Alara Kalama taught Siddartha Gautama, the Buddha, meditation. When he surpassed his master, he found another teacher, Uddaka Rāmaputta who taught him further. There is some debate as to whether or not these two characters in fact existed. Who knows? He had many more teachers, too, before going out on his own.
On the path of the yogin, there is the overwhelming tendency towards a singular guru-chela (shishya) relationship. Nisgardatta had only one known “guru”. Same with Yogananda. Dalai Lama had several.
Jesus was called rabbi at least 13 times in the scriptures. This indicates that he was learned in at least that tradition and would have had teachers in this respect at least. Whether he called John the Baptist teacher, though, is food for academia.
My own Guru had 3 teachers while I had only one. Ramana Maharishi is said to have had no guru and is rather famous for suggesting that none are needed. One need only contact the Guru inside.
A spiritual seeker will benefit from teacher(s) according to that seeker’s needs and disposition. There is no need to consider whether there is a right or wrong in accepting multiple sources as our teacher.
…is a Saiva Tantrika, Gyana Yogi and founder of Uma Maheshwara Yoga & Ayurveda. David has an MA in Semiotics, lives in Japan with his family and works as a coach in L & D, devoting his time to developing science-based tools and programs that help people reach the fullest potential of the human condition.
