This is how I see my role. It’s not my place to tell people what they should or should not be; I’m here to offer reminders that we’re blessed by the miracle of existence and to help point the way toward inner peace. Only you can decide if that’s the direction you want to go. Only you can decide if this is the route you want to take to get there. A good teacher doesn’t try to sing your song for you, or perform your instrument for you, or lay down the rhythms of your life. You play your raga, you set your own rhythm. I’m just here to help you stay in key and feel the inner momentum of the music of life. I can help you hear yourself.
My father, Shri Hans Ji Maharaj, once expressed the role of the teacher of self-Knowledge through a wonderful metaphor. He talks about the Master, which is what people often call their main teacher, especially in India. Here’s what he said: “Knowledge, they say, is like a sandalwood tree, and the Master like a breeze. The entire sandalwood tree is filled with fragrance, but even if it wanted to give its fragrance away, it could not. Yet, when the breeze blows, it carries the fragrance to the whole forest. As a result, other trees become as fragrant as the sandalwood tree. In the same way, the entire world could be fragrant with Knowledge.”
