Life is the Guru

The spiritual path is one of constant inquiry and constant change. With each new level of inquiry, new and unexpected realizations enter your consciousness. At first only as vague hints, but with time and effort they become more and more defined until they take up your whole field of perception. Once that happens, the undeniable truth of those realizations become part of your being and somehow “lock in”. Your inner world becomes richer and deeper and there is no going back. You can not un-know them just like you can’t un-know the fact that touching a flame will burn your hand.

We all experience such moments throughout our lives, from the moment we are born to our last breath. Some just happen as a byproduct of growing up, such as the first time we realize that there is suffering and pain in the world, or when we discover our sexuality and the hopes and fears connected to it. Other times, they are a product of a conscious effort to find an answer to deep seated existential questions. When that happens, it is as if the sun rises to illuminate a previously dark area of your life. The newly found light reveals all the magnificent colors and patterns that were previously hidden from view. Something just “dawns on you”.

In my recent effort to answer the greatest question of them all “Who am I?”, I was confronted with the question of spiritual guidance. Who could best help me? Which meditation technique works best? Which spiritual lineage am I most attracted to? Which one resonates best with my own temperament and worldview?

In December 2019, when I finally decided it was time to “walk the talk” and take up a regular practice of meditation, I first looked at TM, (Transcendental Meditation). While I do believe that the techniques do work, I was eventually put off by the high admission fee and the secrecy surrounding the actual practice.
I had just finished reading “Autobiography of a Yogi” by Paramhansa Yogananda again, and just like the first time I read it 23 years ago, it left me with a deep feeling of love for the Creator and devotion for the great soul that was Yogananda. This was it...I knew that Kriya Yoga was the way to go for me. Strengthening my decision further was the fact that my close friend Michi was going through the same questions I had, and was also drawn to Kriya Yoga. We have been pushing and encouraging each other ever since.

Kriya Yoga is a set of highly effective techniques to improve concentration and consequently pave the way for deep levels of meditation, with the sole purpose of self-realization and union with God. It is also connected to the SRF (Self Realization Fellowship), which is the organization founded by Yogananda to bring Kriya Yoga to the USA first and then to the rest of the world.

The SRF offers a series of 18? Lesson, which are sent by post at a 2 weeks interval. At the end of the series, you are given the opportunity to apply for more advanced Kriya techniques and require you to make a pledge of loyalty to Paramhansa Yogananda and the SRF.
I would have no issues pledging my loyalty to Yogananda, but when it comes to the SRF, as helpful as it was in sharpening my introspective skills, I can’t but feel a sense of resistance. First off, there is the issue of changing guruji’s name from “Paramhansa” to “Paramahansa”, citing some improbable pronunciation issues for this change. They even went so far as modifying his signature. Next was the decades long legal battle with Kriyananda, a direct disciple of Yogananda, who split from the SRF and founded his own lineage. I won’t go into too much details here, but it’s enough to say that these issues somehow spoiled the high regard I had for the SRF. As much as I’d like to learn the advanced Kriya techniques (once I’m ready), I will not apply for them if it means I have to pledge loyalty to the SRF.

That aside, the Kriya techniques are very powerful and I’m very thankful to have found them when I needed them the most. Isn’t it interesting that whenever we call out to the universe, in one way or another the universe responds, sometimes not giving us what we want, but always giving us what we need.

One of the most used phrases in spiritual circles is that “When you are ready, the guru will appear”. I always assumed that the guru must be a person of flesh and bones, preferably old with white hair and a long beard, exuding wisdom and unconditional love. I did meet a few people along the way that were clearly more advanced than I am and thus provided me with a piece of the puzzle, but I never considered them to be gurus. Until now.

Everything started to make sense for me after reading the teachings of Ramana Maharshi. RM’s core teaching is the realization of one’s true identity (the Self) through self inquiry. The seeker is directed away from never ending intellectual questions to the one and only question: Who am I? Once this question has been truly answered, all other questions will be answered automatically as a result, because they are subordinate to the primal question.
Ramana’s teaching is incessantly pointing towards the non-dualistic nature of All-There-Is. There is no God or Gods, no ego, no others….only the Self. All objects, including people and your own ego are products of the mind, illusions created by the false assumption that we are separate entities.

This obviously put me in an awkward position. Kriya Yoga’s dualistic teaching of seeker and God was for me at odds with Ramana’s non-dualistic self inquiry. Until the guru appeared and pointed me in the right direction. No, not the bearded sage of my imagination, but in the form of my dear friend Michi, acting as the instrument of the Self to give me the right information at the right time. He gave me an excellent book by Ryan Kurczak called “Kriya Yoga Vichara”, which skillfully unites Kriya and Self inquiry, stripping the teachings bare of all guru-centric devotion and ritualistic approaches, to reveal a concentrate of powerful techniques and effective Self inquiry.

One thing that up to that point has been lingering at the periphery of my consciousness and this book confirmed, was the realization that in truth, the guru is not a person but life itself. If everything is a product of the Self, then a particularly meaningful passage in a book, a conversation with a stranger, a seemingly random event while out shopping….they are all instruments of the Self to draw us closer. The Self is like a magnet and we are inexorably and forever attracted to it, whether we realize it or not.

The Self is all there is. The Self is perfection, right here right now. There is nothing that is not the Self. This means that enlightenment or God consciousness is not something that has to be achieved or is lacking some times and present at others. The present moment is the perfect expression of the Self in its entirety. 

The guru therefore, is no other than the present moment, or in other words, is life as it is.

As I said before, life doesn't always give us what we want, but it always gives us what we need. I don’t pretend to fully understand reality and I don’t expect everyone to share my insight, but this is for me a truth that has now “locked-in” and forms the ground on which all other truths will hopefully arise.

The implications of this insight are deep and far-reaching. For one, there are no “good” or “bad” events in life, only opportunities for growth. We can accept the pull from the cosmic magnet, or we can resist it. The choice is ours. Consequently, there is nothing and nobody to blame for what we may consider unfavourable events in our lives. They too are our guru, even more so than the favourable ones. It also takes away the uncertainty and apprehension whether we are on the right path or not. All the experiences we accumulate in our lifetimes are gifts from the Self to reveal the Self as our true identity. There is nothing we can do to step off the path, because the path is all there is.