Hunting the 'I',7: the guru

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"... This false 'I' must perish. Its annihilation

is the fruit of gurusewa, the service to the guru.

Realisation is eternal and it is not newly brought

about by the guru. He helps in the removal of ignorance.

That is all." (Talks, 350)

 

The real guru is one who has realised the Self. But how can

we recognise him? He does not talk about himself: he behaves

exactly as everybody else; and if he does not, there is reason

to be cautious. There is only one quality by which he is revealed

in his silence as well as in his talk.

 

If you are ready for him, he will meet you without any searching

for him on your part. And only then can you be sure that he is

the guru for you.

 

Meanwhile, you are not without guidance from without. The inner

guidance sends signals, as it were, ceaselessly... a certain

sentence in a book, a smile of an infant, the beauty of a flower

or a sunset all of them can become the means for a sudden

understanding, one of the minor enlightenments which adorn the

path of the sincere seeker after Truth. All of them could become

his or her Guru. The famous ancient saint Dattatreya said of

himself that he had 24 Gurus, including inanimate objects.

 

Even the first quest after the meaning of life is already prompted

by the inner, the real Guru. There is a beautiful experience of

Moses, preserved in the tradition of Islam. When he complained,

"O Lord, where shall I seek to find thee?" he heard the answer,

"Thou wouldst not seek Me if thou wouldst not already have

found Me!"

 

Who is it that is in search for the guru? The longing is certainly

prompted by the Self, as is indicated also in the answer to

Moses' prayer. But it is the 'personal I' that goes out 'hunting

the guru'. It is not punishment when he has to suffer the dissappoint-

ment of catching the wrong one, but an experience which will

teach him the proper way...to trust and wait!

 

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Lucy Cornelssen: Hunting the 'I', p 60f

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