The Only True Teacher

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The Only True Teacher

Swami Vivekananda

( from Living at Source )

 

The only true teacher is he who can come down to the level of the student,

and transfer his soul to the student's soul and see through the student's

eyes and hear through his ears and understand through his mind.

 

As soon as the soul earnestly desires to have religion, the transmitter of

the religious force must and does appear to help that soul.

 

How is harmonious development of character to be best effected? By

association with persons whose character has been so developed.

 

Get the mercy of God and of His greatest children; those are the two chief

ways to God. The company of these children of Light is very hard to get;

five minutes in their company will change a whole life; and if you really

want it enough, one will come to you. The presence of those who love God

makes a place holy, " such is the glory of the children of Lord.! " They are

He; and when they speak, their words are scriptures. The place where they

have been becomes filled with vibrations, and those going there feel them

and have a tendency to become holy also.

 

The disciple must have faith in the Guru ( the Teacher ). The relationship

with the Guru is the greatest in life. My dearest and nearest relative in

life is my Guru, next my mother, then my father. My first reverence is to

the Guru. If my father says, " Do this, " and my Guru says, " Do not do this, "

I do not do it. The Guru frees my soul. The father and mother gave me this

body; but the Guru gives me rebirth in the soul.

 

When through Guru's instructions and your own conviction you will see, not

this world of name and form, but the essence which lies as its substratum,

then only you will realize your identity with the whole universe from the

creator down to the clump of grass, then only you will get the state in

which " the knots of the heart are cut asunder and all doubts are dispelled. "

 

The Guru must teach me and lead me into the light, make me a link in that

chain of which he himself is a link. The Guru must be a man who has known,

has actually realized the divine truth, has perceived himself as the spirit.

A mere talker cannot be a Guru.

 

The sine qua non for acquiring spiritual truth for one's self or for

imparting it to others is the purity of heart and soul.

 

A leader must be impersonal. I do not mean that one should be a brute,

making use of the devotion of others for his own ends, and laughing in his

sleeve meanwhile. What I mean is what I am, intensely personal in my love,

but having the power to pluck out my own heart with my own hand, if it

becomes necessary, " for the good of many, for the welfare of many, " as Budha

said, Madness of love, and yet in no bondage.

 

You are the greatest book that ever was and ever will be, the infinite

repository of all that is. Until the inner teacher opens, all outside

teaching is in vain. It must lead to the opening of the book of the heart to

have any value.

 

How are we to know the true teacher? In the first place, the sun requires no

torch to make it visible. We do not light a candle to see the sun. When the

sun rises, we instinctively become aware of its rising; and when the teacher

of men comes to help us, the soul will instinctively know that it has found

the truth. Truth stands on its own evidences; it does not require any other

testimony to attest it; it is self-effulgent. It penetrates into the inmost

recesses of our nature, and the whole universe stands up and says, " This is

Truth. "