Rumors – what to do about them?

Rumor: A piece of unverified information of uncertain origin usually spread by word of mouth. R=Rude; U=Unverified; M=Malicious; O=Oratory; R=Rant

This was something I created today in response to some ugly rumors floating around about me lately. I am certainly not going to address them here directly and thus give them more energy, I will let them die a sad death as they deserve.

I guess at some point in time it happens to everyone. Even great souls get criticized, attacked and sometimes even killed, so what to speak of insignificant souls like myself. So it is today, that some unscrupulous people are creating crazy stories about me and my service to Food for Life. “Be gone”, you wretched fools and your verbal diarrhea”, I say.

These recent happenings remind me of the game of telephone, where a child will whisper in the ear of another child what they heard from the previous child in the circle until the story finds it way back to the source. As is often the case, the final story bears no resemblance at all to the original story and is often quite skewed, if not outrageously incorrect. Why does this happen? Simply because it is human nature to embellish, color and filter the information we receive. The conditioned soul is either forcing information into a preferred worldview, or acting out of lust, pride and or envy. Unless you’ve managed to transcend the trappings of this material world you’re prone to such tendencies.

I have already talked about knowledge filters and our tendency to process information through our chosen cultural, philosophical or social paradigms. So how does lust, pride and envy affect our ability to process and disseminate information?

LUST

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world. [BG 3.37]

When a soul excepts a material body, the natural sense of love of God becomes transformed into lust, as milk does when it is touched by something sour like tamarind and transformed into yogurt. When such lust is unsatisfied, it turns into wrath; wrath is transformed into illusion, and illusion entraps the soul further into material existence.

What we often think is love in this world, is really just lust and therefore it not only binds us to this material energy, but bewilders our sense of judgement.

PRIDE

Birth in an aristocratic family and the execution of austere and pious activities certainly cause one to take pride in himself. Similarly, if one enjoys a prestigious position within society because his parents are highly respected members of the varṇāśrama social system, one becomes even more infatuated with himself. But if despite these excellent material qualifications one does not feel even a tinge of pride within himself, he is to be considered the dearmost servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. [Srimad Bhagavatam 11.2.51]

Everyone of us has a tendency to be proud and yet pride is a major stumbling block on the path of enlightenment. This flaw is especially prevalent in the hearts of those adorned with high birth, fame, riches, beauty, and intelligence. Such is the irony of this material world that what appears to be a blessing can in fact be a curse. When we act and speak out of pride, we lose touch with the inner voice of God. Nothing eternally beneficial to the soul can ever come from acting out of pride, neither to us nor those we hurt by such prideful actions.

ENVY

Persons who want to advance in superior religion are advised to give up all envy of other living entities, whether in relationship to the body, words or mind. There is no religion superior to this. [Srimad Bhagavatam 7.15.8]

To be envious of someone is utter foolishness, since the very basis of this condition is to think that somehow we are lesser then someone else or that that person is not deserving of some good fortune. Both assumptions are wrong in so many ways.

We are all spiritually equal in quality. The “Oneness” that is often talked about in spiritual circles refers to the quality of the soul and it’s innate Godliness. We are all of equal value in the eyes of God. So the idea that we are in some way inferior to another soul is ludicrous. Similarly, to suggest in words or action that another embodied soul is not deserving of some good karma is to deny them their divine right and also does not take into consideration that that soul has a history of accumulated karmic credit. In other words, when someone is born into aristocracy, it can be understood that that soul performed great austerity and pious activity in past lives. Their apparent “Good luck” therefore is really just a well deserved blessing. Unfortunately, we see that when such blessings do fall upon us, we become overwhelmed with pride and forget our true identity as a soul, and thus waste the good fortune in frivolous pursuits and entrap ourselves further in this material world.

Unless we are freed from a bodily concept of life and in touch with our true nature as a soul, there will always be a tendency to create and fuel rumors. Don’t be surprised then if you find yourself on the receiving end of an ugly rumor, or conversely, are in some way responsible for creating a rumor. It happens, so don’t give it air, but just allow it to fade away into the universe and stay focused on what is truly important in your life now. Besides, no one or no thing can ever hurt us unless we give them (it) permission to do so.