The Student Teacher Relationship
A teacher has a unique and different relationship with each student
whom they serve. This relationship is one of the most sacred of all
relationships, and one that takes time to understand.
For some, a
teacher is simply a conveyor of information that may or may not be
helpful to them. Similar to the ways of a schoolteacher,
the skill and heart behind the way this information is conveyed can
have a big impact on how it is received. Likewise, a book can be
a source of teachings for us.
However, within the context of the spiritual
path, the student-teacher relationship is much, much more than this. It has the
ability to
transform not only our immediate life, but also the manner of our
soul and bring us to the doorstep of liberation. It has a long-term
objective, which can span many lifetimes.
Even the transformation
of emotions, skilful means gained, and the polishing of a rough-cut personality
into a refined and elegant personality
is not the true fruit of this relationship. The student-teacher relationship,
regardless of its start or early years of not understanding its nature,
only finds true meaning through the ability of the teacher
to
help the student receive the transmissions of buddhic awareness and to
chart their way through the desires of the soul from a limited view
into the fullness of the soul who is inherently aware of their spirit.
In
discovering ourselves beyond individuality, we naturally discover the oneness
of this relationship.
The first guideline to bring forth in this
relationship is one of trust.
 A spiritual teacher will at times challenge you. Sometimes what
is being asked is easy to see. For example, helping you through a
lazy moment. Sometimes, you may not have a clue as to the why, and
it is purely a matter of trust. A true spiritual teacher feels when
you are not in alignment with the truth of your spirit. Even when
your heart says yes, and your teacher says no, you have to trust
that. There are many reasons why. Perhaps the views of your soul
are being expanded upon. It may be a manner of not allowing a karma
to ripen before you have the capacity to grow through it quickly.
A
spiritual teacher will help to bring you into alignment with the
awakened awareness within the Body of the One, what we call the Ascended
Masters. One of the results of this is that you are no longer living
just for yourself, there is a bigger picture at work within your
life that both affects you and you it.
From the higher realms, a lot
of permission is given by the Masters to each other. This is a very sacred trust
that has been earned through
the eons. While the differences of each of us are honored, the commitment
to keep this alignment to the depths of our soul is the trust that
is earned. It is only in this way that you can become part of the
active presence of the Body of the One.
So on a practical level in
forming a relationship with your teacher; this includes an honesty with the teacher.
That means that you honestly
communicate.
Making up white lies is not an example of this.
This brings us to
another very important guideline, which is:
Surrendering to a Spiritual Teacher.
 Without surrendering to your teacher, there is no point in having
this relationship at all. A teacher will sometimes test this, for
its early cultivation is paramount for events in the future, of which
the success or failure in a high-stakes transition of your soul may
very well be totally dependent upon.
This means you do not become
overly argumentative and righteous with your teacher. You may not
understand. Your teacher may even be unfair
to you, and appear to be picking on you. You have to trust this.
Many
are confused as to what surrender is, equating it with a giving away of ones
power and decision making ability. True surrender, is
surrendering the outer position that you mind takes and shifting
the perspective within yourself. Before this, there is no real
surrender. Occasionaly, a teacher will ask you to give away some
of your power or decision-making ability in order to help shift this
focus. A teacher may even appear without spine, asking you
to make every little decision, and what your wisdom is for every movement. This
tantric
style
of
teaching
is
extremely
sacred
in
its trust. Never forget what real surrender is, the going within and
dissolving of the outer mind.
| This brings us to another guideline,
which is:
Without true spiritual practice, there is no true (active)
relationship with a spiritual teacher.
 Spiritual practices, such as meditation, kriya, and consciously
applied activity, help us to surrender the importance of our outer
stance. We shift our whole way of seeing everything and come to understand
first-hand the clarity of the emptiness in which everything, without
exception, resides. Spiritual practice when truly understood is one’s
lifeline to the enlightened view.
Without this commitment, our ambitions
will eventually poison this relationship and make it unworkable,
for your teacher and you have
two very different aims. It really comes down to what you want.
