The
Indian Institute of Guruology (IIG) – A White Paper
Written
by Dr. Seshadri Kumar, 13 September, 2015
Copyright © Dr. Seshadri Kumar. All Rights Reserved.
Disclaimer: All the opinions expressed in this article are the
opinions of Dr. Seshadri Kumar alone and should not be construed to mean the
opinions of any other person or organization, unless explicitly stated
otherwise in the article.
*********************************
Abstract
A
proposal is presented to start a new institute in India, the Indian Institute
of Guruology, with the express purpose of training highly qualified spiritual
teachers (gurus) rooted in the Hindu ethos but endued with a modern vision and
purpose and with a strong sense of ethics. The aim of the proposed institute is
to train modern spiritual teachers who can fulfil the hunger in Hindu society
for gurus to provide solace in their lives. The objective is to fill a higher
social need in India which is not currently met by existing institutions.
The
motivation for such an institute, the offerings such an institute will provide,
including a tentative list of courses, the prospects of such students, and why
such an institute is superior to what is currently available – these topics
form the rest of this document.
Motivation: The Allure of Religion
India is the land of a billion Hindus
and many of them are very devout. It is also a land famed for its godmen and
godwomen. The very word “guru” is an import into English from India – so
synonymous is India with the idea of gurus or religious teachers. In India one
can find religious teachers at every level – at the neighbourhood level,
catering to a few hundred devotees, all the way to the international level,
with Hollywood and Bollywood stars and statesmen in attendance.
Why is this so? What is the allure of
godmen and godwomen? Why does religion exert such a powerful hold on people?
And what can be done to address this need in a better way? These are the
concerns of this article.
The motivations of religion are
universal, and so some of what I say here will apply equally to other
religions. My focus, however, will remain Hinduism, and so all my explanations
and examples will be limited to Hinduism, although one can always make the leap
to other religions. This white paper is specifically concerned with a teachers
training program for Indian gurus.
Religion evolved as a leftover
infantile reaction to the vagaries of life. When we were small, and things that
we could not control and that we did not like happened, we used it run to a
daddy or a mommy. Today, as adults, when we have problems that we cannot
control, many of us have this urge to run to a father figure or a mother figure
for solace.
This is because no matter how
competent we are, we cannot control everything, because the world is a many-body
problem. What happens to us may depend on what the Prime Minister of India,
Narendra Modi does; what the President of the USA, Barack Obama does; what
happens to oil prices in the Middle East; whether there's a war going on in
Africa; whether the Dow Jones Industrial Average crashed recently; whether
there are religious riots near where we live; and a host of other things,
regardless of how competent, honest, sincere or hard-working we may be.
The human body is also uncertain. For
reasons that we do not know and may never know, we, our spouses, our children,
our parents, our siblings, or our relatives, may fall sick, and we have no
answers as to why this is happening to us or if, when, or how things will get
better.
Most people find this uncertainty
very distressing. Some may be strong enough to consider all this as simply bad
luck. But many, conditioned by their childhood, like going to a parent figure
and asking for help. This may just be an idol in a home altar or a temple or a
photograph of a deity, but there is some solace in the thought that somebody is
listening and may help.
The Allure of Gurus
This is where gurus come in. Here is
someone who may claim to be divine, or at the very least more aware of higher
truths and more “realized” than you are; someone who is perceived as being
closer to God; someone who may claim to be able to communicate with God;
someone who claims to understand the universe; or someone who claims to know
why things are going wrong.
There may be no way to verify any of
this, but for the desperate person this does not matter. Speaking to a living
person and getting an answer from that person is vastly superior to speaking to
a photograph or an idol and hoping they heard you. You finally have – or hope
you have - direct communication with God through his channel – the Guru.
That is a huge psychological
reassurance and is the reason why there will always be a market for Godmen and
Godwomen.
So that is the job of a Godman/Godwoman:
to provide solace and reassurance to his followers. Of course, in reality he or
she is no wiser than they are but he or she has to say something. For instance,
in spite of advances in medicine, nobody knows why you have a heart attack exactly
when you do, but Hinduism offers lots of rationalizations. So you say that it
is bad karma; that the ways of the divine are mysterious; that God is testing
you - any number of standard bromides.
