The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 3/Bhakti-Yoga/Qualifications of the Aspirant and the Teacher
CHAPTER V
QUALIFICATIONS OF THE ASPIRANT AND THE TEACHER
How are we to know a teacher, then? The sun requires no torch to make him
visible, we need not light a candle in order to see him. When the sun rises,
we instinctively become aware of the fact, and when a teacher of men comes
to help us, the soul will instinctively know that truth has already begun to
shine upon it. Truth stands on its own evidence, it does not require any
other testimony to prove it true, it is self effulgent. It penetrates into
the innermost corners of our nature, and in its presence the whole universe
stands up and says, "This is truth." The teachers whose wisdom and truth
shine like the light of the sun are the very greatest the world has known,
and they are worshipped as God by the major portion of mankind. But we may
get help from comparatively lesser ones also; only we ourselves do not
possess intuition enough to judge properly of the man from whom we receive
teaching and guidance; so there ought to be certain tests, certain
conditions, for the teacher to satisfy, as there are also for the taught.
The conditions necessary for the taught are purity, a real thirst after
knowledge, and perseverance. No impure soul can be really religious. Purity
in thought, speech, and act is absolutely necessary for any one to be
religious. As to the thirst after knowledge, it is an old law that we all
get whatever we want. None of us can get anything other than what we fix our
hearts upon. To pant for religion truly is a very difficult thing, not at
all so easy as we generally imagine. Hearing religious talks or reading
religious books is no proof yet of a real want felt in the heart; there must
be a continuous struggle, a constant fight, an unremitting grappling with
our lower nature, till the higher want is actually felt and the victory is
achieved. It is not a question of one or two days, of years, or of lives;
the struggle may have to go on for hundreds of lifetimes. The success
sometimes may come immediately, but we must be ready to wait patiently even
for what may look like an infinite length of time. The student who sets out
with such a spirit of perseverance will surely find success and realisation
at last.
In regard to the teacher, we must see that he knows the spirit of the
scriptures. The whole world reads Bibles, Vedas, and Korans; but they are
all only words, syntax, etymology, philology, the dry bones of religion. The
teacher who deals too much in words and allows the mind to be carried away
by the force of words loses the spirit. It is the knowledge of the spirit of
the scriptures alone that constitutes the true religious teacher. The
network of the words of the scriptures is like a huge forest in which the
human mind often loses itself and finds no way out.
— "The network of words is a big forest; it is the cause of a curious wandering of the mind." "The various methods of joining words, the various methods of speaking in beautiful language, the various methods of explaining the diction of the scriptures are only for the disputations and enjoyment of the learned, they do not conduce to the development of spiritual perception"
Bhagavân Ramakrishna used to tell a story of some men who went into a mango
orchard and busied themselves in counting the leaves, the twigs, and the
branches, examining their colour, comparing their size, and noting down
everything most carefully, and then got up a learned discussion on each of
these topics, which were undoubtedly highly interesting to them. But one of
them, more sensible than the others, did not care for all these things. and
instead thereof, began to eat the mango fruit. And was he not wise? So leave
this counting of leaves and twigs and note-taking to others. This kind of
work has its proper place, but not here in the spiritual domain. You never
see a strong spiritual man among these "leaf counters". Religion, the
highest aim, the highest glory of man, does not require so much labour. If
you want to be a Bhakta, it is not at all necessary for you to know whether
Krishna was born in Mathurâ or in Vraja, what he was doing, or just the
exact date on which he pronounced the teachings of the Gitâ. You only
require to feel the craving for the beautiful lessons of duty and love in
the Gita. All the other particulars about it and its author are for the
enjoyment of the learned. Let them have what they desire. Say "Shântih,
Shântih" to their learned controversies, and let us "eat the mangoes".
