The true teachings v the false teachings
- ISHTARA ROSE
- 5 days ago
- 8 min read
“Know this through reverence, sincere inquiry, and service. The wise who have seen the truth will impart that wisdom to you.”
Bhagavad Gītā 4:34
There have been times I have been taken deep into immense suffering in my life. At such times, the BS has to go, be it ours or another’s. We have to find the silence and stillness within, we see through the superficial nonsense, we do not suffer fools, and nor can we suffer our own foolishness any longer. At such times, nothing matters anymore because everything is stripped away. It is at such times that we may question things deeply, what is the point of this life, what am I here to do, etc and also we might need to isolate to cope and go deep into the self in this existential process. It is also at such times that we may go through various gateways in our ESP and so forth. Such a time is not blissful, it is a deep descent that brings activations on the search to move through.
On the divine feminine path, we also remember that the path of beauty is not superficial. For beauty is a quality, an essence, of divinity. It is love in radiance. True beauty, true love is an energy and cannot be emulated. We can express through beautiful things (fragrance, robes, objects) but these are only beautiful because of the feeling they give us and it is the feeling we look for.
Today we see men wearing the garbs of women looking like beautiful women, but it is all adornment that gives off the quality of the feminine but there is no feminine underneath it all.
In the new age we can see people promising quick fixes, fast healing, or working with esoteric tools for answers to the mind questions, and it is all a garb.
We can use all these tools in the same way we might be drawn to beautiful things, but it is what is underneath it that matters.
The activations only have power, the miracles can only happen, if the focus underneath it all is on THE SACRED path with no attachment to outcome.
It is a path, not a quick fix.
Someone sent me this (thank you Sarah) and I feel it is very worth taking time to read.
So much so that I have also broken it down afterwards for clarity. It is applicable both to teachers and teachings.
At the end of the day, this is not something that can be read to be understood by the mind. This is the kind of thing that when you go through an intensive opening of some form, be it suffering or something else, that you absolutely get it & know it, in the heart.
But here it is expressed through words by Prabhuji, (whose work I do not follow and I am not his devotee but I enjoyed this writing).
Q “Prabhuji, can you advise me on how I can differentiate between ‘false masters’ and a true enlightened Master? Is there any way to distinguish between one and the other?”
Question from Claudia Jofre
A Answer from Prabhuji:
There is a way, but we must be careful, because the mind often wants a cheap rule, a pocket flashlight, and life is not an office for spiritual passports or identity cards.
One of the first deceptions consists in searching for the “perfect Master” without looking at ourselves and seeing whether discipleship has been born within us. Many years ago, I heard the story of a man who searched for the perfect Master for more than forty years, and when he finally found him, the Master rejected him, because the perfect Master accepts only perfect disciples. Of course, this does not mean that you must become perfect, a word that sounds horrible on egoic lips, but rather available, vulnerable, sincere, and honest, capable of learning. While the false master nourishes your dreams, the true one awakens you, although awakening is not always pleasant.
The impostor master gives you an identity; he defines you by telling you that “you are special, you are chosen, you are above others or superior to others.” The genuine Master, on the other hand, strips you of your tin medals, leaving you simpler, naked, much more human, and curiously free. In this, he comes close to the severe tenderness of Diogenes, who distrusted all borrowed greatness and preferred the open weather of reality to the honors of appearance.
Do not pay attention only to what he says, but to what his presence produces in you. If you notice that you develop dependence, fear, fanaticism, and that you are closing yourself off, it may be an artificial fragrance that comes from a bottle, not from a flower. But if you perceive yourself as more conscious, more loving, responsible, if you enjoy solitude, if you are able to laugh at yourself, it is possible that something real is knocking at your door.
A false master seeks followers, collects the convinced, needs people to attend his retreats, courses, conferences, classes, or satsangs. The authentic Master, however, needs absolutely nothing from you; he can love you, shake you, speak to you, or perhaps remain silent, but you can be sure that he will never use you to enlarge his image.
The false master builds a prison and calls it “community,” while the true one creates a space called freedom.
The true Master does not try to stupefy or hypnotize you with answers, but returns you to your own original gaze. He does not suggest that you turn off your intelligence; quite the contrary, he asks you to sharpen your intelligence while returning to your innocence.
A genuine awakened Master does not demand belief; he only appeals to your reason, and then surrender appears as a natural consequence, not as childish obedience, but as spiritual maturity.
Always be suspicious when you are asked to believe before experiencing, where doubt or suspicion is punished, where love is mixed with fear or guilt.
However, be very careful not to fall into the opposite illness, becoming a spiritual inspector. Because there are those who spend their entire lives examining and comparing Masters without ever examining themselves. Because we generally speak about and criticize the work of Masters, but rarely is the subject of disciples discussed.
Obviously, there are abusive, exploitative, and opportunistic pseudo-gurus. Of course, there have been and still are narcissistic masters. But could there not also be some pseudo-disciple with at least some of those same characteristics? Is it impossible for the phenomenon of a narcissistic disciple to occur?
