Guides, Gurus, and Mentors: Do We Need a Spiritual Teacher?

In nearly every text I encounter on esoteric spirituality, the importance of a spiritual teacher is strongly emphasized (if not outright mandated) for those embarking down the path of truth. However, when assessing esoteric material, we have to learn how to read between the lines. In my view, the role of a spiritual teacher is more nuanced, and precisely “what” a spiritual teacher is can be thrown into question.

In the yogic traditions, this teacher is known as a guru – a dispeller of darkness and ignorance, and one who guides students into the light. The relationship between student and guru often grows stronger than the relationship between a parent and child. Most Eastern traditions suggest that a guru is necessary for spiritual development and emphasize that the journey shouldn’t be undertaken alone. Attempting to do so can bring with it great dangers and risks.

In Western esotericism, the spiritual teacher or guide might be thought of in the context of joining various societies and participating in initiatory rites or rituals. Here, students are surrounded by people who’ve gone before them and are educated on the practices and theories associated with their specific discipline. The initiatory path involves the progressive revelation of knowledge based on the student’s capacity to receive it. In this way, the process safeguards against the possibility of revealing too much knowledge before the student is ready.

I admit that these dangers are very real. There’s a price to pay when we start tearing away the veil of illusion; a price for realizing truth. These risks aren’t so much referring to direct physical harms as they are to the emotional, mental, and psychic challenges that may be encountered along the way. This is because true esoteric approaches to spirituality, both East and West, call for processes of inner self-purification as a necessary component for realizing higher truth. If we’re to realize the divine, then we must “make room” for the divine by purging ourselves of everything undivine. This primarily involves the elimination of ego, attachments, and desires towards the physical world.

Already, we run into some difficult questions. To what extent am I supposed to eliminate my ego? Shall I become unattached to everything? Shall I desire nothing? The deeper we go into this process, the more these questions deepen themselves. The esoteric path is difficult. In its most potent form, the only form of ego that is permissible is the aspect of the self that allows the divine to flow through it unimpeded. The only attachment that is granted is an attachment to truth. The only desire that can seek satisfaction is the desire to serve as a perfected divine instrument.

The esoteric process of purification often involves ruthless self-inquiry. It’s not a process that can be forced upon someone else precisely because it must be self-driven. The desire to walk the path has to come from within. Each person proceeds only to the extent that they are willing and able. The process of inner purification can involve face-to-face encounters with our deepest and darkest emotions. On the mental plane, it can bring out perplexing thoughts that challenge the very nature of how we think the world works and the role we play within it. And on the psychic plane, as the process matures, we may start to encounter forces of nature that operate on planes of existence beyond our normal perceptive capacity. These can show up in our intuitions, visions, meditations, and dreams. It’s these psychic forces that are perhaps the most dangerous.

While I’m not going to dive into the specifics of these things right now, I do want to convey that there are very good reasons to heed the caution of the esoteric teachers. It’s easy to lose our footing along the esoteric path. The question isn’t necessarily if we encounter adversity, but when. It’s a good idea to surround ourselves with support. Occult forces are inexplicably powerful and they may try to exploit our deepest vulnerabilities. This can both disrupt our spiritual progress and strengthen it. I view these encounters as a form of “advanced training.” The support of legitimate spiritual teachers, namely of those who walk the path themselves, can be a crucial asset for spiritual development.

That said, not everyone has access to a teacher, or they may not have found the right teacher. What are we to do if our intuition drives us forward on the spiritual path but we have no teacher to support us?

This is the position that I found myself in a few years ago. I threw myself into a disciplined spiritual practice and, after a few months, things started to get very difficult. It felt like I was walking through my own inner hell. What’s more, is that I was doing this entirely on my own. I didn’t have any teachers guiding me through the process. What I did, I found in books of spiritual leaders who I’d been studying for years. As my practice unfolded, I reached “breaking points” where I craved to have the opportunity to consult with a trusted spiritual guide – someone who, at the very least, could provide me with some encouragement and support. I questioned whether or not I was doing the practice in the right way. As things got more difficult, I questioned whether I had the inner strength to sustain it. I hoped that if I kept pushing forward, a sage might show up in my life and offer some guidance. That didn’t happen, so I just kept pushing forward.

