Thousands of Indians put their trust in spiritual leaders but few can imagine that most revered godly men are common criminals who try to alter the hearts and minds of mankind for money-laundering rackets. A few amorous acts are captured on camera through a sting operation revealing the spiritual leader in an alleged sex scandal with an actress or amassing illegal wealth and property or luring people to increase the sell of their business products on god name.
“The Guru has to be of wonderful capabilities, and clever shall his hearer be” and when both of these are really wonderful and extraordinary, then will a splendid spiritual awakening result, and not otherwise. Such alone are the real teachers, and such alone are also the real students. All others are only playing with spirituality. They have just a little curiosity awakened, just a little intellectual aspiration kindled in them, but are merely standing on the outward fringe of the horizon of religion. Whenever we are tempted to complain of our search after the truth that we desire so much, proving vain, instead of so complaining, our first duty ought to be to look into our own souls and find whether the craving in the heart is real. Then in the vast majority of cases it would be discovered that we were not fit for receiving the truth, that there was no real thirst for spirituality.
There are many who, though immersed in ignorance, yet, in the pride of their hearts, fancy they know everything, and not only do not stop there, but offer to take others on their shoulders; and thus the blind leading the blind, both fall into the ditch. The world is full of these. Every one wants to be a teacher, every beggar wants to make a gift of a million dollars! Just as these beggars are ridiculous, so are these teachers.
A teacher who does not know himself teaches from indirect knowledge. He will say things like “the scriptures tell us that there is a complete, adequate being hidden within who must be uncovered by the practice of austerities — who will be discovered in the light of meditation”. The teacher who deals too much in words and allows the mind to be carried away by the force of words loses the spirit. It is the knowledge of the spirit of the scriptures alone that constitutes the true religious teacher. शब्दजालं महारण्यं चित्तभ्रमणकारणं । – “The network of words of the scriptures is a big forest in which the human mind often loses itself and finds no way out; it is the cause of a curious wandering of the mind.” “The various methods of joining words and speaking in beautiful language and explaining the diction of the scriptures are only for the disputations and enjoyment of the learned, they do not conduce to the development of spiritual perception”. Those who employ such methods to impart religion to others are only desirous to show off their learning, so that the world may praise them as great scholars. They really means nothing by them; they cannot formulate as their meaning any idea unaffected by his own human nature; they are no better off in this matter than a man in the street who has not read a single book. That man in the street, however, is quiet and does not disturb the peace of the world, while this big talker foments disturbance and misery among masses. Such statements mislead the seeker.
परीक्ष्य लोकान कर्मचितान ब्राह्मणों निर्वेदमाय अन्नास्त्यक्रतः कृतेन ।
तद्विज्ञानार्थं स गुरुमेवाभिगच्छेत समित्पनिः श्रोत्रियम ब्रह्मानिषठं ॥ (I,ii, 12 Mundaka Upanisad)
Having analyzed the worldly experiences achieved through effort, a mature person gains dispassion, discerns that the limitlessness cannot be produced by action. To know That , he, with twigs in hand, should go to a teacher who is learned in the scriptures, and steadfast in the knowledge of himself.
A teacher does not produce anything; he does not need to produce anything. Nobody can produce knowledge. Knowledge is the accurate appreciation of what is. The teacher throws light upon something which is already there. If an object I want to see is in a completely dark room, all I need is light to see it in.
For those fascinated by the effect of meditation, always first learn to be a servant, and then you will be fit to be a master. If your life seems to be a misery, then there is a cause of misery and a way out of it. You must expand if you want to live. So, before you trust any revered pedagogue twaddling before you, remember you are born in the country inhabited by sages, enchanted by sacred scriptures which whole world is following now. You do not need to search for a guru, you are yourself your guru!
(Certain parts from Complete works of Swami Vivekanand Vol. 3 and Introduction to Vedanta)
