Nowadays we came to very business like attitude in all walks of life. We want everything in an instant. We have Amazon, where you can buy anything without stepping out-of your comfortable home. We have internet with instant access to vast resources of information and entertainment. We have ready made food with almost instant “microwave-ability” . And we have “goole” that has an answer to all questions! But where are we rushing? What are we trying to outrun? Are we becoming smarter?
In the brutal world of fierce competition, consumerism is double edged sword. In one hand we have conveniences but in the other-dependancy . We walk fine line between our needs and wants. And more than less experience total “need” for what we don’t need. We find ourselves helpless and powerless, and trying yo quietly “live” life full of happiness. We are caught in the “wheel” of life and don’t understand how to stop it or escape it.
In old times, there was a game of skill.Only skilled people where the most successful.It is still the same today, but now we only need very narrow limited skill set, because of the way of modern society and economy.Then we had to prepare in the summer ( hunter-gather) for the winter time in order to survive. Now , there’s no need. We have supermarkets.
In a way we have more time for ourselves, we have more free time. But how are we spending it? According to recent study we spend more than 11 hours a day staring at the “screen”. It is a disaster that will lead to poorer lifestyle and more inert society. In other words “crowd” that can be easily controlled.It is an addiction, we have no remedy against. But how does it work? How are we so helpless against it. We need to investigate what’s going on behind the “scene” of our minds.
There is an urge to know more to be on top of the news and up to date and with the latest and greatest… There is the difference between information and knowledge. The later only comes form experience. When you experienced sweetness of honey, you do not need to read a book about it. You know. A musician practices more than 20 years to be a professional. And still if practice stops for couple of months, the level of performance will be lost. To gain it back, takes lot of time.But to be a musician, mere book is not enough, you cannot acquire skill through google and cannot buy it on amazon. You need a teacher.
A teacher or a Guru is universal principal of our life. We have teacher from day 1 in this life. That is our mother or father. Only through them we gain experience and knowledge. It is a fact that 99% of our success is directly related to our teachers.Be it parents or collage professors.
But how Guru is different? In Sanskrit Gu means darkness, and Ru means Light.Guru is dispeller of darkness.What darkness are we talking about? In Yoga, we as human beings considered to be mortal beings, and as far as I checked, western society is also agreeing on this fact! In Yoga , life is considered to be a transitory state for all beings. And karmic principle is natural outcome of sense of time. Once we start experiencing time, we will experience action and action always needs equal reaction, that is counter balance. Karma cannot exist where there is no time! Is there such a state that has no time experience? Yes, in Yoga it is called state of Samadhi. In Samadhi ,experience of time as well as '“self” disappears. So for a Yogi time happens only in waking state.
There are 4 states of consciousness that we are capable of experiencing. They are: Deep Sleep or Sushupti, Svapna or Dreaming, Jagrat or Waking and Turya or Consciousness ! Out of these 4, western society only accepts 3. We do not accept Turya, because it was never experienced by Western Scientific world.There are attempts to access it through chemicals such as LSD and others, but it is not sustainable, because chemicals do damage our nervous systems.
We have dilemma,- right now human beings have become more informed and naturally question many things. Let’s say religious texts are from modern point of view, just nice fairy tales that very much destroyed an interest in religious beliefs and doctrines! However there are so many things we do not understand, and if questioned, incapable to comprehend and answer. We do not know where do we come from, where are we going. We do not know why are we here?It is crazy to think that purpose fo our life is to reproduce and gain some wealth. We do understand that at the time of passing to other dimension (death) we cannot take with us even a single Atom!
So how ancients new these things, how did they found out? … It is through the power of contemplation. Contemplation consists of 3 things and that is Concentration, Meditation and Samadhi. In other words Samyama.If you perform Samyama on any object or subject, a thought, idea, vision. It doesn’t matter what is your subject or object, it cannot withhold knowledge if you penetrate it with the power Samyama. Can Samyama be achieved without yogic practices? Absolutely! There were many western scientists who achieved great results in science and other fields, but they had enormous power of concentration. They could stay in such state of concentration for days, even years.
Yogis are another kind of breed! They are non believers. They do not believe in anything , because yoga is science and science doesn’t require belief.Science is based on experiment that everyone can repeat, giving exact conditions and procedures. But subject for a yogi is Life itself. We know that observable life is just a small portion of the whole game. We know that humans are made of 5 bodies not 1, we know about Nadis and so much more…
Guru is absolutely necessary because it is in his-her hands the torch of consciousness is held. Guru through shaktipat can transfer their knowledge, connect with the source. And there are GURUS and gurus… There are many who abuse and mislead… drive you to insanity. Drain you dry of your money and energy.It happens and you should learn how to avoid such people.We have these people in every field of life, but for a guru to be such person…yes I know. Fame is very tough temptation and many succumb.