I do not advise you to look for a Master as one who wishes to acquire a jewel or buy a car; I suggest that you become thirsty, because thirst easily recognizes water.
False masters promise you miracles, while the true one points out the miraculous in the ordinary: breathing, looking, loving, sitting in silence and observing.
The pseudo-master will convince you that without him you are lost; the authentic one makes you see that what you seek resides in you as what you truly are. Because consciousness is the constant silent background of all experience. While mental and emotional experiences mutate, while sensations and perceptions change, the gaze that remains is a more reliable compass than any external spectacle.
If your guru does not accept sincere questions, he is not a true Master; he is a charlatan politician. If he needs constant adulation and an audience, he is still hungry; whoever begs for applause on earth cannot guide you to heaven.
The authentic awakened Master may seem contradictory, playful, and even dangerous to your certainties, but although he dismantles your egoic phenomenon, he never lowers your dignity. Although he takes away your fantasies and illusions, he does not strip you of your freedom. Rumi understood this fire well: true love does not decorate the prison, but consumes its bars.
Instead of asking yourself only whether the Master is false or true, ask yourself what happens to you in his presence. Does your fear grow, or does your consciousness expand? Does your dependence grow, or your freedom?
Finally, the most serious criterion is silence: come close and sit near him and observe. But do not observe your fantasies or illusions; I am not referring to looking at your desire to belong, your hunger for a father, or your need to feel saved. Observe very attentively, because most false masters excite your mind, filling you with words. The true Master quiets, silences something deeper than the mind, and even while speaking, leaves you in silence. Wittgenstein knew that there are truths before which language must bow, because when something is real, it does not always need explanation.
The enlightened Master is not someone who gives you a golden cage, but someone who, with an invisible hammer and a smile, shatters your cell, only to disappear afterward without taking possession of your life. Only then, if you are an authentic and genuine disciple, if true and mature discipleship has been born in you, will you know that you have not found someone to follow blindly; you have found a fire. Approach, but not with the dry straw of your credulity, rather with love and with your eyes wide open.
तद्विद्धि प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन सेवया।
उपदेक्ष्यन्ति ते ज्ञानं ज्ञानिनस्तत्त्वदर्शिनः।।४.३४।।
tad viddhi praṇipātena
paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ
“Know this through reverence, sincere inquiry, and service. The wise who have seen the truth will impart that wisdom to you.”
Bhagavad Gītā 4:34
Here is a Summary for Clarity
THE FALSE TEACHER and/or TEACHINGS
(Personally as said, it is fine to have some of these things, ie wishes to acquire a jewel or buy a car, we can work with or enjoy these garbs, wear the beautiful clothes, but it is what is underneath driving it that matters: the intention, the SACRED and the non attachment…)
nourishes your dreams
gives you an identity
defines you by telling you that “you are special, you are chosen, you are above others or superior to others.”
you develop dependence, fear, fanaticism, you are closing yourself off, it may be an artificial fragrance that comes from a bottle, not from a flower.
seeks followers, collects the convinced, needs people to attend his retreats, courses, conferences, classes, or satsangs.
builds a prison and calls it “community”
asks you to believe before experiencing
doubt or suspicion is punished
love is mixed with fear or guilt
wishes to acquire a jewel or buy a car
promise you miracles
convinces you that without him you are lost
does not accept sincere questions
needs constant adulation and an audience, he is still hungry; whoever begs for applause on earth cannot guide you to heaven.
in the presence your fear grows, your dependence grows
excites your mind, filling you with words.
gives you a golden cage
THE TRUE ASCETIC and/or TEACHINGS
the true one awakens you, although awakening is not always pleasant.
strips you of your tin medals, leaving you simpler, naked, much more human, and curiously free
distrusts all borrowed greatness and preferred the open weather of reality to the honors of appearance.
you perceive yourself as more conscious, more loving, responsible, you enjoy solitude, you are able to laugh at yourself
needs absolutely nothing from you; he can love you, shake you, speak to you, or perhaps remain silent, but you can be sure that he will never use you to enlarge his image.
creates a space called freedom
does not try to stupefy or hypnotize you with answers, but returns you to your own original gaze
does not suggest that you turn off your intelligence; quite the contrary, he asks you to sharpen your intelligence while returning to your innocence.
does not demand belief; he only appeals to your reason, and then surrender appears as a natural consequence, not as childish obedience, but as spiritual maturity.
points out the miraculous in the ordinary: breathing, looking, loving, sitting in silence and observing.
makes you see that what you seek resides in you as what you truly are.
may seem contradictory, playful, and even dangerous to your certainties, but although he / it dismantles your egoic phenomenon, he / it never lowers your dignity.
takes away your fantasies and illusions, he does not strip you of your freedom.
Rumi understood this fire well: true love does not decorate the prison, but consumes its bars.
quiets, silences something deeper than the mind, and even while speaking, leaves you in silence. Wittgenstein knew that there are truths before which language must bow, because when something is real, it does not always need explanation.
with an invisible hammer and a smile, shatters your cell, only to disappear afterward without taking possession of your life.
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