It is common to demand entry into Enlightenment through someone else. This renders it needful to make clear that NOBODY, not even the best of gurus, can bestow final and lasting realization--a glimpse is the most he can possibly pass on and there are not many with that capacity. Even in such cases, his disciples must work diligently and win it themselves.

PAUL BRUNTON, The Notebooks of Paul Brunton: The Quest, 1986

Anybody who has had a guru knows it is a singular relationship, but exactly what makes it special? How does it differ from an intimate and long lasting friendship, a marriage, or a deep therapeutic relationship? How important is the enormous inequality usually found in such relationships? Can we merely attribute the uniqueness to the guru and disciple having been together in previous lifetimes as Easterners do? If it's so unique, will transference theory help in understanding it?

Although every intimate human relationship is ultimately shrouded in mystery, the guru-disciple presents special problems. The celebrated transmission between guru and disciple in Chinese and Japanese Ch'an or Zen, the pivotal initiatory role played by the lama in Tibetan Buddhism, the reports that Sri Ramakrishna, one of the greatest Hindu saints of the previous century, willfully gave his most famous disciple, Swami Vivekananda, several glimpses of higher reality[1] or the quotations to follow from Paul Brunton about the parapsychological link between guru and disciple all point to the venerable and widespread belief that the guru powerfully affects disciples in unique spiritual and psychological ways not possible in other intimate relationships. But these occult links present special difficulties for a psychological analysis. Controlled empirical data on the guru-disciple relationship is exceedingly difficult to obtain, the language describing it varies greatly from one tradition to another, and detailed discussion is either nonexistent or obscure. The natural tendency is to reduce the relation to the transference or dismiss its specialness altogether. This move robs the guru-disciple relationship of any uniqueness and makes it impossible to appreciate the powerful experiences surrounding it.

Rather than attempt a cross-cultural analysis of the diverse guru-disciple relationships and ferret out its universal nature (if there is such), I take the more manageable approach of relying on the writings of Paul Brunton, whose analysis of this relationship is the most detailed and careful known to me. I'll not summarize these writings, which cover everything from the need for a guru, seeking a guru, the difficulty of finding a qualified guru, to the qualifications and duties of both guru and disciple. I'll only use those ideas bearing directly on the unique psychological and spiritual relationship between guru and disciple. I encourage the reader interested in the broader issues to refer directly to his writings.[2] Though to an academic psychologist Brunton's writings occasionally verge on guru pronouncements rather than analysis, they do provide a deeper understanding of this complex relationship without reducing it to mere transference. Let's begin by focusing on the special telepathic cable or link built up between the guru and disciple through deep affection, trust, and loyalty.

The attitude of the student towards his teacher is of great importance to the student, because it lays an unseen cable from him to the teacher, and along that cable pass to and fro the messages and help which the teacher has to give. The teacher can never lose contact with the student by going to another part of the world. That unseen cable is elastic and it will stretch for thousands of miles, because the World-Mind consciousness will travel almost instantly and anywhere. Contact is not broken by increasing physical distance. It is broken by the change of heart, the alteration of mental attitude by the student towards the teacher. If the attitude is wrong, then the cable is first weakened and finally snapped. Nothing can then pass through and the student is really alone.[3]

Any two individuals could build up such a telepathic cable based on deep affection and trust. For example, husband and wife, mother and child, or analyst and analysand could develop such links. This accounts for the well-known cases of telepathic connections at death and times of grave emergency or in critical phases of an analysis. However, through meditation practices, the guru has built up an especially powerful mind that can send genuine help to a receptive disciple. This helpful connection is especially possible when the disciple uses the guru's image as a focus for meditation, which is done in many traditions, or mentally reaches out to the guru for inspiration and help. In the following quotation Brunton uses the term "Overself" to symbolize the formless and unobjectifiable principle of awareness at the core of our being. Although not empirically accessible, this Overself, or some functional equivalent, is universally held to exist in the major mystical traditions.

