The Love Guru: Hurting Religious sentiments, by Somnath Paramshetti
Introduction:
The Love Guru is a comedy starring Mike Myers, Jessica Alba & Ben Kingsley and directed by Marco Schnabel. It is set to release on June 20, 2008. In it Myers plays an American, raised in an aashram in India, who moves back to US as Guru Pitka to seek fame and fortune in the world of self-help and Spirituality. The movie is an excellent example of anti-Hindu venom being often spit out in an unbridled manner. This article will discuss the deep significance of our glorious Guru-Shishya tradition and the repercussions of this denigrating comedy.
Here is an excerpt from the Spiritual Science Research Foundation (SSRF), which aims to educate humanity on the spiritual dimension and how it affects our lives.
Importance of Guru:
What if children were told to educate themselves in modern sciences without any teacher or any access to prior knowledge gained over centuries? What if we had to reinvent the wheel in every walk of life, without having access to knowledge that was already available from authorities in the field? If this were the case, we would spend a lifetime trying to educate ourselves without making much headway or perhaps even going down a wrong path.
In the same way, a guide is very much required in our spiritual journey too. It stands to reason that a guide in any field needs to be an authority in that particular field. According to Spiritual science a person who is an authority in the field of Spirituality is known as a Guru.
There is a saying that in the kingdom of the blind the seeing man is king. With a highly activated sixth sense, He is the totally ‘seeing’ person in the kingdom of the spiritually blind and ignorant. He is someone, who has already walked the spiritual road under the guidance of his Spiritual Guide and has access to the Universal Mind and Intellect. (Just as humans, animals, etc. have a mind and intellect, so does God’s entire creation, the universe has a Universal Mind and Intellect. It contains absolutely genuine information of all things in universe. It can be thought of as God’s Mind and Intellect. As we progress spiritually our subtle mind an intellect merges with Universal Mind an Intellect. This is how we are able to access information about the whole of God’s creation.)
Literal Meaning of Guru
The word ‘Guru’ is derived from the Sanskrit language and has a deep spiritual meaning. Its two syllables Gu and Ru stand for the following:
Gu denotes the spiritual ignorance that most of mankind is in.
Ru represents the radiance of spiritual knowledge that dispels the spiritual ignorance.
In short, the Guru is the One who dispels the darkness of spiritual ignorance in man and bestows upon him spiritual experiences and spiritual knowledge.
Guru-Disciple: The One and Only Relationship in the World
The relationship between the Guru and the Disciple is considered very sacred. This is the only true relationship. This relationship is purely spiritual in nature. The only awareness that a Disciple should foster is, ‘I should be uplifted spiritually’. The Guru too harbours only one thought, ‘May this Disciple be uplifted’. This relationship is independent of age of the two. It is based on maturity of Gyan (Spiritual Knowledge) and Sadhana (Spiritual Practice).
All living beings progress only through Gyan and Sadhana. All other relationships are born out of fear or social compulsions. Hence they are bound by worldly restrictions. In these relationships, the ego constantly manifests itself and Gyan and Sadhana have no value. In other words, maintaining the ego helps preserve these relationships. Such relationships are albeit false.
(For more details visit http://spiritualresearchfoundation.org/spiritualresearch/spiritualscience/guru/ )
‘Guru-Shishya’ tradition ridiculed in Hollywood’s Love Guru
The trailer released by Paramount pictures shows utter disrespect for the deep spiritual significance of the Guru. It shows the Guru in a very poor light and encourages the audience to laugh at the Guru. The movie takes the Guru through a whole range of scenes some of which are quite lurid such as the Guru wearing a chastity belt, having an erection, bar brawls, accepting money to playing cupid, etc.
If the trailer is an indicator of the content of the movie, then this movie is not only likely to hurt the sentiments of seekers from various spiritual paths, but also will contribute to the misunderstanding about the sacred concept of the ‘Guru.’ It will create and reinforce negative stereotypes about Hindu beliefs.
It is an extremely shocking depiction of the Guru principle and goes to great lengths to humiliate and poke fun at the basic foundations of Sanatan Dharma (Hinduism). Poking fun is one thing, but if it creates a sense of belittling others’ faith, then it is wrong.
Criticism about the movie:
The movie has met with much criticism from many quarters for its flippant depiction of the Guru, which only enhances disrespect about the Guru principle. Furthermore the movie has Deepak Chopra, a ’spiritual leader’ in the US, taking up a small cameo role. He has written a number of best seller books on spirituality. A true spiritual leader or a person who has evolved spiritually would not indulge in mockery of the Guru Principle, which is one of the very fundamental principles of his path. If having acted in the movie was not bad enough; Mr. Chopra has been very vocal about defending the movie. He has made irresponsible statements expressing gratefulness to religious critics for creating publicity both for the movie and his book. He said, “This was a great opportunity to make our Indian philosophy even more popular.”
What are the repercussions of making such a movie and of watching it?
The sanctity of the Guru-disciple tradition is reflected in Lord Jesus and His disciples, Buddha and His disciples, Lord Krushna and Arjun, etc.
