The Importance of a Spiritually Advanced Teacher
It is of upmost importance that you chose the right spiritual teacher. The right teacher can remove obstacles and teach you how to align with the deeper reality. The wrong teacher can delay your spiritual progress. Unfortunately, may people choose poorly and fail to reach their spiritual potential.
Dissolving the Ego
The ego, formed by your accumulated karma, is the impediment to perceiving the divine and attaining liberation. The ego creates the illusion that you exist only within the confines of the physical body. And it keeps you distracted from the deeper reality through incessant thinking.
In our countless prior incarnations we each accumulate vast amounts of karma. Only after we begin the spiritual journey does our karma gradually dissolve, allowing us to progress to higher spiritual states.
In his books God Speaks, Discourses, and Infinite Intelligence Meher Baba describes the soul’s journey through creation. Once a person begins the spiritual journey he progresses along seven spiritual levels. The first four levels are referred to as the lower planes. The fifth and sixth are the advanced spiritual planes. And once a yogi reaches to the seventh spiritual level the illusion of separateness falls away, and they attain liberation.
The Two Types of Spiritual Teachers
There are two basic types of spiritual teachers—those that are enlightened and those that are not. An awakened soul is one with the infinite. They no longer have karma to impede the divine light as it passes through their form and into creation. And anyone who comes into contact with such an enlightened being is exposed to this pristine divine light.
The unenlightened person who plays the role of a spiritual teacher is still burdened by an ego. And they are still trapped in the illusion of separateness.
Learning Through the Energetic Body
The spiritual journey takes place beyond the limitations of the ego-controlled mind. You learn to perceive the divine by coming into contact with those who are already able to do so. The learning takes place more through the energetic body than it does through the mind.
When your attention is placed on a teacher who is not spiritually advanced, then you do not come into contact with the divine light. And you miss what is most important in making true spiritual progress.
An advanced yogi can consciously attune to the divine. And then while in their presence you can learn to do what they are doing. And this can be a tremendous benefit to someone who has always perceived the world through filter of the ego-controlled mind.
In some religions, such as Buddhism, it is understood that a spiritual teacher does not need to be enlightened to be of benefit to their students. A yogi who has advanced far along the spiritual path is capable of helping those at a lower level of spiritual development. For many years, I was helped by such a person. Yet according to Meher Baba an advanced yogi can only bring another up to their level and no further.
Without question you will receive the most benefit by developing an internal connection with an enlightened master. Being exposed to their enlightened presence will teach you how to consciously perceive the deeper reality. Their grace can remove spiritual obstacles and help you to progress more rapidly along the path.
The Rarity of a Spiritually Advanced Teacher
There are very few spiritual advanced seekers alive on the planet at any one time. In God Speaks Meher Baba describes what he calls the spiritual hierarchy. According to him there are only fifty-six enlightened souls alive on the planet at any one time, and most of them are not spiritual teachers. And the number of souls on the fifth and sixth spiritual planes number in the hundreds.
Take care in deciding who you rely upon for spiritual guidance. It is easy to make a mistake.
In another post I describe how to tell if someone is enlightened. But unfortunately it is a skill that most people don’t possess. If you are interested, I created a list of enlightened teachers in my first book Into the Formless.
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