This Relationship is the most important anchor you have.
In the process of letting go, one by one, the crutches by which
we gain definition and identity in a limited framework, we are also
loosing our touchstones; all of the formulas we have so long co-created
that help us to believe whom we are. This can be disorientating,
it can become a delusional process at times, and it can be very scary.
The limited-ego is dying into soul awakening.
It is the inner relationship
with our Spiritual Teacher that is the one anchor through which we
stay awake in the process. Moreover,
as we become more and more radiant, this love of this relationship
is beyond measure. We look upon it as the source of our very existence,
and the trust in this allows an indescribable workings of the Oneness
to become a further blessing presence for nor only ourselves, but
many.
How you qualify the awareness of your teacher is what you
will get.
This is a very important spiritual principle, not just for this
relationship, but in understanding the essence of our soul. If you
look upon your relationship with a teacher in doubt, then doubt is
where you are. If you qualify that only the highest
good can come of this relationship, then that is how you are qualifying
the infinite capacity of your spirit into the light of your soul.
Even if your teacher is tired, has had a long day, the purity and
energy of your outlook will activate the necessary transmissions
to occur as appropriate.
A Teacher-student relationship is both impersonal and personal.
 While a true Teacher carries an essence of awareness that is of
benefit to everyone, and from an ultimate level, has a relationship
with everyone, in practicality this is not
true. Not every Master is your Spiritual Teacher of whom you can
say - mine. Sometimes a teacher will assume responsibilities on behalf
of another teacher. For example, there are some who are students
of Yogananda who we act as teachers in proxy. This is no problem
within the Body of the One, and sometimes a teacher will send a student
to other teachers to accentuate certain developments, or for practical
reasons.
When a teacher develops a depth with a student, this is beyond
time and space. The teacher and student, like lovers, have exchanged
parts
of themselves with each other. They are part of a larger mandala
together. This is far beyond the ability of words or logic to explain.
A Teacher will guide you into your karmas, not away from them.
A teacher will return you to yourself. At times, this includes guiding
you into your karmas. For example, you may have a strong desire,
or you constantly relate the guidance you are receiving to do a certain
activity. The teacher may say let it go, or they may realize that
you are going to do it anyway, and say, go for it. Thinking you have
your teacher’s blessings and divine guidance, it all ends up in a
mess. Instead of thinking, my teacher did not know what they were
saying; instead, understand how you have created your own reality.
Remember, the true spiritual-teacher relationship exists beyond the
constraints of the karmic mind and its ambitions.
It takes time to develop awareness of this relationship.
 Even if you have had a relationship with a spiritual teacher for
many lifetimes, and recognize it instantly, it still takes time to
bring forth again. This is because the grounds in which this relationship
is based, the buddhic realms, has to become aware within you. A teacher
does not grasp at this, for example, it may be more important in
helping you to develop some practical earth-based refinements, in
order that you can integrate the coming awareness better. There may
be a deep karmic pattern that needs to be addressed. The ability
of the student to address this or not may be the whole point of this
life, and the rebellion by the student essentially ends the possibility.
So a teacher may hold back in activating you too quickly, or they
may just thrust you into it, and you will have to do you best in
this sacred trust.
A teacher often takes on some of the difficulties
of the student, and most of this is unseen. This is a tremendous
work, and one that
needs to be honored. But a teacher is not a martyr, you will have
to do the work. Understand, regardless of the outer words, it often
takes a few years for this relationship to become activated to what
it truly is, for the responsibility of it is not to be taken lightly,
and the effects of its dishonoring can be very long term.
A Teacher cannot do the work for you.
 A teacher or teachers cannot do the work of the spiritual path for
you, at least any that has a lasting benefit. Neither can a lover,
a child, a friend, or a pay raise. This is the
manifestation
of your
mastery, your journey, and your beauty. In
an
outward sense a teacher is just like a friend. You can joke, you both
eat, and really it is a shame to say, or even imply, that one person
is higher than another. Do not worship a spiritual teacher, rather
listen and
apply,
and
understand your light, in clarity, is also a gift.