At a psychological level, such a movie creates or enhances the impression of disrespect for the Guru. The grace of the Guru is the most important factor in realizing the basic spiritual purpose of life. How can we work to attain the grace of someone we have disrespect for? Thus we suffer a great loss. This loss is even greater for those in society at an impressionable age.
At a spiritual level, as per the science of spirituality when we do good deeds, we earn merits and when we do bad deeds we incur demerits. SSRF did spiritual research into the spiritual repercussions of the various acts involved like making the movie, watching it, etc.
To understand the result of this spiritual research better, let’s take an example of the possible demerits on a scale from 1 to 100 that a person would accrue if he were to murder an average person, a seeker and a saint. The demerit accrued if an average person is murdered is equal to 30 units, if a seeker is murdered equal to 60 units, and if a saint is murdered is equal to 100 units. The demerit earned when a person murders a saint is the maximum possible. This is because at a spiritual level, he affects society at large positively. The above example will help us realize the gravity of the demerits (shown in the table) earned by the people associated with the movie. The table also shows what it would mean to them in context of these acts alone. Ultimately what they would actually undergo in the afterlife would depend on the sum total of all the merits and demerits in their lives.
|
Act |
Demerit | Means* |
| Those making the movie, The Love Guru | 30 units | 2nd region of Hell for 1000 years |
| Those watching it for entertainment without knowing the science | 2 units | Bhuvaloka for 100 yrs |
| Seekers of God knowing about the movie but doing nothing to stop it | 5 units | 1st region of Hell for 100 yrs |
*To understand the region (various planes of universe) please visit http://www.spiritualresearchfoundation.org/spiritualresearch/spiritualscience/afterdeath/
What can we do to voice our protest against the movie?
• Writing letters of protest to Paramount pictures
• Educating family, friends and acquaintances about the ill effects of the movie
• Encouraging people not to watch it
• Register your protest by signing online petition at http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/4191.html
|| Dharmo Rakshati Rakshataha ||
The author, Somnath Paramshetti, is volunteer for Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (www.hindujagruti.org). The aim of Hindu Janjagruti Samiti is to bring awareness on current issues and to unite Hindus around the globe. By profession Somnath is a software engineer and works for ConAgra Foods Omaha, Nebraska.
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May 1st, 2008 14:44
There is an article in rediff (April 23, 2008) ‘The man who took on religion’ (http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/apr/23sld1.htm). It says, “Dr Chopra says he does not consider himself a Hindu and that has been his spiritual position for over 25 years….His interest in the spiritual side of Hinduism and traditional Indian medicine evolved while observing a mind-body connection in his research, and an encounter in 1985 with the Maharishi at a DC conference, he has said.”
I wrote the following comment in response. What contradictory and confusing a person, Dr Gupta. He said, he don’t consider himself a Hindu, but again talked on his interest on spiritual side of Hinduism and Indian medicine. Please be honest Dr Gupta, it is Hindu or Sanatan or Vedic dharma that shaped your career and personality. How can you detach spirituality of Hinduism and Indian medicine (Ayurveda) and Yoga (from your Guru Maharshi Mahesh Yogi) from Hindu or Sanatan Dharma? What credit you want to take out of what? Are you ashamped to call yourself a Hindu or a follower of Sanatan dharma, when you make your life on it? I think, Dr Gupta perhaps suffering from a inferiority complex disease, for which there is no medicine in Dr Gupta’s medical science but in Hindu/Sanatan spirituality only. Please remove your name Deepak (a Hindu Vedic Sanskrit word) from name and then see, how much you can sale yourself. Remove Yoga, ayurveda, vedic knowledge from your work, and see where you stand. A big Zero would be the final result.
Bharat Kr
May 1st, 2008 14:54
Mistake in above message: Its Dr Chopra, not Dr. Gupta.
May 2nd, 2008 23:12
I understand your point. I completely agree that such movies are giving the wrong ideas about certain parts of our culture. But how can I show others how wrong the movie is, without actually having seen it? How does that fall into the demerit/merit system?
During the “The DaVinci Code” controversies, I remember coming across individuals who would talk about the book and how wrong it was without actually having read it. Those individuals seemed so radical and unhelpful, and were the worst people to gain information on the topic. I wanted to know exactly what was wrong with the depiction in the book, but these people had never read it, how could they tell me?
Along the same lines, I feel that we should create some sort of resistance against the movie, but when the movie comes out, I also think we should see it. We should be able to concretely explain, on an individual basis, what the problems are with the movie.
May 14th, 2008 09:46
Deepak Chopra is a KING of ayurveda. Now, what you speak of him does not matter to him. If one perceives what he is stating one will understand and appreciate that he is pleading to the world at large to remove barrier of “RELIGIOUS” confines in institutional ownerships and instead adopt, adapt and practice universal religion of humanity based on love, compassion and faith in one another. To put another of our own kind down and to praise westerners because of inferiority or personal reasons is pathetic. To encourage such remarks in TATTVA magazine is in itself a shameful portray of how indians put another of their own indians down due to “ircha”. If one needs to learn a good lesson in life, one must comprehend live examples like the ISMAILIS, whose community UNITES together to help each other all over the world! Why discard the GOLDEN TEMPLE of Amritsaar even wherein such divinity manifests without shadow of doubts. In the Rishikesh SIVA_ANANDA sanctuary no one is Brahmin or a Vaishya or a Kshatriya; all are devotees. Meerabai has left us with such beautiful divine example - SHE IS WORLD CLASS GURU NUMBER ONE. Nevermind.
