Stripping the Gurus [Hardcover]

I have to agree with the other reviewers that this is a rather shoddy book. I point out one example to illustrate the point...

In order to grab attention, the author lists various misdeeds of some well-known figures on the page immediately after the cover page. Given that Vivekananda is so well-known, he is targeted with the "headline", "His chief disciple, Vivekananda, visited brothels in India". The fact that Vivekananda is listed second (just after Ramakrishna) on the first page of the book would lead you to believe that Vivekananda was a frequent visitor of brothels. In the index, Vivekananda is referenced 12 times. I looked each of these up to see what they said. In the brothel incident, friends of Vivekananda took him to a brothel after the death of his father in a misguided attempt to cheer him up. When Vivekananda arrived at the brothel, he had some drinks with his friends and then he essentially chastised them about their intentions at the brothel and left. Nothing happened! And...what about the rest of his misdeeds? There aren't any. The rest of the citations involve, for example, negative critiques of his written material, etc. Wow, if only our own lives had such a small amount of dirt! Then, towards the end of the book, the author talks about Vivekananda once more.

"We cannot take refuge in the idea that any of the individuals exposed herein are simply "false teachers", and that genuinely enlightened individuals would not behave so poorly. ... For, if
there is such a thing as a "genuine guru," who would have ever doubted that Vivekananda, Trungpa, Muktananda or Yogananda would qualify as such? These are not the "worst" of gurus, they are
rather among the widely recognized "best"! ...

The implication is that Vivekananda was a "false teacher" who, though not the worst was certainly bad. All of this is based solely on the single incident stated above. Sivananda is also maligned in a similar manner with very little justification. I didn't look at the other "gurus" whom he condemns but I would guess his criticisms against many of them are equally unjustified.

So I have to say that the book is pretty much junk. Having said that, I would agree with the author in one respect, namely, keep your eyes open. A truly enlightened individual should always live by their ideals. You "should" rightfully be suspicious about someone claiming to be enlightened whose behavior shows otherwise.

I agree with the other review posted here which accurately notes that this book falls very short of objectivity with an emphasis on he said, she said innuendo. But the greater shortcoming has to do with the painfully obvious, at times immature vitriol, at times totally irrelevant associations, that the author uses to construct his arguments. Not exactly a logician's skill. That gurus are wrong, corrupt, and predatory power-hungry megalomaniacs is a forgone conclusion prior to a word being written. Such intellectual dishonesty is not uncommon in the very necessary conversation around purity and spiritual authority, but this book does nothing to make a useful contribution to understanding this debate. Granted, some of the revelations in this book are true, albeit very old news. Some of these critiques feel like shooting fish in the barrel. That substance abuse, sexual misconduct, etc., is to be discovered behind the curtain is not unique to spiritual leaders. And while it is true that such leaders should be held to the highest ethical standards should they propose to lead others, the book fails miserably to examine, or contribute anything useful to, the conversation about the struggle for higher values that confronts the entire human endeavor. And the lack of breadth also exposes a limiting bias. In seeming to target, for some reason, eastern mystics, the author sharply misses any discussion of the rather colorful pope's of the 13th and 14th centuries (a not at all insignificant point when one examines the roots of the Enlightenment), the tragic contemporary interpretation of the Qur'an by a culture that rejects modernism, or even the crisis of pedophelia in the Catholic priesthood.

The author might be reminded that in his critique of great visionaries and peerless leaders (Sri Orobindo, HH Dalai Lama??) that spiritual experience is real, Love is real, and respect for both are critical for pulling humanity upward out of the petty, and oh so dangerous divisions that imperil our world. Unfortunately, this book is far more an expression of that division than any contribution to transcending it.

Ironically... this book's claims are (largely) as weak as the claims it attempts to falsify. I cannot say if the gurus that this book goes after are fakes, but the material in this book is equally questionable.

The material in this book lacks rigorous basis for many of its implied conclusions. Arguments used to falsify a guru's claims are based on some ex-devotee or a third person ... and in many straightaway assumed.

The references appear to be carefully selected (without proper context) and in many cases could clearly be interpreted more sanely. For instance this statement embedded in the chapter on Swami Rama.. "Mahatma Gandhi was indeed sleeping with teenage girls (including his cousin's granddaughter) toward the end of his life"... is used to imply perversion.

In the perverted American/western society the act of sharing a bed between any two people is instantly associated with sex. However in the eastern cultures like India, a grandfather sharing bed with his grandchild, father with daughter, or brother with sister, or brothers or even friends sharing beds are not uncommon. Linking this to sex would be considered fairly imaginative.

Also relies on *potentially* relevant quotations to build up a case in a certain direction.