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There are many cheaters in this world, especially in the area of religion and spirituality. Of course, there is a ready market for such cheaters, because most people want to be cheated. That is, they want an easy method with instant benefits, and no personal responsibility for the results. But this approach virtually guarantees that you will be cheated, because the authentic path of spiritual life, self-realization and enlightenment is not such a cheap thing.

We do not have many students because we teach just the opposite: to attain success in spiritual life requires diligent effort over a significant period of time, driven by deep study of the original esoteric Vedic texts under the expert and experienced guidance of a self-realized soul. The Esoteric Teaching is simple in principle, but like anything worthwhile in life, it requires hard work, intelligent discrimination and responsible application to reach the highest goal.

Recently an ex-student of ours was cheated by a con-artist claiming to represent the same tradition of the Esoteric Teaching. He told her that he would give her residential quarters in a nice ashram, personally instruct her and help her realize the Absolute Truth. He actually got her to resign from her job and give up her apartment, before she found out, to her dismay, that ‘Tantric sex’ was part of the bargain.

By that time she had burned her bridges and was in a desperate situation. She emailed me and I gave her the best advice I could, considering that she was on the other side of the planet and I have not been in India since 1999. But I also asked her to consider her complicity in the mess she found herself in. I was not being sarcastic; there is an important lesson in it, one that she unfortunately is having to learn the hard way.

Anyone who has been following this podcast knows that I advocate forming small, informal local groups to practice the Esoteric Teaching in the friendly association of like-minded souls. We also provide an extensive set of materials and guidance for managing such a study group. I will never tell you to give up your job and join some bizarre commune; and this was also my spiritual master’s teaching. Keep doing whatever you’re doing, but add the practices of the Esoteric Teaching to your existing routine.

Gradually you can build a nice association of students of the Esoteric Teaching in your location. Step-by-step you can create your own spiritual community, and make advancement in spiritual life without radically changing your lifestyle. We are not selling franchises or a business plan; we are offering information and assistance so you can take responsibility for your own spiritual life and attain success.

The key is in the concept of responsibility; I can offer you inspiration and guidance, but I cannot do your chanting or other sadhana for you, or create a spiritual community for you. You have to take the responsibility to do that for yourself. In general, the more responsibility you take for your own spiritual life, the better off you’ll be. If you follow this advice, no one can cheat or exploit you.

The desire to be cheated often comes disguised as a willingness to give up responsibility; it is a form of laziness. “Let the expert solve my problem for me.” Doctors know how to exploit this very well. So do phony spiritual teachers. They offer you something very grand for very little effort. All you have to do is give them your life savings, or move in to their ashram and participate in their illicit ‘Tantric sex’ program.

It’s a racket; just like those spam emails everyone gets about transferring millions of dollars out of Africa through your bank account. The thing is, to fall for any of these scams requires that the sucker has a little larceny hidden in their heart as well. Everyone knows it is illegal to transfer millions of dollars in cash from one country to another; it’s called money laundering, and it is a serious crime.

Similarly, everyone who falls for a phony spiritual teacher knows, somewhere deep down in their heart, that the whole deal is bogus. The thing is, they want to be cheated, to have an external reason not to work hard to attain self-realization, a good rationale for failing and becoming bitter; a perfect excuse never to try again, to remain in illusion, to suffer and die in ignorance.

The person in material illusion is actually envious of his own self. He creates a situation where he has a perfect justification to cheat God out of the service due to Him. But actually, of course, the only one he cheats is himself.

sa vancito batatma-dhruk
krcchrena mahata bhuvi
labdhvapavargyam manusyam
visayesu visajjate

“Any person who engages himself within this material world in performing activities that necessitate great struggle, and who, after obtaining a human form of life—which is a chance to attain liberation from all miseries—undertakes the difficult tasks of fruitive activities, must be considered to be cheated and envious of his own self.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.23.28]

Kṛṣṇa explains this in Bhagavad-gita:

ahankaram balam darpam
kamam krodham ca samsritah
mam atma-para-dehesu
pradvisanto ’bhyasuyakah

“Bewildered by false ego, strength, pride, lust and anger, the demons become envious of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is situated in their own bodies and in the bodies of others, and blaspheme against the real religion.” [Bhagavad-gita 16.18]

My spiritual master writes in his commentary:

“A demoniac person, being always against God’s supremacy, does not like to believe in the scriptures. He is envious of both the scriptures and the existence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is caused by his so-called prestige and his accumulation of wealth and strength. He does not know that the present life is a preparation for the next life. Not knowing this, he is actually envious of his own self, as well as of others. He commits violence on other bodies and on his own. He does not care for the supreme control of the Personality of Godhead, because he has no knowledge. Being envious of the scriptures and the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he puts forward false arguments against the existence of God and denies the scriptural authority. He thinks himself independent and powerful in every action. He thinks that since no one can equal him in strength, power or wealth, he can act in any way and no one can stop him.”

There is an element of childish obstinacy and irresponsibility in all of us. We are lazy, and would like someone else to do the hard work of self-realization. Because of this fault, we are vulnerable to ill-motivated charlatans who will gladly exploit us in different ways, leaving us to bemoan our failure as someone else’s fault. And we accept them, because secretly we want to make someone else responsible for our own lack of determination and self-discipline.