May 18th, 2008 18:11
Can anyone please tell me what is provoking and absurd about the movie since I know nothing about the movie except that I read herein that our religion is affected by it….Wow, it is something that i would term and classify as “MINDBLOWING” after the wrecks of “AKBARKAJODHA OPS JODHA AKBAR” {WHICH I FELT WAS A LITTLE BIT TOO HUMILIATING AND OVERWHELMINGLY STUPID}.
May 20th, 2008 21:17
“Heroism” {false or true} in the name of religion has manifested largely under the HINDU religion than any other religion. “Guru” is a word used to describe any leader or autocratic figure of mind that dominates many followers {ignorant or otherwise unaware of the divine truth}. Most of the present day gurus claim fake heroism based on false ownership of their position, scrupulous intellectualism, canny publications, proactive marketing campaigns, false propagandas and canny methodologies of convincing divinity to those that are not fully aware of true real spiritual divinity. Such figures are either society prime names or otherwise socially prestigious in their positions. The movie is at large projecting an impression more than anything else. This impression is a reflection upon what is a fake Guru. Someone who knowingly lies in claiming to have wisdom and enlightenment and so on, when in reality all they have is ordinary consciousness but extra ordinary intellect. They don’t even the most superficial insight into the real spiritual world, or even into the outer aspects of the subtle regions. Their consciousness is totally limited to the mundane world. They may have some power and charisma, but really it is a power, usually related to high I.Q., extremely cunning reasoning powers, and very high monetary capabilities or desire to greed of monetary gains. In other words commercial con artists. One must understand the gist of its making. It must not be taken personally as an insult to mean that such a movie is attacking religion. No where in the story lines or trailer i found any personal attack upon Hinduism. However, truly, we as a group of AYURVEDIC PRACTITIONERS and VEDIC studies, found the movie trailer hilariously funny because we see such fake heroism in the name of religion most prominently featuring with selfish motives, selfish intentions, and selfish desires. Such fake heroes never actually dirty their hands to actually participate in the eradication of disease, poverty, pain, ignorance, or disasters other than writing to impress or speaking to impress or propagating to impress. True to the virtues of REAL GURU, a true Guru never demeans one’s own cultural heritage or one’s own ancestry and family traditions. A true guru always forbears to listen and to nurture dharma and values of GODHEAD. A true Guru always lights our hearts, and having lit lets us find our way into the light of million delights. THAT IS THE PURPOSE OF SATT-CHITT-ANANADA AND HENCE CHIDDA-ANANDA-IS THE TRUE BRAHMA GURU…….One;s soul divine is the seat of PARAMA-GURU; No one is greater than SHIVA as a guru, no one is higher than Shiva as a guru.
Gurur Brahma Gurur Vishnoo Gurur Devo Maheshvara Gurur shaakshat ParaBrahmah Shree Guruvaye Namoh Namah…
Guru is verily the representative of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. He creates, sustains knowledge and destroys the weeds of ignorance. I salute such a Guru.
Akhanda Mandalaakaaram
Vyaaptam Yenam charaacharam
Tatpadam Darshitam Yena
Tasmai Sri Gurave Namaha
Guru can guide us to the supreme knowledge of THAT which pervades all the living and non-living beings in the entire Universe (namely Brahman). I salute such a Guru
Agnee, Vayau, Indra, Varunna, Soumah, Surya, Chandra, Issanah, Brahaspatti Devata namoh namah Sarva Prakash divya prakasha suprabhanttam.
Aum Bhur Bhuvah Suvah Aum Tat Savitur VArenyam Bhargo Devaasya Dhimahi DhiyoYo Naha Prachodayaatt Aum Tat SAt.
That cosmos filled with divine enlightened Gurus from Agnee to Braahaspatti, may our souls be enlightened by the GAYATRI mantra, the very energy radiating mantra of the divine GOD Surya. Aum tat Sat is the Guru mantra of that Cosmic Great SPirit of life…………
TRUST IN ONE GURU THAT WHICH VERILY IS SHIVA, SEE LIGHT OF THE GAYATRI MANTRA AND EXPERIENCE THE DIVINITY OF THE MOTHER “MAA” TRIPURASUNDARI WHO IS TRINITY SAVITREE {DIVINE RAYS OF THE SUN}, SAMNDHYA {DUSK AND THE DAWN}, AND SARASVATTI {DIVINE MOTHER GODDESS OF LEARNING AND VEDIC WISDOM}.
AUM SHANTIH.
Jaya Satt Chitt Ananda ChiddaaAnanda.Hari Aum Tat Sat.
March 22nd, 2009 17:58
Generally I do not post on blogs, but I would like to say that this post really forced me to do so! really nice post.