Finding A Guru
What is the real meaning of a Guru? Today any number of books, articles, videos, and other resources are available on topics of spirituality, yet despite their abundance many people on the journey towards understanding their inner-selves find themselves lost, confused, or uncertain of their spirituality. What has created this disparity?
Indiscriminate of the changes in the outer appearance and resources, the inner man remains the same as he always has been. Two essential identities of ‘self’ reside within every human being; one is the ego-self. The ego-self sees everything as separate from itself. It is the animal nature which is constantly fighting with the impeding changes in the outer world in an attempt to establish itself at the dominating character. The other is the spirit-self. The spirit-self is united to all and as such has nothing to assert. It dwells in a state a bliss which is always satisfied, always.
Most people suffer because they identify with the ego-self. They live with the belief that the thoughts going through their head are expressions of their total self. This misattribution is what leads to all the suffering we experience in life.
So where does the Guru come into the picture? The guru is best understood, for the westernized mind, as a guide towards eclipsing the ego-self in the enlightenment of the spirit-self.
Why so many human beings remaining victims to the ego-self is a great mystery. The ego-self is really the heart of all the problems we experience in life. Yet for those who have a very strong identification with the ego-self an automatic defense system arises that prevents any possibility for actualizing the spirit-self.
Today so many people express the idea of being their own guru because they have lost faith in humanity and its teachers. Of course this belief does not come from an evanescent facet of reality as there are some of life’s teachers who are unjust in their promises. But like all of the ideas expressed by the ego-self, anything which makes the ego-self identity venerable is attributed as a negative and even dangerous force.
A true Guru is one who guides the disciple to go beyond the ego-self. In the Indian tradition the Guru is associated with many different character traits; to some he or she may be a friend; to others a teacher; to others a mother or father; and still yet to some a god. What changes the character of the Guru is not the guru himself/herself but the student’s identification with the guru.
The real depth of the Guru/Disciple relationship emerges when the disciple has made a firm commitment to accept the teachings and guidance of the guru above the thoughts passing through their head. In turn the guru guides the disciple towards their spirit-self.
As might be expected, it is at this point that many deviate from the idea of having a guru: this person will just take advantage of me! But what can be said? Life’s experiences occur when we allow them to occur. Our reality is nothing more than that which we perceive to exist. A true guru is one who will take you to the state of perception where all is divine.
You, at your core, are already divine. The guru is one who takes you to the core. But you need to make a choice, and the guru will only go as far as you are open to go, not in words, not in thoughts, but in convictions and actions.
If you need a friend a guru will be your friend; but gurus are not there to entertain your ego-self. For a guru there is nothing but self-realization and this cannot occur through the ego-self.
But as always the decision of how you will experience life is yours. May you awaken to your spiritual divinity!
