I came to spirituality and energy healing because of the mental preparation. I love listening to lectures. Till date all my free time is spent listening to lectures. One such lecture I heard during foundation day celebration reflected on how to see our spiritual Guru. 

While the live lecture was on, someone typed saying ‘I hero worship Guru’. The person who was giving the discourse did not like the word and he so beautifully explained where he was coming from. This really opened my eyes on how to take charge of our emotions, how to see our Guru, how to be a disciple.

Senior disciple said, ‘ Once I was so overwhelmed with my love for Guru and I told him ‘Guru, I want to worship u’’. 

Guru: – ‘so do u have great respect and love for me?

Senior disciple: – ‘Yes, Guru’

Guru: – ‘then just say that, u don’t have to use such words’

I think the message was, while we all practice the 1st pillar or complete Sharanagathi as taught in Alchemy Yoga, we regard him as a Maha-atma and he is, but because we regard him that way, we feel we cannot be like him. If we glorify all our experiences, if we are always overwhelmed, how can we become spiritual? How can we focus on our journey? When the focus is not on our own self, how can we merge with the higher soul? How can we raise the bar from being students or seekers to becoming disciples? While developing gratitude to Guru is excellent, it’s equally important to understand he was just like us in many ways.

For example, the senior disciple said he has seen Guru cry during difficulties. What was different was he lived life to handle the difficulties, to face the hardship with inner strength. During the Pandemic, there is so much suffering and severe depression. Some of us thought if we raise the energies, the virus may not attack us. But that’s not the way it works. We may be affected just like anybody else, but what could possibly make us different is, learning to accept the reality and not suffer the loss.

Many a times we act like babies, not wanting to work on ourselves and always depending on others. Hero- worship is easy, as by being overwhelmed, we are actually telling ourselves, we cannot be like them. That is not the way to see the Guru. While we have utmost Gratitude and respect for the Guru, we need to take time to focus on our own spiritual development. Our Guru said, when we practice Alchemy Yoga and if we don’t have a huge load of Bad karma accumulated from the past lives, we can become a Paramahansa in this incarnation. For this, it is critical to keep the focus of ourselves at all times. 

Some of tips which I am following in the recent past are(I have a very very long way to go, but I am trying hard) :

1. Toughen up, handle difficulties and develop inner strength.  Once a great Guru told the student that ‘if I have to give solution to all the problems then it becomes my good karma. so it’s better you work on your own karma.’ Self-help is best. 
2. Don’t be overwhelmed. By doing so everything becomes unreachable. Everything including self-realisation is within our capacity. So dream big and reach for the sky. 
3. Be a practicing Arhatic yogi. Arhatic yoga is not a title. As we strengthen our practices many inner teachings are revealed to us.
4. If we have strong inclination for spirituality and are financially sound, use every day for spiritual development. At all times focus on the qualities of the Atma, which is Love, light & Power. Be a spiritual seeker who happens to be a Mother, or a teacher or a doctor. 

Fun & Laughter always

Contributed by Srividhya Swaminathan