I was ten years old when Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a little known Indian teacher who had founded the “Spiritual Rejuvenation Movement” back in 1959, gave a retreat in Bangor, Wales. That retreat, with its usual attendees from the metaphysical sub-sub-culture, would have gone completely unnoticed by the rest of the world were it not for the surprising attendance of four very influential people: John, Paul, George, and Ringo.
The Beatles had already been setting trends in fashion, music, haircut, and lifestyle since the early 1960’s. When they grew their hair longer into the “mop cut,” it became the signature of the Beat generation in 1962. When they started to experiment with psychedelics, it took only a few months for many others to do the same, and it spawned the summer of love in 1967.
So when the Beatles went off to visit Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, first in Wales and then in Rishikesh, India, the number of people learning transcendental meditation went from a few hundred to millions within a year. When the Beatles went to India they were joined by Donovan, Mia Farrow, and a handful of other cultural icons. The Beatles got disillusioned with Maharishi within a year. Their song “Sexy Sadie” on The White Album ridicules their ex teacher. George quickly hooked up with Swami Prabhupada Bhaktivedanta, the founder of the Hare Krishna movement, and developed a devotion to Krishna which was unbroken until he died. Swami Muktananda set up shop in South Fallsberg, New York, and also drew in a torrent of celebrities. Werner Erhard created EST. By the early 1970’s, the question on everyone’s lips had shifted from “what’s a guru?” to “who’s your guru?” It seemed like everyone young and hip enough had a spiritual teacher they were following, and there were literally hundreds to choose from.
Many of those teachers were from India, Tibet, Japan, or China, and came from traditions where business and spirituality had no common ground. In the early 1970’s, however, many of them developed huge organizations, quite commonly with assets in the millions, and generally with a burgeoning feudal structure, not dissimilar from the very Catholic Church many of them had only recently shunned.
The attraction to having a teacher at that time was extremely clear. Many of us were born in the years following the second world war. Our parents were obviously confused about many things: gender roles, how to raise children, the purpose of being alive, to name just a few. They were, for the most part, adrift and unhappy. The religious traditions in which we grew up: Protestantism, Catholicism and Judaism, seemed to offer only the possibility that we could become like the generation that had reared us. So an India teacher, promising the giddy heights of enlightenment, appearing to be completely relaxed and confident, with an unambiguous and strong position around sexuality, money, and how to look after your body, often with a strict regimen of practices to follow, made life simple and easy. Back in the 70’s, everyone thought their guru was The Way, and that Nirvana and Utopia were just a few years of meditation away.
It didn’t take long for the illusion to be shattered for most of us. Some of these Oriental teachers were caught having sex with young women, or even young boys, when they had been teaching celibacy. In some organizations, evidence started to emerge of immense financial corruption. In many cases it was the feudality of the situation: the chosen few at the top living luxurious lives while the majority of the organization was carried by unpaid volunteers, that caused people to feel fed up. All the promises of enlightenment in a short period of time turned out to be very unreliable. To start with, no-one seemed to agree on what the word “enlightenment” referred to. Even if you could get that far, it was clear that the promised timeline was very unreasonable.
Almost everyone I know who has been serious in their life about spiritual exploration has at some time been in relationship with a teacher, sometimes with many teachers, and has also felt some degree of betrayal and disappointment.
Today we can see the emergence of a whole new way of going about this. You can be profoundly focused and intent on genuine awakening without having allegiance to any one teacher or organization. Many people nowadays will attend retreats with Eckhart Tolle, Adya Shanti, Byron Katie, or the Dalai Lama. Many people have found they have to integrate more “spiritual” teachings with other methods to take care of their health, their finances, and their relationships. So today, if you walk into the house of a veteran of the spirit, you might find an altar with a handful of pictures on it. You might find their bookshelf populated by divergent points of view.
Others have discovered a way that, with the right disposition, the right openness, the right willingness to feel and to listen, life itself becomes a teacher in all of its multi-faceted appearances. A moment of disappointment or defeat, a feeling of rejection, even a serious illness, can become the ”guru” if you allow it to.
Perhaps the most interesting development in this way is the possibility of “co-creative awakening.” This means that we recognize that we are all of us, in one dimension, already completely awake. And… we are all also, all of us, just monkeys with no hair, and a bunch of dysfunctional habits that don’t seem to go away. We are all unavoidably human and unavoidably divine at the same time. And so there is the possibility that we can be teachers to each other, stepping into being the guide when it’s called for, but also having the humility and the honesty to be guided as well.
