Look for the spark! Watch for the signs!
If the Guru is whom you have been seeking, then good chance the Guru is waiting to be found, guiding you from afar right to the doorstep of deliverance.
If the Guru is whom you have been seeking your entire life, because you have been burning with the desire to realize the truth of existence – burning with the desire to know God, then definitely that Guru and that God has been in communication with you up to this moment. And even if your quest is not the product of an entire lifetime, or many, but only a recent idea to gently creep to the front of your mind – congratulations! It’s a high idea. Hold on to it. Someone is reaching out to you across time and space. The universe itself is guiding you right at this very moment.
Look for the spark! Watch for the signs!
What do your dreams tell you in the night? What impressions remain when you awaken? What do the people around you tell you? What do you find in the daily news? What books come before your eyes? What are the signs?
Many fly blindly, to this ashram and that, never coming to rest at their destination because they are merely following the mind. The mind can dream of anything at all, flying off on every idea at the speed of thought, quick like a laser to take you to nowhere. But you must sit for a moment and consider. Let the Gyan come forth to whisper the truth. Discern. Look for the spark! Jnana Yoga calls this Viveka – discernment. Wise judgement. It is something you may practice even before the Guru initiates you and begins helping you unlearn all that you need to unlearn in order to get clear and recall the truth you seek.
But what I really want to tell you on this matter of how to find your Guru and become a Sanyasi in the Himalays is this: Look for the spark! Watch for the signs! They will come when you least suspect! Let me tell you finally of the catalyst which lead me to finally meet my Guru in the flesh when I was twenty-four years old, after knowing of His existence for a full twelve years prior, and praying for the same even prior to that. It was a funny miracle. One that would’ve been easy to ignore if I hadn’t been ever so keenly watching for the spark and the signs.
When I was twenty-four, living in Japan and having duly taken up employment, my colleagues and I had a certain after-shift ritual whereby we would all gather in the square of a local park and share a beer before boarding the train home. Japan is a small country; we live in close quarters and even the parks can be found right in the middle of busy shopping districts. And so it happens that ours was also so, and one evening when we were huddled there together sharing our drink and small talk we were taken by surprise by the most intriguing mix of troubadours I’d seen since my thespian years in high school.
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, who but Peter Pan herself came dancing into our park! Yes. She was a she! And she was followed by none other than a giant robot wrapped in tin, a faerie angel with wings and wand, and a teddy bear with giant paunch and even larger smile. Peter was flamboyant to say the least as she danced from person to person around the park inviting anyone who cared to play with her. I tell you not a one accepted her offer. To my stark chagrin. It actually saddened me that nobody could come out of their bubbles to share her joy. She danced around that way from person to person until she came upon my own group. My mated giggled nervously while Peter looked deep into my eyes and asked. “Do you think I’m strange?” I laughed a heartfelt laugh and replied honestly. “No, my lovely. I haven’t seen anything so natural and innocent in a very long time!” And I proceeded to get up to play with her. But now it was she who was taken aback by my answer as her wide eyes became even wider, if such were possible. I saw the spark and seized the moment. “Take me to your Master.” I bid her. She froze and stammered not quite understanding. “Your leader, dear. Take me to him. I would like to meet this magic man.”
My now dear friend of almost three decades had been teaching a form of awareness training there in a studio near the park and had sent these innocents out on an adventure. When I met with that teacher I didn’t know anything about much at all, but took good notice of the look of joy, deep love and awe on his face when he spoke of his own teacher, a kindly Baba in the Himalayas. Well it was all uphill from there as I found myself at 3500 meters into the foothills within a matter of months after that chance encounter in the park.
Look for the spark! Watch for the signs!
…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.
