Trusted and tried
If you draw your own map while driving your own vehicle, it is wonderful. But you may take a lifetime to cross an uncharted territory without a map.
Let’s say that you are going to Kedarnath. Somebody is driving and the road ahead is laid out for you. If you came alone and there were no proper directions, definitely you would have wished that you had a map to tell you how to get there.
On one level, a guru is similar to a map, a living map. If you can read the map, you know the way and you can move ahead. A guru can also be compared to a bus driver. We sit in the bus and doze off and he takes us to our desired destination; but to sit in this bus and doze off, with peace of mind, we must trust the bus driver. If with each curve on the road, we think, “Can this man take me safely? Will this man go off the road? What is his intention?”, we will only go crazy.
We are talking about trust not because the guru needs your trust, but because if there is no trust you will drive yourself mad.
This is not just while we sit in a bus or are going on a spiritual journey. To live and survive in this planet, you need trust. In our day to day life, we trust a lot of things unconsciously. Let us say, for example, you are sitting in a bus, which is just an assemble of nuts and bolts and metal pieces. Unknowingly, you trust this vehicle. You have placed your life in the hands of this mechanical mess. We trust the bus unconsciously, and risk our lives while travelling in it. The same trust, if it arises consciously, would do miracles for us in our lives.
When we say trust, we are not talking about something new in life. To be here, to breathe in and out, you need trust, isn’t it? Your trust is unconscious. I am only asking you to bring a little consciousness to your trust. It is not something that is impossible or very difficult. Life is based on trust, and nothing in this earth will exist without this.
So if you have your own map, you can drive your own path, which is wonderful. But on an uncharted path, if you go without a map, it may take a lifetime to find your destination.
If you go with a map you will reach your destination easily. If you go with a good driver, you will cross very easily. And that’s the difference. It is not that we can’t do it on our own — we can. But we don’t know how long it will take.
— Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, a prominent spiritual leader, is a visionary, humanitarian, an author, poet and
internationally-renowned speaker.
He can be contacted at www.ishafoundation.org
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