The Presence of your Guru

Imagine that you are out in the Sun on a very hot summer afternoon without any shelter. Or out in the rain on a cold and chilly winter night, again without any shelter. What do you look for? What is the most important thing for you for that moment?  It is shelter. Everything else follows later.

Is everybody out on a hot summer afternoon or a cold winter night? No. Does that reduce the need for a shelter? Does that mitigate its importance to any extent? Some people are already sheltered. Still it is good to be thankful for it.

Situations and circumstances will always be there for every one of us; Always. They might be good and comfortable for some, easy for some, tough and trying for some. The common thing is thus, not good or bad times but the fact that we always face some situation or the other in life; and it keeps changing with time.

If we compare the problems we face in life to being out in the hot sun or cold rain, then the Guru is the doorway to the shelter. As we enter His abode, we are inside His protection; Inside His shelter. Nothing changes outside. The hot sun keeps shining in the summer. The cold wave keeps coming in the winter. Occasionally we may go out, but we gain the confidence of the shelter we have. The knowledge, that we will come back to the protection. Once inside, we can still see what is happening outside because as mentioned, nothing outside has changed. What changes, is our experience; our ability to deal with the elements from inside the shelter.

Once you reach the door and enter His shelter, start seeing the world with His eyes. Every problem automatically becomes small when you see through His larger than life eyes. If you cannot do that , then even though you may be standing inside, you may experience the harsh realities of the outside, because you are still seeing them through your eyes. Every experience becomes pleasing, once we start seeing through His eyes. Every experience starts becoming pleasurable or at least bearable.

Outside elements stop distracting you because now you have security. The Guru provides that security; always. Every relationship in this world can have problems, it can break. But the Guru is not a relationship that can break. The Guru is a presence that has to be felt. Always let it remain that way.

Communication with your Guru is very important as that will help not only in relinquishing of problems but also in the progress towards spiritual enlightenment. What to talk and how to talk is also important.

There is no need for formal and superficial conversation with the Guru. “How are you?” “What are you doing?” Things like these should be avoided, because they are not needed. The Guru does not need any normal gibberish from us.

Talk to Him about things that are important to you. No need to feel shy, shame or egoistic to discuss your problems with your Guru. It defeats the purpose of being there in the first place.

Also, do not become His judge. “He should have said this”, “He shouldn’t have said this”, “Somebody is closer to Him than myself”… these thoughts and feelings are too ordinary to be in tune with the Guru. When you open up to Him, you will know that He is with you in the same way that He is with all the others.  Just feel His presence. His presence… that is eternal. That has been with you before, is with you now and will be with you in the future.

To gain anything from your Guru, you first have to empty your cup of what is already in it. One way to empty it is to speak up to the Guru and submit everything to Him. If we keep holding on to our problems, we can’t expect solutions. Empty your cup and be prepared to take from Him what He wants to give.

Remember, He will always accept you, if you are ready. You have to be ready and then leave everything to Him.

He is there… to take care.  Jai Gurudev.