"... 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲" — 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐡𝐮𝐣𝐢

“Why do the enlightened ones, Gurus, prophets, religious leaders always wear glamorous, ostentatious clothing, robes. Could it be to impress the gullible?”

Question from Carlos Alberto Cubias Lara [via Facebook]

Prabhuji’s answer:

"Maybe so, Carlos; perhaps you are right. Look, I have not even spoken yet, and my robe has already impressed you. Perhaps it has not impressed you devotionally; it has impressed you by irritating you, but, after all, an impression is an impression. One way or another, you cannot deny that the fabric did its job.

"I do not wear robes to impress the gullible; I wear them to expose them, because both the one who falls to his knees before the robe and the one who rejects it are equally gullible. The difference is that, while one worships the fabric, the other fights with it, but both are gullible because neither of them looks at the human being inside the robe. Jung would call this getting trapped in the persona, in the visible mask, without daring to look at the shadow stirring behind the judgment.

"You also wear a robe; the only difference is that you call it “normal clothes.” Look, Carlos, the judge wears a gown, the soldier a uniform, the banker a suit, the priest a cassock, the academic a tie, the rebel a torn T-shirt, the police officer a uniform… everyone is in costume. Only when I wear a robe do the textile philosophers appear, analyzing my garments. Lacan would laugh: a single gaze from the Other is enough for the subject to begin organizing an entire judgment around a piece of fabric.

"It is extremely strange: if I dressed in rags, would you say “he is acting humble”? Or if I dressed in silk, would you say “he is acting grand”? And if I appeared naked on YouTube, would you call the police? Could you tell me what you think I should wear to satisfy your fashion criteria? Winnicott would say that sometimes we defend our “true self” so much that we end up living from a “false self,” carefully dressed in normality.

"Now, seriously speaking, the truth is much simpler: I simply dress however I feel like dressing. Your problem is not my robe, but that my freedom touches your slavery. And remember: just as a robe can deceive a simple fool, suspicion can also make a more sophisticated one fall. The first sees a saint and the second sees a fraud, and although both react, neither one sees.

"The fabric is on the outside, but our wounds are within."