IS A TEACHER NECESSARY?

Is a teacher necessary? Think of that question. The definition of a guru is from darkness into light. That’s why when you hear children saying gu gu they’re in darkness. They’re experiencing the world, so they say gu gu, for they already self consciously realize that the world is darkness. But when you say guru, that’s the light. Therefore a guru should always be a sage who takes you from darkness into light. How does the sage take you from darkness into light? By doing certain things in order to make you realize that you are the One. Not by saying, “I’m the guru and you are my disciples.” By making you see that you are the One who has never been born,  who can never die, who is imperishable, who is absolutely Sat-Chit-Ananda. You are that One. And you are that One just the way you are right now.

       If , right now, you are thinking about your body, or you are the doer, or you’ve got problems, or there’s something wrong, that’s not you. But if you’re living right now, in the Now, the eternal Now, then you are that One, just the way you are right now, right now, in this split second. If you think, you spoil it. For thoughts are always about the past and the future. Even if it’s the past minute or a minute into the future, your spoiling it, because you’re not centered in the Now. So you are Brahman just the way you are right now. The guru should be able to tell you that, and make you understand and make you see it and feel it.

       Not everyone needs a guru. A guru can be a tree, a mountain, a lake, a flower. You’ve heard this before, but let me explain it. When a tree becomes your guru, the tree is no longer an ordinary tree. It’s you. You are identifying with the essence of the tree, which is Consciousness. You are not seeing the tree as a tree. It’s the beauty of the tree or the mountain, or the lake, or whatever, that first attracts you. But if you just see the tree as a tree, you’ll be disappointed. For the leaves drop off, bugs attack it, people chop it down, yet if you identify with that tree spontaneously, intelligently, that tree becomes you, and the essence is the beauty, is the essence of your beauty. In that respect, the tree is your guru. Therefore, a guru in the human form is a being whose words in the Silence you feel in your heart. And just like the tree, the essence of the guru is your essence. There is only One. Therefore when you are sincere in your spiritual practice, when you put that first before anything else, when you continue to work on yourself, automatically the guru within yourself, the essence within yourself, like a magnet will attract and pull you to a guru outside of yourself which is really yourself. This can cause you rise higher and become liberated.

        You’ve got to stop seeing yourself as a human being. You’ve got to catch yourself whenever you think something is wrong, someone has hurt you, someone has rubbed you the wrong way, when things do not go right at your job or at home. Do not be like the ordinary person and react to it. And do not believe that if you do not react, things will get worse. I cannot tell you enough that every situation that happens to you is necessary for your growth. There are no mistakes. Everything that you’ve been through, everything that you’re going through, is absolutely necessary for your spiritual growth. If it does not look kosher to you, realize it’s your mind reacting. It’s your ego reacting. And the way to handle it is just to observe. Do not get involved by arguing, fighting, trying to change things. Just observe. If you can observe without getting excited, then you’ve passed that test and you’ll not have to repeat it. But if you get angry, if you get upset, you want to get even, you’re always thinking about it, and you’ve got hate and you’ve got animosity. Even though you move away from that situation, you will meet that situation again and again until you learn not to react to it.

Robert Adams…..

from the book "Silence of the Heart"