THE TEACHER
Know that through devotional service to the
Teacher the Teacher initiates you into the keys of wisdom.
There have always been two ways followed by
man to find the Truth. One is a search for the Truth all by oneself, and the
other is a search for Truth with the guidance of the Teacher.
The searching for Truth is searching for a
hidden valuable gem in a vast jungle, which has mountains valleys, rivers,
deserts, darkness and light. How does one search for a hidden gem? The answer
is fiery aspiration which has the quality of the Will to Dare. Only the
aspiration keeps the seeker on this job, and is tested by the darkness and
light, by the dryness of the deserts and inundation of rivers. He could fall
from a peak and could be bitten by a snake in the valley. It’s an adventure.
Truth seeking is undoubtedly an adventure. It’s not a part time job. It’s not a
fair time practice. It does not accommodate vocations. There are no weekends.
It’s a fulltime, whole-time, life-time engagement.
One may get engaged whole-time but how to
proceed remains a question. Seldom one attains by himself. Such examples are
rare.
Amidst such impasse, if one finds a guide is
that not a facility? The guide is one who knows a way and who shows the way. A
guide is certainly a facility in an unknown land and unknown situations. But
the guides are not obliged to guide, they guide only if it is safe to guide the
seeker. They ensure safety of the seeker, safety to them and safety to the
path. If not they do not. They have their own way of evaluating the Truth
seeker. The Truth seeker would do well to serve such a guide to show the way.
Serving the Teacher in many ways can in one sentence be said as facilitating
the Teacher in every possible way to fulfill the tasks undertaken by him.
Facilitation can be in all the three planes – physical, emotional and mental.
When the student assists the Teacher unhesitatingly in any of the areas where
such facilitation is needed the Teacher gets favorably inclined to the student.
An inclined Teacher gives keys slowly but
gradually, the keys to ignorance and the keys to knowledge as well. Seeking
knowledge of Truth begins with knowing the ignorant aspects of Truth.
The Teacher debriefs the seeker all ignorance
that he gathers in the name of knowledge and briefs afresh the knowledge. The
Truth seekers generally think that they know to some extent and they need to
know the remaining, but more often what little they know is incorrect. The
Teacher therefore corrects through a process of debriefing and briefs afresh.
The student gains confidence with the Teacher as much as he gets debriefed.
Knowledge is never given until ignorance is. Ignorance is cleared and as much
ignorance is cleared so much knowledge unfolds. The Teacher does all this
without interfering, intimidation and influence.
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