Welcome to Day 12 of our 40 Day Retreat 2009.
Today, I want to speak about the power that a student has on the journey. When we think of the learning experience, we depend on the teachers and the opportunities for learning, without really looking completely at the power that the student has in the learning experience. We have the power, as students, to determine the pace and the quality of learning, and that is an important power.
The Role of the Student
Remember that on the journey those who are teaching or guiding us have arrived at a certain place. We as students now need to take the greater responsibility for using the information given and trying to attain that place that the teachers are leading us to. It is important to understand the role of a student.
In my own journey that is what I did. I determined the course of my learning. I determined the pace of my learning and I tried to use every opportunity in the learning process. Why? Because if I did not then life would be much more miserable and there will be more bondage; there will be more pain. The goal of this journey and the motivating power of this journey is to move from ignorance to freedom; to experience the joy of living in freedom. It is to move from darkness into light. It is to move from limitation to unlimited being and freedom. That is the joy of the journey.
Responsibility of the Student
Therefore, as a student, do you want to stay in ignorance? Is it a state that you are happy with? Do you want to continue to remain in that state of misery where you are controlled by everything around you, and where you are in darkness, blind to the truth of life? You have that marvelous opportunity, as a student, to seek out the opportunities, recognize them, and use them to full advantage. Do not become so dependent on them that you need them all the time. The greater responsibility is with us.
When seeds of knowledge are planted within us, we need to nourish them. We need to give attention to them. We need to look at these seeds of knowledge sprouting inside of us, and we need to allow them to grow by giving attention to them. That is our responsibility.
The Student has Power
During these days, when you are being given seeds of knowledge, use them well. The enlightening moment is when you become awakened inside to what is being given to you. When knowledge comes before you and you begin to realize the importance of it, the value of it, and what it is, then that is a significant moment. It means that now you understand. And once you understand, you need to grab that and hold it and let it take you to the next step.
How many of us know what we have to do? We know that not doing it will cost us. Yet, we are lazy; there is inertia within. We allow ourselves in that state where life is painful and we are in bondage. The student has the power.
What, then, do we need to do as students? It is to hold on to that desire to know more. Hold on to that desire to go deeper into what we are learning. We have to do that by giving attention to it. Teachers are very happy when we do that, then they want to give us more and we can pull it out of a teacher. Even when teachers are not so motivated, we can pull it out of them by the power of our attention and by the desire to learn.
Touching the Inner Being of Teachers
When knowledge is given to us we can continue to reach the teacher and continue to pull from the teacher even though the teacher is not physically there because knowledge is something that belongs to a subtle realm; the deeper knowledge. It is in the subtle energy field and with the strong desire to know, we can touch teachers in the subtle energy field wherever they are. The dependency on physical teachers should not be a drawback to us. We should not become so attached to teachers, when in truth we can touch the inner Being of teachers in our Universe. That is an important point.
When you read, contemplate or remember the words given to you by someone who knows, you are actually touching their Being. If you continue to pursue that, to contemplate that, no matter where that Being is, you are touching that Being and you are pulling energy from that Being. That is what I discovered in my own search, that I did not continually need the physical form of the teacher, or to be in the physical presence of the teacher. I discovered that I can communicate with the teacher in the inner space. That is a tremendous step in the process of learning and that takes us to another level of communication.
Sometimes, it is even better when you come into a situation where you are around physical teachers. You feel that they have some substance in them, and that there is something you can learn. It is best to go inside of you and try to experience the space of the teacher. When you can touch that, and it is very powerful around the physical teacher initially, that level of communication will continue in you even when we are physically apart. I do believe that even when teachers have ascended we continue to draw support from them.
We have the power to pull this information from our Universe and to continue to connect with those who are wise and who are liberated. On my own journey the books and the stories became very important to me. Through these I touched the inner Being of the teachers, and the physical presence did not become so necessary.
Be Self-Motivated
Therefore, we as students need to look at what happens in the inner space where knowledge comes into us. We need to do the processing. We need to do the brain storming. We need to go deeper into the understanding and we need to take the step of putting it into practice every day. We should not have to wait on someone with a whip saying, “Now go and do this”. Wake up now! Meditate now! Read now! Put it into practice now! A lot of us wait on that.
When you can impose discipline on yourself, when you can be motivated by yourself, when you can stay on the path by yourself and when you can keep your vision by yourself that is greater than having any one having to push you to do it. Those are the best students, the ones who are motivated from inside.
Protect Knowledge; Nurture It
When you get knowledge, protect it. When you become aware of something, protect it by giving attention to it. Do not let anything distract you from that. Continue to nurture it and let it grow. When you learn the value of a particular mantra or a particular practice, give it attention. Keep it before you and protect it. Do not go discussing it with everybody because you have learnt something new. Discuss it only with those who will support you, who will believe you and who will understand what you are saying. Then their energy will help to uplift you. Protect that and continue to be disciplined in the practice of it. Let it make you stronger.
In Humility Move to Greater Heights
Finally, take knowledge to its final step. Sometimes when you experience a little bit of it, you think that you know. But there are so many different degrees of experience. I thought I knew quite a lot during my days of learning and feeling this energy inside. I could feel that I am the witness. I could feel the power of the brow. I could feel the power of the heart. I thought, “Wow! This is so nice! I feel so powerful.” I did not even think that I would be blessed to go through a 40-Day experience. Neither did I think what happened in the 40 Days would have happened to me.
Every day during those days I moved to a newer dimension of experience. I could not believe it. The same things I knew became broader and they shifted. Even to the last day, the 39th Day, I did not expect that what I experienced on that 40th Day would ever be like it was. But when that crowning moment came, “Wow! This is unlike anything I have ever known.” I would not have even known how to think about this.
You Do not Know It, Until You Experience It
That is where knowledge eventually takes you, to a stage that not even knowledge can describe. When you are learning you need to be humble. And do not think that you know. Keep on moving, the final step is beyond all knowledge. No matter how you think of it, you do not know it until you experience it. Therefore on this journey, humility in learning is required.
How Committed Are You?
The student has all the power. Teachers are only there to guide us. We have to do the rest of the work. Let us take responsibility as students, to go after the learning and to stay with it until the final step.
Are you taking responsibility as a student? Are you using knowledge to full advantage? Is it making a difference in your life? Is your life being transformed every day? Is knowledge making you a better person? Are you becoming wise from your knowledge? Knowledge is power.
Knowledge can lead you to freedom, eventually. Respect it! Respect the learning experience. Make full use of it. When your eyes are fully opened in the human experience, there is no greater joy. There is no greater freedom. Let the eyes open! Remove the blindness. Finally, there will be no student. There will be no teacher. When you reach that place, there is no student and there is no teacher. We are all One.
Post –Meditation Remarks
Let us have a powerful day today, taking full advantage of this role that we have as a student, being self-motivated and not wasting time on the journey. Let us make use of every moment. We have just one lifetime that we have now, we want to make the maximum use of it. The numbers of seconds in this lifetime are limited. Let us not waste time in this dimension. This is not the best of dimensions. This is the world of pleasure and pain, of aging, disease, misery and death of the physical. There are more beautiful places inside. There is more wisdom that awaits us. Let us seek it!
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