Radhanath Swami

From Pashupatinath Richard travelled two hundred miles south to Bodh Gaya, the holiest place on earth for Buddhists. At Bodh Gaya he read books by D.T. Suzuki and Alan Watts on Zen Buddhism, and found their teachings simple and appealing. He also learnt that a Zen master from Japan was teaching a way of Zen in Bodh Gaya. The teacher claimed to be following the tradition that has passed down from a long time, and emphasized on the need to lead a life of prayer, humility, service, gratitude and meditation. He demanded a strict schedule, but Richard felt something suspicious.

Some days after the course, a young American couple, two of Master’s faithful followers discovered him to be having a full-on-affair with a lady every night. All his disciples had left him. Richard felt pained that the Master had been strict with his students, but not with himself. He had misrepresented a long tradition of sincere teachers.

“An irresponsible leader can break the hearts and faith of his followers and raise suspicion even toward those who are genuine. What pain his hypocrisy caused to those who trusted him and just see what it has done to his own life. How essential it is to live what we believe. How vital it is to practice what we preach.”

The irresponsibility of the Zen master reminded me of Socrates’ immortal words, “The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.” Radhanath Swami says, “A spiritual teacher has to be a student first; a preacher has to be a practitioner first; a master has to be a sincere servant first; and a leader must be a true follower first.” Accepting position of leadership without the necessary qualifications is a violent crime, as it shakes the faith of innocent people who trust such a teacher.  Radhanath Swami narrates the story of a sadhu, a holy man who was approached by a lady requesting him to instruct her son to give up eating sweets. The sadhu asked them to come the following week. A week later, the sadhu requested the child to give up eating sweets. The perplexed lady asked him why he hadn’t given this simple instruction a week ago. The man replied, “Last week even I was eating sweets. I abstained from sweets for one week and now I have some credibility to tell others not to eat sweets.” Radhanath Swami explains before we instruct others we should at least be aspiring to follow the instructions ourselves.

Once, a young man stayed for a month at the Radhagopinath temple monastery, video shooting everything that was happening there.  An inmate confided in me, “We became conscious of him and his camera. Sometimes during my distracted prayer sessions, he would come in the front and catch us on the camera. Suddenly I would become alert and display a certain kind of seriousness in my spiritual activities. One morning as I was putting up my best performance to be good on the camera, I got a nice realization. I thought of how God is constantly watching u