DO WE NEED SPIRITUAL TEACHERS?

Beinsa Douno (the Master)

“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

Isaac Newton

To teach means to assume one of the greatest responsibilities in this world – regardless whether one teaches a child, an adult, a student, a disciple, or a whole community. We all learn, at every step of the way, and we all teach someone something at times, though we do not do it always consciously. Of course, there are those who are teaching consciously, professionally–those who dedicate their lives to teaching. Those people take an enormous responsibility because of the inherent effects of teaching: If there is one to teach, most of the time there is someone to learn from her/him.

Throughout history priests, spiritual and political leaders, religious and academic institutions, have abused time and again the privilege of being listened to and the possibility of influencing the thoughts, feelings, and behavior of others. That has often brought about different kinds of danger. A person who cherishes freedom

and independence of thought would resist the very idea of being influenced too much, of giving anyone the opportunity to shape her/his own thoughts. I myself resisted that idea when I decided to escape a communist regime and fled through several borders. The fact of the matter, however, is that our personalities are formed under diverse influences and that there are many people and things we have learned from. The danger of learning the wrong thing does not eliminate the fact that we do learn and that we are being taught—throughout life.

Friends and readers have asked me questions about why we need spiritual teachers, if we can walk a spiritual path on our own, and if there is some danger in following another’s views or philosophy of life. I have asked myself these questions too. I believe that there are many different roads that lead to spiritual development. From the vast pool of ideas and beliefs that every culture, every religion, and every scripture has, each one of us could select those ideas and beliefs that touch us personally and make us feel that we are on the path to something good, positive, compassionate, and constructive. Making such choices is what gives us the only means of control over our own mind – the choices what to learn and from whom. But we do learn and I think that a spiritual teacher is at least as useful and as necessary as a language or a piano teacher, or a tax accountant.

It is true that there are self-taught artists, musicians, or poets. I cannot pretend to know what the difference is between creative work and other abilities that involve the intellect. But I know that we cannot figure the laws of mathematics, geometry, or physics on our own. Do I compare spiritual development to this kind of knowledge? I certainly do, and I think that there is much more to learn when you are conscious of your spiritual development, for it requires us not only to acquaint ourselves with particular views or philosophical principles, but it also involves understanding psychology, behavior, health, and so much more–virtually every aspect of human life, not to mention aspects that connect us with universal phenomena.

Shankaracharya

In my life I have both studied and taught, and I cannot escape my personal point of view. I spent many years promoting the idea that we have to study human thought of all times—ancient and modern, western and eastern.

Underestimating spiritual development has never been an option for me as I have never underestimated any kind of education. If we want to work on our ability to live mindfully, spiritual development cannot be just a side track and if we take spiritual development seriously then we ought to learn from those who have more experience and more knowledge. Isaac Newton’s famous quote reveals a much deeper meaning in its original Latin formulation: “nani gigantum humeris insidentes” – dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants, or discovering truth by building on previous discoveries. We do need to know what previous generations have thought, discovered, or created, and we do need those who know more about spiritual development than we do—for we want a world in which mindful living has as much value as economic development.

Swami Veda Bharati

Some spiritual teachers live and work among us—literally for the common good. Think of Gandhi, for example. Before I met him, my teacher Swami Veda Bharati had traveled round the world—Africa, Latin America, the US, England— to study, write, and teach about migration, peace, and the state of minorities, and in 2003 he had given a talk at the UN on the topic of preventing terrorism. My friend Siddhartha Krishna lives in an ashram but he teaches Vedanta and yoga philosophy to people who come from all over the world and he is more concerned with social issues in contemporary India than with just about anything else. My spiritual teacher may live in a busy city or in a secluded monastery in the Himalayas, but what I learn from her/him (and I do not limit this to the concept of knowledge alone) I can take home— to my family, my work, my community, and, most of all, to any moment when I have to make a choice.

Siddhartha Krishna