Even if you know in advance that this
is all you might get from the person, it is still reassuring to hear these
things. When my father died, the priest told my mother that he had died on a
very auspicious date and time, which would guarantee he would go straight to
the Lord. The priest had no way of knowing this, of course, but it still gave
my mother peace to think that my father was in a good place even though he was
no longer with us.
Someone may have lost a child – and
such pain is unbearable and is something one can never really get over. But
when you go to a guru and he tells you – “I am an embodiment of God, and your
son was very dear to me, so I brought him close to me – his soul now lives
within my heart” – this is solace that no amount of psychological counselling can
buy, if the person completely believes the guru.
I am actually an atheist, so it may
surprise many to see that I am arguing for a training center for gurus. But I
am under no fond illusions that one day atheists will dominate this world. In
fact, I know that people like me will always be in a minority. So why would I
propose something like this? Because I have seen (as in the case of my own
mother) the solace that a guru can give. I have no use for a religious guru,
but others have. I have found that it is futile to argue with religious people
on the existence of a God. I have myself
written about the moral arguments why there cannot be a God,
but I know that to those who believe, these arguments simply do not matter.
The reason that believers will always
greatly outnumber atheists is that atheism does not offer hope to the
suffering. When you ask someone, “Why did my loved one die?” the answer the
atheist will give you is “Nobody knows. We are organic mortal beings and must
die. It was chance that your loved one died when he did.” If you then ask,
“Will I meet him again? Is there any aspect of him that is left that I can
encounter again?” the atheist will again say, “No, there is nothing for you to
hope to see this person again. He is gone and will never come back.” Compare
this to the message that Hinduism gives you: “Your loved one has not died at
all. Only his body is dead. He has an invisible, insensible soul. That soul is
immortal and will be reborn.” There is absolutely no proof of this; yet it
offers you some hope. For most people, hope in an unverified, unprovable but
comforting assertion is superior to hopelessness.
The Problem with Religious Gurus Today
It is important to realize that "Gurudom," if I could coin such a word, is a professional activity. To pretend
that it is otherwise is to delude oneself. I scarcely need to add that it is an
extremely lucrative activity.
If we are willing to concede that
Gurudom is a profession like any other, then the standards and best practices
that we apply to other professions ought to apply to it too. For instance, no
one would suggest that one become a doctor without adequate training in
medicine; nor would one suggest that one could become a doctor without a proper
course in medical ethics. Why, then, do we think that a person could become a
Guru, a spiritual solace-giver, without the requisite tools?
People become gurus today due to
their personal charisma. But charisma itself does not guarantee a knowledge of
issues, nor does it ensure a person’s ethics. Some of the gurus in the market
are absolute ignoramuses, and do not even know many of the genuine tools that
can help people in trouble, such as meditation, breathing exercises, or yoga.
The point is that there is a lot of variability in the quality of service
offered by these gurus to their followers. There is a crying need for
standardization.
There is also a significant entry
barrier for those who actually have good people skills and would make great
spiritual counsellors if only they had the right tools to advise people on. These
are people who have little idea of what Hindu philosophy and religion have to
offer in terms of counselling people in deep distress; little idea of Hindu
concepts such as karma, reincarnation, and nirvana; and little idea of Hindu
relaxation techniques. Such people with the right skills would make great
spiritual solace providers if they only had the right background.
There are also those who have a deep
religious or spiritual background, being born in priestly families, who lack
social skills (language, delivery, presentation) and could make great gurus if
given the right lessons in dressing, public speaking, and knowledge of Indian
and western languages such as English.
Many people who have all these skills
may not have organizational or financial skills. They may not know how to
handle a large organization (in case they ever end up being heads of large spiritual
organizations); they may not know how to handle finances when devotees end up
contributing huge sums of money; they may not know techniques to reduce their
tax burden; and various other financial matters. These can be important in
being financially viable as a guru or as the head of a spiritual organization.
