" TEACHERS "
Remember
that Spiritual Teachers are actually present in their works
and writings. "Who touches a book, touches a man." When
the student has found One with whose words and consciousness he stands
in particularly close rapport, he should then delve deeply into that One's
writings and sayings. In such cases there is a magnetic harmony that
is most favourable to spiritual growth. It is not merely the conceptual
value of the words of such men that is important. The formulations
may well be not the best possible, and it often happens that the true meaning
is clothed in incorrect concepts. Further, the real meaning of these
teachers is obscured by the overgrowth of theological teaching, produced
by their followers, mutilating and obscuring that Light through misunderstanding
it.
Be cheerful also, and seek not external help nor the tranquillity that
others give. A man must learn to stand alone, not be kept erect by
others.
But let all aspirants remember that effort put forth in the right direction
will draw the attention of Those who watch, and, when the time is
ripe, They will do their part. So, in effect, the student by doing his
part does invoke the aid he needs. When the student is ready, the
Guru (Spiritual teaching) will appear.
Be ye lamps unto yourselves;
Rely on yourselves;
Do not rely on any external help.
Hold fast to the Truth as to a lamp;
Seek salvation alone in the Truth;
Look not to assistance to anyone besides yourselves.
Who wearies not, but holds fast to his Truth,
Shall cross this ocean of life.....
Shall cease suffering.
Everything you need is within you! For an impenetrable shield, stand inside
yourself.
There is something proudly thrilling in the thought that this
obedience to conscience and trust in God, 
which is so solemnly preached
in extremities and arduous circumstances, is only to retreat to one's self,
and to rely on our own strength. As my own hand bent aside the willow
in my path, so must my single arm put to flight the devil and his angels.
If by trusting God you lose any particle of your vigor, trust in Him no
longer. When you trust, do not lay aside your armor, but put it on
and buckle it tighter. If by reliance on the gods I have disbanded
one of my forces, then it was a poor policy. I cannot afford to relax
discipline because God is on my side, for He is on the side of discipline.
And there is more of God and divine help in a man's little finger, than
in idle prayer and trust.
There is, and cannot be, any help for the fervent soul, except through
its own energy.
The Teacher's role is not to impart knowledge, but to awaken the Knower.
This is why every true Teacher tells his or her students (when and as the student is ready to hear it), "Do not look at me, look through me; consider not what you perceive but what I am." Here again, we find Jesus, like all Teachers, repeatedly telling us 'I am this' or 'I am that'; but the 'this' or the 'that' virtually never relates to his personality, to characteristics of himself as a person apart from other persons, but rather to characteristics of himself as a Self-Realized Knower, as the One. Thus, he says things like, "I am the way," "I am the truth," "I am the life." Likewise, in the Bhagavadgita Krishna frequently refers to himself with similar statements. We, of course, perceiving the universe personally, interpret remarks like that to be personal and specific descriptions of Jesus or Krishna or whatever Teacher may be making them. That is, we hear him or her to be saying he or she is the way or the light or the life or whatever, and everyone else is not.
"I learned," said the melancholy Pestalozzi, "that no man in God's wide
earth is either willing or able to help any other man." Help must come
from the bosom alone.
The will to make the effort must arise from your own self-determinism.
No one is a supreme authority. People seek leaders, priests, pastors,
rabbis, gurus, or hermits, thinking that someone has a precise formula
for living correctly. No one does. All that you can ever gain
from a wise spiritual person is the assurance of some initial guidance.
You should never surrender your dignity, independence, and personality.
Any spiritual adviser worthy of the name, should have as their only goal,
to get the neophyte flying on his or her own two spiritual wings. The infant
bird has to be coaxed or kicked out of its' downy little nest in order
to learn how to fly.
Therefor
the secret of the the freedom essential for spiritual unfoldment,
is to follow a rule never to follow a path in which one places oneself
in a state of dependence upon another person. The Guru instead of
helping you, will stand in your way, if he allows you to become dependent
upon him. Beware of the obsessive quality of any person who exercises
coercion upon your will.
It is the office of the true teacher to show us that God is, not was; that He speaketh, not spake.
The true Christianity, (a faith like Christ's in the infinitude of man, ......is lost! ) None believe in the
soul of man, but only in some man or person old and departed. Men go in flocks to this saint or
poet, avoiding the God that seeth in secret. They cannot see in secret; they love to be blind in
public. They think society wiser than their own soul, and know not that one soul, and their soul, is
wiser than the whole world.
Hypocrisy: i. e. any member of the clergy, with a pension plan. Which accounts for most of them. How vigilant they are.......determined not to live by faith, if they can possibly avoid it ! Mathew 6:25-34.
A genuine Teacher is a truly humble person, who actually abhors publicity, titles, robes of office,
applause, or show, or recognition of any kind, who would prefer to work in anonimity. By their fruits you shall konw them.
If a man claims to know and speak of God, and carries you backward to the phraseology of some old mouldered nation in another country,
in another world, believe him not. Is the acorn better than the oak which is its fulness and completion. Give me oak trees, not acorns.
The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.
No teacher, however great, can teach until the pupil is ready to learn.
You teach best what you most need to learn!!
Your intention will attract the teachings you can best utilize to reach your goals. One teaching may serve you for a time, then it will be time to discard it and go more directly. Ultimately you will leave all teachings behind and have only your relationship with Spirit.
That which we are, we teach, not voluntarily, but
involuntarily.
Imagine that every person in the world is enlightened but you:That they are all your teachers, each doing exactly the right thing in order for you to help you learn perfect wisdom, perfect patience, perfect compassion.
"He who attempts to act and do things for others or for the world
without deepening his own self-understanding, freedom, integrity, and capacity to
love, will not have anything to give others. He will communicate to them nothing but
the contagion of his own obsessions, his aggressiveness, his egocentered ambitions,
his delusions about ends and means, his doctrinaire prejudices and ideas." Thomas Merton.
Spiritual teachers ultimately agree that true wisdom
does not come from outside us, but from within.
And it does not come from within simply because we want it.
It comes when we live in a way that invites wisdom.
It comes through direct experience.
~ Rabbi David A. Cooper
The greatest guru is your inner self. Truly he is the supreme teacher. He alone can take you to your goal and he alone meets you at the end of the road. Confide in him and you need no outer guru. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
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