When the Teacher Fails: Examining the Gap Between Teachings and Integrity

Can the Message Survive the Messenger?

Author

Shirisha Nagendran
January 31, 2025

I’m back in your inbox after 4 weeks. I’ve been reading this bulky autobiography titled “Living with the Himalayan Masters” by Swami Rama. These 497 pages had my attention during a busy month. I’d been taking a break and spending time with my nephew and extended family, so I barely got any time to read. And in the snatches of time I had during the month, I found myself gravitating towards this book. 

This book is written by an Indian “Guru” called Swami Rama who narrates his experiences with great teachers during his growing years and as an adult in India living in the Himalayas. I had quite a few aha moments while reading this book and I shall offer a sample of the snippets that I found interesting. 

As I got towards the end of the book, I thought, “This guy sounds too good to be true. I wonder if he is alive now.” I drop his name into the search engine, and lo and behold accusations of sexual abuse and his convictions for this offence come up. I was so disheartened. 

These great “gurus” who talk about being a renunciate, enlightenment and give these great insightful pearls of wisdom that deeply resonate with so many of us, seem to have trouble aligning their actions to their words.

This was something that bothered me when I read Chogyam Trungpa’s books. He is Pema Chodron’s teacher, and Pema Chodron is one of my beloved spiritual teachers whose writings and teachings have had a profound impact on me. 

These “gurus” speak with so much confidence, authority and power. I also realised that we expect our teachers to be perfect, or rather we assume our teachers to be perfect and we don’t question anything they say. The belief in the person undermines our ability to think critically. This plays out in the world in many different shapes and forms. If we think someone has achieved something great in their life, we will take their advice on anything, even if it is something they have not experienced or done. 

I was wondering how I can still access the value from these “gurus” who offer life-changing wisdom in their writings, and their actions are harmful and even criminal to other human beings. Can I throw away the baby (the wisdom) with the bathwater (the teacher)? 

Upon reflection, I was reminded of Buddha’s teachings in the Kalama Sutta

The people of Kalama asked the Buddha who to believe out of all the ascetics, sages, venerables, and holy ones who, like himself, passed through their town. They complained that they were confused by the many contradictions they discovered in what they heard. 

The Kalama Sutta is the Buddha's reply.

- Do not believe anything on mere hearsay.

- Do not believe in traditions merely because they are old and have been handed down for many generations and in many places.

- Do not believe anything on account of rumours or because people talk a great deal about it.

- Do not believe anything because you are shown the written testimony of some ancient sage.

- Do not believe in what you have fancied, thinking that, because it is extraordinary, it must have been inspired by a god or other wonderful being.

- Do not believe anything merely because presumption is in its favour, or because the custom of many years inclines you to take it as true.

- Do not believe anything merely on the authority of your teachers and priests.

But whatever, after thorough investigation and reflection, you find to agree with reason and experience, as conducive to the good and benefit of one and all and of the world at large, acccept only that as true, and shape your life in accordance with it.

The same text, said the Buddha, must be applied to his own teachings.

- Do not accept any doctrine from reverence, but first try it as gold is tried by fire.

It was helpful to be reminded that I can take the teachings and try it by the fire of my direct experience. These teachers are just channels of wisdom and discoveries that have been passed on by people before them. The channels may themselves be dirty, but the water flowing through it is still water. I need to test the purity of the water through my own direct experience. 

I’m sure if I had discovered that Swami Rama was convicted of sexual abuse before I found the book, I would not have journeyed through the book and found some insights which has made me approach my meditation practice and life differently. It has given me a lot to ponder upon. 

Here are some highlights from the book that have stood out for me, the irony notwithstanding.  

“Knowing is mere information. Practice gives direct experience, which alone is valid knowledge.”

He asked, “What have you learned?”

“I have learned that I have intellectual knowledge, but I do not behave in accord with that knowledge.”

He said, “This is the problem all intellectuals have. They become overly proud of their knowledge. Now I will teach you to practice, so that you will know.”

A human being knows enough, but that knowledge needs to be brought into daily life. If this is not done, the knowledge remains limited within the boundaries of knowing only. We all know what to do and what not to do, but it is very difficult to learn how to be. Real knowledge is found not in knowing but rather in being.

“Many people are unable to face certain things in themselves.They refuse to confront those conflicts, desires, and habits that they may not like in themselves but can’t get rid of. They don’t allow others to know their real selves, and continue to put forward defenses and pretenses. With someone, somewhere in some relationship, we should completely expose ourselves and not keep these embarrassing seeds repressed inside. These hidden secrets only delay our progress. We project onto others the very things we won’t face. During meditation one allows all these embarrassing thoughts and desires to come up gently, where one can just observe them without becoming involved. In this way meditation serves as an effective tool to recover and live a balanced life.”

I’d love to know how you reconcile the issue of the baby and the bathwater when it comes to spiritual teachings and the teachers who channel them when they act in direct contradiction to what they preach. 

And we conclude this week’s edition with a short story. 

Working Very Hard

A martial arts student went to his teacher and said earnestly, “I am devoted to studying your martial system. How long will it take me to master it?” 

The teacher’s reply was casual, “Ten years.”

Impatiently, the student answered, “But I want to master it faster than that. I will work very hard. I will practice every day, ten or more hours a day if I have to. How long will it take then?” 

The teacher thought for a moment, “20 years.”

💌Siri