Another major gap is in the area of
ethics. The field of godmen and godwomen in India has witnessed a lot of
scandals with these people committing acts of impropriety, financial, sexual,
or otherwise. Part of the reason for this is a lack of ethics training. It must
be clearly understood that the interests of ALL godmen and godwomen are
affected even if a single person violates common notions of ethics. This is a
profession, and the objective of a profession is to earn a good living while
providing a necessary service or product without endangering it. Training is
therefore necessary to inculcate a strong sense of ethics among future gurus,
so that godmen of the future do not bring disrepute to their entire profession.
In today’s India, one does not have
to be celibate in order to be a spiritual guru. One can take care of one’s own
physical needs and yet be a source of comfort to others. It is not unethical to
offer spiritual advice as can be found in the philosophical texts of Hinduism
to people in trouble – one is giving of one’s knowledge in exchange for money.
Because godmen in India have traditionally come from the ascetic fold, it is
customary to think of gurus as being celibate monks. But there are many gurus
in India today who do not fit that mould; and, indeed, Hindu scripture does not
say that one must renounce worldly life in order to be a guru. It is also not
unethical to charge for one’s services – priests in Hinduism routinely charge
for their ritualistic services, so it is absurd to expect that a person who
imparts spiritual wisdom should do it for free. What is unethical is being
underhanded about it.
In this context, one must emphasize
the necessity of having a class of godmen who make no claims to
supernaturalism. There is way too much emphasis in India on the need to produce
miracles, and many gurus recognize this and build myths around their own
“enlightenment” experience in order to attract disciples. Yet, if you go to
their satsangs or sessions, you find that typical questions from their devotees
have almost nothing to do with how to become enlightened but how to make sense
of everyday life. You find devotees asking the gurus what do to about their job
worries, about their love lives, and about chronic conditions. People ask how
childless couples can be helped; whether there are any prayers they can say so
that they may finally conceive; whether there is any ritual they can perform
for their daughter to get married; and so on. Most of these questions do not
require supernatural powers to answer; what they require is a clever psychologist
who also understands the tools that Hinduism has to offer people in distress.
And finally, one needs to have a
sense of what is considered right and wrong in the modern world. It should be
recognized that Hinduism is about 2000 to 3000 years old. The mores of a
religion conceived so long ago cannot completely be in sync with the values of
the 21st century, and so some updating of the teachings of Hinduism
in order to reflect modern realities is necessary. For this, gurus have to be
honest about the misogyny and caste discrimination present in Hinduism and
preach the good things in it and urge people to do away with the bad. Not only
is this the right thing for Hindus in general today, it is also the way to save
Hinduism from deterioration – for, if a religion is seen as retrograde and out
of sync with the times, there is a huge risk of its followers abandoning it. So
gurus trained in the proposed institution will not advocate retrograde
practices mentioned in Hindu texts, and will argue for women empowerment and a
world free of discrimination, while still preaching the good that may be
contained in scripture.
Precedents in Other Domains
Some may find this proposal to be
quite radical. One friend actually asked me in a WhatsApp discussion on this
idea why I thought this was even necessary in the first place. Weren’t there
already many godmen in India, he asked me.
My answer is that yes, there are many
godmen, but the question is who becomes those godmen and what is the quality of
the godmen (and women). As I have
already argued, the quality of the available people is rather inconsistent, and
entry to the clique is quite restricted.
The idea of taking something that was
a traditional profession and opening it up to the public with an accompanying
standardization of the profession is nothing new. There are many such
precedents, some of which I will list now.
In the old days most trades were
hereditary. Only a carpenter's son could become a carpenter. Only a plumber's
son could become a plumber. That is because information access was tightly
controlled through extended families.
Then the Indian Government set up
Industrial Training Institutes, and now anyone can become a carpenter or
plumber or electrician or part of any number of professions, regardless of
family background. The ITIs have levelled the playing field.
Take another example: Hindustani
classical music. This was once the preserve of a few families, and they
guarded their knowledge very carefully. Outsiders were rarely allowed to learn,
and even if they were, some secrets were always kept from them. Then came Pandit Vishnu
Digambar Paluskar, the eminent musician and
musicologist of the Gwalior gharana, and
he decided that this situation needed to change.
