The Guru Is In You

Lovin' me some mantra!!

Katey - your voice is liquid gold. Sarah - your energy is liquid light. I love you both with a smiling heart.

(The rest of ya...'nuff said.)

Few notes on tonight:
- yes, yes!..mantra inspires community and connects us to the oral tradition of the oldest civilization on earth (duh...!)
- mantra helps the busied mind by focusing "attention" on the mantra while "consciousness" is allowed to expand
- as SOUND, mantra bridges the gap between physical and subtle bodies elegantly and powerfully...each syllable (born of "subtle" intention) echoes it's waves down to the cellular level (formed in "physical" space) further refining the intention which sings back down to the body (dot dot dot)


- - - As always, my emaily things are best read aloud. Still, READ ON AT YOUR OWN PERIL!!! I'm a verbose mofo and I got a few brews in me!!! - - -

The sense came up tonight that we need to receive our mantras from a guru for them to be most effective. That is, maybe we can't just read them from a Barnes & Noble eBook or hear it on a Snoop Dogg track for us to be fully lit up as Mantra Monsters.

I say that's exactly one-half bullshit.

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Here's a note I received from a dear friend recently - maybe some of us can relate:
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"I need your brain and expertise..
I feel like I want a guru? But I'm not sure exactly what that entails in the formal sense? Could (X) be mine? I realize she's not necessarily Hindu or Buddhist but she is my teacher and on the verge of bi-locating and portal traveling?
Do I need to frame a picture of her and make a shrine around it and pray daily? Do I pray to her as of she were my God?
Do I need her permission to do these things if that is something I desire to do?
...hmmm what does it mean to have a guru?"

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"The Guru Is In You."
yogani

The spiritual connection you wish to deepen is primarily an internal experience, yes?  It's a feeling, a power, a world inside of you.  

So, in absolute truth, the guru is in you.

But, of course, we all need rich outer knowledge to open ourselves to deeper inner experience.

You've come a certain way down the road to enlightenment - perhaps more than most - yet you feel like you need more "lessons" or more "guidance" to enrich your spiritual life (read: inner life).  This is true.

The very fact that you desire greater teachings at this stage in your growth is your call for a guru.  It has begun.  The beacon may be weak as of yet, but you are calling out to the universe for a teacher - and we both know the universe answers (sometimes a bit too quickly for our tastes!).  

If you long deeply enough, you will attract the teachings that you need - à la guru.  

So, desire * (as always) is the first step.  

Then, with sharp ears, you'll begin to hear the lessons via whatever "guru" the universe sees fit for you.  It could be (X), it could be Sexy Yoga Guy, it could be the wind through a silver whistle.  There is no cookie cutter answer as to the form a teacher will take.

Finally, you have to take action on those outer world teachings, thus expanding your own inner world spirituality and continuing the cycle of desire and fulfillment - that is, you'll have to continue the infinite feedback loop of bringing outer world experience into your inner world experience (as with the mantra...intention feeds experience feeds intention...)  

theguru is a stream of consciousness. it begins with an inner experience of longing - longing for deeper spiritual connection. theguru flows forth then on a stream of desire * & like a magnet it draws from the universe a teacher: a Guru. the message, the vibration of the Guru then streams back to the source - to the source of original desire - which resides within the spirit of the calling animal.

here's the kick: 2 people sitting side by side in front of the same Guru...one opens up to the message, the vibration of the Guru, one does not. One's inner experience - read spiritual connection - expands to new depths, inspiring (of course!) new longings for deeper teachings...the other hears only the words, feels only the air...no expansion of inner experience.

so, you tell me: wherein lies the Guru?

The Guru is in You!

(think of us in class with SriKateyHariAum: some of us are in rapture and some of us are looking at our watches)

The old saying, "when the student is ready, the teacher will appear."  So you have to ask yourself, "what have I done lately to get ready?"

Well...?

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As to the mechanics of a traditional guru, it usually requires absolute surrender to the will and guidance of the guru.  This means material surrender, mental surrender, sexual surrender, spiritual surrender.  

On one hand, it's really easy to get fucked over on this more traditional path (especially in l'America) simply because people are rarely what they seem to be on the outside.  On the other, if you land a solid teacher, you can open up to the universal flow faster and more safely than you can in solitude.  

In this traditional sense, you'd be best off able to sit at the feet of your guru to experience both the verbal and vibrational teachings.  (X) is perfect for this...but you'd be wise to visit her (and her feet!) at least once a year or so.  This will keep the vibrations strong and the teachings will further ingrain themselves in your consciousness.  

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Reflect on all of this.  
Continue to purify yourself in preparation for deeper teachings.  
And most important, stoke the fire of desire for true spiritual connection.  

The universe will conspire in your favor, I guarantee it.

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[note: too many "hot" words to define them all. but "desire" needs elucidation.]

* herein, we need to reconcile "desire", come to terms with longing. in this model of Guru, is the initial source - desire - ill-based? is the longing for deeper spiritual connection "mis-guided?" or rather "mis-seated?"

let's start again, shall we?...
...in many of the great spiritual traditions, desire is suspect at best.

desire implies a future outcome...even when it attempts to revision the past through regret or to hold onto what has been through nostalgia - desire suggests that there is something which isn't that should be...no?

in superficial studies of buddhism, we see the layman try to thwart desire with desirelessness and soon become mired down in hopelessness/helplessness where the crux of the spiritual equation seems to be "how do i get shit done & be as fantastic as i know i am inside without succumbing to the traps of desire?...i.e. if wanting implies attachment, how can i do anything but atrophy on my meditation cusion as i wait for "enlightenment" - reprieve from my suffering?"

Beep...ehhhh...wrong answer.

Desire, in fact, is the source of all magnificence!! It is the grand hero who battles the 2nd Law!!

Attachment to outcomes...expectations placed upon the (universal chaos??) is the mistake...the true cause of suffering.

More on Desire later....

buzzed...riding home now...practice on the morrow...