GURUS BEHAVING BADLY

[EDITED TRANSCRIPT OF THE VIDEO TALK “GURUS BEHAVING BADLY, JANUARY 3 2026]

[VIDEO AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGun6RUKWhY&t=314s]

[CONSCIOUS PATHWAYS RESOURCE LIBRARY https://www.consciouspathways.net/latest]

Welcome.

In this talk we are going to explore a subject that a lot of people like to talk about and discuss, particularly now in light of the Epstein files, and that is “Gurus Behaving Badly”. Gurus behaving badly. Gurus behaving badly. There's a bit of that happening right now. But let's be honest. Is this a new thing? “Gurus behaving badly”. Hasn't this been happening for a long time now? So, let's discuss it a bit.

First of all, why should you trust me? Why should you trust what I have to say? There's a lot of self-proclaimed experts in the world, let's face it. Well, I've studied Comparative Religion and dedicated thirty years of my life to in-depth spiritual study and practice; I did a Master's in Comparative Religion at the University of Sydney and then later started to specialize in Kashmir Shaivism, which is a form of Indian Tantra. So, what I noticed when I was studying Comparative Religion, is that in the East in particular, there is this idea of a deified human being, of a “Perfect Guru”, of “The Infallible Guru”.

Now what “Guru” means in that context is a spiritual teacher who can remove the darkness of ignorance from a student, but the thing is, in the East there's always been a cultural context for that. Ever since—thousands of years ago, gurus lived with their students in small groups called gurukula in the midst of a forest, in the midst of quiet places where they could study meditation, where they could learn about realization, where they could go into the teachings that led to spiritual enlightenment.

The concept of the guru as spiritual teacher, that's always been there in the East; it's a relatively new concept in the West. When Vivekananda came to the Chicago Parliament of Religion in 1893, this idea of the guru gained traction in the West from there, becoming widely known in the mainstream around the early 20th century. This is compared to say 5,000 years ago or longer, when the idea of the guru as spiritual teacher emerged as a concept in India. Okay, so in the West it's a lot newer, this idea of guru, and we often don't have a concept of it. We don't understand as Westerners what the term guru means.

Literally in Sanskrit what “guru” means is “weighty one” or “heavy one”. And what that means is the teacher is very well-versed in the knowledge that they are teaching, the spiritual knowledge that they are teaching. “Guru” can simply mean “teacher”, but in the spiritual context it meant someone who not only could teach what they were teaching, but who were also embodying that state and could transmit it to their students.

Now, let's get one thing clear: There is no such thing as an “Infallible Guru”. I've been around quite a few gurus in my lifetime. In fact, I lived in a guru's ashram for 16 years full-time and I had the good fortune to be around her and to see that she was a Master meditation teacher. Now, did that mean that she was some divine fairy, a celestial being who was absolutely pure? No, it didn't. I guess one of the best lessons that she ever taught me was that a true guru is an authentic human being, a human being that's really deeply looked at themselves, that's worked on themselves, that really has deeply engaged with their particular spiritual practice.

But does that mean that they're infallible? No, not at all. And of course, time has borne witness to that: We've had problems with sex and money and drugs and alcohol and abuse and lies and manipulation and deceit—all of that has played out in many different traditions with many different teachers. So, the “Infallible Guru” is not a construct that we should be following in the West right now; in fact, we shouldn't be following it anywhere! Now that there are teachers with thousands of students who can be—I'll use this word—who can be manipulated by the public image of that teacher without seeing the teacher's relaxed personality, without seeing what the teacher is like behind the scenes. These people idealize the guru because they have no concept of what a guru really is.

I remember when I was living in India, an Indian said to me, “Oh, you've got a guru; okay, believe about 50% of what they say.” Good advice. There's no point in blindly following another human being and thinking that they are going to be perfect. If you do that, you're asking for trouble. So, all gurus are human. They all have their failings. They're all going to die one day. They may have organizations, they may have a group of teachers that they work with, they may have all sorts of different things, they may have fleets of Rolls-Royces, they may have rumors swirling around them about sexual abuse, they may have whatever they have. All I'm saying to you is go in with your eyes wide open, and don't fall into the trap of seeing that guru as an infallible divine being because that is a construct, that's not real. That's not real.

