The Root of New-Age Superficiality

By Durgadas, Ved Kovid, AYT

(c) Durgadas (Rodney) Lingham.
All Rights Reserved.

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There are many pseudo-traditions that often derive from "secret" families in the orient and elsewhere - the origin of techniques such as chakra-balancing, pranic-healing, reiki, acupuncture, marma-therapy, hypnotherapy, rebirthing etc. The truth is, the highest castes preserved the original systems which don't mention these. There are however, divergent movements that arose from lay people and lower (uneducated) castes in societies as a result of ignorance and sometimes, prevention from accessing the texts (as Hindus reacted against Buddhists in southern India). This bred pseudo-systems and often tribal practices that later on, came into 'mainstream' traditions and were taught to the western world wise ease, due to, unlike the higher-classes of society and Brahmins, who would not divulge these sciences, even if they were their own, for they are much more complex or sophisticated systems they dealt with.

Good examples as I have dealt with here are acupuncture, which has been taken up by and large by western audiences as being integral to 'mainstream' Chinese healing traditions, but of which were originally different practices; true acupuncture itself was also a finer-art requiring projection of Qi without needles. Modern delusions have also been superimposed upon Hindu marma techniques which were also, as in China, confined to the lesser classes or considered plebeian-style.

Thus, physiognomy and chiromancy, various forms of divination and prashna become the mainstay of cheats and the lesser-classes who develop them, ignoring the depth and scope of mathematical and astronomical traditions such as the broader Vedic Astrology provides with its intricacies and deeper teachings and doctrines, interwoven within other vedangas and the shad darshanas that is beyond the psychological comprehension and absorption of these simple-folk and their folk-remedies! The Romani (Gypsy) of Europe are an example who employed such and to a degree, influenced the New-Age trends in their own way, themselves originating from the lesser uneducated masses of Indo-Aryan stock. Sometimes there is also a fine-line between the pseudo and the traditional, however the latter is always more complex, logical and validated by academic traditions which was hence substantiated in ancient times in public debates, when all systems were discussed and those valid alone accepted by all scholars and academics of the day; the rest being laid to rest or were disseminated into the uneducated societies who took these (corrupt systems) up faithfully. An example may be here that in the Treta-Yuga, the Brahmins and others were no longer able to heal diseases simply by mantras and herbs - thus shalyatantra or surgery arose for the masses. As even in an advanced age, few possessed higher powers in close-knit communities, what to speak of today's world where not only those outside believe otherwise, but also we exist in the Kali-Yuga, the ignorant age or strife.

Guarded was the sacred wisdom of siddhis and the method to gain them - to few who could handle and be born to possess them and certainly not through a weekend course or a month's retreat in a five-star resort! Even then, guarded were those higher wisdoms from the uneducated who corrupted them of their own accord and franchised them later, imitating the sanctity of Brahmins! The Yoga-Sutras and such alone are but that - sutras, mere threads of words by which conveyed simple ideas alone and not the complete systems to the masses! This is what today, people forget!

Would a Freemason, even today divulge to even his lay friends the happenings inside the lodge? Hence, these are second-hand whispers - not even those of Chinese whispers in comparison (albeit, some are derivative of such streams), often also based on mere conjecture on behalf of those 'outside' the Lodge, as also with the tribal and uneducated masses of ancient world societies and cultures and the so-called "special wisdoms" and techniques.

Indians have also, for thousands of years been in trade via the vaishya or mercantile masses. They have replicated, as if with carbon-paper, these social fetishes created by the lesser streams as themselves and popularised them through trade. Such is hence also no secret then, that the Buddhist Jatakas and others made their way into the western world; others as Hindu numerals, medicine and mathematics via more authentic routes through Universities at Nalanda and Takshashila as also scholars in the Arab-world courts. Even these however, the Arabs changed - their own systems often fusing with the Grecian with their melting-pot culture.

Across Asia, the Buddhists, barred from the sacred learning in higher traditions sought to also reinvent what they could not gain access to and remained sacred and secret to the Brahmins and other Priestly orders, who guarded these wisdoms to avoid future corruption and allowed their dissemination only amongst those who would give it proper honour, respect and also protection as well in this system. Hence, many pseudo-systems today that are claimed to have come from an "Indian Guru", "Chinese traditions" and "a handful of families" in the orient are, in fact, derivative from these lesser uneducated masses and are the old-world forms quackery that Americas has today come to epitomise "ancient systems", not the mainstream and higher scholarly aspects of healing in such systems which always rejected them and sought logic and reason, science and investigation over such techniques taken at the face value. Others (as Kriya-Yoga, Kundalini-Yoga) are simply fragmented portions of larger bodies of integral systems that have been marketed as ekangangas (single limbs of limbs) - fragmented wisdoms of fragments, atomic in comparison to the complete systems they once formed small a part of and of that, are taught in an incomplete and linear "one size fits all" manner.

Shankaracharya's own adhyasa or analogy of superimposition of the rope and snake, where one mistakes one object for another can also be applied to the social-sphere of the world also. Due to the three gunas in nature, our minds can go for the false (pseudo-aspects of native faiths and traditions) rather than to the true (expanded and authentic ancient traditions); here, the masses go for the (false) appearance, rather than for jnana or wisdom that leads to the discovery of that which lies beyond it and exists at the substratum of ancient societies, the sutra or thread central to mainstream teachings.

The problem is that fraudulent teachers often adopt these lesser traditions and seek to proselytise them to make a name for themselves, becoming Gurus to be admired in the west, but thwart the study of the original teachings in their entirety that contradict them and thus select and take out of context a few mere quotations, without considering the whole story or verse or text from whence it came and in which context it was implied. Such people also know due to their share Caesar-style cunning that their plebeian followers will also never investigate the truth behind their veil of words or so-called 'nectarous' teachings! This is the avarana-shakti of the teacher in the social-sphere of the world. 

Here is also raised the issue of a Guru or proper teacher. Kularnava Tantra (XIV.26) states about testing the Guru and also that if the Guru does not possess knowledge correctly, one may leave the Guru without stain (XIII.130-132). From the Mahabharata onward, the details about false Gurus and the Kali-Yuga is well-documented. Here also we should take note of the ancient texts and their cautionary approach to wisdom in this regard - a point that has long been overlooked!  

Here we must remember that even in ancient cultures there are pseudo-systems and also authentic systems preserved by the nobility. We should not confuse the two.

I have often spoken about this as also the connection between this and the western imitation of traditional schools of thought also – an article that leads on from this HERE.