Ingen and Her Guru's Promise

I've been avoiding writing out this inquiry but having been playing around with it for a few weeks.  That's because I've always harbored a bit of disdain for gurus as a whole and realized that the reason for the judgment, as in most stereotyping, was due to laziness.  My preconceived notions needed to be torn down in order to take a good look.

So I took a sledgehammer to them.

Though I haven't had any experience with gurus outside of YouTube videos, I've got a mental image that teachers like Mooji or Gangaji, (or any ji) can easily fill.  Anyone with robes or long and flowing clothing, beads, a slow blink, and a bouquet of flowers nearby or hung round the neck qualify as the stereotypical guru.  There are those who skirt the edges.  Adya and Rupert Spira come to mind, but with those guys, I think it's really just the flowers that throw me.

Putting all of that aside, I realized that there's a really very good purpose for the "guru look".  Sure, it's part of a sort of uniform, but it's also a signal.  They provide visual and auditory cues which tell me to SLOW DOWN.  That's all there is to it.   They cues are employed to assist in carefully listening to the questions, and the pauses are there to allow me to consider and inquire.  In other words, STOP.

We've come to the part where I let you know the outcome of this inquiry.  It's this:  Gurus aren't asking me to follow or worship them at all.  They're not doing anything but what they believe is expected of them in order to fulfill a role and I am the one setting the expectation.  In seeing this clearly, my guru problem then resolved itself.  The robes, flowers and slow blinks still seem contrived, but I'm fine with letting them be because their props that set the stage for quieting the mind.  There's no promise except to help me relax into inquiry.




In other news, I did listen to an interesting series of eight podcasts which I found most enjoyable in that the teacher was entirely unexpected.  This guru said nothing about stillness or presence, wore no beads, and generally did absolutely nothing whatsoever.  Not a thing.

This one sits absolutely Stone-faced.   Apparently, Jesus is said to have made mention and I can see why.  Because it's impossible to project anything onto this teacher.

It's one of the Best. Gurus. Ever.


Click here for the first of "his" 8 lessons.