Reading time: 11 minutes, 20 seconds. 

GURU

To start from the top. Well, the Guru is on the top, that is for sure, at least from my point of view. It is so easy when someone worships and loves a god, a goddess, a divinity, but to love and yes, worship, a man – that is another story. Every human being who has not loved a Guru, or before they started to love a Guru, have resisted it. It is so difficult for a human ego to surrender to someone who is yet another man on the planet. To have reverence for an unseen God or made-up notion – is so easy. To be in love with the divine – yes! But to be in love with the Guru – oh no! Surrender to, worship, to be in love with – notions hard to connect to another human being, who is not our partner. The feeling of being humiliated, or diminished is so automatically connected to this in most people. It’s a cult! It’s a personality cult! So easy to judge.

Yet, the Guru himself says: do not see the Guru as a man. See the Guru as a Guru. Both, so to say: ‘versions’ are present. The man, the personality, with a name and a body is one. The Guru, the Master, the Teacher is another. Do you need to know your history teacher’s family life in order to learn from her or him? Not at all. So why judge and question the personality of the Guru, instead of just seeing him in the teacher role?

Again, hard to accept that one human being looks up to and believes strongly and is even obsessed with another human being. Yes, if you see the Guru as the personality, rather than accept him as the role he is in – the Guru role. Do we love our precious life and skills teachers? Of course we do. We admire them, wish to be like them. We think we could never be like them. Yet, the role of the Guru is to show by example. To show you in human form, that it is possible to be free, to have enlightenment, to live exactly what you teach.

My Guru says: your first Guru was your mother. Then, you had Gurus in school, then later mentors, more Gurus, teachers at the University, people you met, who taught you and lead you on your life’s path – to knowledge, to learning skills, to dealing with the world. Everyone has had many Gurus in their lives. Yet, the spiritual Guru is the one you need to protect yourself from, he might mislead you. No trust in the Gurus. Especially those who are deeply loved, appreciated and yes, even worshipped. They might be having a hidden agenda.

Do you remember how you were attached to your mother as a child? I tell you, this feels the same. You feel like a child, and you feel attached to your Guru. It is hard to let go. Only, when grown-ups behave like children, and they are attached to a grown man, and not a child to a mother – makes it all the weirder.

A Guru is someone who has transformed a person’s inner and outer life. A Guru is someone who has given everything and asked for nothing in return. A Guru given unconditional love that you can feel very tangibly in his presence. It is like sweet nectar, so hard to resist. There are no words and no feelings to describe this unique and strange relationship.  

Of course, there are reasons to doubt, priests and gurus are known for scandals about money, sex and politics. Also, they are not the only ones, just more stigmatized for it. Yet, everyone decides for themselves what and who to believe in. So, you can decide, and I can also decide – isn’t it? Freedom to the people!

MY STORY:

I remember the first time I did my first Art of Living course, I remember how much love and relief I felt on that course. It just knocked my life upside down. How much depth it gave me, how blown away I was by every little thing in it. By the time I would be meeting my Guru for the first time, I felt a connection with him, I felt we have known each other for a long time. I felt so connected as if he was a family member I have not yet met and much more than that. When I saw him the first time, I saw the his body and I was surprised. He was so short, it was strange to bring together the strong connection I felt with the little body in front of me. A little later he was walking around to meet and greet everyone. I remember the whole event as a dream. He was walking, and I could not see clearly, I felt as if he was floating off the ground, and so was I. It was truly magical and it has stayed magical for most of my physical encounters with him.

A Guru, my Guru, da Guru/Guru, moj Guru, naj Guru

SANGHA

Sangha, the spiritual community. The community is like extended family, only extended family might feel and be quite distant from you and your life. But the Sangha is very close. This is actually a bunch of strange and random people that are suddenly in your life, with one thing connecting you – your chosen spiritual path. First, the Sangha is not chosen, like friends are. It is inevitable, like family is. Only family is connected by something quite irreplaceable and that is being born in the same family, whether connected by blood or not.

This cannot even be explained, family is family and that cannot be changed, whether we like them or not. Friends can be abandoned, forgotten, but family cannot. And where does the Sangha come in? Your family can be in your Sangha, you may find people who become your friends in your Sangha, yet, there are many people in the community that are neither of the two mentioned. Some you like, you can easily work with. And some you do not like and cannot easily do anything with. But they are there. Glued to you, while walking the same path in life. You may wish to choose to dump your Sangha, but the Sangha comes together with the Guru. They are inseparable.