So he started the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya,
and so today any talented person can become a musician. The point is not that
there were plenty of musicians before Paluskar started his music schools. There
were plenty then and there are plenty now. What has changed is who can become
those musicians. Access to music has become more democratic because of Paluskar.
The present proposal for an IIG is to
do the same in the field of spiritual gurus.
A Tentative Syllabus (In No Particular Order)
·
Brief Introduction to Bhagavad Gita
o Essential
Philosophy
o Common
Sayings
o Four-Fold
Path of Renunciation
o Examples
of Application of Karma Yoga to Practical Situations
·
Introduction to Ramayana
o Main
Plot
o Holes
in the Story and Discrepancies in Rama’s Character
o Cultural
Dissonance in the Treatment of Sita and How to Address These Issues Today
·
Introduction to Mahabharata
o Main
Plot
o Discussion
of Dharma and Karma – How Do These Translate in Today’s World
o The
Active Man’s Dilemma – Examples of Adharma in the Mahabharata
o Understanding
the Mahabharata in Its Cultural Context And NOT as a Divine Text (This Helps in
Interpreting It for Modern Audiences)
·
Puranas Primers I & II on the 18
Maha Puranas
o Focus
Will Be on Select Stories – e.g. Bhasmasura in Shiva Purana, or the stories of
Prahalada and Hiranyakashipu from the Vishnu Purana, or the story of Mahishasur
from the Markandeya Purana
o These
Stories Are Very Important in Connecting with the Lay Public, for Whom The
Puranic Stories are the Chief Influence of Hinduism
·
Special Course on the Bhagavata
Purana
o On
the Stories of Krishna
o A
Separate Course is Needed Because of the Influence of this Purana on the Bhakti
Movement
·
Special Course on Garuda Purana
o The
Garuda Purana is the “Book of the Dead” in Hinduism
o As
a Spiritual Solace Provider, Very Essential to Understand
o However,
Not Everything in It May Be Appropriate Today - Filter
·
Introductory Sanskrit
o Objectives
are to Know Basic Language Structure – Sandhi, Samasa, Declensions,
Conjugations, Etc.
·
Advanced Sanskrit
o Poems
and Prose Material in Sanskrit, Including Recitations
o Objective
is Basic Facility in the Language, Including Ability to Recite Shlokas and
Poems Correctly
o Objective
is NOT to Become a Pandit or Scholar in Sanskrit
·
Foundation Course in English
o Essential
Grammar and Syntax Concepts Plus Vocabulary
·
Advanced English
o
Focus
on Essay Writing and Speechwriting
o Plenty of Hands-on Exercises
·
Comparative Religion (Islam,
Christianity, Judaism)
o Comparison
of Hindu Religious Concepts with Those of Abrahamic Religions
o Lack
of a Central Prophet in Hinduism
o Lack
of a Central Text (Bible, Quran, etc.) in Hinduism
o Identification
of Core Themes of Hinduism in Comparison with Other Religions
·
Religions Similar to Hinduism
(Sikhism, Jainism)
o Understand
These Two Religions Well
o Huge
Potential for Overlap in Devotees
o Need
to Understand the Similarities and Differences
·
Dale Carnegie Course in Public
Speaking
o An
External Expert to Be Invited to Conduct a Semester-Long Course in Public
Speaking
o Plenty
of Practice for Students
·
Bhajans I & II
o Bhajans
are One of the Core Spiritual Solace Techniques
o Will
Cover the Main Poets – Mirabai, Tulsidas, Soordas, etc.
