Guru Shakti

"Guru is not a person. Guru Shakti is the infinite energy, and that is also the energy of yourself. If you become empty, you too will become that. The energy will shine through you." ~Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The Guru is not here to be our personal savior. The Guru is here to teach us sadhana, to remind us and re-heart us of ourselves. The most difficult renunciation is not to go beyond drink, or sugar, or sexual indulgence, or wealth, but to go beyond the glamor of the Master.

This truth is hard, but the truth sets us free. We don't absorb eternal Light from the form and personality of the Master. We absorb eternal Light from the core of our own heart, after the Master's grace has ignited it.

Spirituality becomes religion when we replace the inward sadhana with the personality cult of the guru. Jesus taught the kingdom of heaven within. He never taught an external kingdom. Your own heart is the sovereign power that governs you, not the rule of the Guru, the Church, or the State.

But those who seek control replace the radiance of your heart with their external hierarchy of power. They want you to live a life regulated by government bureaucrats, just as they want you to worship a white robe and a pair of sandals. The political fallacy and the religious fallacy are exactly the same. Beware of those who compel you to bow down to any external source of authority.

Remember what Jesus told Magdalene in the garden of resurrection, "Do not cling to me."