Don’t try to be a Guru

 

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Don’t try to be a Guru

It is impossible to help others till we have obtained some certainty of our own. Resist the temptation to help others. It is detrimental unless we have obtained some certainty of our own. Don’t try to be a guru, don’t try to be a helper, because we will disturb the balance; we will create more problems.

Just remember that we cannot help, we cannot guide anyone unless we have got the inner light.  When the inner light is there, the help, the guidance, will flow from within. Resist the temptation. The temptation is great, because the ego feels very fulfilled. Someone comes to ask for our advice. The temptation is there to give advice without knowing what we are doing, without being aware that we don’t know.

If someone asks us whether God exists, we are not strong enough to say, “I don’t know.” We say something. Either we say, “Yes. God exists. I am a believer,” or we say “No, God does not exist. I am a disbeliever,” but in both cases we give advice. In both cases we confirm something that we don’t know.

For the spiritual seeker we should remember a very basic, very significant point: whatsoever we really know, confirm only that. If we don’t know, it is better to say, “I don’t know.”

If we go to a philosopher and ask one question, he will give a hundred answers. And with absolute conviction that this is so. If someone says something else, he will say – “hell, he is wrong!’”

That’s why philosophy leads nowhere. Answers and answers and answers leading nowhere. Answering so much and not even answering a single question. The basic thing is lacking: the philosopher is not strong enough to say – “I don’t know.”

The scientist is stronger. He can say, “I don’t know.” And even when he says, “I know,” he says, “Up until now this has been true. But I cannot say anything about tomorrow. Things may change, many new facts may become known and then the truth will have to be readjusted.”

Yoga is also a science; it is not a philosophy. Meditation is a science: it is not a philosophy. We should not guide others unless we have a certain knowledge, a certain experience. And even then, tell others that, “This is my experience. It may not be so for you. It is how I have come to it. Your way may differ; it may not prove true for you. So don’t take my advice blindly. You can experiment with it. It is an open experiment.”

Then you can be of some help. Otherwise, we can create disturbances. Don’t get tempted. We should not advise unless we really know. Don’t guide. First be a disciple; don’t try to be a Guru. If that has to happen, it will. 

When our discipleship has become complete and total, the Guru will emerge from within us. But not before that moment, not before that time.