Stripping_the_Gurus.pdf

S TRIPPING T HE G URUS

Sex, Violence, Abuse and Enlightenment*

Ramakrishna was a homoerotic pedophile.

His chief disciple, Vivekananda, visited brothels in India.

Krishnamurti carried on an affair for over twenty years with the

wife of a close friend. Chögyam Trungpa drank himself into an early

grave. One of Adi Da’s nine “wives” is a former Playboy centerfold.

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh sniffed laughing gas to get high. Andrew

Cohen, guru and publisher of What Is Enlightenment? magazine, by

his own reported admission sometimes feels “like a god.”

These are typical of the “wizened sages” to whom otherwise-sensible

people give their devotion and unquestioning obedience, surrender-

ing their independence, willpower, and life’s savings in the hope of

realizing for themselves the same “enlightenment” as they ascribe to

the “perfect, God-realized” master.

Why?

Is it for being emotionally vulnerable and “brainwashed,” as the

“anti-cultists” assert? Or for being “willingly psychologically se-

duced,” as the apologists unsympathetically counter, confident that

they themselves are “too smart” to ever fall into the same trap? Or

have devotees simply walked, with naïvely open hearts and thirsty

souls, into inherent psychological dynamics of power and obedience

which have showed themselves in classic psychological studies from

Milgram to Zimbardo, and to which each one of us is susceptible

every day of our lives?

Like the proud “Rude Boy” Cohen allegedly said, with a laugh, in re-

sponse to the nervous breakdown of one of his devoted followers: “It

could happen to any one of you.”

Don’t let it happen to you. Don’t get suckered in. Be prepared. Be in-

formed. Find out what reportedly goes on behind the scenes in even

the best of our world’s spiritual communities.

You can start by reading this book.

* The inclusion of any particular individual in Stripping the Gurus is not meant to suggest or

imply that he or she represents him- or herself as a guru, nor is it meant to suggest or imply

that he or she has indulged in sex, violence, the abuse of others, or any other illegal or immoral

activities.

Praise for Stripping the Gurus

Armed with wit, insight, and truly astonishing research,

Geoffrey Falk utterly demolishes the notion of the

enlightened guru who can lead devotees to nirvana. This

entertaining and yet deadly serious book should be read

by everyone pursuing or thinking of pursuing the path of

guru devotion.

—John Horgan,

author of Rational Mysticism

Stripping the Gurus is superb—one of the best books of

its kind I have ever read. The research is meticulous, the

writing engaging, and the overall thesis: devastatingly

true. A stellar book.

—Dr. David C. Lane,

California State University

This gripping and disturbing book should be read by

anyone who finds themself revering a spiritual teacher.

—Susan Blackmore,

author of The Meme Machine

Geoffrey Falk’s delightful but disturbing unmasking of

religious prophets and preachers who command a vast

following is a welcome contribution to the literature on

the gurus and god-men of all religions.

—Dr. Narasingha P. Sil,

Western Oregon University

No one involved in contemporary spirituality can afford

to ignore this book. It exposes the darker side of modern

spiritual movements, those embarrassing—sometime vi-

cious or criminal—reports which the leaders of these

movements prefer to hide. With wit and humility, and

without abandoning the verities of religion, Falk has

provided a corrective critique of groups that peddle

enlightenment and transcendence. A must!

—Len Oakes,

author of Prophetic Charisma

S TRIPPING

G URUS

Sex, Violence,

Abuse and Enlightenment*

GEOFFREY D. FALK

* The inclusion of any particular individual in this

book is not meant to suggest or imply that he or she

represents him- or herself as a guru, nor is it meant

to suggest or imply that he or she has indulged in

sex, violence, the abuse of others, or any other illegal

or immoral activities.

Million Monkeys Press

T HE

Published by Million Monkeys Press

312-411 Duplex Ave

Toronto, Ontario

Canada M4R 1V2

Web: www.millionmonkeyspress.com

ISBN: 0-9736203-3-1 (pdf)

First edition (version 1.0).

This eBook is copyrighted, and may not be distributed

in printed or bound form, nor sold in any other form

(including electronic formats), without the explicit writ-

ten permission of the author, Geoffrey D. Falk.

Printable posters and flyers , suitable for posting/

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Credits and permissions can be found on the Permis-

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