Acharya Shree, Many Westerners consider themselves
spiritually advanced, spiritually experienced and
spiritually knowledgeable. These spiritualists consider themselves
healers, spiritual teachers and claim
that they have reached higher states of consciousness.
What are your comments?
Wonderful.
Westerners, have
habits to cling
with Indian culture and they
think India is an advanced country for spirituality
They go back and forth.
And they think they are
learning. They are becoming
spiritually advanced.
India used to be spiritually
advanced.
When it was the right time. When Buddha was
traveling. When Mahavira was here.
Even after them, after
1200 years almost. India was
really really spiritually advanced.
And all these students or truth seekers, they used to get
all the glimpses of truth. For them it was real.
But after
that it was the beginning
to fall down.
But the name was very good.
So, still Westerners, they don't have
the idea of spirituality, so they go seek
spirituality in India or other countries
Asian countries.
Spiritually advanced people are totally
different than what you see.
Westerners have that habit
that they want to achieve things right away, they don't
want to wait.
And there is no certain courses for
spiritually advanced. Even
an elite trader who cannot write or cannot
read can be spiritually advanced.
But these Westerners
are well versed
they try to seek truth through books
because wherever they go to India
they get trapped into Swami stuff or
Sadhu stuff. They recommend
to read Gita or read Upanishada
or read this book or read that book and that is what they start reading.
Even if they tell them to repeat everyday Gita
If you repeat everyday one chapter, you are going to go
to heaven. That is where they get trapped
And they start memorizing books.
This memorization
doesn't make them a spiritual person
Is a computer better than those people?
Professors can repeat better words
than those spiritually advanced people.
What is their significance?
They heard that an Indian Yogi can walk on water.
And they want to see
those miracles.
Somehow they are amazed that someone is walking on water.
But, reality is totally different. No one can walk on water.
If a boat is available
why not pay one dollar and cross the river.
If someone achieves that quality to walk on water
spending his or her whole life
What is the significance? You can cross the river?
Just to save one dollar you worked hard for your entire life?
That is what they consider
as spiritually advanced. But, let me tell you the truth.
Westerner spiritual students
They are very innocent.
They get a little bit of knowledge from India
but they have one bad habit
They, most of them not all,
I am not saying all of them, but most of them were addicted to drugs.
They smoke cigarettes, they smoke
pot.
They go to India and get trapped into those Sahdus, they give them
Sulfa, bhang smoking pots.
They think that they are getting higher.
They are not higher at all. They are drugged
They are under the influence
of marijuana or bhang
or any other slufa, charas they give to them.
And they think they are seeing.
They are in an hallucination.
They can see things, they can see the colors. It doesn't make them
spiritually advanced.
Spiritually advanced people will drop all of these ideas.
They will not use alcohol. They will not use any drugs.
They will not use any kind of charas, slufa, bhang or marijuana.
They will be healthy
first. A healthy body is a healthy mind.
A healthy mind is a healthy spirit.
That is what they need to learn. And to be Vegetarian, first step.
So, if they are on the right track
they can become spiritually advanced.
Because they have qualities
they are not fully illiterate and they can understand.
Logically. They can understand psychologically.
They can understand scientifically. But the real
teacher. They need a real teacher.
But unfortunately they do not find a real teacher.
They find fake Sadhus. They find fake teachers.
And they get trapped into it.
They have money, so they can pay. It is easily available.
So, those people have a tendency.
They have a little meditation, glimpses in the meditation.
Or they are practicing, because it is totally different
than the Western method, so they get attracted to it.
After that when they come back, again
they go back to the drugs. They go back and forth, back and forth.
Those people consider themselves spiritually
advanced. Because now they have two tastes
one is by drug, hallucination, and one is
a strong drug in India that is more hallucination.
They are far away from Spirituality.
They are not advanced at all. How can they be a healer?
The person who takes drugs cannot heal the other person.
Mahatma Ghandi, somebody went to
him to take their grandson.
That Bapu, she said the he eats
a lot of candy. Can you give him a
vow that he will stop eating it. Bapu said to return
in two days. She came after two days
with her grandson and Bapu said
fold your hands. I will give you a vow. "Never eat Candy"
She asked then, why didn't you give it the same day? I had to go
far away. There are no vehicles no car.
He said,
Ghandi said, "I
had the habit to eat candy, so I practiced for two days
if I could be without candy."
That person, has authority to give a vow to someone.
So, the teacher
who are into drugs, they cannot teach
them meditation. They cannot teach them healing.
They cannot. These Western people
who got trapped into it. They cannot be healers.
They cannot be spiritual teachers.
Yes, they can be a professor. I have not doubt about that.
They can be a professor. They can repeat books.
They can memorize the whole book and repeat it and claim it.
But that claim doesn't make them a spiritually
advanced. They have to
the true path.
They have see the true path. The true path is the true path.
It is taught by a true teacher.