Brahmins alone could show Royalty or masses the path to salvation and God. They wielded the power to bless or curse and being holy ones were not to be crossed or questioned since their knowledge was derived directly from the ancient scriptures, therefore the Guru's word was final and it was everyone's responsibility to respect and believe the Guru.
• How convenient, if Machiavellian, to position oneself as God's anointed class and caste and forbid the poor and the illiterate from ever questioning you - at that time like it is now most of India was agrarian and peasants were serfs owned in many places by landlords - so the ignorant are made to believe that the man telling them to submit has a right to ask for that submission.
• For centuries no one questioned this as Rajas benefited by Pandits blessing them - there were hardly any Pandits and Gurus admonishing Raja's wanton fornicating and plundering - and this Guru/ Raja nexus was used for centuries to control masses therefore control wealth and power. Raja's boosted Gurus and Guru's turned a blind eye to India being robbed by the Raja - लगान, or land taxes that filled royal coffers also built temples, killing millions of working Indians under the burden of generations long debts
• So maybe the idea of Guru worship has been entrenched/ indoctrinated into us for centuries - to believe that there is a need of a Guru has been propagated by those who want to be Gurus and control people, and to believe that Gurus are chaste and divine is also manufactured by the same spin team. Since it was the same spin team coining same terms CV in Chennai and Raja in Ambala say the same thing when it comes to the Guru but nothing else. Great brain washing.

Spritual needs are individual so where he/she finds solace is a personal matter, and not a universal truth - otherwise Gurus will be sold at Walmart.

In Internet times there's no need to rely on others' to point to the truth when access to knowledge (sacred texts if that's being sought) is freely available. Translation and commentaries can be found by learned scholars who have gone to college to study Philosophy and Religion. So before reaching blindly for a Guru - the media Guru who cannot handle an objective question answer session because lacks knowledge and skills to deal with questioning audiences, and is only good with those who submit - why not do some study, research and analysis on your own?

I don't need CV's mumbo-jumbo, I need something tangible like when Nidhi says according to "Yog Vashistha"

That blog mentioned the wedgie that makes the world walk wobbly. Hope CV removes his.

And for those truly seeking meaning of God, Love and Life we wish your Sat-Guru finds you as we hope ours will find us.