Ever had a Guru ?

I've had a gnu... they make very bad lovers...

I've always wanted a proper guru, but have yet to find someone a)believeable enough b)cool enough c)righteous enough...
 
I had a garden once, before it froze.

I just spit out a seed.
 
Years ago I had a Guru probably though in a more or less informal sense but he filled that role.. Swami Prabhavananda of the Ramakrishna Order. He was more like a philosopher and writer. I recall he could perceive things that most people couldn't.

- Art
 
arthra said:
Years ago I had a Guru probably though in a more or less informal sense but he filled that role.. Swami Prabhavananda of the Ramakrishna Order. He was more like a philosopher and writer. I recall he could perceive things that most people couldn't.

- Art
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So what led you to Swami Prabhavananda ?
 
l think if you were from the hindu tradition you would actively seek a guru till you 'came' to the right one, which corresponded with your own beliefs but who through deed action and speech [and reputation/guru succession] would expand and further your own spiritual path. [l include sikhs/buddhists here as well in their search for the 'perfect' master].
 
The Western idea of Guru is someone you sign up with in order to get a crash course in enlightenment -i.e., someone with occult or esoteric knowledge to impart. This strikes me as artificial.

I've had more Gurus than I can count, but I did not sign up with any of them. They were Gurus to me because I had things to learn. The meaning of the teachings is becoming more apparent only now.

One of my teachers prophesied something that would come true many years later, but it was not presented as a prophesy at the time. It factors into my understanding of the teacher's authority in retrospect. It did not affect my willingness to receive knowledge from this person at the time.

I imagine there are plenty of times that we don't know who our teacher is....until much later.
 
GlorytoGod said:
So what led you to Swami Prabhavananda ?
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When I was around fourteen or fifteen I read the Bhagavad Gita and Swami Prabhavananda was the translator ..assisted by Christopher Isherwood. Any way that made a big impression on me.. Later I spent some time at the Ashram when I was around twenty years or so.. and there I used to talk with Swami regularly.. He used to formally teach as well but the small groups and private meetings were more significant.

I returned to my world but would make visits to see Swami over a few years or so.

It was later that I became Baha'i.

- Art
 
Netti-Netti said:
I've had more Gurus than I can count, but I did not sign up with any of them. They were Gurus to me because I had things to learn. The meaning of the teachings is becoming more apparent only now.
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Are you defining a Guru as a religious teacher ? If so, yes I have had some.

One of my teachers prophesied something that would come true many years later, but it was not presented as a prophesy at the time. It factors into my understanding of the teacher's authority in retrospect. It did not affect my willingness to receive knowledge from this person at the time.
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Does a Guru have to be able to prophesize ? If that is a requirement, than no, I have not had one.
 
arthra said:
When I was around fourteen or fifteen I read the Bhagavad Gita and Swami Prabhavananda was the translator ..assisted by Christopher Isherwood. Any way that made a big impression on me.. Later I spent some time at the Ashram when I was around twenty years or so.. and there I used to talk with Swami regularly.. He used to formally teach as well but the small groups and private meetings were more significant.

I returned to my world but would make visits to see Swami over a few years or so.

It was later that I became Baha'i.

- Art
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Thanks for the reply Art.

I asked because I am being drawn to a particular Guru.
 
I have a teacher. I have been listening to and watching her for about 5 years and she is awesome. In the begginning I could not believe how I resonated with the things she teaches. She helped me in a lot of ways and still does bring special things that I need at particular moments in my life.

GlorytoGod said:
I asked because I am being drawn to a particular Guru.
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That is how it started for me, by being drawn to her as a person and when I checked out others like her, who teach the same things, they turned me off. I was a bit leary at first but 5 years later she has brought no harm nor has it interfered with my other beliefs, rather enhanced them.

They say you are supposed to accept everything a Guru teaches as absolute in order to be the right one for you. I would not go quite that far.
 
Bandit said:
They say you are supposed to accept everything a Guru teaches as absolute in order to be the right one for you. I would not go quite that far.
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Eek. :eek:

Maybe it's my anti-conformist upbringing, but anytime a person says to accept everything they teach, I think "cult!"

It seems impossible that any person can agree with everything another person teaches without giving up their own critical thought, reason, intuition, and experience. That is to say, without becoming a robot. Which is scary and why people end up drinking arsenic-spiked Kool-aid waiting for some comet to take them all back to their home planet.