You step into a
resonance. We are all companions and at times masters for each other.
So why
bring all
of
this emphasis
to
the word
teacher.
Certainly many teachers do not like having to be called a teacher in
the sense of being singled out as special, including myself - for
they know it is the same light in us all and you can never really
teach anyone
anything - for
everything
of
true
value is seen through ones own eyes and felt within ones own heart.
It
is done because, otherwise the relationship is seen by the student
in the same way most
people see everything else in the world, and the space of transmission
is closed. Emphasizing the sacredness of this relationship in
a non-verbal way, helps to qualify it in the sacred, opening the doors
for something else.
This something else is beyond an outer sense of personality.
And this something else is the only thing that in the long term will
mark this
relationship
as
any
different
than
your
other
day
to
day
relationships.
 In some of the old schools, the concept of a spiritual teacher or
guru was kept secret, simply because people did not understand and
brought the
personality into it. Rather than emphasize a teacher, the concept was
the inner circle and the outer circle, and there was not necessarily
any outer markings of the difference.
Do not create a false relationship with a teacher by doing the
pedestal trip. Neither should you limit it the personality. Both approaches
are really doing the same thing, which is avoiding the courage you
must take for your path. Emphases is being given to the word teacher
for the sake of emphasizing the potential of what may occur through
it.
Some practitioners have a student-teacher relationship with a particular
being for their whole life, and some for a few months. Some may meet
their principle teacher once in a lifetime, and some may live with
them as a lover or close friend. Some may even switch roles, helping
each other in different aspects of the path. There is no
fixed formula. You do not hang onto or discard this relationship.
It has its own perfection, however that perfection is not something
dictated
by the ego.
For progressing through practices, the right teacher(s) makes it
easier, but for some it is possible without a teacher. However understand
that there
are some advances upon the awakening of consciousness that you cannot
do through practices, or through the wishing or wanting of the mind
or your emotions. It is something that occurs through union within
the
body of the one,
and
the sharing
that
naturally
occurs in that union. It is the very nature of the body of the one
itself. Individualized effort can
never, if limited to itself, bring you to what is beyond individuality.
It is a reaching out, love touching love, and no one can claim it.
Spiritual Preparation
(and policy on use of
Drugs)
For most people it is important to have a time of spiritual preparation
prior to attempting to enter the fullness of a teacher-student relationship.
Even if you are with your primary teacher, this still must occur.
Perhaps
the best training ground is a dharma, for example, Tibetan Buddhism.
Some have come to us and simply are not ready; they try
to do what we say, but simply, it is like putting a square peg in
a round hole—for they are confused and simply not developed enough
from a soul awareness to comprehend the tantric style of teaching
whose view is more from spirit and the budhic realms than the fairness
and logic of conventional life.
In regards to drugs, we have a strict
policy of no drug abuse. A beer or glass of wine is not what is being
addressed. Marijuana and
similar drugs are not acceptable at all. This is because these drugs
interfere with the proper alignment of the pineal gland. While we
understand that many drugs have there places, such as some of the
shamanistic substances, this place is not in our teachings. They
are both not necessary and often open people up you to delusions
that interfere with the path. For those who look to drugs as part
of their path, please go elsewhere. While there are a few highly
qualified souls who can use these substances in a Shiva like manner,
the vast majority of those who claim this lineage have no ability
to do so.
Summary
- There is a Probationary time involved in a teacher accepting
a student. This gives time for the importance and relevance of
this relationship to be understood.
- There needs to be a respect of, trust, high qualification of,
commitment to, honesty with, and surrender to a Teacher
- The purpose of a student-teacher relationship is to inspire you
in keeping awake your divine spark, to gain definition that is
based beyond the confines of the maya of individuality, to help
chart your way through the subtle realms, and to gain brilliance
within the Body of the One.
- In our teachings, absolutely no drugs.
- The spiritual practices given must be honored, sincerely practiced,
and difficulties need to be communicated.
In Service to Awakening,
Virochana Khalsa |