o Bhajans
in Hindi As Well As Regional Languages
o Modern
Popular Bhajans Will Also Be Taught
o Focus
Not on Beautiful Singing but on Creating the Right Atmosphere
·
Hindu Rituals I & II
o Will
Cover Most of the Important Hindu Rituals Across the Country – for Marriage,
Birth, Death
o Covers
Regional Differences
o Vital
Information When Counseling People in Distress
·
Public Speaking in Hindi
o External
Trainer Will be Invited
·
One Public Speaking Course in Regional
Language of Choice
o External
Trainer Will Be Invited
o Gujarati,
Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada (Others Considered Later)
·
Vaishnavite Traditions
o The
Focus Here is Not On Texts, But Cultural Practices
o Aim
Is to Understand the Devotees
·
Shaivaite Traditions
o Similar
to the Vaishnavite Traditions Class
o Additional
Focus on Tamizh Shaivaite Tradition
o Murugan
Worship in Tamil Nadu
·
Basic Ayurveda
o An
External Teacher Will Teach Essential Principles of Ayurveda and Common
Remedies for Well-Known Conditions
·
Basic and Advanced Yoga
o Yoga
is an Absolute Must for a Modern Spiritual Guru
o Will
be Taught by Institute Faculty
·
Meditation I & II
o Will
be Taught by Institute Faculty
·
Atharvaveda and Keralite Black Magic
o The
Atharvaveda is the Foundation of Ayurveda as Well as Black Magic Rituals
o Idea
is NOT to Teach Black Magic, but Awareness to Help Devotees Against Charlatans
·
Introduction to International
Pseudoscience: Acupuncture, Reiki, Phrenology, Crystal Healing, Magnetic
Healing, Seances, Witchcraft, Voodoo, Scientology, Neuro-Linguistic Programming,
Past Life Regression, etc.
o Again,
the Objective is To Guard Against Frauds
o Recall
That the Objective of the Institute is to Minimize Any “Miracle” Component in
Hinduism and in Gurudom
o Objective
of Institute is To Offer Solace
·
Contemporary Successful Gurus and
Their Styles
o Will
Cover Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, Deepak Chopra, Devdutt
Pattanaik, Mata Amrutanandamayi, Satya Sai Baba, and others
·
Introduction to Main Pilgrimage
Centers in India and Their History – I & II
o Will
Cover Stories and History behind Tirupati, Nathdwara, Jagannath at Puri,
Madurai Meenakshi Temple, Chidambaram Temple, Shirdi, Ashta Ganapati Circuit,
Kumbh Mela, Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Somnath Temple, and Many Other Such
·
Seminar in Karmic Theory
o Extremely
Important in Practical Gurudom
o Students
Will Be Presented With Different Life Challenges
o They
Will Have to Give a Written and Oral Presentation on How They Propose to
Address It Using Karmic Theory
·
Field Trips: Go with a Senior Guru in
the Field and Assist Guru in Converting Disciples to Join the Fold. (4/5
Required Trips of Two Weeks Each Required in the 4 Year Course)
·
Astrology
o Astrology
is Very Dear to Hindus
o Students
are to Be Trained in Astrological Calculations Using Standardized Texts
o The
Idea is For Students to Only Use This Tool As a Healing Tool – To Help People
in Distress
o Also
to Understand Devotees Concerns (e.g., “My daughter is a Manglik”)
o Not
to Help Matchmaking And Other Uses
·
Saints in Hinduism – I & II
o This
is a Fairly Vast Topic
o Will
Cover Saints and Their Histories From All Parts of India
o This
Material Will Come in Handy During Sermons
·
Accounting Basics
o The
Students in This Course Will Go On to Become High Net worth Individuals (HNI)
o Consequently,
Money Management is an Essential Part of Training in Gurudom
·
International Banking and Finance
o Taught
by a Professor from IIM Ahmedabad
o Students
Will Have to Understand Cash Transfer Procedures, Differences in Banking
Regulations in India and Abroad, Tax Havens, and the Like
·
Public Relations
o How
to Write Media Blurbs
o Handling
Journalists and Interviews
o Crash
Course in Webpage Design, Social Media
o Basic
Concepts in Search Engine Optimization, etc. (Not for Students to Do Themselves
– They Will Later Hire IT Professionals)
o Understanding
Organizational Structures of Large Corporates
o Mock
Debates in 24-Hour Television Format with Other Students on Given Topics
·
Ethics
o The
Importance of Honesty and Transparency in Business
o Communicate
to Students That Their USP is Spiritual Solace Givers, NOT Miracle Workers
o Teach
Students on Guarding Against Romantic and Monetary Involvement With Students
o Modern
Concepts on Human Rights, Equality of Humanity, the Civil Rights Movement in
America, and Apartheid In South Africa
o Caste
Discrimination in Hindu Society and The Need to Downplay These Aspects in
Hinduism, Even if Scripture Contains Such References – Without Duplicity
o Re-interpretation
of Hindu Scripture for a Modern World
·
Psychology and Sociology
o Essential
Basics of Psychology and Sociology
o The
Sociology of Groups
o The
Role of Religion in Human Life – the Need for Symbolism, for Meaning, and for
Ritual in Human Existence
As can be seen, this is a fairly
intensive four-year course with approximately 40 courses over 4 years, or 5
theory courses per semester. At the end of the course, a 1-year continuous
apprenticeship with a senior, established guru and a report of experiences
there and documented successes will have to be shown to the committee and successfully
defended to get the degree.