This is an extremely hot and juicy topic, and it’s one about which there are multiple points of view. I’ve had endless delightful and fruitful conversations with many people about this over many years. Perhaps the most erudite and interesting person who has researched this is Mariana Caplan, the author of books like “Halfway Up the Mountain,” Do You need a Guru?” and most recently, “Eyes Wide Open,” which won five national awards in the book publishing industry.
Please join me for a dialog with Mariana Caplan this Thursday, July 15th at 6pm PST. A word of warning: Mariana and I have already dialoged extensively about this topic, and we don’t agree on many points, so the dialog will certainly be passionate and interesting.
August 4, 2010 at 2:08 pm
excellent information.
July 21, 2010 at 5:19 pm
Do I need a teacher?
In order to learn I need to experience. Most of my experiences (not all) I get from interaction with other people.
In my experience any person I ever meet can be a teacher to me, as well as I can be a teacher to them. We need each other as teachers like the tree needs the rain.
Do I need a guru?
Absolutely not! I wouldn’t want one.
July 18, 2010 at 6:56 am
the thing is we all need to learn, how do you know what your learning is the truth that you seek. you may not need a teacher, but it is wise to have people around who know what you are seeking and can anticipate the answers you need.you need people you can trust, is the answer the truth, wether you want to beleive it or not, it still has to be the truth.
Yes we need teachers, how else will you learn to distinguish from fact or fiction.
Oce you learn what is the truth tou can then teach others.
July 15, 2010 at 6:21 pm
The Ascension is here. i can take quiet a bit of teachings when you are and taking to me.
there is an urgency that i wanted you to address if you will. What is you see when you are
looking at the world and i mean human society, i say the entire sense of defining and planning
while the results are obviously not following, not flowing. for me, i can sort of envision
the earth as if it was still flat turning around towards the light. spiritually speaking this moon
materialize our mental state where we don’t see the dark, but will the moon turn around ?
answered or no answered, m thankful for every vibration a thought or feeling . yo
(Please keep this corrected version…)
July 15, 2010 at 6:18 pm
this also going to Arjuna ( and hellos dear beautiful lady 😉
the acsenssion is here. i can take quiet a bit of teachings when you are and taking to me.
there is an urency that i wanted you to address if you will. What is you see when you are
looking at the world and i mean human society, i say the entire sense of deninng and planning
while the results are obviously not following, not flowing. for me, i can sort of envision
the earth as if it was still flat turning around towards the light. spiritually speaking this moon
materialize our mental state where we don’t see the dark, but will the moon turn around ?
answered or no answered, m thankful for every vibration a thought or feeling .
allow me to add before i close this that being is the creative that you truly are
yos
July 15, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Dear Arjuna,
have been longing for a teacher many times in my long searching for truth, but living on a remote island and also struggling often with bad financials, I’m often coming back to the most gifted teacher there is: Life itself and my own experiences. Meditation, books, internet, friends and other people crossing my path are always helpful and seem to give me exactly the lessons/teachings I need. But this doesn’t mean I’m keeping my eyes open for a teacher/guru who might show up within reach. Would love to meat you and Chameli for example!!!
Lots of love to you and many thanks for inspiring blog!
Karin
July 14, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Thanks for fixing the link and for this article which I profoundly resonate with, being a Boomer who ardently followed, and was disillusioned with, a guru, albeit one who was a prophetess in a Christian sect.
The experience seems to be universal.
Life itself is the constant teacher, and when there are enough willing learners, our disparate paths will surely converge, for how could they not, if all is One?
July 14, 2010 at 11:40 am
[…] The blog was https://arjunaardagh.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/do-we-need-a-teacher […]
July 14, 2010 at 11:34 am
I do not think in this age of unity where separation is losing its grip on many of us, the question is do we need a teacher. I think the question is who are we “with” a teacher. Similar to who are we “with” ourselves. Any other question elicits separation as the foundation from which the question arises. Also there is the word need: There is a difference between “I need you because I do not trust myself. I need something outside myself to fulfill my need,” and “I need you like the flowers need the rain.” One is based in separation and the other is based in unity. I have a spiritual master who I spend many hours with. I love her because I love who I am with her and who she is with me. I love needing her like flowers need the rain. That makes me intelligence, not stupid. To think we should not need is like the tree saying to the rain, I do not need you. I can do it myself. There is a beautiful synbiosis in true need, a beautiful mutuality. This is what is next in returning to who we are as a unique and essential aspect of the whole. There each of us has a place…a perfect place that is ours to do and ours to share. My “guru” is doing what is hers to do and I am doing what is mine to do. In that mutuality, we are both free.