The projected ideas and concentrated thoughts of a man who has made a permanent connection with his Overself are powerful enough to affect beneficently the inner life of other men. But even here nature requires the latter to establish their own inner connection with him in turn. And this can be done only by the right mental attitude of trust and devotion.[4]

The link to the guru, built with the "right mental attitude of trust and devotion," will inevitably be in large part based upon projection. Yes, the guru may in fact be a true spiritual giant, a shining incarnation of wisdom and compassion. Yes, as many traditions hold, an Overself to Overself level of the connection exits that transcends the psyche, the realm of forms and images. Nevertheless, the powerful affects, the compulsive desire to be always in the guru's presence, gladly receive her smallest glance, hang on her every word, mimic her values and ideas, the extreme dependency and devotion, the relinquishing of so much of our identity, and so forth, all show that the disciple is in the grips of a compelling projection. This beneficial "inner connection" is needed for the help to flow, but it's built at least in part on the back of a projection-herein lies its liability.

If we have any doubt that "the right mental attitude of trust and devotion" is based at least partly on projection, consider the all too numerous examples of betrayal of disciples by gurus. In these cases the good qualities seen were not truly in the guru. Nevertheless, the projection of good qualities on the evil guru is still beneficial for the disciple. As Brunton says in referring to the guru as "Symbol,"

Even if the Symbol were a man devoid of spiritual power and light, its effects would still appear beneficially within his life. This is because he has imagined it to be powerful and enlightening and the creative power of his own thought produces some benefit. If however the Symbol were an evil and living man, then the effects would be more or less harmful. This is because a subconscious telepathic working exists between the two minds though the intense devotion and passive submission of the one to the other.[5]

Here the disciple's imagination constellates the projection of good qualities on the evil guru. This projection activates the desirable qualities in the disciple and he is thereby benefited. Of course, with a living evil guru the disciple is also telepathically linked to his depravity.

I am not being reductionist in emphasizing the projections involved in the guru-disciple relationship. I am not saying that the relationship is "nothing but" projection. Certainly the guru is an authentic being in his own right and the relationship involves more than psychological projection. A spiritual connection at the Overself level, discussed more below, works "underneath" our psychology. Nevertheless, the connection to the guru must also work through the psychology of both guru and disciple and this, not the transcendent spiritual connection, is where problems arise. It is therefore vitally important to identify the projections and deal constructively with them if we are to grow as disciples. If we are to move beyond spiritual infancy and avoid some of the pitfalls of unconsciousness, we need to see both the veiling and revealing aspect of our projection on the guru.

However, there is an important point here. Usually a serious involvement in a spiritual path demands tremendous changes from the disciple. There are often new moral injunctions, new psychological demands, new disciplines such as meditation, study of often difficult scriptural texts, dietary changes, etc. If the disciple is to make these transformations and persist with them she must be swept up with the guru and her message. In other words, successfully following the particular spiritual path usually requires the power of the projection to make the necessary changes. Yet, as we have seen and will see in more detail, projection has its liabilities.

For the moment, let me set aside the liabilities of the guru-disciple relationship and focus instead on more details of the interaction. Sometimes the guru willfully and consciously sends help and at other times the disciple gets help by being receptive to the general mental radiation of the guru. The following quotation discusses the conscious and willful form.

The Master may add his spiritual vitality or inspiration temporarily to the disciple's by merely wishing him well. If this is done during the Master's prayer or meditation, the disciple's subconscious will spontaneously pick up the telepathically projected flow and sooner or later bring it into consciousness. If, however, something more precise and more positive is required, he may consciously will and focus it to the disciple while both are in a state of meditation at the same time.[6]

FIGURE 1

In Figure 1 above if we replace the analyst-analysand by the guru-disciple, we see that Brunton is talking about the arrow labeled (d) pointing downward. The guru is consciously and willfully sending help to the disciple's unconscious. This help eventually manifests in the disciple's consciousness via the upward arrow (c). This transition along arrow (c) from the implanted helpful mental impulse in the unconscious of the disciple to a particular form of imagery or emotion is unpredictable and fraught with peril. Here is where our personal psychology can contaminate the impulse. Here is where the psychic energy supplied by the guru's helpful impulse can get siphoned off into the all too familiar expressions in sexuality and egotistical power, rather then used as an impetus to genuine spiritual development. Therefore, qualified gurus clearly need to be good judges of who can profitably use their help.

