I've always been conflicted by these gurus, so let me play devil's advocate and present some things I found when I researched Ram Dass / Neem Karoli Baba a while ago:
Some interesting tales by Ram Dass about how Neem Karoli read his mind, ingested ginormous amounts of LSD without any effect, etc; here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb2BWvRN090
The specific story about the Baba reading Ram Dass' mind and informing him that he was thinking about his mother and that she had died of spleen failure stayed with me. Maybe he was informed the previous night that a Professor from the US was arriving whose mother died recently of spleen failure and the rest was about creating an illusion of omniscience?
In any case, a large number of these gurus turn out to be sexual predators, and it is absolutely crushing to those who follow them to discover this.
UG "masturbation is better than meditation" Krishnamurti was a much needed respite from these masters of bullshit for me, personally.
I'd certainly advocate a high level of skepticism.
Even in the article Ram Dass is saying that he gave LSD to the Harvard undergraduate at least in part because he found him attractive. It makes me wonder what else happened in that encounter, but it's certainly a large abuse of power to have a professor giving undergraduate kids LSD.
I also think any discussion about these sorts of western gurus must also include dialogues about race, class, and privilege. If he could afford a Cessna, a Mercedes, a sailboat, and multiple apartments, it certainly was not from just a professor's salary. It's a whole lot easier to take a bunch of drugs then go practice asana and pranayama in India with the sort of safety net it sounded like he had.
Yeah, these guys give off slimy vibes, but I wonder if this term is a little harsh. Women associate willingly with these men, and ostensibly enjoy doing so. If all participants are willing, what is the difference between predation and normal human interaction? Is it not normal for women to be drawn to power and influence?
> The specific story about the Baba reading Ram Dass' mind and informing him that he was thinking about his mother and that she had died of spleen failure stayed with me. Maybe he was informed the previous night that a Professor from the US was arriving whose mother died recently of spleen failure and the rest was about creating an illusion of omniscience?
I recommend learning about cold reading.
(A major component of it isn't just that it's quite easy to talk information out of you with vague prompts, it's that after the fact you will tend to remember that information as having originated with the cold reader. For instance, if the cold-reader just says "You are thinking about someone very close to you" and you say, "I was thinking about my mother", you will later remember the cold reader saying you were thinking about your mother.)
Never heard of UGK before, but I just looked into him and he's quite the interesting fellow. Definitely agree with his views on the "quest" for enlightenment or the aggrandization of medidation/awakening. From what I can tell the actual content of his philosophy seems to consist of a mix of nihilism and determinism
http://www.strippingthegurus.com/stgsamplechapters/dass.html
Some interesting tales by Ram Dass about how Neem Karoli read his mind, ingested ginormous amounts of LSD without any effect, etc; here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb2BWvRN090
The specific story about the Baba reading Ram Dass' mind and informing him that he was thinking about his mother and that she had died of spleen failure stayed with me. Maybe he was informed the previous night that a Professor from the US was arriving whose mother died recently of spleen failure and the rest was about creating an illusion of omniscience?
In any case, a large number of these gurus turn out to be sexual predators, and it is absolutely crushing to those who follow them to discover this.
UG "masturbation is better than meditation" Krishnamurti was a much needed respite from these masters of bullshit for me, personally.