Friday night I sat down to watch a movie that I’ve been debating whether or not I really wanted to see.  After reading a bunch of articles online I decided to finally give it a go.  Actually it was my husband who suggested we watch it when he said something like “How about you put on that fake prophet guy.”  I had thought this would be something I’d have to watch when he wasn’t around so I was happy to put it on.  I’m so glad that I did!  It was fantastic!

Let’s start with the trailer in case you haven’t even heard of this movie, which is actually a documentary.

 

 

I’ll admit that at first when I heard about this I had mixed feelings of curiosity and horror.  Curiosity because I was dying to know how he would pull this off and how he would end it.  Horror because of the thought of fairly innocent people confiding in this impersonator, believing they were getting guidance from a spiritual teacher, guidance they might act on because of who he said he was.

I wanted to go into this with an open mind so I just put all those thoughts aside and watched.  And it was fascinating.

Kumaré is actually filmmaker Vikram Gandhi, who is not from India but American born to Indian immigrant parents.  Vikram grew up in New Jersey but was raised within the spiritual and cultural traditions of his family’s homeland.  He talks about watching his grandmother do morning prayers and shows home video of him and his brother participating in traditional Hindu rituals and ceremonies throughout their childhood.  While he talks about not really understanding it but remembers the sense of peace and calm that would wash over his grandmother when she’d do her prayer work.

For several years Vikram was working on filming another documentary on yogis and gurus which made him curious about why people follow them and how these gurus do what they do.  Often what he found weren’t necessarily wise spiritual mystics but people with big businesses and loyal followings built on making people feel like they know nothing and need someone else to unveil the wisdom of the world for them.

The experiment that Vikram puts together, to become guru Sri Kumaré, is based on wanting to figure out a few of the things behind the psychology of all of this and teach what he felt was the real truth of gurus – nobody needs one.

Vikram decides he’ll impersonate a guru from India by growing out his hair and beard, adopting his grandmother’s Indian accent, and creating a teaching to share with people.  In order to do this he would have to go somewhere he wouldn’t be recognized, so he goes to Phoenix, AZ.  And how quickly he is embraced by the spiritual community there built around yoga centers is fascinating.

Kumaré quickly goes from having only 2 students in a class to having dozens come to hear him speak.  He leads them in meditations and spends a lot of time talking in metaphor about the fact that he’s faking all of this, but nobody ever puts two and two together.  It shows a great deal of truth about how people find what they want to find in spiritual teachers regardless of what they are actually trying to tell you.

Kumaré ends up with a group of devout followers who he takes through an intense 5 day workshop where, at the end, he plans to lead them through a process of unveiling their true selves, which is when he plans to tell the truth about who he is.  But when that time comes, Vikram is extremely conflicted.  He’s made genuine connections with these people and helped some of them through some difficult spots in their lives so they can see the light on the other side of things.

You can imagine how difficult it would be to tell these people that he’s not who they thought he was.  Doing that could mean undoing all the good that actually took place for these people.

I don’t want to spoil the ending, because it was incredibly touching and got me teary eyed.  So I’ll just say this:  Kumaré, the fake guru, taught these people the very thing that real gurus should be teaching. [fontpress type=”webfonts” name=”Cabin” size=”16px” lh=”18px” color=”#000000″] You don’t need them.  The only real guru you need is the one within.[/fontpress]  What people need is someone to just hold up a mirror {which was the name of the teaching Kumaré was sharing} and show them how amazing and wise they really are.

Some people can’t handle that and they need a guru who’s perceived as mystical, powerful, and all knowing.  But people who are really growing and evolving spiritual [fontpress type=”webfonts” name=”Cabin” size=”16px” lh=”18px” color=”#000000″]should[/fontpress] outgrow their teachers, coaches, priests/priestesses, and gurus.  The goal of the teacher should be to get the student to that point and the goal of the student should be to actually grow and not stagnate and hold on to the teacher.

I highly recommend seeing [fontpress type=”webfonts” name=”Cabin” size=”16px” lh=”18px” color=”#000000″]Kumaré[/fontpress].  It’s interesting, funny, and deeply inspiring.  It should have you walking away questioning how you look at yourself and how you perceive your guru/teacher within.  It’s not at all about making fun of people for having spiritual beliefs or about taking advantage of those who are spiritually and emotionally vulnerable.  Instead you walk away with seeking everyone in this film transform in some way, including Vikram.

[fontpress type=”webfonts” name=”Cabin” size=”16px” lh=”18px” color=”#000000″]Kumaré[/fontpress] is currently streaming on Netflix, GaiamTV, and available for streaming rental through Amazon.

[fontpress type=”webfonts” name=”Cabin” size=”20px” lh=”22px” color=”#000000″]Have you seen Kumaré?  What did you think of it?
Have you encountered false gurus and teachers personally?
Have you had the experience of working with a guru or spiritual teacher on a deeper, long term basis?
How did that experience help you?[/fontpress]