Guru - Our "Self" as Guide

Recently I have encountered a number of Posts, here and on other Spiritual sights, relating to "fully enlightened" Gurus. As a Westerner, not established in the Guru Tradition, I have looked into this for decades. What I have found is this:

The Idea of "fully" enlightened tells us, right at the beginning, we see "stages" of enlightenment. This needs some explanation.

Awareness, Enlightenment, Unionwith "God", what ever you call it, or however you characterize it,

happens "all at once". By that, I mean that there is an "event" or movement that brings lasting clarity. The "nature" of this clarity is such that it "changes everything". There is no forgetting it, or going back. But it is an event of great magnitude, no matter how simple the "actual" event may seem. It will take time to become "established".

Just as it takes time, practice and earnest meditation to come to the "conviction" that one is not the body, it takes, maybe

decades, to realize the "Self" once "enlightenment"

"happens". So there are degrees. Just as a child learns to crawl,

then walk, then walk well, one gets used to the "new reality" of

Awareness.

We see a Sage like Ramana Maharshi, or Nisargadatta Maharaj, and tend to assume they are "special". God must be with them constantly, they were born with only "good" Karma, or some extraordinary

event occurred to them. Ramana envisioned his own death. He meditated deeply on a subject most would like to ignore, or dismiss altogether. Through this he saw who he truly was. This is surly going beyond what the "average" person will do, but not extraordinary for a devote seeker. The degree of devotion is what made Ramana "special". His ability to totally give himself to life in any situation, his ability to love unconditionally, was the fruit of his devotion as well as it's "practice".

Nisargadatta Maharaj was a man of limited education, but had spent a long life of devotion and curiosity. When he finally found "his" Guru, it took him only three more years of staying in the

"I AM", to "fully" realize. This was not an "instant" realization. The devotion was deeply rooted. The knowledge was there due to the devotion. Devotion opens the mind, and more importantly, the Soul. When the mind and Soul are open and empty of any "I" thought, the real is uncovered.

I do not perceive the Guru as a "magic" person. Special surely, in the sense that the enlightened are free. Free in their thinking. Free in their behavior. But always Loving and True. The Guru/Student

relationship has to take on the character of a "love" relationship. The Guru realizes from the start that

the "relationship" is already established, and that it is a "one sided" love affair. The Student is there "for a purpose". The Guru is there out of compassion. The Student wants "something". The Guru needs nothing, and wants nothing but the good of the Student. The Guru sees no difference between student/guru. Only the natural flow of compassion. The relationship culminates in the Student's realization that the Student/Guru are one and the same, and then the Guru is no longer needed.

In the Western Church, one "turns oneself over" to God, or God in the person of Christ. This is the

"surrender"; the giving up of one's life. This is symbolically done in ritual, and perhaps in some way of service. It is meant to get us away from ourselves, and build our "trust" in the "other". The Guru

relationship fulfils this place in the East.

The Guru relationship, if it is to be a real one, requires, at some point, the identification of the Guru with God; the Self, or consciousness itself. The Guru wants to bring you to the realization that he is not necessary, that you and he are one, engaging in conversation with itself. The Student, at some point needs to "surrender" to the Guru. Again, the giving up" of one's life. Not for the Guru, or in service to the Guru, but simply for the "giving up".

The Guru simply tells you how to "pull the cord" on the shutters of your "world". You have to pull the cord yourself, and experience and "interpret" what is uncovered by means of your own lights. The Guru enters your dream with words to wake you up. Listen for him.

The deer in the forest. The beggar in the street. The simple Teacher. All can be Guru. Open your heart to Love. Let it be open to all. An open heart is an invitation to an enlightened Guru. Enlightened ones love to converse upon the Absolute. It is their greatest joy. They love you with their words, and worship the Absolute simultaneously. This is the joy of their life.

Open your life. Let everyone in. Learn to love the "unlovable". Give your "self" away. The Guru will arise, and with him, enlightenment. Don't expect. Enjoy surprise.

Wise Love

"Remembering your self is virtue, forgetting your self is sin. It all boils down to the mental or psychological link between the spirit and matter. We may call the link psyche (antahkarana). When the psyche is raw, undeveloped, quite primitive, it is subject to gross illusions. As it grows in breadth and sensitivity, it becomes a perfect link between pure matter and pure spirit and gives meaning to matter and expression to spirit. There is the material world (mahadakash) and the spiritual (paramakash). Between lies the universal mind (chidakash), which is also the universal heart (premakash). It is wise love that makes the two one."

- Nisargadatta Maharaj, FROM "I AM THAT", Chapter 21

While engaging in another reading of "I AM THAT", Nisargadatta's definitive work, I came upon the words wise love. This use of language is so close to what I have been stressing in my blogs, and so very important, I thought I would look at it closely for a bit.

As we all realize, the mind can take us only to the door of Truth. The key to the door is Grace. We need to look into the heart for Grace. The mind must be clear. The mind must be empty, and lost in the frustration of seeking without finding, to the point of total exhaustion. Then Grace has a chance to enter. There is no guarantee it will; that is the nature of Grace. But an open and Loving heart, free of desire, smooths the path of Grace; for Grace and Love are the same.

Wisdom brings understanding. Love attracts Grace. Together they open all doors, answer all questions.