The Institute will have tie-ups with
major corporates. One of the major jobs anticipated in the future is the role
of Company Counsellor in these extremely stressful and competitive times.
Modern companies do not want to lose good employees through attrition and can
retain the services of skilled spiritual counsellors as a resource for their
employees. (A real-life example of this is the well-known author and
mythologist, Devdutt
Pattanaik, who was Chief Belief Officer at FutureGroup.)
Concluding Thoughts
I have laid down my rationale for a
standardized training program for spiritual gurus, and the need for an Indian
Institute of Guruology (IIG).
The IIG is needed to impart
standardized training for students in becoming Hindu spiritual gurus, with an
emphasis on psychological techniques, Hindu philosophical background, Hindu
techniques of meditation and yoga for achieving balance in life, understanding
customs and rituals of Hinduism, and Ayurveda, as well as knowing how to handle
administrative and financial matters, and becoming expert in public speaking
and in written and spoken communication in English and Indian languages. Ethics
training will be a strong component of the teaching. The gurus trained in the
IIG are to be in sync with modern realities and modern, advanced social
concepts on the treatment of women and minorities.
I have already mentioned that some
will be surprised that an atheist will plump for an institute such as this. In
response and defence I offer one more piece of thinking.
There is a landmark book called “The
Fountainhead,” written by Ayn Rand, that many people will be aware of. The
protagonist in the book is an architect, Howard Roark, who believes that the
form of buildings should follow from their function, and that there are no
other rules on the form of buildings. He is a minimalist and does not believe
in useless ornamentation. This is in contrast to the existing philosophy of the
times, where buildings were adorned with motifs like gargoyles, etc., simply
because that was the Renaissance practice in France since the 15th
century. One of Roark’s classmates, Peter Keating, who religiously follows
these traditional ideas, but has no original thinking of his own, comes to
Roark to ask his help in a new project that he is working on. Roark agrees to
help him and starts reviewing Peter’s draft designs. He finds them hideous, not
only because they are Renaissance designs, but because they are BAD Renaissance
designs. Roark tells Peter, “All right, damn you, give them good Renaissance if
you must and if there is such a thing!”
I am in the same boat right now. If they must have religion, at least give them good religion.
I am in the same boat right now. If they must have religion, at least give them good religion.
Having said all this, though, I will
admit that establishment of such an institution is not going to be easy. The
main reason is that such an institution, at its core, is a relatively selfless
institution. Being a guru is a very lucrative job, and to have professors teach
guruology instead of practicing it themselves and making a lot of money is
going to be a challenge. But one can take heart by looking at management
schools. Graduates of IIM make a lot more money than the professors who teach
at IIM; yet there are always those for whom teaching is the calling. So perhaps
this paradigm will work in the IIG as well.
In this context, I hope the Modi
government will see it fit to sponsor such an institute. I recall very well his speech at
the SRCC in New Delhi on February 6, 2013, where he spoke
proudly about having established an Indian Institute for Teachers’ Education
(IITE) in Gujarat. That was his education legacy to the state of Gujarat. Well,
the IIG can be his education legacy to the entire country of India.
