Yesterday, I received an email from a friend
To which she wanted me urgently to attend.
“I’ve found”, she wrote, “the perfect Master at last!
My years of seeking are now a thing of the past!
It’s such a simple message that this Master teaches.
‘Surrender to me completely” is what he preaches,
Promising, “In exchange, all your sins I’ll take,
And then in a lofty spiritual realm you’ll awake.
Thereafter, you’ll be united with God at last.
Such a quick way to salvation, easy and fast!”
To him I think I shall now surrender my all.
At his most holy feet I’m just pining to fall.
I do hope my excitement you will heartily share,
For I know for my wellbeing you do truly care.”
My friend’s message mentioned this man's name.
It turned out he was a man of considerable ill-fame.
This I found out after doing quite extensive research,
Spending hours on Google for his details in search.
And do you know that I was led to discover?
In the name of God and faith a tale of horror!
The man my friend thought supremely enlightened
Had a history that would make anyone frightened.
To cut what is a very long story short,
He was one of an all-too-common sort:
A self-styled man of God, a total hoax
On a mission to deceive gullible folks.
Posing to be a great spiritual Master,
He turned out to be a rank imposter!
I emailed my friend the details I had procured
Of this conman who vast numbers had lured
Into his foul trap with such cunning deceit,
Hoping she’d realise he was a counterfeit.
Along with the details, I sent her a long note:
“Don’t be such an idiot”, I very firmly wrote,
“Stay away from him as far as you can,
Have nothing at all to do with this man.
I have to sternly warn you, my friend,
Don’t fall prey to this devilish fiend.
How can you this man so readily believe?
Can’t you see that he’s all set to deceive?
‘The moment’, he says, ‘you give me your mind
Final salvation or enlightenment you will find.
Reduce yourself to being just a nobody.
Think of yourself worthless and shoddy.
Take me as your God-sent Master henceforth
If you want to please God and avert his wrath.’
That you must reduce yourself to a state so abject
Is something that you should completely reject.
He insists that to him his followers totally surrender,
To him their mind, body and wealth fully render.
He, like many other such cheats, have in this way
Brought untold millions under their total sway.
To him many have handed over their everything,
And so, he does no work, yet he reigns like a king.
In surrender’s name he seeks complete control
Over people’s body, mind, wealth and soul.
He says: ‘Hear and do as I command.
Cheerfully yield to my every demand.’
This man, this really vile pretender,
Says if his followers will surrender
Everything that they have at his feet,
With God they will then finally meet,
And that after they die he will ensure
That they enter Heaven completely pure,
So that there they can live for all eternity:
This he guarantees, with apparent certainty.
He says those who reject him will be sent to Hell,
And there they will forever in great torment dwell.
If, he says, you want to go to Heaven eternal
And to be saved from Hell’s flames infernal,
You have to believe he’s been sent by God
To Earth on a special mission for the Lord.
Thus playing on what people most fear and desire,
Promising them eternal bliss or else a fate dire,
A great many people, foolish or immature
Just could not resist his attractive allure.
He’s convinced them his curses have great power.
Because of this, before him they abjectly cower,
Fearing that if they displease him them he might curse,
And that he might do to them even something worse.
But from Google I came to know
That this all is a humbug’s show.
He’s learnt well many a magic trick,
And other ways to make money quick,
Promising miraculous cure for every disease,
All on offer in return for very hefty fees.
He claims to be owner of many powers great,
Including the ability to destroy a person’s fate.
With great skill, much cunning and stealth
He’s robbed many people of their wealth.
From a pauper he’s become a billionaire
By trapping vast numbers in his snare.
He lives now like some powerful potentate,
Exercising total control of his subjects’ fate.
‘Simply by surrendering to me,’ he declares,
‘Is the one and only solve to all your cares.
Without surrender to me in a manner total,
Attaining God is impossible for any mortal.
You can’t get God by your own effort.
For that, you need a Great Master’s support.
Only if you me as your Great Master will serve
Will God deem that His grace you deserve.
Without a Master like me you can’t attain God.
Such a Master’s indispensable to find the Lord.
Without such a Master, you just can’t succeed
Satan is bound to you completely mislead.
The person who has no spiritual guide
Has Satan with him always at his side.
God has laid down a law that you must follow
If you want to be liberated from all sorrow:
It’s to surrender to a Master, doing as he commands,
Faithfully following him, obeying all his demands.
It’s as simple as that, can you not see?
So now, fully surrender yourself to me.’
If you ask him, ‘This all how do you know?
Did God in an audible voice tell you so?’,
He won’t be able to give any logical reply,
No sensible explanation of what and why.
He talks repeatedly of ‘total surrender’
To prey easily on minds that are very tender.
I can’t think of any way more vile
Gullible minds to easily beguile.
Don’t allow yourself to be thus debased,
In surrender’s name to be so disgraced.
Don’t reduce yourself to a state so abject,
Don’t to such inanity make yourself subject.
All this mumbo-jumbo of his and his magic,
I’d think it quite funny if it wasn’t so tragic.
But it’s actually a touch amusing, you see,
To note how idiotic some people can be,
Handing over their life and wealth to a fraud
Who claims to be holy, or even to be God!
Please use your sense and recognize his lies,
See through the falsity of his pious disguise.
