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Seasonal Article This page contains an article written by
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Identify the Teacher Only soul-knowing makes Teacher identification possible. Nothing can equal the student-and-Teacher relationship when the Teacher comes loaded with spirituality. The Teacher, always in the state of pregnant knowing, imparts life and light to him who responds with his heart and mind. It is not shameful or weak to lean on the knowing within one’s Teacher. All ethical Teachers teaching from the direct formulas of the Spiritual Worlds ask nothing for themselves, but ask everything for what they carry as the Dharma, as the Light. If one would follow a Teacher with the Dharma, he must be prepared to open with heart expectations what the Teacher brings, offers and provides. Many in the world cannot bear the Truth or contemplate Truth because Truth foretells destruction of temples built upon self-love within the Pleasure Principle. The meeting of a Teacher ignites instant mediation. If one denies his Teacher, that which mediates through the Teacher places him where he belongs as to what school – whether it is karma as family, as race, as nation. Karmas of the body related to health are a manifestation of mediation. Karmas in the loss of property are the Law of Karma at work to bring equilibrium to one’s giving and receiving. What one receives when absent from the stewardship of sharing, places him in the ranks of a taker and a parasite. The taker can never enter the Path of direct Dharma. The giver is prepared to enter, but must be trained through lessons of false-sentiment. The taker must be trained through the removal of what he loves or possesses so that he might learn the basics of the Real for which his soul longs and hopes. The taker is his own dunce, denying his own birthright. He finds his birthright when he learns the precious joy of giving and receiving. Earning and learning are one in preparation for the Path. To prosper, one must be willing to learn through his earning. This is accomplished when he looks upon his earning as a service to God. To be a Teacher, one must thirst for wisdom, and be teachable. He must hunger to serve. His hunger and his thirst must be equal, or he will be an erratic and fanatical teacher. The interflow of the wisdom-consciousness now pouring into the pool of unknowing and spiritual ignorance must be mastered by the future Western Living Teachers or Gurus. In the West, soul-hungers are fermenting, that the surfacing desire to know the soul and to manifest the powers of the soul be met by Teachers who are sincere, true and ethical. The seed of reforming must be planted by a Great-Soul Teacher without offensiveness. This seed must sprout from within the chela by his own disciplines and growing. The reforming will and a reforming mind of a Guru act as an adversary against the self-will of a chela. The seed of reform, when clothed in Bhakti love, results in a healthy suggestibility and acceptance upon the scale of spiritual growth and growing. Souls entering the world who have been nurtured in the mortification-trials in previous lives accept discipline as a tonic and vitalizer for character and for spirit. Only the strong have such acceptance of mortification. The goal is purity, humility and modesty for all who would aspire to be in the Will of God. Pure souls are channels for the Will of God. Only these can channel the Power of God. All else is power for self, for ego and for manipulation. A choice soul is one who keeps his word; he is one who is self-responsible from childhood. He can be seen in childhood as the one who takes upon himself burdens to relieve his parents, burdens the other children refuse to assume. In school and schooling, he keeps his word; he is on time; he keeps up his grades. In the work life supporting his stewardship, he is honest, reliable, ethical. This is a choice soul whom the Divine Companions of Omnipresence choose to give the truths and enlightenment to the world. Obedience to the Teacher and to what he teaches – the Teacher as a representative of God, the One – will in time lead the novice-initiate toward all of the joys to be had from the spiritually illumined mind. * * *
The Classic Student-Teacher Relationship When Jesus was in the world, He chose twelve men to be His close disciples; these men recognized the importance of following Him and learning from His wisdom and example. Jesus and His disciples fulfilled the classic relationship between a Teacher and his students. In the East, the relationship between Teachers and students has been well known for thousands of years. However, in the modern-day Western world, very little is known regarding the classic relationship between a Teacher and student of the spiritual life. Most truth-seekers are totally ignorant of the ethics and responsibilities involved when one becomes a student of a Living Teacher anointed by the Spirit of God.
Many modern-day religious philosophies are moving farther and farther away from the basic truths and principles through which God blesses and anoints His servants. Consequently, there are very few truly enlightened Teachers in the world. In my work with Ann Ree Colton, we have offered spiritual instruction to numerous persons. Most of these individuals are the unfortunate victims of faulty religious attitudes inherited from parents and society. Some probationers make their own rules for the Teacher-student relationship; these persons are incapable of any kind of sincere commitment to God. A great number of modern-day “students” are unwilling to live according to the basic Laws and Commandments of God. In reality, such persons are chronic law-breakers who, through self- deception, have convinced themselves that they are religious or spiritual. If a seeker after truth is graced with an Anointed Teacher, there is much for him to learn and to observe. Each day is an adventure in learning, for everything the Teacher says and does is inspired by the Holy Spirit. The attitudes of a truth-seeker are all-important. Only through the careful and conscientious training received from an enlightened Teacher will a devotee’s attitudes experience the necessary changes that will qualify him to experience the Divine-Marriage Anointing. If a student is fortified by a natural expression of ethical attitudes and devotional dedications, he will make rapid progress on the Path; however, one erroneous attitude, if not corrected, could prove to be a major stumbling block in his efforts to attain God-Realization. Thus, all who are graced with a Master Teacher should pray for the courage and self-honesty to correct any attitudes that are delaying or preventing their progress toward union with God. Their success in this necessary endeavor will reward them with increasing measures of Divine Grace as God’s Spirit moves closer and closer toward their hearts and minds. To receive the fullness of God’s Spirit is to become a Teacher of Truth, an Anointed One. Those who endure and persevere during the inevitable trials and tests of the probationary years will become the future Teachers of the Word of God. The world desperately needs Teachers who are knowledgeable in the Eastern and Western heritages of Wisdom; Teachers unprejudiced and unbiased; Teachers filled with God’s Holy Spirit of Pure Creation and Cosmos-Revelation. Union with God requires a sense of responsibility and commitment. The Lord Jesus, in His covenant with God to serve as Saviour and Messiah, assumed the awesome responsibility of seeking to liberate and illuminate every soul assigned to this Solar System. Jesus must work patiently with all souls until those who respond to His mediation are transformed into enlightened sons and daughters of the Living God. Individuals who serve the Lord Jesus as devotees, disciples, and apostles assist Him through their own sense of responsibility and commitment to the Creator.
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