What's your Guru?
Vikram Gandhi grew up as a Hindu in the American suburbs. He knew two kinds of gurus- the real ones that he met at ashrams and the ones of myth.
Gandhi set out on a mission to expose the mythical gurus while helping people discover their inner gurus and happiness within themselves. Along the journey, he transformed into what he calls his ideal self: Kumaré
In an exclusive interview, Vikram Gandhi takes MyBindi.com’s Ashna Singh behind the scenes of Kumaré , which will be featured at the Hot Docs festival kicking off in Toronto on April 28th, 2011. See below for screening times.
Q. How do you think the yoga culture can best benefit human beings?
A. In an ideal world, yoga and meditation offer solutions to our greatest social problems; its culture challenges obesity and over-medication, promotes environmentalism, and inspires charity. But like everything in America, yoga runs the risk of being devoured up by the industry that surrounds it. In a conversation several years ago with the owners of Jivamukti Yoga in NY, I asked David Life what the ‘driving force of Yoga in America’ was. David responded: ‘selfishness and self-centeredness.' While it seems odd for a prominent yoga teacher to say something like this, I believe he was recognizing that unless yoga inspires some sort of social action, outside the classroom, it becomes simply another exercise in self-help and self-interest.
Q. What was the most shocking discovery you made about a guru/gurus in India?
A. About five years ago, my great aunt in India mentioned one such guru, Swami Ramdev. Every morning, around dawn, she practiced a short regiment of yoga and pranayama in front the television set. Last year, driving through Uttar Pradesh, I drove past one of Ramdev’s expansive properties – an ‘ashram’/ resort / amusement park / temple that stretched for miles. Not only is he a successful entrepreneur, but he’s become outspoken conservative politician. He’s publicly claimed yoga can cure homosexuality, AIDS, and cancer. It’s hard to deny, though, that Ramdev has re-invigorated India’s middle class to its embrace an ignored spiritual tradition, and inspired millions of people to practice yoga, pranayama, and meditation. When it comes to ‘successful’ spiritual leaders, the moral compass inevitably bends both ways.
While a Guru can be a symbol of a universal higher good, if you discovered one on TV or on a poster, he or she is probably running a spiritual business. Big name Gurus in India stand like fun-house reflections of Christian Televangelists. Whether its heaven or moksha, Krishna or Jesus, these super-religious institutions are financed on the lofty promise of salvation. In my experience, the spiritual teachers of India are found throughout its over one billion people- in its tight-knit families, in its villages, farms, and cities, in its decrepit slums and its blossoming suburbs – not just within its sacred temples.
Q. Briefly explain the concept of Kumaré.
A. Kumaré is an enlightened guru from a fictional land called Aali’kash who builds a following of disciples in the United States. But Kumaré is not real. I transformed myself into Kumaré as the centerpiece of a social experiment designed to explore and test one of the world’s most sacred taboos. The film poses a number of questions: Is there such thing as an authentic spiritual leader? Is there anything real about our spiritual searching? The film documents my own, at once absurd and emotional, experience of becoming a spiritual leader.
Q. Why did you choose to call your ideal self Kumaré?
A. A few years ago, I was sharing documentary footage with a friend of mine in my studio in Brooklyn. We were watching to an interview I did with a popular American guru; everything he said sounded sleazy or simply made up. (Turns out he used to sell used cars). It was then that I thought – “I could just be one of these guys, too.”
My middle name, not surprisingly, is Kumar. I just threw an ‘eh’ sound at the end of it, pronouncing it for the rest of the night, with this upward twisting hand gesture – “Koomaaareh!’. From there, I took it to an academic place and developed the “Kumaré lineage” as an esoteric tradition, akin to other Shramanic non-dualist lineages rooted in India. I wanted to make sure even if I met a scholar, of whom I’d met several, the story of Kumaré would sort of make sense. Like the sacred Kumaris of Nepal, Kumaré was a sort-of gender ambiguous title for ‘divine child’. The name really inspired the character’s personality as well. The ideal self, Kumaré, is a pure child, a blank slate with no prejudices, with an endless curiousity, and innocent demeanor.
Q. As Kumaré, you created many rituals and meditations. Tell me about the Blue Light meditation and why it made such an impact with your followers.
