Spirituality is a personal choice

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Help! My mom is totally bowled over by this godman, his designer clothes and flowing beard; she is now a part of his cult following. She swoons when she thinks of him, worships the ground he walks and cannot tolerate one word of criticism against him. Is this what finding God is about, becoming a slave to a man? What’s your advice?”
— A bewildered teenager

Don’t judge your mother. Leave her alone. Some intuition led her to this. When the time is right, she will come out of it. Understand that the problem with god-men is not their designer clothes, their carefully groomed beards, their cultivated voice or even that “look”, that mystical deep “look’ they have rehearsed over and over again to perfection. Please let them be whoever they want to be.
The problem with godmen isn’t the content of their speeches either. Or their costly workshops, or their core philosophy. All that is in order. Godmen never break new ground. They only go over established ground in a seemingly new way. Some take the “art” route, others the “engineering” route. Some take the “classical” route, others the “scientific” route. But essentially they talk nothing new.
Even their “art of this…” or “engineering of that…” courses are rehashed from classical Yoga, Tantra, Buddhism, Vedanta and Zen meditation techniques. If you flow into them with the right mindset, they will no doubt work wonders on you, reduce your stress and bring peace to your troubled heart.
The problem with godmen has nothing to do with their teachings as such. It has everything to do with you the follower. Instead of liberating yourself from him you get subtly bound in flower chains and gradually become his slave.
To be fair, there are godmen who discourage cult worship and stress on the need to be an independent minded person. But with many cults worship is exactly what happens, and you can’t help feel it was carefully designed to happen. My problem with some godmen is that when people swoon over them they do nothing to disturb that glorious hero worship.
Son, understand this business of religion, here morphed as the business of spirituality. It’s the biggest business in the world, and it has been there from thousands of years. Like all businesses, there are institutions that deliver value for money and people who cheat you of your money.
There is a God who created man and there is a God who was created by man. Likewise there is a man who wants you to feel God and a man who wants you to feel he is God.
If ever you find the need, choose wisely and carefully. Spirituality is a personal choice. Enter with your eyes and mind wide open. Better still, become a light unto yourself. Whatever inspiration and enlightenment you seek is ultimately within yourself.