The Role of the Father - 02.04.10

Student Question: A question came up in the study group tonight about illegitimate authority. And my question is, didn’t it used to be the father’s role to represent God rather than having to seek an elder or shaman, or did they work in community differently? How exactly did it work?

Well, as Shunyamurti, the director of the Sat Yoga Institute in Costa Rica, admits, “the father—as a symbolic function—has been lost,” which reflects the degradation of society as a whole. “But in the ancient tradition, the father was considered the first guru. The father would take you away from the mother and introduce into the men’s group.” He “would then take the son to the second guru that would be the shaman, who would then take the son on a higher journey. . . . So for males, that was the way. And the father was the link to the higher levels of knowledge.” Recorded on the evening of Thursday, February 4, 2010.