Seeking the highest

A fundamental requirement for anybody who wishes to grow on the spiritual path is to create an undeviated flow of energy towards the one and only goal in life – to attain to the highest and not settle for anything less than that. If there is a person who is capable of channelising himself without any break, he is a blessed one.

But rarely do people come like that. Most people lead their lives only in jerks – few moments of running, then stopping or may be going backwards. This is how life goes waste for most people.

They need somebody to keep them moving all the time. That somebody’s job is to use the carrot and stick with some equanimity, as the need arises. Sometimes carrots don’t work, then the stick. Sometimes sticks don’t work, and then the carrot.

Ramakrishna has described the role of a guru in a very nice way. He describes three types of gurus who are like three different classes of doctors. There is one type of medical man who, when called upon, looks at the patients, feels his pulse, then prescribes the necessary medicine and asks them to take them. If the patient declines, they just go away without troubling themselves further about the matter. In the same way, there are some religious teachers who don’t care much whether their teachings are valued, acted upon or not.

Doctors of the second type not only ask the patients to take their medicine but they go further. They expostulate. They leave no stone unturned to make other people walk the ways of righteousness and truth by means of gentle persuasion. The third and the highest kind of doctors would proceed to use force with the patients, in case he shows any reluctance to take the medicines. Similarly, there are some gurus who would use force, if necessary, on their disciples, with a view to making them walk on the path to the ultimate.

Why Ramakrishna considers the last one as the highest is because he takes the risk of becoming unpopular. He takes the risk of being labeled “cruel.” Why this kind of teachers exists or why this is needed is because, by your own nature, you are like a frog. Whichever way he sees a mosquito, he goes in that direction. This way, you can’t reach anywhere.