THE ETHICAL CRISIS IN SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP

More power has often led to more impropriety. Now there's an organization trying to turn that troubling trend around.

- PHILIP GOLDBERG

In the 1960s and ’70s, a procession of skilled, charismatic, and presumably enlightened gurus came to the United States from India and attracted large numbers of followers. Their collective impact was extraordinary, and it has, for the most part, endured. Largely because of these teachers—and those who preceded and followed them, India’s perennial wisdom was implanted in our spiritual soil, shifting our understanding of the relationship between the individual and the Divine and ushering practices like meditation into the mainstream.

But the gurus cast a shadow as well. Rumors of sexual impropriety and other misconduct were attached to some of them at the time, although concrete evidence was sparse and denial ran deep in that pre-Me-Too era. Disciples did not want to hear that the teachers they saw as embodiments of goodness were, in fact, morally deficient. In subsequent years, however, additional proof surfaced, and the number of accused gurus multiplied. By the time I wrote American Veda, which was published in 2010, I had to devote an entire chapter to the scandals. It was the shortest chapter in the book and the most difficult to write. It also elicited the most passionate emails. The messages were basically of two types: “How dare you lend credence to absurd accusations about my divine guru?” and “You were too kind to those degenerate reprobates.”

Like many observers at the time, I thought the ’70s-era misconduct was an artifact of a unique historical moment. Most of the gurus were men who’d grown up in a conservative culture, remained worldly life, reveled in secluded ashrams, and then found themselves in bawdy service at the peak of the sexual revolution, surrounded by adoring females in miniskirts. It was easy to assume that future teachers would be less likely to get into trouble and that new generations of seekers would be wiser and less vulnerable.