In these cases where the guru is conscious and willful about his actions, this is a causal telepathic interaction between guru and disciple. However, acausal or noncausal connections are also possible. (I remind the reader that acausal is not irrational.)

A guru has two ways to give help to his disciples. The first is a conscious one whereas the second is not. And it is the second, the apparently less important way, which is really the commonest one. Just as the sun does not need to be aware of every individual plant upon which it sheds its beneficent life-giving growth-stimulating rays, so the master does not need to be aware of every individual disciple who uses him as a focus for his meditations or as a symbol for his worship. Yet each disciple will soon realize that he is receiving from such activities a vital inward stimulus, a real guidance and definite assistance. This result will develop the power unconsciously drawn from the disciple's own higher self, which in turn will utilize the mental image of the master as a channel through which to shed its grace.[7]

Again, referring to Figure 1 above, we can see that Brunton is talking about a connection between the unconscious of the guru and that of the disciple, the arrow (e). As a quotation soon to follow will show, saying that this help comes from the guru's unconscious is incorrect. In fact, the helpful force truly emanates from a completely impersonal and formless realm, from the Overself of the guru as Brunton calls it. (The term Overself-used interchangeably with higher self, Atman, or soul-should not trouble Buddhist no-self sympathizers, since it is an impersonal, unobjectifiable principle of awareness functionally equivalent to such Buddhist terms as Buddha Mind or Mind of Clear Light.) The last sentence of the quotation reminds us that the true intelligence powering the disciple's development (stimulated by the guru) is the individual's own Overself.

Jung has no corresponding term for this formless Overself realm, which he claims is not empirically accessible and thus not a fit subject for his psychological analysis. This is where depth psychology leaves off and transcendent spirituality begins. For example, the advanced meditator seeks to contact this formless realm directly, to know it by becoming it-to know through identity, rather than in any objective mode. This impetus from the guru's formless Overself-a true spiritual impulse-gets manifested in the consciousness of the disciple via the usual arrow (c) with all the dangers inherent in the transition.

More important, this is not a causal relationship. The guru is not causing a particular event to occur. Her ego, her conscious personality, is neither willfully nor consciously influencing the disciple. Her mere spiritual presence, like the sun, provides for the growth. In fact, the sun analogy can be misleading, since we can causally trace, through photosynthesis, the actual influence of the sun on a plant. In this guru-disciple interaction, the relationship is not causal in this direct sense. Instead, the stimulating presence of the guru provides, through the telepathic link, a nurturing mental environment that encourages our soul, our Overself, to manifest more fully without the direct action of the guru. Occasionally this noncausal interaction irrupts in synchronicity experiences, acausal and meaningful connections between inner psychological states and objective events in the outer world. I discuss several examples of this in my recent book, Synchronicity, Science, and Soul-Making.[8]

Because of the mysterious nature of this indirect power of the guru, it is worth including another passage about it from Brunton.

Where the teacher is a man of genuine Overself-consciousness, a further force is brought into play. There is a spontaneous reaction to the student's thought about the teacher, but this comes from the Overself direct to the student and over the head, as it were, of the teacher himself. It is, moreover, not necessary for the adept to think of each of his disciples separately and individually. It is enough if he retires daily from contact with the world for a half hour or hour and turns his attention towards the Divine alone and opens himself as a gate through which it shall pass for the enlightenment of others. During that same period, all those who are mentally devoted to him will then automatically receive the transmitted impulse without their even being consciously in the adept's mind at the time. But such a guide is rare and such cases are consequently exceptional.[9]

Here the help clearly "comes from the Overself direct to the student and over the head, as it were, of the teacher himself." Such a guru with sufficient spiritual power does no thinking or willing; nevertheless, we receive help. In this sense it is truly acausal, without a cause in the conventional sense of a well-defined entity exerting a force or change on another thing.

It's worth mentioning that a common trick is to inflate the value of the guru, his power, and our relationship to him as a primitive means of inflating our own personality and importance. We all too easily lose sight of the truth that the guru is a personification or symbol of our true self, which is the actual guru. As Brunton says, "Because so few can even detect their true self, or hear its voice in conscience, or sense its presence in intuition, the infinite wisdom of God personifies it in the body of another man for their convenience, inspiration, and aid."[10]

In summary, two distinct influences radiate from the guru: one is a causal, willful, and particular, the other is the more general benefit of receptively being in his mental atmosphere. From the disciple's side these are often difficult to distinguish. We tend to inflate our own importance and credit them all to the personal intervention of the guru.

