Wisdom Roads

SR No.: 001810
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Lorrence G Muller
Publisher: Continumm New York
Publication Year: 2000
Total Pages: 188
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Religion, & Dhyan
File Size: 11 MB

Page 108

SWAMI SHANKARANANDA
factor, and not any external factors. Politeness is not a qualification, since it is not necessarily a good indicator of spiritual aspiration. Nor is sincerity. Someone may only want to impress you, and that will definitely be a barrier to forming the guru-disciple relationship.
The guru is concerned exclusively, totally, and completely with helping you to realize your goal, and with pointing out pitfalls that he or she, has discovered on their own path and journey. And that they continue discovering: the journey is never over for the teacher as well. The guru-disciple relationship is cemented through initiation into a meditation practice. It will not flourish if the disciple does not honor the teachings and does not apply them diligently. The guru wants the disciple to realize that the supreme guru is within.
L.M.: Right, you point to the inner guru, that formless guru.
S. SHANK: That is my function, my purpose, my duty, my spiritual obligation. I will not allow anyone to worship the personality—that is anathema.
L.M.: That is never the way of true discipleship, or true guruship, for that
matter.
S. SHANK: You can always know the true coin from the counterfeit. When the disciples asked Jesus: who are the false prophets, and how will we recognize them? He had urged them to beware of false prophets, or false gurus. How can we know the difference? Well, I had a little fun with that statement. I'm looking at, and saying, the word prophet: that sounds like profit. So, beware of false profits—that is, what are they after, what are the kind of payments they are asking of you?
L.M.: What's the material angle.
S. SHANK: What's the catch? So if these gurus promise you much, but tell you it will cost x amount. Then you shake the dust off your feet, bless them, and take to your heels as fast as you can. Secondly, any guru who is truly a guru will never belittle a disciple, and most assuredly, not in front of others.
L.M.: The true guru never puts down other teachers and other traditions.
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