The Guru and Human Mire

— For the deeply religious and those on the Path of Self-Realisation only —

“Gu” means darkness, “ru” means light — this is what the Indian sacred text Sri Guru Gita teaches us (traditionally attributed to the sage Vyasa and preserved within the Skanda Purana). A guru, therefore, is anyone who leads people from the darkness of unconsciousness, ignorance and illusion into the light of realisation, the Highest Knowledge and, through God’s Grace, to Supreme Enlightenment… all the way to allencompassing union with the Divine, in the sense of ishvara pranidhana in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.

Now, it is very difficult to estimate whether there is more “mire” in the Vatican or at Sai

Baba’s worldwide centre, Prasanthi Nilayam… I am also thinking here of all the horrors of the Crusades and other so-called “holy” wars… I am thinking of the private as well as ritual sexual abuse and rape of women and children, both in the dark chambers of the “glorious” Inquisition (as well as in the darkness of contemporary sacristies, seminaries and the like) and in Indian temples (see more at https://idsn.org/key-issues/forced-prostitution/devadasi-article/).

In this context we have to mention Boko Haram as well, along with religious and traditional female genital mutilation in Africa… (see more at https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation)

For decades, I have received much of my information “first-hand” — from victims who came to me seeking healing and salvation for their souls and bodies. There was, for example, a member of an Indian religious community from Macedonia whose small children almost became victims of sexual slavery in an Indian gurukula (educational institution); a German-Iranian man who was sexually exploited for years in his homeland by his mullah; and a Croatian victim of a Catholic priest — a monster from Bibinje near Zadar…

From all this, it becomes clear that a title or position within a human society is often nothing more than yet another terrible delusion, the darkest of illusions. Quite simply, the world is full of popes, cardinals, avatars and gurus who are none of these things.

But let us be realistic: in a world where such absurdities are possible — and, unfortunately, common — the followers of, for example, Donald Trump or Putin are no better either…

Followers would rather argue over whose spiritual or worldly leader, or “pope”, is better,

closer to God, Justice and so on, than sincerely and wholeheartedly follow their own leader…

Multitudes of followers devote themselves more to defaming other people’s gurus than to

wholeheartedly practising the teachings of their own teachers. Many “self-sufficient”

alternative spiritualists who have — you can imagine! — learnt to walk by themselves, learnt to speak by themselves, educated themselves (rather than being taught by schoolteachers), and finally even “enlightened” themselves through autodidactic means — are just as zealous in pouring bile over other teachers instead of sharing the fruits of their own supposed enlightenment. As for secular, materialistic “experts”, there is no need to say more…

So, I would now like to ask all of you a question: when you attend a lecture by a spiritual

teacher (or read one of their books), does your soul yearn for self-realisation and realisation of God, or are you too often looking for the teacher’s faults and weaknesses? It is difficult to shake the mud of the world from ourselves when we have been immersed in it since birth.

Let me now tell you about a personal experience of mine:

On my father’s and mother’s side, I am Croatian and Catholic. I attained a certain

supranational and supradenominational consciousness in my early twenties, on the path of Indian yoga. Around that same time, I experienced my first great enlightenment. Sometime around 1975, I met the first two Croatian missionaries of the Hare Krishna movement on the street. They were Vlado Radeka, whose spiritual name was Gopikant, and his faithful companion Lučano (Lakshman). They gave me a little booklet with a picture of Swami Prabhupada on the cover. In time, I would occasionally attend gatherings of the Hare Krishna community in Zagreb. I loved their joyful chanting of mantras devoted to Krishna, the Indian god of love. I also loved their exotic food, especially the desserts. But most of all, I loved their sincere endeavour to draw closer to their divine ideal through brahmacharya (a particular form of sexual abstinence)…

What separated me from them was a very clear awareness that I no longer wished to advance spiritually through belonging to this or that religion, as well as the fact that Swami Prabhupada struck me as rather unappealing. Nor did I particularly get along with the famous Vishnupad (Harikesa Swami), whom I met at the Hare Krishna centre in Zagreb at the time. This was especially because, even then, I was also practising tantric kundalini yoga.

A year or two later, in November 1977, Swami Prabhupada, at the age of 81, left his physical body. I only learnt of this some time afterwards, when, at the Hare Krishna centre in Zagreb, I excitedly told them about an extraordinary spiritual experience I have had with their teacher, Swami Prabhupada — and this had occurred in the midst of a tantric sexual encounter with my girlfriend at the time. I was in a state of samarasa, the highest spiritual ecstasy and a state of unity-consciousness in which the need for physical orgasm completely disappears. I experienced the state of samarasa again and again.

But that night, in the midst of samarasa, an enormous figure of Swami Prabhupada appeared to me against the starry sky, perhaps thirty to forty meters tall (in a seated position). He looked straight at me, and from his eyes radiated pure Divine Love, but also an indescribable power. I do not know how long it lasted — a minute, two, three… Some time later, I shared this miraculous expansion of consciousness with my partner as well. Most probably, that was the very night on which the great teacher and founder of the Hare Krishna movement entered mahasamadhi.

From that moment on, Swami Prabhupada is not only no longer unappealing to me; I always feel a profound spiritual respect, admiration, spiritual love, and even a certain kind of spiritual brotherhood towards him. It is difficult to put this into words.

So, even when we do not like someone’s nose, or their theory, or their religion, let us

nevertheless remain alert and open. For we never know why God leads us through one

experience or another, or why He brings us into contact with all kinds of different people—for if we knew what God’s plan is and what His ultimate intention is, we would be equal to Him, and yet we are not, are we?!

Aba Aziz Makaja