by David Frawley (Vamadeva Shastri)

The guru is the guiding intelligence of life present behind the veil of thought. When we are no longer engrossed in mental activity, no longer thinking about the world and its objects, this guiding intelligence comes into function and points out the way to truth.

Just as the student who studies on his own is more likely to gain additional help from his teachers, so the guru-consciousness come more easily to those who are self-reliantly looking into the truth. Those seeking the truth do not pursue personalities. On the other hand, they do not reject the truth simply because it may be taught by another human being.

It is not necessary to seek a guru as a physical entity. It is, however, necessary to be receptive to truth. This may bring us into contact with various teachers and teachings, outwardly or inwardly, of the past or of the present, who can be instrumental in changing our consciousness. When the nature or role of the guru is perceived, in whatever form it may appear, we must honor it or deny our own inner truth. Hence we must become real disciples of truth by being open to truth in whatever form it appears to us.

The mind tends to reflect the reality of the external world. Hence we create an image of ourselves as a worldly entity or mind-body complex. When we come into contact, whether inwardly or outwardly, with the guru, then we are able to reflect ourselves on the world of reality. The guru mirrors back to us not the reality of a person or a bodily identity, but the pure consciousness hidden within us. This radically changes our idea of who we are and reveals to us our true being in consciousness. This is the true meaning of seeing the guru, which is the same as seeing our Self.

The intellectual mind cannot find the truth. Therefore it is also important that we respect the words of wisdom of men of spiritual realization. To do this we must put their teachings into practice in our own lives, not merely adulate them as personalities. This is the meaning of the guru as a presence in human society.