A Guru is a live map

Let us say all that you are seeking is to go to a distant city right now. If you are alone and there are no proper directions, definitely you would have wished, that there was a map to tell you how to get there.

Let us say all that you are seeking is to go to a distant city right now. If you are alone and there are no proper directions, definitely you would have wished, that there was a map to tell you how to get there.

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On one level, a Guru is just a map, a live map. If you can read the map, you know the way and you can go. A Guru can also be like your bus driver. You sit in the bus and doze off and he will take you to the city you want to go to; but to sit in the bus and doze off, or to sit in the bus joyfully, you need to trust the bus driver.

Every moment, at every curve in the road, if you go on thinking, ‘Will this man kill me? Will this man go off the road? What intention does he have for my life?’ then you will only go mad sitting there. We are talking about trust not because a Guru needs your trust. It is just that if there is no trust you will drive yourself mad.

Right now, you trust unconsciously. Everyday when you sit in a car and go to work, unknowingly, you trust this vehicle, which is just a bundle of nuts, bolts and pieces of metal, so much. You have placed your life in the hands of this mechanical mess, which is just nuts and bolts, and rubbers and wires. You have placed your life in it, but you trust the bus unconsciously. If the same trust arises consciously, it would do miracles to you.

So if you can draw your own map, if you can drive your own bus, that is wonderful. But on an uncharted path, if you go without a map, it may take lifetimes to find a certain place. It may take lifetimes to cross. If you go with a map you will cross easily. If you go with a good bus driver, you will cross very easily.

-www.ishafoundation.org