Spiritual Hypocrites Part 1

Swami Vivekananda: "80% of those who take to spiritual life become hypocrites; it easier to be a hypocrite, to make an outward show without changing inwardly, than to pass through all the troubles and difficulties of intense spiritual life.

"15% become INSANE; those who are NOT pure enough but try to be in touch with the Cosmic Force come to grief. Many people ruin themselves that way. If we want to pass a high voltage of electricity through a weak wire, what will happen? We shall blow a fuse, and so there is great need for the practice of purity.

"Five percent of those who start spiritual life and steadily purify themselves moves towards the goal. One should learn the secret of keeping oneself perfectly under control." (pgs. 28-29, Adventures of Spiritual Seekers by Swami Yatiswarananda)

"Hypocrisy in the garb of religion is crime." (pg. 273, Voice of the Himalayas by Swami Sivananda)

"Hypocrisy, arrogance, self-conceit, anger and also harshness and ignorance, belong to one who is born in a demoniacal state, O Arjuna!" [Gita 16:04]

Commentary on Gita 16:04 by Swami Sivananda: "Religious hypocrisy is the WORST form. Hypocrisy is a mixture of deceit and falsehood. Asuras are those who have waged war and who are still waging war with the gods in heaven. Those who are endowed with Asuric tendencies or evil qualities are Asuras or demons. They exist in abundance in this Iron Age." (pg. 426, The Bhagavad Gita by Swami Sivananda [South African Edition])

Mata Amritanandamayi: "...it may happen that a spiritual person learns to hide his ego and pretends to be very humble.... acts and behaves like a spiritually mature person... A person who wears the false mask of a spiritually advanced person does not know what terrible harm he is doing. He is misleading others, and also paving the way for his own destruction. (pgs. 185, 186, 187, 188, Awaken, Children Vol. 7)

Srila Prabhupada: "There are many pretenders... such pretenders may also speak on dry philosophy in order to bluff sophisticated followers... But he who makes a show... is the greatest cheat, even though he sometimes speaks of philosophy. (Commentary on Gita 3:6)

Gita 3:6. "He who, restraining the organs of action, sits thinking of the sense-objects in mind, he, of deluded understanding, is called a hypocrite." (Swami Sivananda Bhagavad Gita)

Commentary on Gita 3:6 by Swami Sivananda: "He who, restraining these organs, sits revolving in his mind thoughts regarding the objects of the senses, is a man of sinful conduct. He is self-deluded. He is a veritable hypocrite.