An excerpt from
Frontiers of the Spirit
By Swami Kamalananda
Lead us from the unreal to the real,
From darkness to light,
From death to immortality.
--Vedic Invocation
There is a saying, “There are thousands of gurus, but it is difficult to find one true disciple.” in other words, we find more who wish to tell and proclaim rather than to study, understand, learn and follow spiritual wisdom in their life. There may be many to pontificate, but few who truly and sincerely, wisely and humbly practice.
Who, or what leads us? How are we led? What is the goal of guidance? From the invocation above, the ideal and law of guidance, cosmic and human, are revealed.
From the most wayward to the most enlightened, all need and heed some authority for guidance in life. In our spiritual life the recognition of this need is revealed in the supplication of prayer, and the law of guidance is further demonstrated through the ideal of Guru.
The ideal of Guru is profound and universal, not delimited by human association nor confined to any one religious tradition. It is inherent in the unfoldment of cosmic life as well as human spirituality. The authority of “Guru” is based on reverence for the goal of self-perfection, and it comes from an understanding of the means to attain that goal.
All life is guided by consciousness. Consciousness is responsible for all our happiness or unhappiness, peace or sorrow in life. Right now we are our consciousness. Our consciousness reveals the authority over our daily experience. Therefore, it is wise to evaluate the course of our own consciousness to see what authority we are obeying most of the time. What is our perspective, vision, awareness, ideal that guides our learning and growth? As Jesus wisely said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Our “treasure” or predominant identification of consciousness determines our happiness.
The quality of our life improves when we live more in the understanding, hence authority, of our pure consciousness. Our pure consciousness is the light of soul. It is ever one with the pure light of the universe. Remember, it is relatively easy to serve the growth and maintenance of our physical being, but do we make the effort to serve and to obey what governs our physical being? Good people today are rightly concerned about the purity of our food for the proper health of the body. Then how much more concern and care should be given to the cultivation of mental purity for the mind’s balance and strength? Just as our muscles require practice and training to maintain balance and harmony of the nervous system, so our mental faculties need practice and constant effort to receive pure consciousness, the power and peace of soul.
For the full publication: “Frontiers of the Spirit”