Rudi

"Don’t look for perfection in me. I want to acknowledge my own imperfection, I want to understand that that is part of the endlessness of my growth. It’s absolutely useless at this stage in your life, with all of the shit piled up in your closet, to walk around and try to kid yourself about your perfection. Out of the raw material you break down [here he is also speaking of the charnel ground] you grow and absorb the energy. You work yourself from inside out, tearing out, destroying, and finding a sense of nothingness. That nothingness allows God to come in. But this somethingness—ego and prejudices and limitations—is your raw material. If you process and refine it all, you can open consciously. Otherwise, you will never come to anything that represents yourself … The only thing that can create a oneness inside you is the ability to see more of yourself as you work every day to open deeper and say, fine, “I’m short-tempered,” or “Fine, I’m aggressive,” or, “Fine, I love to make money,” or, “I have no feeling for anybody else.” Once you recognize you’re all of these things, you’ll finally be able to take a breath and allow these things to open...

There is in every novice the ego that feels it can work alone. Doing inner work requires continual supervision and it is essential to break down the ego. The teacher has to be strong enough to act as the instrument to destroy ego.

A very essential thing about the relationship between the student and the teacher is the understanding of the difference in dimension between the two. On first meeting the presence of the teacher should implant upon the student of the difference. (One should only study with someone one feels is beyond themselves.) There should also be a sense of respect and security within the student. Indians call their teacher Baba or father. After a short period of relationship, the ego of the student and the beginning of the unrest caused by the upheaval within causes a possible attack upon the teacher. It is on this first change that the student should try to remember his original feelings and reaffirm them. The growth during the initial period of study is only possible by a continued act of faith…

It is the flow of force between student and teacher that is the conscious exchange which evolves both. A great teacher is a great student and a great student is a great teacher so that there is always a balance between them..."

~ Swami Rudrananda (Rudi)

http://www.rudi.org/