There is a long tradition that a guru with sufficient spiritual power can trigger a mystical glimpse of the disciple's higher self or soul. (Recall Ramakrishna and Vivekanada.) As Brunton stresses, this glimpse is not enlightenment and the disciple must win this foretaste through diligent work. Nevertheless, it is a numinous and unforgettable experience.

It is common to demand entry into Enlightenment through someone else. This renders it needful to make clear that NOBODY, not even the best of gurus, can bestow final and lasting realization--a glimpse is the most he can possibly pass on and there are not many with that capacity. Even in such cases, his disciples must work diligently and win it themselves.[11]

Granted that run-of-the-mill gurus do not have this capacity of "passing on" a glimpse of the soul to the disciple and that the disciple needs to work for the glimpse; it is still astonishing that one person can genuinely "arouse" such a precious and unforgettable experience in another.

---

AND NOW THIS:

It is often said that when you truly need a teacher --- or that which will function in lieu of a teacher --- one (or it) will appear. This may due to some inexplicable serendipity. It may be due to the fact that the seeker has searched deeply within himself or herself and determined what sort of instruction seems to be required. It could be swept over him or her like the First Death Experience of the Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, or the Bhagavan's little known Second Death Experience. Or it could be a spiritual desperation on the part of the seeker, or maybe no more than a successful sales pitch by a teacher (sincere or not). It may be a combination of the previous factors, or some intuitive awareness beyond expression. In the last paragraph above the following is presented:

"Granted that run-of-the-mill gurus do not have this capacity of "passing on" a glimpse of the soul to the disciple and that the disciple needs to work for the glimpse; it is still astonishing that one person can genuinely "arouse" such a precious and unforgettable experience in another."

For whatever the reason, the saying often applies, but oftentimes the coming together of the results of inner and outside forces, some within one's control, some without, and just such a manifestation can and does result --- which can be found most eloquently as they all come together in the following --- manifested as it were via the auspices of a guru that was far from any run-of-the-mill guru:

SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI: THE LAST AMERICAN DARSHAN
RECOUNTING A YOUNG BOY'S NEARLY INSTANT TRANSFORMATION INTO THE ABSOLUTE DURING HIS ONLY DARSHAN WITH THE MAHARSHI

It should be noted that Adam Osborne, who, as a young boy grew up at the Ramana Ashram and the son of one of the foremost Ramana biographers Arthur Osborne, played a prominent role in the Last American Darshan as linked above.

SEE:
THE AWAKENING EXPERIENCE IN THE MODERN ERA

SEE ALSO:

PAUL BRUNTON: Gentle Sage and Journalist

W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM: Travels in India

JULIAN P. JOHNSON: Path of the Masters

SEE AS WELL:

SPIRITUAL GUIDES: PASS OR FAIL?

QUALITIES OF A DHARMA TEACHER

GASSHO

CLICK
HERE FOR
ENLIGHTENMENT

ON THE RAZOR'S
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THE

RAZOR'S EDGE
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References

1. Swami Nikhilananda, translator, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, (Ramakrishna-Vivekanada Center, New York, 1973) pp. 57-8 and 72.
2. Brunton, Paul, The Notebooks of Paul Brunton: The Quest (Larson Publications, Burdett, NY, 1986) and Essays on the Quest (Samuel Weiser, Inc., York Beach, Maine, 1985) chapter 9.
3. Brunton, 1986, op. cit. p. 308.
4. ibid. p. 337.
5. ibid. pp. 350-351.
6. ibid. p. 337.
7. ibid. p. 344.
8. Mansfield, Victor Synchronicity, Science, and Soulmaking, to be published in September 1995 by Open Court Publishing, Chicago, IL.
9. Brunton, 1986, op. cit. p. 151.
10. Brunton, 1986, op. cit. p. 346.
11. Brunton, 1986, op. cit. p. 332.

FROM THE VICTOR MANSFIELD ORIGINAL

Victor Mansfield