What is the world truly in need of ?

What are the young people of today cautious to ask or seek?  

Where does one find a genuine Guru in today's world of sycophants and masqueraders by the dozen?

My years in the spiritual sabbatical have besides opening my eyes , also revealed unto me some truths.

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True spiritual teachers are like empty vessels that are filled with nothing. 

Through them, we can experience the limitless, untouched ocean of love that can be found in all things. 

Through them, we can also become conscious of whatever is blocking our ability to experience light. Whether it be the past wounds, mental attachments or egotistical desires, these blocks become the next part of one's Soul work.

In other words, a true teacher’s job is to serve as a mirror, until we’re able to realize that the light within them is also the light within us.

In the end, it’s true that the best Teacher is within us, that our ultimate guide is our own Souls. 

The truth is that we are only ever trapped by our own desires and attachments (and what we’re expecting from our teachers). 

If we truly seek liberation, then all teachers are vehicles of learning in one way or another.

In my experience, you can tell that you’ve found your teacher when you feel an immediate strong and intense link of love for their teachings. 

Your heart will feel open and elevated when reading this person’s words or sitting in their presence. 

I’ve seen a man’s eyes fill with tears out of nowhere for no reason other than the sight of a book’s cover.

How do we know if these feelings are sincere? 

How do we know that we’re not just being charmed or given a false sense of security?

The Sufi tradition has a wonderful approach where the disciples are allowed to test their Sheikhs (teachers).

Abū-Sa’īd Abul-Khayr was a poet and Sufi mystic who was one of the first to describe the qualities to look for as proof in a true teacher.

There are at least ten characteristics:-

1)He/she must have embodied the spiritual message to be able to have disciples.

2)He/she must have traveled the mystic path himself to be able to show the way.

3)He/she must have become refined and educated in order to be an educator.

4)He/she must be generous and devoid of self-importance so that he/she can sacrifice wealth on behalf of the disciple.

5)He/she must have no hand in the disciple’s wealth so that he/she is not tempted to use it for himself/herself.

6)Whenever he/she can give advice through a sign, he/she will not use direct expression.

7)Whenever he/she can educate through kindness, he/she will not use violence and harshness.

8)Whatever he / she orders, he/she has first accomplished.

9)Whatever he / she forbids the disciple, he/she has abstained from himself / herself.

10)He/she will not abandon the students for the sake of the world

These characteristics are a starting point to help us distinguish between power / greed / status hungry “teachers” and genuine vehicles of Spirit that contribute toward our collective evolution.

Unlike other teachers, spiritual guides are faced with the most difficult teaching of all: to teach others the way of ego surrender into divine truth. 

Ultimately, the teacher is a ferryman or the boats man , who takes you from the shores of your ego to the shores of Divine Union.

Ultimately, no one can give us self-realization. 

We must find it ourselves. 

An outer teacher can only reveal the real teacher hidden within us.

Even the false teachers we come across on the way help us to learn the value of developing our own sense of discrimination and judgment.

So avoid being cross or angry in case you have met or come across a false teacher and wasted your time or precious resources.

For they have only helped you in understanding better.

Finding a true teacher, deep down, is about discovering how sincere we are on our spiritual quest, for honest seekers understand that the outer world is only a catalyst for bringing us closer to the truth that is already hidden within us.