If you foolishly do as this man commands,
And then give in to all his many demands,
If you hand over your everything to him,
And then blindly follow his every whim,
You’ll make a giant mess of your precious life,
And gain in return only much pain and strife.
Please, my dearest, your common sense use
And refuse to fall prey to this trickster’s ruse.
He’s a conman, a very obvious fraud,
Pretending to be a true man of God.
Of fakes roaming about in holy guise
Please be extremely wary and wise.
God’s with all of us, and this means that we all can
Approach God directly, instead of through a ‘godman’.
No mere human is at all so great
To be given full control of your fate.
Surrender to God I agree, but why to a man?
Can any man do just as our Great Maker can?
How can a mere mortal ensure your eternal salvation?
For that, we must surrender to the Lord of all Creation.
Never place on an exalted pedestal any human,
No matter how seemingly 'holy', man or woman.
No mere human being must you ever idolize,
We're all very fallible creatures, please realize.
Don’t surrender to anyone but God,
Have a direct connection with the Lord.
Go to God directly for all help you need,
To God’s Voice within you pay good heed.
It’s so simple, you just need to silently pray,
And carefully listen to what God might say.
Turn to God’s Voice within you to seek
Guidance and help when you feel weak.
You should follow the Inner Guide,
The Voice of God that is inside.
With God within have a direct connection
To easily avoid the really vile infection
Of frauds who parade in holy guise,
Making a living out of a pack of lies.
Avoid completely every such crook,
To God alone for guidance look.
Make sure from this you do not deviate,
Or else it can seriously mar your fate.
Vow to yourself that you must now never
Allow yourself to yield to any pretender.
Of course, there are genuine Masters, men of God true,
But compared to the charlatans, they’re maybe few.
If you find a genuine Master, deem it a treasure,
A blessing enormous, perhaps beyond measure.
Here are some marks of a true spiritual Master:
Your money, your wealth he will not run after.
He won’t want to turn you into his minion,
And force you to accept his every opinion,
Making you dance like a puppet on a string,
Thereby making you hand him your everything.
No genuine master will his disciples enslave,
Seeking total control over how they behave.
A genuine human Master will only seek to guide
Disciples to the Real Master—God—who’s inside—
And who speaks through the Inner Voice to every person.
It is to this Inner Master that you must learn to listen.
There are true men of God who deserve respect,
But our slavish surrender they will never expect.
From earning their own bread they do not shirk,
They’ll engage in some creative or useful work.
They earn their living through mental or physical labour,
Not living off others as if thereby doing them a favour.
No true man of God would for your wealth care,
To demand it from you they would never dare.
That from such wise folks we can benefit I agree,
And for this such people will never seek a fee.
They won’t ever expect—not as far as I know—
That you grovel before them, abased and low.
But it’s a matter very different with charlatans, you see,
Who are all set to cheat others, folks like you and me.
By all means learn from others, I will say,
But, finally, follow your own heart’s way.
Don’t agree to become a pathetic slave
Of some cheat, fraud or crafty knave.
Instead of regarding as ‘Master’ just a single person,
Know that from everyone one can gain many a lesson.
You can learn from everything you see:
Even rock or an animal, a bird or a tree.
From every experience—our’s and others’—we can learn,
Reflecting on every phenomenon can help us discern.
This means the Master is really everything, everywhere,
Wherever one turns one’s gaze, the Master is present there.
Keep your mind, body and wealth intact.
Handle them all with care and tact.
They’re gifts from God, so treat them well,
And never to anyone your precious soul sell.
Don’t barter your mind and life away.
Never allow yourself to blindly obey.
Don’t squander all that God’s given to you,
Or else I know one day you will badly rue.
Anyone who claims to be ‘Divinely-appointed’
Or to be ‘chosen by God’ or ‘by God anointed’:
To take such a person as your Master
Is a sure recipe for total disaster.
In all of history, as far as I know,
Never at all has it ever been so
That a man of truth did himself declare,
Pompously, and also with great fanfare,
That God had appointed him to a special position,
And that others thus to him must obey and listen,
And that if they didn’t believe him or do as he said,
God would be furious and might strike them dead.
No man of truth has likely ever demanded
Blind surrender to them, or ever commanded
People to unthinkingly obey
Everything that they might say.
Anyone who claims to be God’s special appointee:
Perhaps one can say of him with full certainty,
That he’s a fraud or a liar, or mentally unstable.
So, to connect you with God he’s simply unable.
Being God Himself some of them claim.
Please see through their sordid game.
All such claims are really preposterous,
Truly sinister, downright monstrous!
When I think of it, I feel really sad:
Oh the many who’ve been driven mad!
Oh the vast numbers made literally insane!
Oh the immense suffering and the great pain
All caused by imposters vain and conceited
Who’ve easily have so many folks cheated,
Millions to them have their souls sold,
Uncritically accepting all they’ve been told.
It’s shocking the inanities people can believe,
And how easy it is in belief’s name to deceive.
In matters of religion and God this is especially so,
There to absurd lengths some folks can easily go!
I really shudder in horror when I think
Of how millions have let themselves sink
Into tragic fates, by imposters misled,
Blindly believing all that they’ve said.
Recalling all who’ve fallen prey to such deceit
I pray, ‘May their example no one else repeat.’”
Writing this email to my friend, I sent it on its way.
That she’ll heed my suggestions I now earnestly pray.
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