The debate the Bikram controversy has started, raises fundamental questions about copyright, teaching practices and the ethical stance and place of ego in an environment of spiritual practice and teaching, amongst others...
There are many who put themselves forward as teachers and gurus and are keen to spread their wisdom and knowledge to those seekers that have ears.
There are, within that soup, great ones, good ones, mediocre and poor ones. A kaleidascope of life.
Many of the great ones are those that most people do not know nor may ever meet.
The ones that seem to get the most air time seem to be the ones that spark the majority of controversy and scandal.
Many have experienced the charlatans and fake gurus that have come from both the East and West, yet on the grand scale, India seems to have the lion's share of them, today more than ever. However it would be wrong to lump the motherload onto this great continent.
With the growth of spiritual searching and the huge popularity of yoga in the West, the number of occidental gurus is rising and those amongst them that are endeavouring to harvest the riches that offer themselves through devotional following are exponential to the growth.
There are many teachers who are brilliant, honest and so full of integrity that they have little to concern themselves with here, but then it is, as usual, the rampant few that exploit.
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The use of particular yogic practices lend themselves not only to nurturing the path toward enlightenment but also can be useful in turning susceptible, impressionable and open seekers into blind devotees.
Now it is arguably not new, this attraction to power. In fact, it is one of the oldest arts. Yet when one is dealing with people's search for a meaning, for help through whatever practice, the temptation to let rational and objective vision become lost in the mists of egoic importance is great.
The temptation on any one that sets themselves up as teacher and figureheads is equally at risk of being drawn towards the forbidden fruits of power and control.
It would be no libelous thing to comment that Bikram appears to have a particularly active and well rounded ego that he uses undoubtedly to his advantage. But more importantly it comes down to territory and perception more than an strong and powerful ego.
Should we claim that postures and means of expressing those postures are our individual property?
Is a 5,000 year old tradition and practice able to be claimed as original in the 21st century?