The mind is full of discoveries, memories, and all of the story that is you and your life. It also contains what you know of Scripture, meditations, and any other "spiritual" practices and knowledge you have "acquired". The heart contains the intuitive sense that you are, and a vague sense of "what" you are. As much as we fight it, the innate sense that we have something to do with love is hard to deny. We mistake it for desire. We call it an "emotion". We contrast it with hate. We feel it pull us in the very "seeking". But we seek with our minds, which really don't want to be left behind, so they convince us the door is "locked". The mind tries to convince us there is no key it can find; so there must not be one. So it confuses and confuses itself so it won't have to face the need to step into the apparent "darkness" of the unknown.

The heart belongs to the unknown. The step into the unknown is all about Trust. Trust is all about how much we Love what we Trust. If we Trust in Love itself; get lost in it; we become it. Once we realize that we are Love itself, all the wisdom we have learned, indeed, all the Wisdom of the ages unfolds in an instant, the key being found. The key is Wise Love.

The Cloud of Unknowing

After reading The Cloud of Unknowing, a 14th century English spiritual work, my life changed forever, eventually slipping away to a quite peace.

There were many "steps" and "missteps" along the way, but it started there, with "The Cloud".

The Cloud of Unknowing was written, it is believed, by an English Priest or Monk from the East Midlands, during the 14th century. Shortly after reading this small book, in the amazing wonder of the Living Absolute, after dedicating my life to the search for God, I was called to service work at Lincoln Cathedral, in the English East Midlands.

Completely unaware of the "Cloud's" origins, my partner and I began our Religious Community there.

The Cloud of Unknowing is a surprise to many who stumble upon it, as I did in the late 1970's. Not being raised Catholic, I had never heard of this book before, or had any contact with Christian Mysticism. It was a revelation to me. Not just the content, but the discovery that Western culture had produced, in one of the most "backward" times in history, a book of such profound understanding of the mystical.

Our simple Priest or Monk recommends putting knowledge behind "a cloud of unknowing", and waiting with great Love on the grace of God. He recommends , both playfully and in great earnest, to be "coy" with God, not letting him know of our "hidden" desire:

"So beware of behaving wildly like some animal, and learn to love God with quite, eager joy, at rest in body and soul. Remember your manners, and wait humbly upon our Lord's will. Do not snatch at it like some famished dog, however much you hunger for it. If I may use a funny example, I would suggest you do all you can to check your great and ungoverned spiritual urge; as though you were altogether unwilling that he should know how very glad you would be to see him, to have him, to feel him." - The Cloud of Unknowing, Chapter 46

Just as "new-age gurus" teach of release from sorrow at satsang, our little Contemplative writes of acceptance of sorrow as a way of not only releasing sorrow, but of escaping the "I AM":

"Every one has something to sorrow over, but none more than he who knows and feels that he IS. All other sorrow in comparison with this is a travesty of the real thing. For he experiences true sorrow, who knows and feels not only what he is, but THAT he is. Let him who has never felt this sorrow be sorry indeed, for he does not yet know what perfect sorrow is. Such sorrow, when we have it, cleanses the soul not only of sin (ignorance,), but also of the suffering it's sin(ignorance) has produced. (my italics) And it makes the soul ready to receive that joy which is such that it takes from man all awareness of his own existence." - The Cloud of Unknowing, Chapter 44

In one of life's little paradoxes, it took Nisargadatta Maharaj to burn into my heart and soul the Truth that was present in The Cloud of Unknowing. It is often some contact with the "exotic", or at least different, to shake us out of our learned responses to stimulation. Ramana, Nisargadatta, Advaita itself gave new life and images to things just waiting to be discovered. This is why so many Westerners, particularly Christians, find new hope in Eastern belief systems, as they "break" the images of crucifixion, resurrection, and other ideas that have lost all real meaning to most Christians. Without an understanding of the spiritual element behind these appearances, these are just meaningless, and bizarre beliefs. While Hinduism has it's share of the bizarre, Westerners often bypass these features to concentrate on the "heart" of what they conceive of as the "essence". Hinduism and Christianity are full of rituals that appear meaningless, not just to outsiders, but often to the ones practicing them. Westerners often "see" the meaning behind the "foreign" religions because they are not caught up in the "bizarreness" of the ritual, as it has no learned, emotional meaning. The learned, emotional meaning behind many of the Christian Church's rituals is only the external performance, and the spiritual meaning is often lost.

The Cloud of Unknowing lets us know that the Church has for a long time had a mystical side, and that Christ's message was about so much more than virgin births, crucifixion and resurrection. Christ taught Advaita, and The Cloud of Unknowing presents as clear a picture of both Truth and the path to it, as is presented in any text:

"So crush all knowledge and experience of all forms of created things, and of yourself above all. For it is on your own self-knowledge and experience that the knowledge and experience of everything else depend. Alongside this self-regard everything else is quickly forgotten. For if you will take the trouble to test it, you will find that when all other things and activities have been forgotten (even your own) there still remains between you and God the stark awareness of your own existence. And this awareness, too, must go, before you experience contemplation in it's perfection." - The Cloud of Unknowing, Chapter 43

As I said above, it took Nisargadatta Maharaj entering the dream to ultimately "get it". His words were pure Truth to me. Pure Love flowed from every word. Maharaj taught me the importance of the "I AM", and the need to abide there while "waiting for transportation" beyond mind. But when the "transportation" came, it came in the formlessness of the "Cloud".

The Cloud of Unknowing, with it's emphasis on Love and devotion, prepares the "soul", seeker, for the openness required for being absorbed into the Truth. All must be removed, even the "I AM". This requires selfless, impersonal Love to step beyond the "I AM".

Be That, and except the invitation!

Peace, Namaste