True Guru is very rare phenomena and to encounter one is considered extreme luck. You have to be ready to receive, your karmic structure has to be “loose” enough. Most of the time Karmic structure is “full” and person is incapable to comprehend, yet receive. Remember “empty cup”?
Your “cup” has to be empty.
Some gurus teach ABC’s some teach grammar and poetry, some …to “fly”. The field is vast and you don’t know how to choose.
Every person has tendencies. We have character that is formed out of “exterior” impressions, like: family, country, school. We gain these identities subconsciously, clueless about where did they originate, how did we acquire them.But there are tendencies from previous births. We always wander, why such small children have so much intelligence, while others are so dim. Do you think it is “play of nature thing”?We give so much power and what not to “nature” even science likes it a lot. And then we believe in “chaos” hehe… Imagine trillions of sells that we are made of , managed by chaotic nature. What a joke.
Every person is expression of some certain tendencies and some of these tendencies are made in to habits. Even every newborn has those.Some of us are of emotional type, some of intellect, some are introverts and extraverts .
4 Yogas have been categorized because of different types of human tendencies. Gnana (Jnana) Yoga for intellectuals , Raja (Kriya) for mystics, bhakti-emotionals,Karma Yoga of workaholics.
So gurus are different same way. The way your tendencies are, the way you attract. Be it people around you, or even a guru. There are several “mistakes” people usually do while seeking for guidance.In western society teacher is one who inflates your “ego” or identity. After graduating, you receive diploma and certain scientific names can be applied to your name. You become Dr. Phd, Md. an so on. Some people like to be called their academic names even at home!
In eastern tradition, we have opposite phenomenon . Your name is not important, your work is not important.What is important is tradition that you carry on and pass on to others. And if you brake or do something according to your own experience, it is not going to be tolerated. You will loose your status within and ashram or community.
Only very brave people choose to brake tradition or start something of their own! If their path becomes very popular, it forms in to religion. Like Buddhism. You know that Buddha didn’t built any temples, didn’t worship any deities? Look what we have now? We see Gautama Buddha, which in essence is Shivaiite tradition, but they will throw stones at me for saying this. The very technique Buddha used was described in Shiva Sutras and predates him by a big number of years.
Guru Bramha, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheshvara-is a sanskrit description of what guru is. Brammha is creation or beginning, Vishnu is sustenance, and Maheshvara is destruction. Guru is someone who has attained the other shore of Life. We all are blinded by illusory perception of what is real. True Guru has reached Beyond. Through Guru you can “sneak peak” in to the “other” realm of Life. There is no “technique”, no “kriya”, no meditation. Just perceiving, receiving, by sitting-by (upanishad). Just being with such being is enough… Rare is such being, very rare.
But you can receive only according to your capacity. How can you transform from your current 5 watt capability to 1000 watt? It is all that matters. All these great systems, techniques are boiled down to this-how much you can take and hold! You can fly on the energy of a Guru, but you will never be able to retain it, because it is time difference in your own sadhana and guru’s. Different level of development. If you developed enough, then physical presence of Guru is not necessary .
Guru is always waiting. He’s waiting till you are ready. It looks like Guru maybe greedy, not giving you what was promised. It is very frustrating to go through that, but on the other hand it is absolutely correct.If you entrust all your progress to a Guru- you are a child! Only children entrust all of their life to their parents, because they are children. Grownups choose for themselves.
If you are grown-up, you walk alone.You explore on your own. You make mistakes of course, everyone does, even Guru. And physical form is no longer absolutely needed. You meet your guru, no doubt. But you are free.
We have gurus who teach, who do not teach, and we have corrupt gurus.Here in the west we had some bad behaviors. But in the East is even worse. Because it is the part of their tradition, not much questioning is happening. One should not question. One should question everything, that is my stance.You should ALWAYS question everything. You should be aware of everything and if it is something not right, you move on. Guru is a mere bridge, you don’t build a house on the bridge.
There was a fire in the house. Right on top of the house there was a crane nest. As the fire pickted-up. A father crane started to care his chicks off the nest. As he was carrying one of them on, he asked. Will you cary me when I’m old? And the chick, scared, answered- yes, of course father…you are my father, how can I not?
Father crane dropped his chick in to the river.
As he carried another one, he asked same question.But an answer was the same. So he dropped it too. Then he took other chick, but the answer was different. This third chick said, he is not going to carry his old father, because he is going to have his own chicks.