WHAT IS A GURU?

Why You Should Be Your Own Guru

Is there anyone more qualified?

Guru is a Sanscrit word which has no precise equivalent in the English language, (I know, I was born in India).

Learning from a guru requires you to surrender yourself to them so they can help you unlearn what is useless before teaching you what you need to learn.

Think of Mr. Miyagi, and you’ll understand what a Guru is.

Unfortunately, a guru has become synonymous with an expert in the contemporary English language. That is a minimal view of a guru.

Yes, a guru is a master in his chosen field, like Mr. Miyagi, but a guru is much more than an expert in a given area. A guru is wise because of their life experience and people skills, which may or may not have anything to do with their expertise. Yet, it has everything to do with their responsibility as an educator and a mentor.

Take the verb to educate, for example. The dictionary meaning is to inform or to teach. Etymologically, it comes from Latin educere, which means to draw out. Educate, then, means to facilitate learning what’s already there, rather than teaching. That’s what a guru does.

“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” ~ The Buddha

There aren’t many gurus around these days, in the real sense of the word. You are better off being your own Guru. After all, the original Gurus had to have been self-taught, because there wasn’t anyone available to help them.

How to be your own Guru?

A guru’s job is to help you recognize your innate knowledge and develop your potential abilities. First and foremost, a guru helps you to learn to trust yourself.

“My success took me the exact amount of time it took for me to trust myself, to trust my essence, to trust this Presence, this other realm and momentum of ease and goodness you never see on the evening news.” ~Tama Kieves

Learning to trust yourself

All your life, you’ve been taught to learn from others. You’ve probably never even been exposed to the possibility that you may already know things. You may also have experienced knowing without knowing how. Conventional thinking rejects it as a fluke or inexplicable incident. So, how do you learn to trust yourself under these conditions?

It takes a paradigm shift, an altered mindset — a Quantum Leap.

According to Nuclear Physics, a quantum leap occurs when an electron has acquired or accumulated sufficient energy to move to a higher orbit within the atom. The fascinating thing about the quantum leap is that it’s not a gradual process; it takes place instantaneously. There’s not even a fraction of a millisecond spent. The electron ceases to exist at the lower orbit and shows up — just like that — at the next level.

In religious or spiritual language, it is called an epiphany, a sudden realization of a higher knowing.

How to make the Quantum Leap?

Within an atom, a quantum leap occurs when the electron making the jump has accumulated sufficient energy to exist at the next orbit. An epiphany takes place when you have appropriately evolved within to understand the new level of truth.

When you come across a strange idea and open yourself up to it as a possibility, you may see more and more evidence of it. As you start opening yourself to the inherent truth within it, you’re gathering or accumulating energy for the quantum leap. The moment that you make the leap, some call it an ah-ha! Moment. I call it a “duh” moment.

It feels like “Duh, how did I not know that before?” It’s as if you become aware of a self-evident truth for the very first time.

Can you recall the scene from the Next Karate Kid where Julie (Hilary Swank) successfully makes the jump after having fallen into the water several times? Mr. Miyagi kept telling her to focus. When she became aware of the truth that she can make the jump, and acted with that knowledge, she did it.

A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

When does a protege become a guru?

Start with the premise that you know or have access to anything and everything you will need to know to live your life successfully. Accept that you have an innate ability to discern what is useful and what is not.

Everyone comes into this world for a reason. We don’t need to find our purpose; we need to uncover it.

How do we do that? By being true to ourselves. I know it is easier said than done in a world where pleasing others seems to be the modus operandum.

How does having to please others make you feel? Do you jump with joy, or does it drain you? That’s how you can tell if you’re being true to yourself or not. When you’re honest with yourself, you feel invigorated and joyful. If you feel drained and stressed, that is your signal that you’re not true to yourself.

Let your Inner Guru guide you.

You have arrived where you are today by a series of events in your life. Each one of these events has led you here. It has either prepared you for or served your purpose for which you came into this world. You can rest assured knowing that.

Your inner Guru has led you here all along.

Since you are reading this, consider this an invitation from your inner Guru to become one with it to move forward in your life. By recognizing yourself as your own Guru, you will know what to do next by looking at the events in your life with fresh eyes. You will know what to do next without much doubt or hesitation.

Yesterday, I came across three pieces of content, two by reading stories on Medium, and one sent by a friend of mine, all telling me to become clear on what I want. I have been receiving this message for years, telling me I need to have a clear definition of what success means to me.

“When a student is ready, the teacher appears.”

When you’re ready, you’ll become your own Guru by tapping into your inherent connection with Universal Intelligence. You will see your call to action spelled out in ways that you will instantly be able to recognize it. No one will need to point it out to you anymore. You will know you have become your own Guru when that happens.

Are you ready?

I am a self-proclaimed weirdo, Jack of Many Trades and Master of Some. I live the Freedom Lifestyle — life on my terms, and help those who are interested in doing the same. (Join the Tribe)

“You can let others tell you what it means to be successful, or you can decide it for yourself.”