I would say a good teacher, spiritual or otherwise, encourages people in their own capacity and thirst for learning. A good teacher makes someone uncomfortable, challenged, and awakened to their potential. This discomfort is not to be seen as something to get over through agreement, but rather as an invitation to expand one's own capacity for understanding. One's own capacity can lead in a different direction from the teacher.

Sometimes our path may be with one teacher for a while that gives us what we need at that time, and then it is time for a new teacher. Other times, the same teacher might be all we need for our entire lives. In many ways, life and the earth itself is the ultimate teacher, providing us with countless individual teachers that are temporary manifestations of that underlying counselor.

If you seek out a guru or teacher of any sort, please approach with caution and reason. A teacher should not, in my opinion, resonate because the person is what you want them to be, but rather because the person awakens potential and growth in you. Sometimes, that comes as a result of disagreement rather than agreement. Other times, it causes you to recognize in yourself principles and understandings you have long had, but never consciously realized. But be very wary of any teacher that demands you give up your other relationships, a substantial chunk of your income, or somesuch for their teaching. From what I've seen, the truly amazing people in life that are deeply spiritual are not bent on acquiring control, power, or cash. And don't forget that a person can become powerful, including energetically (which can appear to be spiritual power), when they are not connected at all with Divine. There are many powers in the world, most I find to be neutral, which means the intention of the practitioner is what directs the power... the power is evidence of skill and not of intent, of practice and not Divine communion. Deeply spiritual teachers may have a great deal of power, but they will have risen above the desire to throw it around or use it to control others, and they will not ask you to admire them as much as to investigate yourself.
 
Avi1223 said:
Are you defining a Guru as a religious teacher ?
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Not at all. I would say some of the more important teachers are not acting in a formal "religious teacher" capacity. Likewise, their teachings wouldn't need to be "religious" in a formal sense.

Does a Guru have to be able to prophesize ?
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I don't think so. I was merely noting that some people have gifts, but they do not make a point of calling attention to them in order to convince you that they have special authority.

Bandit said:
They say you are supposed to accept everything a Guru teaches as absolute in order to be the right one for you.
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Who said this? And what about in instances where you don't know the person is your Guru until years later?
 
Netti-Netti said:
Not at all. I would say some of the more important teachers are not acting in a formal "religious teacher" capacity. Likewise, their teachings wouldn't need to be "religious" in a formal sense.


I don't think so. I was merely noting that some people have gifts, but they do not make a point of calling attention to them in order to convince you that they have special authority.


Who said this? And what about in instances where you don't know the person is your Guru until years later?
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That would be hindsight, as contrasted with the the foresight that you mentioned on the part of the guru.
 
Netti-Netti said:
Who said this?
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Your mama says it.

To me it is quite obvious if I am rejecting things the teacher teaches, then they are not my teacher. You should study the gurus of the Orient and Indians. It is also possible a guru can reject a student for not accepting what he teaches and is viewed as a lifeless lump of coal that will never shine. In some cultures one is assigned.

If you know better than the teacher does, then you are a lousy disciple and not a very good student. Obedience to the guru is better than reverence. How do you expect to become a beautiful piece of clay that can be used if you aren't willing to stay in the middle of the wheel and in the potters hands?

You could start with Guru-shishya tradition bhakti yoga, for one.

And what about in instances where you don't know the person is your Guru until years later?
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What about it?
 
Bandit said:
Your mama says it.

To me it is quite obvious if I am rejecting things the teacher teaches, then they are not my teacher. You should study the gurus of the Orient and Indians. It is also possible a guru can reject a student for not accepting what he teaches and is viewed as a lifeless lump of coal that will never shine. In some cultures one is assigned.

If you know better than the teacher does, then you are a lousy disciple and not a very good student. Obedience to the guru is better than reverence. How do you expect to become a beautiful piece of clay that can be used if you aren't willing to stay in the middle of the wheel and in the potters hands?
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That would be the heavy-handed approach.

Bandit said:
Netti-Netti said:
And what about in instances where you don't know the person is your Guru until years later?
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What about it?
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That would be the light-handed approach. (Like dusting off the cobwebs to reveal what's already there, rather than trying to reshape the dust and muck.)
 
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