THE GURU/CHELA RELATIONSHIP
(Photo caption is Rajesh & Jasmini with Gururaj Ananda Yogi as he blesses their marriage)
This schoolmaster told his class, “Look, there can be no eggs without hens; remember that.” Some little bright guy in the class stands up and says, “No, sir, I disagree. My dad raises ducks.”
There could be no eggs without hens. Definitely not. In the guru-chela relationship, the greatest fallacy for a chela is to project a particular ideal. You do not approach a guru with a preconceived idea. If you have a preconceived notion, then you are not a seeker. You do not go to a guru. You go with an open, unbiased, blank mind.
I used to sit at the feet of many gurus, and most of them, 99% of them, I could take the whole lot together and wrap around my little finger intellectually. But no. I would sit there and listen, listen.
The art lies not in speaking but in listening. How much can you hear, and what is listening?
When you listen with an open mind, in spite of whatever other teachings you might have or whatever prejudices or biases you have, you are going beyond the mind. You are going to the Heart, and the mind is the vehicle and instrument through which you develop some understanding.
In the guru-chela relationship, understanding is required. If it is a true spiritual master, he not only gives you the experience but also imparts something else. As I talk to you, something is happening within every one of you. Perhaps in these few days, we will be together, and you will verify this. Some calm and peace have come over you in some form or the other. It is not because of the things I talk about, but in the very words, it is the Spiritual Force that is given that reaches home, ignites the fire, and switches on the light so that you do not grope around in the darkness.
You have to get away from preconceived ideas and think about alternate perspectives.
A young lady came to me and had an interview with me, a counselling thing. She said, “Guruji, this is my first time attending one of your courses.” I said, “Good, that is fine.” “Yes,” she said, “I was so sceptical and doubtful about who this man I am going to meet is.” I asked her, “How do you feel now?” And she said, “All my doubts and scepticism have vanished, and I am feeling so wonderful and uplifted.”
THE TRUE MASTER RADIATES THE INNER POWER
What force, what power, does that? That is the inner power the true master radiates from within himself. Buddha, for example, in his later stages, never gave any sermons or talks anymore. He just sat still and went into meditation, and all the people around him found some realization, understanding, and transformation within themselves.
So, what does a true guru do? He not only gives you the understanding, which is just a tiny part of it, but he also gives you the impetus. He shares himself with you. He is the hen from which all the eggs come from. He provides that, and he gives it in totality: body, mind, and spirit flow, for everything emanates.
For example, many chelas will tell you that they have been to the communion practice; in these events, the Force in the room becomes so powerful that people go through various experiences, and not only that, not only in the room but it extends for far, far, far. Perhaps a family somewhere is arguing, and suddenly, they stop it and say, “I am sorry, darling.” Or something like that. There is that Spiritual Force that, to most people, could be intangible, but for the true spiritual master, it is total reality.
Teaching is a word very much misused. I do not teach, but I make you learn! Do you see the difference? Teaching is fostering and forcing ideas upon you, but learning is taking those ideas and seeing what I can get out of them according to my capacity. That is learning—it is not ramming things down through people’s throats. That becomes the ideal guru-chela relationship.
A certain kind of magnetism occurs when using that word because there isn’t a better word, and it is felt deep inside. Sometimes, it does not come to the conscious level immediately; it depends on how precise the consciousness level is, how deep you are, or how much you are on the surface. But it will have a delayed reaction, if not an immediate response, which I have found with thousands of people worldwide.
The whole idea is transformation. You are in a particular formation, but you have to be in transformation. Trans-across beyond your present formation. Are we prepared to do that? If not, the guru does not need you. You have to be a seeker. You have to be a learner. You must have the yearning to learn, that is the purpose of this life? Why am I born on this planet Earth? What is my purpose? Is life not but a school where I have come to learn? So why do I deny learning and stick to the various ideals and ideas that I have in my mind? Are there no better ideas and ideals? Perhaps. You have to explore. You have to experiment.
