The Sex Lives of Gurus

 

From caterhamuk (Prema) on:

Sathya Sai Baba Discussion Club, message 405:

http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/sathyasaibabadiscussionclub

Date: 9/19/00 10:24 a.m.

Hi,

Reply to question d/d 9.19.00

Jack Kornfield writes in his excellent book 'A Path With A Heart' the following:

"I wrote an article for an American Magazine called 'The Sex Lives of Gurus.' I interviewed fifty-three Zen masters, lamas, swamis, and/or their senior students about their sex lives and the sexual relations of the teachers. What I discovered was quite simple.

The birds do it, the bees do it, and most gurus do it too. Like any group of people in our culture, their sexual practices varied. There were heterosexuals, bisexuals, homosexuals and others - too many to name here!!!"

The training of most teachers and gurus in monasteries and ashrams in Asia or elsewhere is a mystical and inner training that almost never touches upon the difficult issues of power and its potential abuse. Teachers are thrown into the role of super-guides and confidants, in which they have tremendous responsibility and power. Yet many of their spiritual systems and practices explicitly exclude the human areas of sexuality, money, and power from what is considered spiritual.

In other words, many gurus, masters etc. although excellent at teaching the 'word,' often are no better than anyone else when it comes to power, sex, greed, or anything else. We, ourselves, project so much on to our chosen ideals, but sadly very few gurus, teachers, can live up to our expectations of them.

When SB tells us he is 'God, also you are God,' he means, we all have the source (the light) within us. It is a bold statement, but true, we do all have the light within us.

This doesn't excuse bad behaviour in masters and teachers, but it does explain it.

Jack Kornfield writing about abuse.
From A Path With A Heart. -page 259

Nowhere is this more obvious than in the area of sexuality. The power of sexuality is enormous - it produces all of humanity; it is that creative force that dances through all of life. Yet its exclusion from much of spiritual life has been disastrous."

Love Prema