Just musings here, occasioned by receiving an update blog from an old friend. As I remember, some here may know him, because he was a TM teacher, and then later he got into the Rama thing, and then after that a succession of gurus and teachers. Gurus and teachers are really his *thing*; it's like he has an abso- lute inability to go more than a month or two without one in his life...at least he *hasn't* gone more than a month or two without one in his life for as long as I've known him.
And I really love the dude. Dakota (not his real name but the one I used in my Road Trip Mind stories) is *lovable*. He's just enthus- iasm incarnate. And the nature of his sadhana -- and the fact that it *succeeds* -- actually is kinda inspiring. Dakota gets away with shit that few of the rest of us get away with. Like not working for a living. To the best of my knowledge, Dakota has not had a real job (working a 9-to-5 job somewhere, or working outside the healing arts or spiritual world) since the early 80s. He says that working in an office or for other people is too constrict- ing for him, and gets in the way of his spirit- ual progress. So he tries the occasional "business venture," but mainly he survives because his friends pay for his life. And now he's got a girlfriend. Lovely lady...I used to know her in the Rama trip, when she was a high-powered database consultant earning $200+ per hour on Wall Street. But now she's into the whole "Let thy will be done" thing, too, and hasn't worked for several years herself. So -- on other people's money -- these two have been in India for the last year studying at an Indian teacher's school there. And they have been enjoying it and posting glowing reports, in between fighting illness and other such Indian things. And the whole *idea* presented to their supporters was that after their year of school- ing they'd take their newly-learned act on the road and use the knowledge to benefit others, all of the karmic credit for this going to the people who've paid for their lives these last few years. But now at the end of their studies they find themselves with less than a hundred bucks in their pockets and no plane tickets back to the US. So they're faced with the prospect of having to take a minimum one-year contract in Thailand or China teaching English, in exchange for room and board while there and a ticket home. Not exactly the "world tour" they'd imagined. But at the last minute God intervenes and they have been invited to stay another year at the guru's school, and so the call goes out for more money to support this. The benefit is to them- selves, of course, not to the world at large, but they'll get back to the world and put some energy back into the system Real Soon Now. So here's my quandary. There is simply NO WAY to argue with the success of Dakota's approach to life. He hasn't had to work at a real job in over two decades. God -- in the form of his friends who have jobs -- pays for his life. Every time he's down to nothing and sick as a dog in some Indian ashram, someone comes through with the money to buy antibiotics so he doesn't die. And they come through with the money so that he can continue his studies and keep learning important new infor- mation to benefit the world. I have no problem with this, and sometimes it inspires me just as much as it obviously inspires him. But at other times I just wonder about it all. It reminds me of the not-wealthy-themselves Purusha and Mother Divine people who have others paying for *their* lives so that they don't have to work, either. And it reminds me of all the gurus in history who have managed things so that they don't have to work. *Other people* work, and pay for their lives, so that they can be all spiritual and all, all for the greater benefit of the world, of course. The fact that this "Let thy will be done...put my trust only in God" thing WORKS for these people is an amazement. The fact that it works at the expense of other people who do work for a living doesn't amaze me as much. On the one hand I'd love to contribute to my friend's sadhana, because his example is a never-ending inspiration of just what a person can pull off if he trusts in the universe to take care of him, and does nothing to take care of himself. But on the other hand I cannot help but notice that all of the glorious world tours and the teaching to benefit others never seems to happen, and what *does* happen is more and more years of study *preparing* for the glorious world tours, all on someone else's nickel. I've written here before about the Cathars, and the way that they worked things. Their priests -- an equal number of men and women -- *worked* for a living. They had jobs, just as the lay Cathars did. None of the lay followers were ever expected to support them or pay for the teachings. The teach- ings were given for free, with the teacher/priests contributing their time and energy, paying for their own lives with their Day Jobs. I still think that this is a pretty good model for spiritual teaching. I *understand* that centuries of tradition have built up around the need for lay (non-monk, non- special) followers to perform selfless service by paying for the lives of the devout (monk, special) gurus and teachers in their lives. I *understand* that it feels good *to* contribute to these dedi- cated people's sadhana, in an effort to put some energy back into the system. But damn! sometimes I just wish that the people who have been having their lives paid for by others for years or decades would put a little more of their *own* energy back into the system, and not come up with excuses for "just one more course." Maybe it's a TM thing after all. Dakota was certainly in that tradition; he got other people to pay for "just one more course" for him for years while in TM. With Rama, where most of the students had strong careers and considered those careers a strong part *of* their sadhana, he managed to get by by relying on the kindness of strangers. Or friends, in this case. He's done it ever since. He clearly intends to keep doing it until he dies, and if it works for him and brings him joy, I have nothing to say about his choice of spiritual path. But sometimes, like today, I just wish that from time to time he'd think of paying for that spiritual path himself, or at the very least decide one day that "just one more course" was less important than "maybe it's time to teach a few courses myself, and allow others to benefit from all this knowledge I've gained over the years." Even if that latter path requires taking a Day Job.