HEART MEETS HEART
Then, as you explore and experiment, a love affair develops between the guru and the chela, for it is nothing but a love affair. I do not mean that in the physical or sexual sense. Heart meets Heart, and if you can find oneness with your teacher, your spiritual master, you will discover oneness with the entire universe because the true spiritual master is at-one-ment. Atonement, at-one-ment with the whole universe.
When that connection develops, you automatically become one with the guru, one in that love affair, and one with the entire universe. By becoming one with the whole universe, your awareness develops, and you become aware of the entire universe. The most important thing is that you become aware of your identity.
Most people are not aware of their identity. The I is usually associated with I am Jack, I am Jean, I am Jill, and I am Joan. That is not the I. Who says you are Jean or Joan? Your mom and dad could have called you Phyllis or blah, blah. That is not your identity. Your real Self is divine: Divinity.
A true spiritual master knows and lives Divinity, which you could never yet interpret or understand. But that is not important as long as the yearning is there; that is, wanting to find your real identity. As long as that is there, you will find it because there is nothing that is going to be added on unto thee. You are all it. You are divine, and as I always say, to unfold that Divinity is the purpose of life.
I know the Western mind today, and I have had this experience everywhere: in Spain, Germany, Denmark, France, England, Zimbabwe, South Africa, you name it. People want complex things, and they look for something difficult or complex. Because they look for complicated stuff, they think it is more valuable, which is not so. Those so-called teachers have to make it very complex to charge you a lot of money. But you are getting absolutely nothing.
The true master leads you from complexity to simplicity. The primal energy you are made, of which you are, is simple and uncompounded. You say, “Lead thou me on kindly Light; one step at a time is enough for me.” That is how you progress. You do not say, “I am going to a flash course and gain enlightenment in two days.” No! You cannot! It is impossible! Those are moneymaking rackets.
I would like to have these courses free of charge for people. But the organizers here have been working so hard, and they have to pay so much to have this place for the food and the accommodations. After all, this is a hotel, and they do not give it for nothing. Even for a guru, they charge for his room. You see, that is why charges are made. If I had the means, I would hire these places and say, come, come, my children, come; learn and listen. But in this Western way of life, as society is composed, I suppose one also has to think of the practicality and reliability of things.
THE MARK OF A TRUE TEACHER
A true teacher teaches not because of what he gains but because of what he gives. “Life is made to give and not to gain, for if gain I sought this life lived would be in vain.” That is the mark of a true teacher.
For example, if I am given a gift and feel the vibrations that it is not given with love but is just a duty, I will never accept it. If it is a gift of love, then yes, because that is a love shared between the chela and myself. Those are the principles of my life.
If you dedicate yourself to a specific mission for which you are born, and your guru makes you realize that mission, and you have to fulfil that mission, never mind what might come. You do it.
I go around to share this Love, this little wisdom which is not mine but which pours through me, and I am helping in whichever way I can and strengthening the bond of the love affair. That is important. That is igniting. Everything is there: the fuel, the wood, the stove, the barbecue. I just have to light the match, and if your wood is wet, I don’t believe that it is my fault that it will not ignite. All these practices you are given is but a preparation to bring that wood into that dry state where it could just be ignited.
Many people ask me, and they say, “Guruji, you have transformed thousands of lives in the world. Why not mine?” They say they have read in books that Ramakrishna put his foot on the chest of Vivekananda, and Vivekananda went into that Nirvikalpa Samadhi. I say, yes, sure. Are you ready for that? If you are ready, I will do it now. The ground must be well-tilled, and the seed must be vital for the beautiful plant to grow. But the seed can be as strong as possible, and the ground is not well tilled. If the ground is barren, how is the seed going to grow? And yet the gardener, the spiritual master, will go on planting and planting and planting. Some seeds will fall on fertile ground, some on barren ground, and some on the rocks for the birds of the air. That is from our scriptures.
