Guru wanted

[Prashant Sharma]

On Wed, 17 Sep 1997, Gummuluru Murthy wrote:

> On Wed, 17 Sep 1997, Martin Gifford wrote:
>
> > Hi All !
> >
> > I thought a guru should appear when there is a need in a seeker. I have the
> > need but perhaps I'm not ready.
> >
> > Anyway if someone can suggest a guru that meets the following criteria
> > please let me know.
> >
> > _GURU WANTED_
> >
> > ESSENTIAL CRITERIA:
> >
> > Must be permanently free of the sense of doership.
> > Must have fully and finally realised non-duality.
> > Loving and accepting.
> > Capable of quickly transforming his/her students.
> > Must not use guilt.
> > Keen about ending human violence and suffering.
> > Must not have an aversion to life in the physical plane.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Martin.
> >
>
> That is YOU.
>
> You meet all the qualifications if you are honest to yourself.
>
> What I mean to say is: There is no external guru. Guru comes from within
> and evolves when you would see guru's qualifications in everyone.
>
> I am beginning to think that guru is within us.
>
> Regards
> Gummuluru Murthy

        That is a very beautiful thought.   It reminds me of the story of
Agastya rishi who is supposed to have attained realization by learning
about life from all life forms (even an ant) and also from inert forms
like a mountain.  The thing to take from all this (or atleast what "I"
seem to have taken from all this) is that knowledge is a mere reflection
of one's being.  There is really nothing that somebody can give you which
you do not already have (if I sound "impractical" I am sorry, but there is
no other way I can express myself better). The desire to have a
guru of a particular form is just another desire and can only lead
someone on to a "search path" which merely distracts attention from the
present.  The present is where life is, everything else exists in the past
or in the future and is a mental construct.   Therefore, really the guru
is within us.
Regards,
Prashant.