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
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