It's said in the East that “when the student searches, the teacher appears” (Rama, PFL, xiv). Initially, I kept pushing forward with my practice with the hope that the teacher would soon appear. Gradually, I became more and more frustrated when that teacher didn’t show up. I felt that I was ready to have someone’s guidance. I believed that the internal strife I was enduring justified well enough the need for a teacher. My frustration gradually turned into anger. I felt that these teachers were leaving me hang out to dry at a time when I was genuinely searching for them. Where were they? I continued with my practice. I was immersed in the dangers of which these people speak, and I felt like I was going to break.

That’s when it happened. One morning, in near desperation, I recalled that Swami Rama, one of my greatest inspirations for my personal practice, said something interesting about spiritual teachers. I couldn’t remember the quote exactly, so I started pouring through his books, searching for guidance, until I found what I was looking for. What I read shocked me.

“If you are in search of a guru, search within first. To become a yogi means to know your own condition, here and now, to work with yourself. Don’t grumble because you don’t have a teacher. Ask whether you deserve one. Are you capable of attracting a teacher” (Rama, LHM, 403-404)?

That moment shifted the course of my entire practice. “Ask if you deserve one.” Suddenly, I was looking into a mirror. I realized that my desire for a teacher was interfering with my own progress. I became attached to the belief that I needed a teacher. The anger I felt over not having a teacher was nothing more than an indication of my own ego believing that I had earned it. All three elements that I was trying so hard to rid myself of – ego, attachment, and desire – snuck up on me in a way that I never saw coming. Swami Rama’s words that day brought this fact into the light. I realized that I was already doing what I needed to do. I just needed to keep doing it. In a moment of powerful self-reflection, I knew that I had so much to still work on, so many emotions and thoughts still to be resolved, that I had to work through these conditions first before any other progress could be made. My desire for a teacher was, in many respects, serving as a distraction from looking at myself, diverging me from inner work. This was the first realization.

The second realization came a few days later. I realized that Swami Rama became the spiritual teacher that I needed in that particular moment. He absolutely showed up just at the time I was searching and ready to receive his advice. A spiritual teacher isn’t going to tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to hear. At that point in my practice, Swami Rama, though he “left his body” long ago, told me exactly what I needed to hear to propel my practice into the next phase. Crucially, I was also ready to hear it. His words gave me all of the encouragement and inspiration I needed to sustain the practice and move through the strife.

So, what is a spiritual teacher? A guru is a dispeller of darkness or ignorance. But does a guru have to be a living human being? Not necessarily. That was my assumption prior to this event. Afterwards, I realized that esoteric teachers are hidden all around us. They show up in forms that we don’t recognize and often in the moments we least expect. We find them in books, in dreams, in nature, and through our experiences. They flow in and out of our lives like phantoms. Regardless of how they impart their wisdom, we have to be ready and willing to receive it. Esotericism requires listening, developing an awareness of the hidden sources of knowledge around us and within us. My experience with Swami Rama that day is a small but powerful example of how these things might show up.

The esoteric path is ultimately an inner path. An over reliance on a spiritual teacher may actually become an impediment to progress and a good teacher will avoid this type of dependence. A teacher can be an invaluable asset along one’s spiritual journey, particularly in the early stages where a foundation of physical, emotional, mental, and psychic strength needs to be developed to navigate the terrain ahead. Moreover, as difficult events are encountered, a spiritual guide can be a source of inspiration that helps you move through it more effectively. There are also pitfalls and traps that will be encountered, and a good teacher can help you avoid those, thereby reducing the length of the fall. A spiritual teacher or guide is important.

Still, depending on where someone is in their journey, they may find themselves in want of a teacher without finding one in sight. For them, the idea of a teacher may need to be modified, and they may need to develop the capacity to look for guidance in other things – most notably, themselves. They may need to undergo a deeper level of personal preparation before the next teacher appears. When it’s realized that esoteric teachings are everywhere, when one’s commitment to the path is steadfast and firm, and when one has the internal discipline to walk on one’s own, its then that we start to realize that we’re never really alone. “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.

Bibliography:

Swami Rama (1996). The Path of Fire and Light: Advanced Practices of Yoga. Honesdale, PA: Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy of the U.S.A.

Swami Rama (1999). Living with the Himalayan Masters. Honesdale, PA: Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy of the U.S.A.