Quote:
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Originally Posted by Jyotir
Maybe they are being kind and don't want to discourage you.
The best thing is to do is practice the inner work based on sincere devotion and dedication without expectation, and let the right teacher find you.
That is how it really happens even if that is counterintuitive.
~ J |
I fully agree with this.
In the ideal situation, a teacher would be akin to a loving parent, grandparent or even a spirit guide... molding your will...shaping your destiny.
They would gently guide and pursuade you rather than barking instructions like a drill sergeant and would want what is best for the student (chela) rather than what is best for themselves by having the chela act or behave in a certain way...it is a very intimate but difficult relationship, as egos will invariably clash.
Not many are cut out to be a Guru, lacking the necessary patience, selflessness, detachment to administrative duties...but even less are cut out to be a chela..to subdue
their ego for long enough to surrender to the Guru without question! If the Guru requests them to muck out the latrines for a week, to sit at the back of the room during satsanga, to eat only after everybody else has eaten...there should be NO hesitation in doing whatever is asked of you...to accept a Guru means to do all those things the ego finds abhorrent.
Many will say "I don't need a Guru, I am my OWN Guru!" Really though, the ego loves that because it gets to shirk any and all responsibility towards Spiritual growth...there will be nobody there to throw a bucket of ice water over you if you fail to get up at 5am to sit for meditation...there will be nobody there to make sure you don't fall off the vegetarian wagon by forcing you to eat kaleslaw for a week if you nibbled on a chicken bone...
I often compare a "Guru" with a "personal trainer"....the personal trainer makes the student work hard for a fit body and mind, whilst the Guru makes the student work hard for a fit countenance..to get rid of "conditioned habits" which may distract the seeker from any spiritual progress like a Facebook addiction or believing they are entitled to do whatever they want in the name of "spirituality" and over time, the "men" are going to be sorted out from the "boys" in regards...to coin a sexist, politically incorrect phrase.
Not many people have the ability to willingly put themselves into a situation where they can fully surrender to an "authority figure" because of the way they have been raised to believe they don't need to...not many have the capability to attain Moksha (liberation) either, because they will say "my ego has got this...I can attain Moksha by being a lazy, selfish, superficial, arrogant, uncaring slob" because they fully believe they can do that....if they honestly believe that, good luck to them in this lifetime and the many lives to come...maybe they will meet a Guru next time around if it is in their Karma...if Chitragupta has written it down in the Akashic Records somewhere.
See, I know that I cannot do this on my own...I don't trust myself enough to make the "right choices" in my life and I have a string of personal failures as a living testiment to my inability to act responsibly and while many others will say "you just need to have more faith in yourself", it is my "faith in myself" which gets me into all of this mess in the first place! I need to learn humility and that's what a Guru is there for.