The second condition necessary in the teacher is — sinlessness. The question
is often asked, "Why should we look into the character and personality of a
teacher? We have only to judge of what he says, and take that up." This is
not right. If a man wants to teach me something of dynamics, or chemistry,
or any other physical science, he may be anything he likes, because what the
physical sciences require is merely an intellectual equipment; but in the
spiritual sciences it is impossible from first to last that there can be any
spiritual light in the soul that is impure. What religion can an impure man
teach? The sine qua non of acquiring spiritual truth for one's self or for
imparting it to others is the purity of heart and soul. A vision of God or a
glimpse of the beyond never comes until the soul is pure. Hence with the
teacher of religion we must see first what he is, and then what he says. He
must be perfectly pure, and then alone comes the value of his words, because
he is only then the true "transmitter". What can he transmit if he has not
spiritual power in himself? There must be the worthy vibration of
spirituality in the mind of the teacher, so that it may be sympathetically
conveyed to the mind of the taught. The function of the teacher is indeed an
affair of the transference of something, and not one of mere stimulation of
the existing intellectual or other faculties in the taught. Something real
and appreciable as an influence comes from the teacher and goes to the
taught. Therefore the teacher must be pure.
The third condition is in regard to the motile. The teacher must not teach
with any ulterior selfish motive — for money, name, or fame; his work must
be simply out of love, out of pure love for mankind at large. The only
medium through which spiritual force can be transmitted is love. Any selfish
motive, such as the desire for gain or for name, will immediately destroy
this conveying median. God is love, and only he who has known God as love
can be a teacher of godliness and God to man.
When you see that in your teacher these conditions are all fulfilled, you
are safe; if they are not, it is unsafe to allow yourself to be taught by
him, for there is the great danger that, if he cannot convey goodness to
your heart, he may convey wickedness. This danger must by all means be
guarded against.
— "He who is learned in the scriptures, sinless, unpolluted by lust, and is the greatest knower of the Brahman" is the real teacher.
From what has been said, it naturally follows that we cannot be taught to
love, appreciate, and assimilate religion everywhere and by everybody. The
"books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything" is
all very true as a poetical figure: but nothing can impart to a man a single
grain of truth unless he has the undeveloped germs of it in himself. To whom
do the stones and brooks preach sermons? To the human soul, the lotus of
whose inner holy shrine is already quick with life. And the light which
causes the beautiful opening out of this lotus comes always from the good
and wise teacher. When the heart has thus been opened, it becomes fit to
receive teaching from the stones or the brooks, the stars, or the sun, or
the moon, or from any thing which has its existence in our divine universe;
but the unopened heart will see in them nothing but mere stones or mere
brooks. A blind man may go to a museum, but he will not profit by it in any
way; his eyes must be opened first, and then alone he will be able to learn
what the things in the museum can teach.
This eye-opener of the aspirant after religion is the teacher. With the
teacher, therefore, our relationship is the same as that between an ancestor
and his descendant. Without faith, humility, submission, and veneration in
our hearts towards our religious teacher, there cannot be any growth of
religion in us; and it is a significant fact that, where this kind of
relation between the teacher and the taught prevails, there alone gigantic
spiritual men are growing; while in those countries which have neglected to
keep up this kind of relation the religious teacher has become a mere
lecturer, the teacher expecting his five dollars and the person taught
expecting his brain to be filled with the teacher's words, and each going
his own way after this much has been done. Under such circumstances
spirituality becomes almost an unknown quantity. There is none to transmit
it and none to have it transmitted to. Religion with such people becomes
business; they think they can obtain it with their dollars. Would to God
that religion could be obtained so easily! But unfortunately it cannot be.
Religion, which is the highest knowledge and the highest wisdom, cannot be
bought, nor can it be acquired from books. You may thrust your head into all
the corners of the world, you may explore the Himalayas, the Alps, and the
Caucasus, you may sound the bottom of the sea and pry into every nook of
Tibet and the desert of Gobi, you will not find it anywhere until your heart
is ready for receiving it and your teacher has come. And when that divinely
appointed teacher comes, serve him with childlike confidence and simplicity,
freely open your heart to his influence, and see in him God manifested.
Those who come to seek truth with such a spirit of love and veneration, to
them the Lord of Truth reveals the most wonderful things regarding truth,
goodness, and beauty.