July 14, 2010 at 8:27 am
As the inner teacher awakens… it has been helpful for me to have “teachers or mentors” in my life – as a reminder of what I already know… as I realign with the Truth that is within all Life.
I consider “mySelf” a student, a teacher… all of that, and none of that.
July 14, 2010 at 3:22 am
Alone the tree grows weak and without the wind the roots is shallow.
July 13, 2010 at 10:38 pm
Love Arjuna, you asked Do you need a teacher? Question may also be who needs teacher in me and what a teacher may be. I can say that i need a teacher but when it comes to actual teaching will loose interest. Im very much on the spot on the moment on the feeling. its hard for me to make a linear sequence unless there is a flow of some sort which make it looks linear. last i can say i chose you to be my teacher long time ago and i feel pretty much humble to write this at all. so take it as you want if you find there is something new to engage yourself and ourselves with, i will be following you to see what you decided. for now it looks you gave up teaching, bless you, Love Joseph
July 13, 2010 at 7:26 pm
When will we stop complaining about
the darkness and lite a match. When will
all the greens, tree huggers. Gia worshipers put their Egos aside and do
one unself-serving act.? It just takes
one – must i say it? CELEBRITY – To
speak up, speak out and Lead with some light. Copy the Shadow if we must. There is so much more to be said, and I do know how to say it ! ha ha.Vincenzo
July 13, 2010 at 5:51 pm
Well at this point in my experience I would say that a guru is necessary.
I have taken classes, practiced continuously for over 27 years on my own. I did year meet a guru from India, worked within his guidance and awakened in 5 months. I am living it, I am not suffering, I am present and completely engaged in life. I am deeply connected to him. Devotion was not in my system and it has always been something I really did not understand. But, that being said just Monday morning I was able to understand, see and experience my guru’s devotion to his guru by seeing my guru’s grace to me, his guru’s grace to him and his guru’s guru’s grace, and back and back into what seems as the infinite past. Tears ran down my face for quite awhile just in that experience as I meditated.
I experience the “lineage” of grace from teacher to student, so for me as the student at the end of the lineage the idea of doing it on your own or co-creating does not fit my experience right now.
In the west we really want to do things ourselves, on our own. I would have said that too and have until recently. I was very resistant to the idea of a guru and it has been one of the biggest hurdles for me.
Truthfully, devotion is delicious!
July 13, 2010 at 4:56 pm
I could easily identify with all the spiritual transitions you describe.
I do happen to know that George Harrison also followed the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda and one of PY’s disciples as at George’s bedside when he left this world.
In our Oneness, every thing/moment definitely becomes our teacher if we pay attention.
July 13, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Life is experience and we learn from it. Some times teachers appear in the form of a teacher. Sometimes in the form of a rival, or enemy, or beloved, or a relative…
sometimes the teacher is nature, sometimes is money, sometimes is illness and sometimes is death… sometimes a teacher takes the form of a former teacher, one who says that is a teacher.
My opinion is that eachone has what is needed at a given moment. All here is experience… all is teaching. The interesting thing for me, is when the process of unlearning takes place.
July 13, 2010 at 4:52 pm
I think each of us are unique and we need to celebrate that. Sometimes we are so fixed on the teacher role that we miss the true lesson because we aren’t listening. Sometimes the biggest challenge is the ability to just listen.
July 13, 2010 at 4:30 pm
I second Deb Habr’s remarks and wish to add that many, many books and their authors have been terrific teachers. What they all do is rekindle our own knowing from our own Spirits. Until we have reached our own depths by being in-touch with our own guidance, we can celebrate those that remind us.We show gratitude for their purpose in life by acknowledging teachers,in any form.
What I hope to remember is, we are all equal as sparks of the Divine. As we strive for this realization,we can know we are already there: just not realized in the present yet.It keeps us humble as we grow. In that humbleness we can have compassion for others. Who hasn’t had high Spiritual experiences and then low moments of uncertainty? At our core we are already there, let’s let it be revealed as often as possible.
Letting our Lights shine together,
Lois Low
July 12, 2010 at 9:01 pm
At various points along the spiritual path many people take classes, go to retreats, take workshops and end up having several teachers in the process. The primary teacher, however, is Spirit. Our relationship to God is the #1 relationship upon with all the others are built. And if we are really listening to God with an open heart, we will learn the most from it.
July 12, 2010 at 7:32 pm
Would like to join the dialog – thanks.
July 12, 2010 at 10:21 pm
hi maggie
thanks for pointing that out!
the link is fixed now!