9 Ways to Spot a Fake Guru or Spiritual Teacher

9 Ways to Spot a Fake Guru or Spiritual Teacher
.::Identifying False Gurus and Spiritual Teachers::.


Charging Large Amounts of Money

Actions speak infinitely louder than words. Anyone can proclaim magnificent and wonderful things but do these words live up to how the person lives and expresses themselves in his or her daily lives? Perhaps the biggest problem that I have found is the issue of money. I have seen self-appointed gurus, spiritual teachers, and whatever other title they go under charging unbelievably large amounts of money for information, knowledge, or so-called higher wisdom, that is available to everyone (by looking to sages who charge little or nothing and also looking within for the answers via meditation and other self-induced spiritual practices), as well as several money embezzlement cases. If you’re paying someone $295 for a spiritual ’12 strand DNA activation’ then you’ve just been conned.

Giving Themselves Fancy Titles

While on the subject of empty words, when looking to a potential spiritual teacher for guidance notice if that individual proclaims such magnificent titles referring to themselves as being enlightened masters, self-realized yogis, or being a saint (one of the ultimate delusions of grandeur following the narcissistic Christ Complex). An enlightened person finds no need for ego masturbation.

Those who have experienced the Ultimate/Absolute Reality don’t continuously boast about how they have achieved enlightenment and are better than others. They are in fact, quite humble (perhaps sometimes too humble, but humble they are). They understand that there is no benefit to themselves or their students to make such declarations based on the realizations they’ve had about Reality. There is no need to establish a hierarchical framework within teachers and students work as we are all passengers on the same train, separated only slightly in that we sometimes sit in different train cars. We are all going the same direction, ultimately.

Inability to Take Criticism

Another sign of a con-man in guru’s clothing is whether the person is able to take criticism or not. Those who are not genuine spiritual teachers will get offended and defensive over criticisms made towards them instead of looking inward and taking into consideration what those criticisms are (nobody is perfect, after all). How dare an unenlightened mortal criticize them! I have even seen the sad situation of lawsuits being made by these so-called enlightened masters against people who had the ‘nerve’ to point out something they feel was incorrect, deceptive, harmful, etc.

Overly Focused on the End Goal

If you notice a spiritual teacher or guru having an almost-bizarre love affair with enlightenment this and enlightenment that, be cautious. Many of these enlightenment gurus focus on enlightenment itself instead of actually teaching others how exactly to attain that state. They do not teach about all the baby-steps leading up to the enlightening of one’s awareness in the most authentic of ways. Even the revered Buddha did not reach enlightenment overnight. Unless a spiritual teacher shows you a realistic way to reach enlightenment (such as through a particular meditation or awareness expanding technique) then you will be better off without their help…and you will keep your hard-earned money as well.

Behaving Hypocritically

Beware of hypocrites! This is perhaps one of the simplest methods of weeding out spiritual “snake-oil salesmen”. Look if they practice what they preach. If they teach about how you should meditate daily to promote your spiritual growth, do they meditate daily? Are they leading by example? When they talk about radiating love and light and all that is beautiful, are they doing so themselves? Nobody likes a hypocrite, especially if that hypocrite is promising spiritual enlightenment.

Focus on Fulfilling Egocentric Desires

One especially important aspect of a guru or spiritual teacher that we should look into is their investment in the material aspects of life. Are they displaying behavior that is indicative of being a neophyte on the spiritual path? Do they overly focus on money, sex, and power? A dynamic Taostistic-like balance is a necessity for a balanced life but when dependence and abuse starts to emerge and creep into the mind then there is a problem.

Displaying Spiritual Materialism

Spiritual materialism is something that’s especially become more of an issue in recent years and is worth becoming more aware about for anyone on the path to self-realization and enlightenment. The increased focus on spiritual materialism is problematic. All the courses, teachings, books, and workshops that focus on using the Law of Attraction to bring us riches and worldly abundance hold materialist desires at their core, and do not reflect actual spiritual growth messages.

Although spiritual growth and self-actualization can lead to like attracting like because of the immense positivity we project outward, attracting riches is not the purpose of attaining these mind states. These messages that use the dynamics of attraction are not bad in and of themselves, but when they are misrepresented as being a path towards higher spirituality, then that is when we should be cautious of proceeding further. Do not become lost in the illusion that faux spirituality creates.

Behaving Selfishly

Selflessness should be the dominant quality in the spiritually-advanced soul, not selfishness. Spirituality has no place for superstars and glamour. It is not the spiritual teacher themselves that should be the focus, but rather the spiritual messages and teachings. How can we attain our own Self-realization if our position of awareness is focused externally on the teacher, rather than internally on the Self?

Promising a Fast Path to Self-Realization

There is nothing directly bad with spiritual workshops themselves, but when you see a spiritual teacher giving a spiritual course that’s several hundred or thousand dollars and lasts several days or even weeks do not expect to reach enlightenment just by completing such a workshop. Yes, we all live busy lives and feel as if we do not have enough time to dedicate towards our spiritual growth, but let’s be realistic: it is highly unlikely you will become self-realized in 3 weeks.

The processes of spiritual growth, self-actualization, self-realization, and enlightenment can take years or an entire lifetime (some even say multiple lifetimes). It’s said that there is only one person in recorded history that attained enlightenment in one lifetime (Milerapa) and the way he attained the enlightened state was highly unorthodox, to put it lightly. We would all like to believe that there is a fast lane to these things, but this is not the case. Of course, there are always exceptions and some reach the mountain’s summit faster than others, but as a whole, it is a process that includes much dedication and time.

Take from: [link to shift.is]