by  Justina Cojan

 The ideal for a spiritual human being could be the Divine Absolute or one of the many manifestations of God. Thus, our ideal can be our spiritual guide. When one wishes to reach somewhere, one follows a route; when one wishes to obtain a specialization, one follows a certain school. 

I remember the moment in which I could say this awakening was like an initiation. I did not see anything spectacular in that moment and it did not impress me too much, but in time I understood its meaning, by relating often to it in the “stillness of my mind”.

I was participating in a meeting at the end of the Costinesti camp (which, I understood later, was supported by Grieg) and I went to thank him for the wonderful holiday spent at the seaside. I was doing this because I was together with the other participants and I would have been embarrassed to be an exception. I arrived in front of Him and all I said in a low voice was: “Grieg, I have also come,” He replied, making the gesture people usually make when something is fulfilled after a long or impatient waiting: “It is about time.” At that moment I did not experience any of the euphoria and ecstasy manifested by the others, therefore I went to the side. I was a little sad and at the same time I was not, because I felt as if touched by something magical. Something special had happened, but I was to become aware of this much later on and each time I related to that moment: he awakened my consciousness. There was another moment, before this moment of true awakening. This moment I consider being my first revelation regarding my Spiritual Guide. It is the more valuable the more alive it always is in my heart, wherever I go and whenever I relate to Grieg. In my hometown, the yoga course had started two years ago, but I was not attending it yet. Although many of my friends were attending this course and were practicing yoga, this delay was like a “respite” for me, which I took in order to convince myself of the authenticity of that which appeared to be an authentic spiritual school. I aimed to read the books of the one I saw as the founder of a spiritual school.  Through study, I gained the certitude that the integral yoga school founded by Grieg within MISA was an authentic spiritual school. I could say this was my first important spiritual certainty. Only this mental knowledge was not enough to satisfy the inner need I had to see the essence hidden beyond appearances. I decided to “look” for Him, to “watch” and to “analyze”  Him, in order to see where the fascination, perceived by everyone who was already practicing His teachings, came from without any hesitation. He was in the camp in Costinesti, with those attending His course and I knew that he would meet the participants near the shipwreck everyday. Therefore, daily I placed myself on the route to the shipwreck, so that I could see Him when he was going to the meeting place. I wasted a few days, shocked at the sight of the two gorgeous identical girls that were accompanying Him. In other days I was impressed by the modesty and humbleness he showed when walking among people. I had not yet found something that fully touched me inside until one day when, watching Him from afar, I was observing the look in His eyes. The girls manifested joyfully around Him, and though He was with them yet, He was not. The look in His eyes encompassed reality differently. He had a different look in His eyes. In fact, He looked at and encompassed the Infinite with His eyes. Then, I saw in the eyes of an ordinary man the Infinite that often He also revealed to me for a profound knowledge, in many exemplifications.

Then the “It is about time” came, it had a tough impact on my consciousness, which was kept in sleepiness by an ego strongly educated to not give up too easily, in the schools I had attended. After this “beneficial shock”I also started the “journey”. Actually, I became aware of accessing a spiritual path. From the beginning I was convinced that “a road” can be walked much easier if you have a guide with great knowledge, experience and talent, who has reached a high level of perfection and who can guide you. The belief that he knows not only one road to take me to the Unique Truth, but all the possible roads, has made Him my only Spiritual guide on this spiritual path. Since taking this Path, my need for Self knowledge and at the same time, an honest and very lucid attitude of discernment in perceiving everything that happened within my being were not weakened for even one moment. The unshaken faith that somebody is constantly watching my steps was and is the essential success factor. This is what brought the results. And my faith in the Spiritual path I have “engaged” myself and in the One I feel as being my spiritual guide became a constant at the basis of my existence. He existed and has always existed, simply, as a gift from God for the human beings. The moment when I perceived him in this way was exactly the moment I was ready. From this meeting I would define myself in a certain way, differently than so far, with something extra. In this way “living” around Him, receiving His teachings and even taking them further, because I was able to share its message to the others. Thus I became His disciple. I like to think that there are many who can rely on their undeniable accumulations from the past for the joy of having met Him and of shortly having become His honest spiritual admirers. For the beginning, the consciousness of His presence gave me an uninterruptedly bright availability to beauty and clarity in perceiving reality.

Although it seemed that there was nothing to be done, a wish grew stronger and stronger in my being: To try to be like Him. This was because I was sure that in this way the “shadow” and “darkness” around us and in our existence could be chased away much easier. There is nothing in Him that had not existed everywhere in this solitary world of contradictions. He transmitted to me a revolt for superficial existence, routine and hypocrisy. His fury is rather tender, specific to a hermit of righteous beliefs. He visibly longs for a world where opinions are free, and where intelligence develops freely. His joys and delights are other then ordinary, as opposed to those who are absorbed or seized by them. He offered me the certitude that fate has never worked more impatiently and more visibly in favour of some teachings that were meant to come into the light, in order to fulfil us spiritually and to help us become a bit richer. He knows, but it is as if he does not have the desired drive in keeping everything that He knows, unless he gives it to the others. I will not say “big”, I will not say “read”, I will only say “loved”, because this epithet best defines his relationship with the others. He ensures me in each moment that SOMEBODY watches my steps, as a priceless reward for His kindness and generosity in the long adventure of knowledge. Rarely the expression THE SON OF MAN, in its most humble and important aspects, was so outstandingly embodied then in this bright character in my life, which is my Spiritual guide.

Once meeting and accepting consciously the spiritual guide, he is the one who, without any doubt, helps us pass calmly and naturally through transformations, from good to better and he gives us unequalled teachings, as he lights our consciousness, therefore the path to Self knowledge. Assimilating his teachings through practice, I understood that a Spiritual Guide is the one who succeeds to create a school and to bring light in your soul to the extent that you can truly open in order to receive His teachings. These teachings, without any doubt, will transform you in the understanding of becoming. Searching for the most hidden meanings of “seeing” and being endlessly rewarded for my struggle, I became His disciple. Between us, a relationship, a connection, having a unique correspondence, has developed: the Spiritual Guide – disciple relationship. As any existential fact, the Spiritual Guide – disciple relationship, is an undeniable truth. If you do not have the chance of a revelation, finding this truth takes time and long and honest search for it.

Therefore, the Spiritual Guide – disciple relationship is:
- a truth you wish to know;
- a truth in which you just “find” yourself;
- or a truth that you aim for, following the example of other beings, which by gaining it, benefit from its direct help.

Once this relationship is established, once this truth is brought into awareness, it is a spiritual treasure which stays as the basis of the Truth the existence of each being. Thus, the Divine Grace bestowed upon a human being who found her spiritual Path and her spiritual Guide becomes whole. Once this truth is known – consisting of the Spiritual Guide – Disciple relationship, it must be kept in the next stages of existence in order to be able to exist in it, because, like any fact which was obtained, it can be lost. At the same time, it is absolutely necessary, in order to maintain this relationship, to have an unwavering faith in the fact that once we found the spiritual Guide, He will be with us in everything that follows, in order to have a spiritual life and to gain the Ultimate Knowledge. The way in which each one of us exists in and with this relationship is a personal spiritual option. The benefits of this relationship will have a consistency specific to each individual human being, because this depends on the efforts, perseverance, openness, honesty and the way in which each one succeeds to define himself/herself in it.

Taken from yogaesoteric.net

http://www.yogaesoteric.net/content.aspx?item=4794&lang=RO

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