Austerity and renunciation of comforts is part of most spiritual practice and comes with the territory. That's a conscious personal choice most make. I don't recall ISKCON giving out blowup mattresses and hot showers. Most temple food is from the food bank.
So I think that the hypocrisy lies in the fact that often times the guru doesn't seem to be living in the same austere conditions. Also, gurus are human. They like attention. For every guru out there who is overdoing it with sense indulging, there are the others Who seek attention through renunciation.
Are all gurus false? Perhaps. It's hard to know. And since most of these groups forbid you to question the authority of the guru, and challenge their position in anyway, to verify what they are saying and how they are behaving, it's nearly impossible to tell in any authentic way. And unfortunately the very Scriptures are also full of contradicting statements about how such so-called saintly persons should behave and conduct themselves. Often there is allowance given for such extreme exhibitions of abuse, while maintaining that the pure Devotee is beyond material consideration. How convenient.
Many of these injunctions rewk of brahminical superiority complexes to keep the population subjugated while the top half goes unquestioned. So many times I have seen these Groos being asked questions that they answer with something so unintelligible yet, everyone just moves along and takes it as it is without calling them on it and telling them that what they just said makes absolutely no sense.
So I think that the hypocrisy lies in the fact that often times the guru doesn't seem to be living in the same austere conditions. Also, gurus are human. They like attention. For every guru out there who is overdoing it with sense indulging, there are the others Who seek attention through renunciation.
Are all gurus false? Perhaps. It's hard to know. And since most of these groups forbid you to question the authority of the guru, and challenge their position in anyway, to verify what they are saying and how they are behaving, it's nearly impossible to tell in any authentic way. And unfortunately the very Scriptures are also full of contradicting statements about how such so-called saintly persons should behave and conduct themselves. Often there is allowance given for such extreme exhibitions of abuse, while maintaining that the pure Devotee is beyond material consideration. How convenient.
Many of these injunctions rewk of brahminical superiority complexes to keep the population subjugated while the top half goes unquestioned. So many times I have seen these Groos being asked questions that they answer with something so unintelligible yet, everyone just moves along and takes it as it is without calling them on it and telling them that what they just said makes absolutely no sense.