Self-Realization and Other Awakenings

and writers of books, bios, lessons, and organizational
teachers.
At this point, few can really see who or what the
teacher or guru is really like due to having been
immersed in a culture of adulation and prepared
images; which are sort of like universal archetypes of
the guru that even American's have, of a person who
has "transcended" life, is all knowing, omniscient, an
embodiment of all that is good, truth, and light.
Anyone who challenges this image in any way should
beware.
The real guru only comes out in dealings with his
entourage on a day by day basis, dealings the average
person never knows about. The guru image and
persona is the only entity the vast majority of
followers ever see.
If the guru begins to get unstable as did Osho, or
scandals of one sort or another begin to arise, the real
guru is taken underground and sort of disappears from
public view, or moves out of the country as did Da Free
John to Figi, or Osho disappearing by going silent.
The guru archetype is alive and well in most of us;
the need for a father or god-like figure who is
omniscient, who will love and protect us, and
gradually reveal to us, what it is like to be beyond
human, all-knowing and divine.