A. The premise of Kumaré is that spiritual experience is completely subjective. Why follow someone else’s spiritual regiment, when you can create your own? One of the most thrilling discoveries I had made through living as Kumaré is the awesome power of our imaginations. The Blue Light meditation merely challenged people to imagine a simple blue light, to flex those muscles of the brain, and slowly build a vision of an ideal self from there. I had practiced Buddhist visualization exercises, like tonglen, and used some of these techniques to mold the meditation. For the most part though, it was improvised. The extended practice had people envision the blue light inside them pouring into an imaginary bowl in front of them. I asked everyone to imagine looking at the reflection on to the surface to see their pure selves. I never really knew if anybody was feeling the “blue light’ meditation, until people volunteered that it was life-changing.
Q. Describe the precise moment when you saw the “Blue Light”.
A. Students often told me that they weren’t able to see the blue light. I’d tell them “just pretend to see it, and you will see it. That is what I have been doing.” I remember sitting in front of all these students chanting “OO – AA – Eh” (UAE), a mantra made up from the vowel sounds in Kumaré. The entire experience was so absurd and fake but at the same time, so deeply moving and real. The UAE chant filled the room. I, no longer leading the meditation, closed eyes and lost myself in the sound. It’s not to say I hadn’t been able to imagine the blue light until then, but it really hit me in a visceral way – pretending to see the blue light and seeing it were the same thing.
Q. There are many comical scenes in the documentary. During which scenes did you feel like bursting out in laughter?
A. Whenever I felt like laughing, I laughed, I let my head cock backwards, mouth fly open, and eyes tear. Perhaps I was just laughing at the whole situation – releasing the tension. Humour became part of Kumaré’s personality, and people loved it.
Beyond that there were two times, I nearly lost it. One - when Darrell, an acoustic healer, brought an industrial car buffer into his treatment room and began buffing my entire nearly naked body. The other time was when a psychic past-life therapist began pointing out all the deities that were present in the room with us. I kept asking her if she saw Vikram in the room; she didn’t. Then I asked her if she saw Amitabh Bachchan, and she said ‘yes, he is here. Is that his name?’
Q. There is a scene in the film where each of your followers has an opportunity to tell you their commandments. What was your favourite commandment?
A. My favorite commandments were written by a great guy named Stewart. Stewart, a retired salesman and lifelong bachelor, had an addictive habit of going to Trader Joes’ and eating free samples, often to just interact with the people at the store. Stewart is such an amazing person to me. He has a hilarious self-deprecating, New York sense of humor and a big heart. I felt like I’d known him my whole life. His commandments were so specific, so to me they were even more meaningful. We all have habits for which we need to discipline ourselves. He was honest enough to realize his, and brave enough to challenge himself. I think it’s often better to focus on the small things and the big things will just start to happen.
Q. As Kumaré, your goal was to unleash the inner guru within each of your followers however, some of your tactics were controversial. If you had a second chance to approach the situation differently, would you? If yes, how?
As far as the teaching itself, Kumaré’s “fake religion” only asks people to look inside themselves to make themselves happy. I challenge you to find a “real religion” existing today offering more sensible advice. I think our generation is tired of the pretensions of ancient religions. We are realizing that old doesn’t mean wise; we are seeking to find our spirituality within the everyday world. That Kumaré was not ‘real’ was inherent to the filmmaking process and movie we set out to make. If this tactic is in question, then in any attempt of this film, controversy would be inevitable. We couldn’t really challenge spiritual beliefs in a substantial way without it all really happening. I think art has a responsibility to break down walls to get the message through.
Q. What was your biggest challenge in filming this documentary?
A. Questioning God remains a taboo in our culture. Religion is a sensitive subject. Our biggest challenge was making this film in a way that was not mean-spirited, that broke the rules while being compassionate. Part of this was working with a team of people who were interested in the greater ideas of this movie, and not fixated on the prank element. We knew we would push people’s buttons but the point of the film was to understand something about humanity and spirituality, not to ridicule or hurt people. This coupled with my interest in meeting students organically, made this an especially delicate process.
Q. What is the lasting impression you want to leave on the audience?
A. I really want people to ask why they believe in what they believe in. I want to put a mirror on ourselves – the liberal left in America. I think skepticism is an essential part of spiritual development as a society. I hope the conversation continues. Moreover, I want people to remember what Kumaré represents – the potential for greatness in all people. I think for this place in time, the only spiritual figures worth believing in are the ones we invent.
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KUMAR
É screen times
Fri, Apr 29 6:30PM TIFF Bell Lightbox 1350 King Street West.
Sun, May 1 2:00PM The ROM, 100 Queen's Park.
Sun, May 8 3:30PM Cumberland 2, 159 Cumberland Street.
Click HERE for more information about Hot Docs and browse through a complete list of feature films.
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