In these times of modern communications and a fast changing world, it seems we see people popping up everywhere claiming to be “Guru” of this or that … This brings up the question, for the Seeker of enlightenment, of “How will I know my Spiritual Guru when I find him?”

First let me say this … if you have chosen to follow a mystic path seeking enlightenment, you will be very fortunate if you ever encounter your Guru during your life. Secondly, you will not ‘find’ your Guru. If you try to ‘find’ your Guru you will look for someone who you ‘like’ that makes you feel comfortable and gives you solace. This is not your Guru. They may be a good person and a Holy person. But, they are not your Guru.

One must first understand what a real Guru is, before one can know when they encounter their Guru. In Hindu text Guru means ‘dispeller (gu) of darkness (ru).’ The concept of Guru is essentially an ancient Indian concept. It has no parallel in the spiritual tradition of other societies. In common practice ‘Guru’ means ‘teacher.’ To learn anything in life, be it material or spiritual, one needs the help of a teacher. There are many types of teachers in everyone’s lives: parents, teachers, grandparents, and mentors. If these are what you call Guru you are seeking teachers of comfort and solace. They will not bring you to enlightenment.

You will not feel comfortable around your true or real Guru. Yet, you will feel compelled to be with him. Your real Guru does not comfort you and bring you solace. Your real Guru will ‘awaken’ you. You may not like him. But, you’ll still want to be with him. He will lead you beyond the limits of your material world into other realities that will challenge the very essence of your being and believes. He will not be your friend, for friends feed your ego. Hence, if you look for him or seek him, you will look for a friend to feed your ego … someone you feel comfortable around.

When you have known the pain of ignorance then your Guru will appear to you. He will be someone who you feel threatened by and uncomfortable around, yet you will constantly long to be with him. He will puncture your ego, for it is not his intention to be your friend. It is his intention to ‘awaken’ you and liberate you from the limitations of your current ‘conditioned’ consciousness and believes.

I think you’ll find Sadhguru’s thoughts on Guru most interesting as you watch this video of him answering the question:

With the emergence of a number of Spiritual Gurus in today’s world, how do I recognize my Guru?

As you can see, you will not find your Guru if you seek him. But, when you are ready to liberate yourself from the limits of your ignorance your real Guru will appear to ‘awaken’ you.

… the Divinity within me salutes the Divinity within you …

rjsilverfox

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 29th, 2008 at 4:26 pm and is filed under Sadhguru. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.