FALSE TEACHERS AND RIGHT TEACHERS

“…and the Chela (spiritual student) must learn to separate the truth from false teachings. Until the Chela has learned to do this, he is apt to wander about in this world of mind and body through centuries of reincarnations.” – The Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad Bk 1&2 pg 111

For quite sometime (about 3 years), I did not receive a parking violation ticket (summons) in the ticket blitz New York City. In the course of that period, I never suffered any inconvenience or trouble that arose from getting a ticket and running around to challenge it or pay the fine. Therefore, when I walked up recently to my car and saw a parking violation ticket placed on the windscreen, I was a little lost as to how to deal with it. I did not agree with the stated violation, so I decided to challenge it, but in the course of those years that I did not receive any violation ticket, I had forgotten where the parking violations office was located and I had forgotten what actual step to take in challenging the ticket in a traffic violations court. Somehow, I found myself in a strange terrain yet a familiar one.

I called my brother who agreed that he had been to the parking violations court in the recent past. He gave me all the reminders I needed to know, such as taking pictures of the car, street, and location, what time the traffic court closes for the day, which way is the shortest way to the court, etc.

Armed with my renewed information, I quickly drove off in the direction of the traffic court hoping to get there before the closing time, but then I got lost on the way. I did not want to get too lost before asking for help, so I asked for direction assistance from the next taxicab driver that came my way. At first, the cab driver did not know where I wanted to go, but then the passenger in his cab started explaining to him where I was going. I knew this even though they spoke in Spanish language because the cab driver’s eyes suddenly lit up and he quickly told me that I was going the wrong way. He directed me to go back all the way from where I had come. That would mean a loss of the time that I had wanted to save in the first place. Instantly, my instinct told me not to follow the cabdriver’s instructions. It later turned out that the cabdriver's directions were FALSE.

Trusting my instinct, I refused to follow the cabdriver’s direction. I did not want to get more lost than I already was. Yet, I had to make a decision. I had the nudge to ask someone else, so I chose to park the car for a while and walked to a gas-station attendant who gladly and confidently gave me the right direction after I told him that I needed help to get to the parking violations bureau. Somehow I knew that he knew what he was saying, so I followed his direction and in the quickest time, I got to my destination. The gas-station attendant's directions were TRUE.

So it is with the journey of Soul back to God. After sojourning on earth for a while, the individual forgets the right way back home to God, but he could find the right way if he finds the help of the right teacher or leader. Like cabdrivers and gas-station attendants, teachers abound. The false ones and the true ones. The individual has the free-will to choose which teacher or path would lead him to the truth. Until the individual is able to do this, he is apt to wander around the streets of life getting lost and looking for the right way to his destination.

Somewhere along the line, there will be WAKE-UP-CALLS which sometimes could be a seeming unpleasant event like getting a parking violations ticket that will cost us $115.00. There will be bits of information to get us going just as my brother gave me the reminders-information that I needed and ASKED for to deal with my situation. However, most times, the individual gets to the CROSSROAD of life where he requires certain ANSWERS OR AWARENESS to continue and complete his quest for the destination he seeks – the home of God. It is up to the individual to express his FREE-WILL to reject the false directions and doctrines of the false teachers and to recognize and accept the true teacher for the true teacher “never makes rules nor rituals, never lays down laws and proclaims his way to God as the better way…he never asks that anyone follow his path and abide by his own conduct and words,”* but when the student is READY, the Master, the TRUE TEACHER will appear to present the truth and the path that will guide and lead the seeker back home to God in a shorter time. This is only my understanding.

True And False Teachers

And many teachers abound,
So will many flaunt their prowess,
Many will claim their path the best,
But the True One never flaunts
For he builds not on miracles.

And when the seeker of God,
Comes upon the crossroad of life,
He shall in his time and pace
Exercise the free-will to choose
Which Master teaches the truth.

And until the seeker so chooses
He shall upon the wheel of life
Ride the Eighty Four again and again.
But when he finally reaches readiness,
The Master the true Teacher shall appear.