Guru

The Sanskrit term guru refers to that which illuminates; it is the remover of darkness. We tend to think of a guru as a person, and indeed for many of us our greatest teachers (those who help dispel the darkness of ignorance) have been actual people. But the guru is more accurately translated as the enlightenment principle--a force that is operating within and around us at all times, in all things.

The ability to recognize the guru in all things is itself a practice. To see the most difficult of people, situations, and experiences (including our own emotions) AS the guru can be challenging, to say the least. The great sage Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras explains that the greatest obstacle to enlightenment is avidya--the ignorance of our true self...that is, we mistake what is impermanent and fluctuating (how we feel, what we are attached to, what we avoid) to be "who we are," when in fact our real Self is divine, unchanging, eternal. Avidya leads to preferences and aversions that keep us bound in darkness. If we only seek pleasure and avoid pain, we miss the guru. In other words, it is more often in the difficulty, in the discomfort, at the edge of the experience that we are able to grow. It is the obstacle that enables the river to realize its potential...So while we may experience grief, fear, anger, hurt, etc. in the wake of a particular situation, we must not mistake ourselves for the experience itself (I am not grief, for example, though I am experiencing it). Rather, we can learn to see how any situation or relationship serves to bring us closer to Self realization.

How has the guru revealed itself to you? What situations have challenged your self-perception and given you the opportunity to redefine your sense of Self?

Light is only known through knowing darkness, and so we bow with reverence to the dark times that can deepen our understanding of the light.. In creation there is sustaining and eventual destruction....and from the rich experiences of those ashes we create again and again.

May you see the teacher in all things and let the light of guru shine through you always.