How do teachers become controversial?
What is the purpose of this passage?
How does the controversy take form?
I have witnessed the phenomenon of accusations against spiritual leaders and progressive thinkers as I have studied the lives of scientists and mystic teachers. Jesus, for example, was put on the cross by political oppositions, Osho into exile by those who did not understand him, the Dali Lama persecuted by neighbours and Newton discredited for his ideas. How did this happen?
The Dance of Frequencies
As a lover of physics, I want to refer to the concept of frequency. This notion may sound unrelated to you but frequencies are the foundations of mental, physical and emotional movement. So stay with me for a moment.
A wave may be defined as a periodic or regularly repeating disturbance that transports energy from one place to another. The length of the waves of resonance determines the intensity, concentration and refinement of personal frequency. These waves can be rapid (high frequency), medium or slow.
When we start the path towards the self, we purify the “heaviness “, dullness (tamas) or density: our tensions, our unresolved pains and misconceptions of reality, make these waves slow, interrupted or agitated. For any candidate of inner realization, the purification is performed by changing lifestyle and adopting a daily practice. In this stage, we learn the laws of the earth and how we can achieve balance by following earth laws.
As we advance in the path of inner research, more confidence and understanding of the basis are put into form. The first maturity arises when we realize we are the creator of our reality. That self-responsibility increases the wavelength and, therefore, the frequency of the candidate. We have more energy, more self-directedness and more power.
When the frequency becomes more refined and defined, the candidate is requested to liberate self-identifications (“I am what I do, I know”). We are asked to give up any perceptions that oppose the yielding with the flow of the present moment. Here, the path narrows, the frequency increases, and the gate beyond the mind only accepts the flow of life itself. If the candidate had not surrendered (become that flow), the crossing is denied and the frequencies become unstable.
The great compassion of their creation brings them back to an inner place that is still grasping them, usually pride, usually control and usually unresolved pain. The arrival to that place can manifest overnight or immediately, depending on their elemental nature. Without understanding this advanced movement, the candidate can fall into the whirlpool of their pain and violence. The exaltation of what they need to surrender to is in their face and it is pressing hard towards humbleness.
That resistance towards their surrender is called Shakti Pad in the yoga tradition. When you start doubting and feeling angry enough to insult what you are doing, you are entering Shakti Pad. Shakti Pad is a mental space. Your ego takes over your mind and your reverence disappears.
The first sign of Shakti Pad is that you disbelieve your own belief.
The second is you become angry and abusive.
Third, you want to leave and then comes the internal fight. Either the duality eats you up or you handle it through prayer, and then it leaves you. You win.
Shakti pad can take and can take different forms
- Exteriorization: The candidate perceives that their fall or glory is due to external circumstances or a person. The teacher is usually the target. “I am like this because of an external circumstance or person.” By tapping into blaming, they create tyrants, and they become the victim, which in return perpetuates the cycle of pain. In the exteriorization process, the candidate relies on certain internal spiritual achievements. This power could be deeper intuitive awareness, control over the subconscious mind, a stronger sense of yourself, etc. Now you are feeling like you made it. You think that you are a “Master.”
- Interiorization: “I am like this because I am not enough.” “I don’t deserve to cross.” In this option, the sense of separation, belonging, and defeat is the moon of the mind. The candidate is requested to heal and correct diminishing or superior perception.
- Oscillation: I am calling oscillation the combination of exteriorization and interiorization. Usually manifested as a passive-aggressive stance.
In either of these three positions, the frequency is fluctuating. It has dropped from high waves to more slow waves causing disorientation of purpose and meaning to the candidate.
In either of the three ways, ego rules.
Ego brings anger and pain.
Anger brings slander.
Those filled with anger want to bring everyone down along with them.
Misery loves company.
Even though you may have had many beautiful years of devotion, all your good work will be eaten up and wiped out.
Shakti Pad is a great test and passage for the student. It is part of the purification law. It is a law of nature. It is the vibration of the consecration body.
The Opportunity to the Teacher
When the teacher is observing this type of completion in the student, it is good news. It announces a message and a passage to the teacher. The message is: Stop investing energy into the candidate’s energy field. The passage is: Reaffirm your purpose and role to a larger scale.
Both the message and the passage announce a change of frequency, relocation in space and a new framework.
This passage doesn’t just apply to my students, these are the steps anyone needs to take to have the clear guidance of their heart. Remember, you are also a teacher.
The arrival of Shakti Pad announces a need for deeper surrender, either from the student or to the teacher’s frequency. The passage is the embodiment of the more refined energy of Love. It brings deeper neutrality, deeper compassion and deeper detachment from the human form. It is the time for the teacher to pray for the candidate: “Creator, you have given them the destiny, let them fulfill it. Why do they have to go again into another cycle? Be merciful”.
The most crucial part of the legacy of spiritual teachers is not to let the test of the circle of tongues restrain the teacher role. We are still struggling in our subconscious to heal ancient abuses and accusations to mystic schools and teachers. We are still afraid to teach boldly what we know and display that fundamental guidance that takes us from darkness to light.
Take courage, dear teachers, to move through the circle of tongues. Nothing of that is you or yours. And all of that is an excellent opportunity to be more you and express what you are here to do.