THE GURU ALSO HAS HIS DUTY
Did I tell you the story of this fellow that went to a guru? This chela goes to the guru, and he says, “What do I have to do to be a chela?” So, the guru says, “Yes, you got to wake up at 4:00 in the morning, and you got to light the fire,” they did not have electric stoves in those times. “You have to make the fires; you have to scrub the floors, you have to do this, this, this and that, you have to do so many chores, fine.” So, this so-called chela found, “Oh, this is so difficult.” So much work for the chela from morning till night. Then the chela asks, “What does a guru do?” and the guru replies, “Oh, he just sits back and talks a bit and advises on this and advises on that and ahh.” So, this man says, “Then I do not want to be a chela. Make me a guru.”
WE WANT INSTANT
We have that mentality because we want instant illumination, like instant coffee and instant pudding. We do not even take the trouble to warm our food anymore. We buy micro ovens and get all those electrodes flowing through them. We have also lost the art of cooking. We buy everything ready-made from the supermarkets, and the men are to blame for that, not the women.
The realization has to come, and there has to be one-pointedness. After all, the basic aim is to find peace and joy within, to become integrated, to repeat a million times over and over again.
That is what we want, and if I can do that, all of you can, for you are not different from me. Everyone is on the path to Divinity. Some might be further away, some nearer, and some have reached. But everyone is on the path. So, there is no room for despair. But there is room for repair. Repairing means putting all our pieces together, as the American people would say. Getting your act together. That is all, and that brings about integration.
People talk about being saved. You are already saved! The entirety of your Spirit is there in its full glory. It is just the recognition; it is just for the Light to be switched on, and the individualized spiritual practices that are given to you help you to prepare yourself and to repair yourself to know one thing only: “I am saved, and I am Divine, and nothing in the world is going to bother me.” I cannot change the world, you will say to yourself. But I can change myself.
But humans are always looking for and finding excuses. And excuses are so, so many. There are more excuses which are untruths than there are truths. Did you know that? There is only one truth, and the interpretation, misinterpretation and twisting of the truth bring about misunderstandings and excuses. You are plain lazy, that is all. Who is not? Ninety-nine percent of the world’s people are purely lazy. I am not talking now about the work in the world; I am talking about the spiritual path where you are just too lazy. The beautiful pools are there; the beautiful showers are there; the beautiful bath is there. But yet, we would wallow in the mud. And yet, after taking that lovely, refreshing shower, how wonderful we could feel. But we are too lazy, and that is the whole world.
Great reformers have come into this world. I could name so many: Swami Vivekananda, Jesus, Krishna, Rama, Mahavir, Zoroaster. They came to reform, and not one succeeded. You cannot reform the world, but man can come from his deformation to reformation.
Reforming yourself, to repeat, is to put your act together. That is all that is required. It is straightforward. Please do what you want to do. But do not indulge in these fancy courses that are offered around. In one San Francisco paper, I picked up, a tabloid newspaper, there were over 1000 ads about this, this, this and this—big moneymaking racket. If you do not have a genuine spiritual master, you will never benefit because all these courses are designed for the surface mental level. That is all. It will relieve you, but in a couple of weeks, you will return to where you started and become even more confused.
YOU ARE DIVINE
A love affair means there is no separation. It is oneness. And that is what He tries to awaken. This about eternal damnation is all rubbish! Forget it! Organized religions conjure that up. When they could not conquer or get you with love, they held a stick of fear. How can you be eternally damned? Are you part and parcel of Divinity? When you are Divine. If Divinity is omnipresent, I would say this a million times: if Divinity is omnipresent, then It has to be in you also. Omnipresent means being present everywhere, so you are also Divine. If you believe in eternal damnation, then Divinity is also eternally damned.
Do you see how simple it is? Oh, my beloveds, it is a force and a power that has to be realized, and the best I could do as a teacher is to help you to realize it. Like an ordinary schoolteacher, I cannot give you intelligence – but when I see that intelligence is there, I could make you learn, and uncover the intelligence that is already there.
… Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang US 1983 – 04