So, having said that, what should we perhaps engage with here in the Western world right now in the 21st century? If we want a spiritual teacher, how can we approach that? What could we do? Well, firstly, I would say take responsibility for looking for a teacher. Take responsibility. In the Tantric scriptures, they say the student has the right to test the teacher. In the modern context, that might be checking them out online. Google them, see what sort of things there are about them. Are there any scandals? Are there any issues? Are there any rumors? Be informed. The other thing is, don't blindly follow that teacher. Find out the truth of whatever teachings that teacher is teaching. Find that truth out for yourself by engaging with the teachings and practices.

Part of the reason that I did a degree in Comparative Religion was I was living in an ashram at the time and I wanted to make sure that I wasn't getting sucked into some wacky cult! And what I discovered when I was studying Comparative Religion and Tantra is that a lot of what I was learning academically was happening in the ashram, so there was a certain authenticity there. Were there problems? Yes. Were there politics? Yes. Did I see any overt abuse? No. Have I heard of the rumors of past abuse? I certainly have. So just be practical. Have a wide view. Take what you need from a particular path, offer what you can to a particular path, but by no means blindly follow that path. And if you find that there are things there that you cannot reconcile, then exercise your authenticity and dignity as a human being and leave. As I said before, it's no longer six students in a forest with a guru, it's now thousands of people around the world often. And that means lots of money and lots of power and lots of scope for abuse.

Getting back to what you should look for in a teacher. Well, they should walk their talk. They should be an expert in their field. Certain teachers will radiate a calm, a stillness, a peace, a clarity. That's a good sign as well. If you're with a teacher and you are receiving results, you can feel results in your spiritual work, then by all means continue. And you'll know, check in with your inner guidance. Check in with your inner guidance. I think the term “Guru” nowadays is very fraught and misused. It's fraught because of all the scandals that have rocked gurus recently and in the past and it's also fraught because we kind of mistranslate it here in the West, like we do with a lot of things.

So, we take guru to mean “Infallible”. We take guru to mean “Divine”. We take guru to mean “Without Stain”. We take guru to mean “Utterly Pure”. And these are all hyperbole. Also, we often debase the term. We have “makeup gurus”. We have “internet gurus”. We have—I mean guru does mean teacher—but in its spiritual context, as I said before, it means someone who has embodied their spiritual practice and can then transmit it to the student. 

Do me a favor if you will: Why don't you spell the word “Guru”? This is something I've done for quite some years. Why don't you just spell it out loud? Why don't we spell it out together?

G.U.R.U.

G.U.R.U.

G.U.R.U.

Gee, You Are You!

So, the purest Guru is the one inside you, your inner teacher. A good outer teacher is always going to point you back to that teacher within you, over and over again, to that own inner wisdom that you have. You own it. You are it. Nobody's going to take knowledge and place it on you. When it comes to spirituality, it must come from within you. The outer knowledge is an aid to draw the inner knowledge out from you, which is always there. It's never anywhere different. So, remember the true Guru is in you. You are the Guru in a very real sense. You are your own teacher. The universe is your own teacher.

However, if you want to learn a particular tradition, if there's a particular way that you want to learn, there's a pathway you want to follow, then you might want to look for a highly skilled, authentic teacher who has some morals, who has some discipline, who also acknowledges that they're a human being and that they have failings, and who doesn't demand that you run around touching their feet or also just unquestioningly believing everything that they say.

So, gurus behaving badly? Well, of course! Why? Well, because we're all human beings, and sometimes we muck things up. That doesn't excuse the abuses. That doesn't excuse the terrible behavior that's gone on. Not at all! The whole reason I'm bringing this information to you is so that you're aware: The “Infallible Guru” isn't real. It's never been real. There is no such thing as the “Infallible Guru”. No. It doesn't matter how many hyperbole you read in the scriptures.

Now, the state of consciousness that they've reached may be very high, may be exalted, and there is no doubt when you practice yoga, when you practice tantra, you can touch incredible vistas of Consciousness. There's no doubt about that. But, if you wish to believe that on this earth there are the pure holy ones without stain, without blemish, I would say maybe think again. Look within you. Perhaps the Guru within you is without stain, without blemish. But if the teacher is in a human body, then, well, no matter how exalted their state of consciousness, they're still a human being. So, I hope this has helped you. If you have any comments, if you have any questions, as always, you're most welcome to reach out.

Yours In Meditation,

Grant