The real truth is that we are each individually responsible for our own spiritual advancement, or lack thereof. I can advise you based on the timeless wisdom of the Esoteric Teaching, and try to motivate you to do your best to follow it. But I cannot rise early, take your beads in your hands, and chant your mantra for you. I cannot make sure that your food is pure vegetarian, cook it for you and offer it to Kṛṣṇa with appropriate and heartfelt prayers.

You have to do that, and if you do, you will reap the tremendous spiritual benefits offered in Bhagavad-gita and other texts of the Esoteric Teaching. Conversely, if you do not do it, you will suffer the consequences of your laziness and lack of faith—no one else.

So we are not trying to involve you in a cult, sell you a membership in a pyramid scheme, or seduce you into a so-called Tantric swingers’ club. We are giving you the Supreme Absolute Truth of the Esoteric Teaching, and it is up to you to apply it properly and get the benefit. You will not find this truthful, straightforward and pure approach in any other spiritual teaching.

visama-matir na yatra nrnam
tvam aham iti mama taveti ca yad anyatra
visama-dhiya racito yah
sa hy avisuddhah ksayisnur adharma-bahulah

“Being full of contradictions, all forms of religion but the Esoteric Teaching work under conceptions of fruitive results and distinctions of ‘you and I’ and ‘yours and mine.’ The followers of the Esoteric Teaching have no such consciousness. They are all Kṛṣṇa conscious, thinking that ‘I am Kṛṣṇa’s, and Kṛṣṇa is mine.’ There are other, low-class religious systems, which are contemplated for the killing of enemies or the gain of mystic power, but such religious systems, being full of passion and envy, are impure and temporary. Because they are full of envy, they are full of irreligion.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.16.42]

The Esoteric Teaching has no contradictions. Conceptions of ‘your religion’ and ‘my religion’ are completely absent from it. Ultimately, the Esoteric Teaching means following the orders given by the Supreme Lord, Bhagavan, as stated in Bhagavad-gita:

sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami ma sucah

“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.” [Bhagavad-gita 18.66]

God is one, and God is for everyone. Therefore everyone must surrender to God. That is the pure conception of religion. Whatever God orders constitutes religion.

dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam

“Real religious principles are enacted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.3.19]

In the Esoteric Teaching there is no question of ‘what you believe’ and ‘what I believe.’ Everyone must simply accept the orders of the Supreme Lord and carry them out.

Real religion means anukulyena Kṛṣṇanusilanam: “favorable cultivation of service in relationship to Kṛṣṇa.” [Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 19.167] whatever Kṛṣṇa says—whatever God says—should be directly carried out. That is dharma, religion. You are personally responsible for carrying out Kṛṣṇa’s instructions. No one else can do your duty for you.

Therefore the Esoteric Teaching is not just another concocted sectarian belief, for it entails deep scriptural research to understand how everything is connected with Kṛṣṇa: isavasyam idam sarvam [Sri Isopanisad, mantra 1]. According to the Vedic injunctions, sarvam khalv idam brahma: Brahman, the Supreme, is present in everything.

The Esoteric Teaching awakens us to this omnipresence of the Supreme. The Esoteric Teaching does not consider the world to be false, but our misconception of the world is an illusion because, due to our materialistic ontology and contaminated material senses, we see it as separate from Kṛṣṇa. Because everything emanates from the Supreme, nothing can be false; everything has some use in the service of the Supreme.

For example, I am writing this on a computer, and later on I will record the podcast and publish it on another computer, and thus the computer can be connected to the Supreme Brahman as His energy. Since we are using this computer in the service of the Lord, it is Brahman, or spiritual.

This is the real meaning of sarvam khalv idam brahma. Everything is Brahman because everything can be used for the service of the Supreme Lord. Nothing is mithya, false; everything is factual. But if we see it as separate from Kṛṣṇa or intended for our enjoyment, then we are in illusion.

In such illusioned material consciousness, we are easily exploited by those who offer ‘shaktipat’ or some other phony mystic miracle that promises instant enlightenment on the cheap. A more subtle pitch is offered by those who entice us to join some all-encompassing religious organization that entangles us economically and socially in a web of conditional relationships contingent upon doing their will. Neither of these is a real esoteric school.

Near the end of Bhagavad-gita, Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna:

iti te jnanam akhyatam
guhyad guhyataram maya
vimrsyaitad asesena
yathecchasi tatha kuru

“Thus I have explained to you the most confidential of all knowledge. Deliberate on this fully, and then do what you wish to do.” [Bhagavad-gita 18.63]

Kṛṣṇa does not force him, but trusts His friend and disciple Arjuna to use his intelligence to think over what He has said, and do the right thing. Once you understand these important ideas, you will automatically do the right thing. Therefore the mood of the Esoteric Teaching is not to force anyone to do or believe anything, but to work with quiet conviction to present and exemplify, not our own ideas, but the timeless Esoteric Teaching of the Vedas, for the eternal benefit of all.