How to find a guru?
Q: What is the way to reach higher consciousness?
Q: How to find a guru?
Q: Will u help me answer...
Ans: Firstly the question of higher consciousness: Consciousness should not be looked at in this hierarchical manner of higher and lower. It will confuse you, mislead you. That is what has happened to all religions, cults, philosophy, and the 100s of gurus. Nobody is higher or lower. There is no hierarchy. Are you sure that you are at a higher level of consciousness than a fly or bee or mosquito? Different yes, more expanded, probably but they are very good at what they do! So higher or lower seems inappropriate.
Spiritual pursuit is an existential one and not intellectual or philosophic.
It is important to understand that in the world of consciousness there is no imperfection, incompletion… nature does not allow or accept any imperfection at all… there is …only immense, the unlimited possibility of growth and expansion. It is only our human psyche that views growth or expansion as a corrective effort for something wrong.
We are forever trying to improve out of imperfection and are afraid to entertain the thought of being perfect. We are afraid that if we accept anything as perfect we no more will have the need to improve… nothing more to do! We are a ‘doing’ machine and with nothing to be done, we will become redundant! So even consciousness we have to put in terms of hierarchy – higher and lower, something wrong that has to be set right, a lack that has to be overcome.
This very approach is wrong and you will keep traveling in a circle… a never-ending one. Hierarchy suits your psyche, suits religion, and suits a cult and the cult leaders. It will not suit your spiritual pursuit.
Expansion happens out of being happy with yourself. It is based on a desire and not a need. A desire to create, explore new lands…spaces. Like a child filled with wonderment for the world around him, learning everything out of sheer wonderment and curiosity. No gain just happily learning everything. Learning because it is happy and thriving… naturally. It is of course very difficult to teach a child… you can only inspire the child to learn – you can’t teach. It is said that by the age of 3 or so a child has developed a vocabulary of more than 400 words in the language prevalent in its environment… English, Hindi whatever. And this ability to learn starts to drop by the age of 13 and beyond. Why do you think that happens? One reason is that the world around it has convinced the child that it is inferior, imperfect, lacking in many ways, and only by learning more can it improve…. With this fundamentally flawed belief about yourself, you will try to reach higher consciousness through spiritual or religious practices.
So you will learn techniques, get into different practices – meditative or any other thinking that you will benefit as in a transaction – something tangible – that you are improving – but you are destined to be doomed… you will be disillusioned sooner than later. It has happened to many.
Techniques help, immensely. Therapies help you to let go of, release tons of negative emotions, guilt, stress, tensions, karma too. They can cause you to experience a lot of freedom. But they cannot determine what you do with that freedom or where you are going. It cannot prevent you from going right back and picking up all that garbage all over again… now with more strength and more energy…. A bigger ego!
So you will remain where you are…the lesser mortal. You can learn a million techniques and master them all. But nothing will change within… nothing will happen to you. You will remain unchanged. Your consciousness will not expand and hence all your effort will be a waste.
‘Higher’ will always require that ‘lower’ is always recognized and will remain in polarity. It is exclusive. Always caught up in right and wrong.., good and bad… always this or that… the opposites.
Expansion is awakening and is inclusive, always this and that and beyond. Consciousness is subtle in its existence. It is intangible, immeasurable but present. It can be felt, known by the effect but cannot be weighted, captured, arrested. Hence the laws and rules of the gross world of matter do not apply. In fact, the laws are quite the opposite.. The world of matter works on evidence, proofs, reason, logic, etc. where “Seeing is believing”.
The subtler realms work on faith, contemplation, intuition, gut feel, Para logic, creativity, imagination, intentions, etc, where “Believing enables seeing”.
Where to find a Guru? How to recognize the one that is right for me? How to know that my Guru is really genuine?
Very complex and a dangerous problem! But the answer is a simple one. The solutions to many complex problems are usually very simple ones to understand but not simple to implement, maybe.
Find many gurus…not just one!
The 1st thing to get… understand fully, without any doubt is that “There are no Masters that ever did or will ever exist.” We are all students here. You can find senior students who can guide you. You can get Coaches and Mentors, not Masters! You could be a researcher looking for others who have had a head start, that’s all. Do not give anyone a position greater than that. Do not be stupid and superstitious to believe anyone blindly.
Say you are a youngster wanting to try your hand at smoking pot or try drinking alcohol. Whom will you go to? Surely you will go to a friend, a senior in school, etc who has some experience. Isn’t it?
There is risk in this and so you will go looking for someone you feel you can trust (intuition, gut feel, like). Isn’t it? What about an engineering project in college? You will probably do the same. Right?
I am intentionally giving an example which is indulgent in nature. The reason is that you will require an indulgent attitude and not an idealistic one for spiritual pursuit. Otherwise, religion is enough for you.
Spirituality is for the researcher and religion is for the conformists and you cannot research without an experimental/indulgent outlook. Whether it is a spiritual experiment or any other the process is the same.
Find a coach who has been practicing. Find a mentor who has gone through a similar dilemma. The wise one, maybe a speaker, preacher, or reformer who’s offering a perspective that appeals to you. The journey is yours and no one person can get you there but you. Others can show you the direction, not travel with you.
What you need to get clear here is that it is you who are researching, so get deep into studying and experiencing what you learn. Nobody can tutor you in this and there is no fixed syllabus!
No syllabus can be a very daunting proposition. Let us simplify it. One will have to start with the Gross and go into the Subtle Realms of our existence. So from the Gross Body one begins to become more and more aware of the subtler bodies, (Body, internal organs, tissues and cells, Breath, Energy (Prana), Emotions, Thoughts, Beliefs, Intuition, etc.) discover newer abilities, learn to use or manipulate them.
If you want to learn yoga (asanas) look for a practitioner and learn from him/her. Don’t expect them to teach you more than that…. It is a very common practice that yoga teachers are also called gurus and it is a very heady position and usually the classes go into other ‘spiritual’ discussions, even discourses in some cases. This is dangerous because the person may only have a half baked ideology, an untested hypothesis.
For pranayam try finding a different coach. It will help you immensely. The reason is that pranayam is subtler practice and hence requires you to be present within more than anything else. Even online videos will do after you have been initiated. You can clarify doubts with any student group but learn from a practitioner.
Serious researched books are published on virtually every subject and it is a good idea to have them for ready reference. Example: Buying a copy of Hatha Yoga Pradeepika Published by Bihar School of Yoga serves quite comprehensively. Other specialized books on Bandhas are also available but unnecessary at the start.
Find a spiritual speaker, preacher, or Mentor who appeals to you. You will need this because until much later in your seeking, you need to have someone who inspires you, have some answers, and frees you of some doubts. There have been many such gurus who have left behind huge reservoirs of wisdom, their perspective, commentaries, etc. Dig into that.
Read the one you like; listen to the one who inspires. There are also many living spiritual leaders that may help. So be a little indulgent. Meet some, read some, watch videos of some on the Internet, listen to some…. Indulge!
The most important thing to remember and constantly remind yourself is that you are in it on your own…. Others can show you many routes, the decision to travel or not is always yours…
You are free to try and leave whatsoever method, technique, or practice that you learned. You are the only one responsible for your state… good or the bad…. Your happiness (Higher emotions) is your compass, faith the only fuel, doubt or fears the only obstacle, to quit or to continue is up to you, your gut-feel or intuition the only logic/reason. An adventure is awaiting the Adventurer and let there be no doubt about that.
I have made an attempt to give my perspective.
All the Best!
Have Fun!
