Unenlightened Actions by the Enlightened.
When your mind and heart are truly open abundance will flow to you effortlessly and easily.
Question:
Why do some "enlightened" teachers, do such unenlightened things? Their teachings are great, but don't reflect in their personal lives. This troubles me. I have come such a long way, but don't seem to be able to get past this. What is the lesson here? I think that in the new era this moral fuzzines will no longer be accepted. What do you think?
Deepak's Response:
It’s not clear from your letter exactly what constitutes unenlightened moral behavior, but assuming it is activity that the teacher specifically instructs against doing, then the simple lesson to learn is that the teacher may be good at teaching other things, but is not an example of that moral teaching. The other thing you need to consider is what are your expectations of a teacher. What morality you are looking for your teacher to model and why.
In the Indian tradition as well as in many other wisdom traditions the enlightened master is considered free of all personal, material and social boundaries and conventions. From that state of freedom many continue to conform to worldly morals and expectations as a model of behavior, and some who have a different path are utterly unconventional and deliberately flout social norms. Their job is to help break obsolete values around them to force people to look to a deeper virtue within that transcends outer moral judgment. And occasionally some teachers do both at various times. I don’t say that to excuse anyone or any behavior in particular, but simply to say that if the individual is genuinely enlightened, their personal or even petty actions automatically carry a larger evolutionary purpose behind them, and to ignore that aspect will only confuse you.
Love,
Deepak
I am aware of a teacher who talks a good talk, but is willing to harm others in self interest and ego. I fear for many who follow this person, who blindly believe this person, because in pursuit of her own self interest, she refused to complete a business transaction and had to be taken to court, she propositioned her best friend`s husband (a non-open marriage) and she has harmed others, manipulated others, all for self interest. She behaves in harmful ways while spouting ideals about love, and light and evolving into beings of higher consciousness. So the question returns, how can one be enlightened, yet so willy nilly be okay with such destructive behavior covertly. The answer, she isn`t really enlightened and her work and words are tainted by her actions.
Teachers can know their subject very well and be good at giving lessons, but why should that mean that their own lives are without challenges of every sort, that they themselves must never struggle, make mistakes, fall down, keep learning? People seem to think anyone who is a genuine teacher must be perfect in every way, and this is simply expecting too much.
We really do not have enough information to be able to discuss this completely but enlightened people exhibit enlightened behavior. So, either they are not enlightened or we do not completely understand their behavior looking at it with an unenlightened mind. Remember, enlightenment is not enlightenment and not enlightenment is enlightenment. If you do not understand this you cannot completely see through this situation. This is why we say if they exhibited enlightened behavior they may not necessarily be enlightened.