Hello James
I know Spain has been deeply affected by Covid and you have been prevented from travelling and teaching, but what the hell is going on with you? You must be bored, frustrated or maybe avoiding writing that strange book challenge (a book about Vedanta that doesn’t mention Vedanta?), I mean seriously, do you really have your heart in that?
You have always taught students to stay in their own karma stream and not do the Dharma of another man, so why are you giving Robert Harrison so much air time (4 Satsang posts and more to come)? You can tell me to f*** off, I don’t care, but you are not beyond reproach. Who appointed you the ‘Fake Guru Slayer’? stop hiding behind the excuse that you have the responsibility to uphold Dharma and the teachings or that you care about him. I don’t know Robert, but he is small fry compared to other fraudulent teachers out there. I looked up his Youtube clips and he only has 60 views per video!, he’s hardly worth all this time and effort. Nobody knew who he was until you outed him to thousands of your students.
Obviously this man has psychological issues and is desperate for love and attention. He is now thriving off all the attention you are giving him. Let him fall on his own sword and let his gullible students get burnt and wake up in their own time. You and Sundari must feel aggrieved that you were fooled by him. I have been duped out of tens of thousands of dollars from fake Vedanta teachers, I too have a streak in my personality that wants to expose them and take these teachers down, but I control it and feel grateful that Ishwara lead me to Shining World.
I woke up this morning to read all four of the satsangs you have devoted to Robert and truly James they are such low vibration garbage, haven’t you got anything better to do with your time? Like tending to your beautiful Spanish garden or writing the books you are called to write by Ishwara and not some rich dude who gave you money.
With love and respect
Judy
Hi Judy,
I agree that it is a shame to spend time trolling around on the bottom of the ocean of samsara hunting down slime sucking bottom feeders. However, while it is an unenviable task it only consumes a small fraction of my time. Keeping in mind the suffering of others, I feel a little ashamed to say that Covid, thanks to Isvara, has been a blessing in disguise. I’ve been able to work on finishing projects that have been in the pipeline for a couple of years, manage the growth of ShiningWorld without stress, work in the garden and generally enjoy myself mightily now that we are settled and travelling is out of the question. I’m rested and alert and very grateful what can only be called ideal circumstances.
One project that is nearing completion is the project to which you referred entitled “The Wall,” a Pauranic story commissioned by a friend teaching Vedanta without the “Vedanta” so to speak. Another is commentaries on Sat Darshanam in a new Vedanta style which I’ve attached to this email. Keep in mind that it is not the final document, which I’ll publish soon. I’d love to get your feeback. It’s been a real joy and a challenge to approach Vedanta from this perspective. Another project, a translation of Katha Upanishad for the upcoming seminar, I’ve also attached for your enjoyment. So don’t imagine that I’ve lost my focus because of this unsolicited pesky issue. In any case I will explain my thinking to you.
Appearances to the contrary notwithstanding I don’t feel personally aggrieved that we were misled nor do we feel guilty for helping Robert. We were kind and helpful towards him. There’s a good guy in there somewhere struggling with some very entrenched samskaras and we did our best to serve him. And for the last three or four years we took the view that you express; that it was beneath our dignity to dirty our hands. But people kept coming to us asking for clarity and somehow expecting us to set things straight. Sundari wanted nothing to do with it, although she will post her side of the story presently. She was completely fed up and wants nothing more to do with it. This campaign is all on me.
I probably should remind you that the satsang section is not a blog, although it may seem so the last week or so. It is simply a way to answer questions about Vedanta that come to me unsolicited. It is a service to Isvara, meaning the people in my life. I get nothing out of it except the satisfaction of serving the Lord in the form of this great teaching, which is more than enough. So the question is: does this campaign to discredit Robert as a Vedanta teacher qualify as karma yoga i.e. service to Isvara? Or am I a just a nasty aggrieved person who has been conned by a conman? And the answer is a resounding yes to question one and a resounding no to question two.
You will be happy to know that now that I am cheerfully committed to this unenviable job even though I’m in danger of displeasing some people who think I should, as Michele Obama says, “go high when they go low” there will be fewer posts on this topic in the satsang section. We will probably set up a separate site with the whole thing so that people who are interested can go there. There isn’t much more to say since what we are doing is clear and my reason for doing it is are clear.
Anyway, the way I see it is that I’m not going high or low. I’m serving Isvara. What does that mean? Is it just another clever spiritual bypass to cover up a hurt, insecure vindictive me? Since nobody knows but me and I respect you for chiding me I will try to explain.
Being an outspoken public figure is not easy, particularly in these times when people are so unsettled. People project. Not everyone projects sweetness and light, although a good 98% of the projections coming to me are positive, mostly praise and gratitude, because I’m a positive person and I’m presenting a positive vision. Once in a while people project their dissatisfaction. In this case Robert projected love and respect at first and later jealousy, anger, resentment and now hatred.
Both the positive and negative things that come, come from Isvara. If I refuse to accept the negative and only revel in the positive, I’m not free. So I need to respond appropriately according to my nature keeping in mind universal dharma.
How would you feel if someone you trusted and served sullied your most cherished values? As the Gita says, a karma yogi should not avoid conflict. Arjuna has a nasty job to do and his sattvic compassionate nature causes him to justify adharma, which is not doing what he needs to do, with a bunch of high-minded sentimental ideals. Krishna actually calls him a eunuch! That’s not PC. And, if you are familiar with the story, Arjuna ends up killing a lot of people. His brother pulverizes Duryodhana with a club.
So what should I do? Hold my nose and wash my hands of it or get down in the trenches and muck out the shit? Give him a hug and feel sorry for him owing to his miserable childhood? He didn’t have a miserable childhood. He had a nasty rebellious cruel nature from the get go. He says so in his blog. This man is a hardened criminal who came into my life under false pretenses, hates me and wishes me ill. I’m not worried about physical violence. I’m an old man and could die any day and he knows very well that they will lock him up for a very long time if he crosses the line. There are many other factors that mitigate against that possibility, not to mention that people like that he’s coward. You may not feel that the truth is worth suffering for but I do. God is great. So, without obsessing about this situation…I am moving forward very nicely on all other topics…I will do my level best to see to it that it is as difficult as possible for him to inflict injury on Vedanta and innocent people. Isvara is dharma raja, king of dharma, and nothing pleases Isvara more than establishing dharma. Establishing dharma means destroying adharma. And nothing pleases me more than serving Isvara.
Finally, since there is basically no other way to deal with this issue except in the court of public opinion in which Robert lives and dies I’ve been forced to use the only weapon I have at my disposal. And I believe Isvara selected me because I’m a suitable vehicle. I’m not a coward and I’m not burdened with attachment like Robert is. It may take a while but as it says on the stocks that are preserved in a park in Dulwich, England, “It is sport for a fool to make mischief. Let thy wicked ways correct thee.” Right now Robert is both wicked and a fool. This is just his karmic chickens coming home to roost. He deserves every bit of it.
So there’s your answer. You need to know that I appreciate how much you appreciate me and what I do and for expressing your view openly.
Much love,
James
