Chasing after Fame, Frivolity and Fabulousness in Spiritual Practice

Fanfare and Dramatic Presentation are a must for everything that we do and encounter! If a product looks too simple... with lack of attractive packaging or memorable fanfare promotions, most time we don't even take a second glance at it. It is the same for spirituality! God Forbid! ( no pun intended )

If a Spiritual house or Temple or Church does not have overwhelming eye candy, 9 in 10 of us are bound to say, "err... it's an ok place lah... not bad lah... but that's not the place for me, because it doesn't SPEAK to me" Many of us dash after Grand Externals, Big Names, Advanced Practices or Quick Shortcuts to Divine Discovery... if a certain teacher doesn't hold some title or rank, almost immediately although we may not criticize, but in our heart of hearts we devise our own "caste" system. That one better, that one not that "high". We place so much importance on titles, dignitaries and status!

First of all... unless we ourselves are "HIGHLY" attained, how do we even know what is high or low? Looking at a postcard depiction of Mount Kailash or Mount Fuji will not immediately imbue in us ultimate knowledge of the dangers and chasms one will encounter if we decide to scale those towering Goliaths! It doesn't give us the detailed information needed of what we will find at its peak! It is only an idiot or fool, who looks at the postcard and says " Hey, very easy only lah, I can scale that mountain NO PROBLEM!" Unless we ourselves have been up there, we will never truly know the essence what is high and what is low. All we can see is a picture in our head of external perceptions. Wait till we realise, that the pic of Mount Fuji we see in the postcard was actually a Play Doh! Project of a really talented 9 year old kid, and photographers using lighting and props add depth and realism to it!! All that sparkles isn't always indicative of diamonds.

I keep wondering to myself, why do we do that? Like in my case, no attainments, extremely low in knowledge and as agile as a piglet on stilts, why do I still clamor for name, status and utter eye candy? IF something looks ugly or unglamourous why does my heart squeal with aversion? A classic question i am still yet unable to answer.

I ask myself sometimes, if H.H the Dalai Lama, H.H the Pope, The Holy Sai Baba, a "Rinpoche", an Archbishop of Vatican, a normal monk and a simple statusless, nameless teacher were to invite me for a meeting ( I WISH ) all calling for the same time but different place, where would I go? Looking with eyes of truth into my heart of hearts, I realised the nameless teacher would be the last on my list. My bias will definitely be towards my faith's lineage and then comes the hierarchy of status and titles.

Most times the most subtle faults of our hearts can even hide within the confines of a Spiritual Disguise. The hide so well and many times go totally undetected as it grows like a cancerous cell or poisons other parts of our spiritual body. VANITY, SPIRITUAL GREED and PRIDE disguises itself to LOOK like its serving us in progressive ways, but in truth it is serving us a long ranged, long term life sentence to the Gallows of Self-Destruction!!! What a scary thought!

Om Shanti, Peace to All
Om Shanti, Peace br my Heart
Om Shanti, Peace may I be to others