Guru says that the Guru pulls you up from above, and Sangha pushes you up from below. Trying to pull you down, you manage to still overcome it and raise up, towards the divine. Sometimes these people can really be so challenging that people drop their joined goals, because they cannot handle the misunderstandings and clashes with their fellow teammates. It is so strange, the community is not chosen, not forced upon you. It is there and you kind of just get into it without having a say. As the only thing connecting you is the spiritual path, the people here come from all walks of life, are of all ages and backgrounds, from all over the country, and world!

There is a Latin expression: Quot linguas calles, tot capitas vales, meaning you are worth that many people as many languages you know. I would take this and ad a Guru flavor to it, as he says: how many people that are different from you become your friends, that is how many new things you can learn. If you like one kind of music, and are good in one subject in school, and have friends of only one religion – how much do you know of the rest of the world. If you live in a closed community of only like-minded people, how much can you learn about the rest of the world? It is comfortable to stay close to people who think and look alike.

The spiritual community opens up all the limitations and judgements you might have about other people. You get to see, by doing so many things together with these strangers, how people all around the world have the same or very similar inner turmoil. Whether rich or poor, young or old, naughty or kind, we all have love, hate, fear, jealousy, sadness, joy, generosity…

At the core of our being, we are truly the same. We are all simply human. How we look like, which language we speak, what kind of traditions and customs we practice, the colour of our skin, the way we express those emotions – is just make-up and masks, suits and clothes, nothing more.

It is so hard to see a human being in every human being. If you see a killer, a drug addict, a politician – you see the roles they play and you judge them for it. We seem to forget we all hurt, we all love – somewhere, somehow, we are all the same. Born and living and dying.

The community teaches you this, most of the time the hard way. First you dislike, judge, even hate, and then in time, situations exhibit the true nature of the same people, who you suddenly understand, feel compassion for, and actually love.

MY STORY:

At the beginning I met a lot of people in Art of Living, and I felt strangely connected to them, even though I didn’t know them well. At the same time I was confused, because they were not my friends, nor my family. I recently realised, for example, that I have known a person for at least 10 years, and do not know what his job is. We met many times at different events, and I can, with certainty, tell you a lot about who he is, how he reacts to situations and people, what his best and worst qualities are, yet I did not know a simple fact from his life, like his profession. It doesn’t seem important in this context!

A small chunk of my crazy Sangha/Djelić moje lude Sanghe

DHARMA

As I see it, there are two spiritual goals in life. One is more spiritual and the other a bit more material, yet both are spiritual. The spiritual goal is enlightenment, and the material is a mission of helping people, changing the world for the better. People often question their Dharma – their purpose in life. They wonder if what they are doing is in alignment with their Dharma, are they taking the right path and making the right moves in the right direction. I think Dharma is to be discovered by one’s self, rather than given by anyone, not even the Guru. The Guru may be a part of your Dharma, but can anyone in this creation really tell someone what their inner most desire to achieve in this life is? I feel not.

I am not sure you can ever really be certain what your Dharma is, before maybe the last days and hours of your life, when you can realise what it was. But, life happens while the search for one’s Dharma is also happening. It is almost like a pull, and a confusion, and then certainty until the next uncertainty. I think trying to figure out what your Dharma is, is actually what Dharma is. Constantly asking yourself what it is what you should be doing, what you feel connected to and feel it is somehow contributing to the world.

A part of Dharma is also the spiritual work. You do the work in the world, and you feel fulfilled by it (or not, depends), and then you also want to know what else you should do for your spiritual growth, your spiritual goal in life.

Guru once said that helping remove violence and poverty is important and we have to do this work in the world, but that is not the only thing we should strive towards. We should strive to know and understand the highest. And what is that highest? The truth of what life is, who we are. How to know? By trying to find out, by moving in the direction of wanting to know, and exploring, learning on the way.

What do I feel my Dharma is? At the moment I am confused about my Dharma, therefor I find it hard even to write about it. I thought my Dharma is to do Art of Living work, a lot of different projects at different times. I wanted to work with prisoners, with addicts, with traumatised people, I wanted to work with troubled youth and people and help them heal. Somehow this is not happening, or maybe I am not working at it hard enough. I now do not feel like any of this work is my Dharma, I feel more that my Dharma is to just be who I am and whatever I do will be my Dharma at that time. This sounds profoundly enlightened from me, but that is how I feel at the moment. Maybe I am confused about my Dharma?

At the moment I feel I wish to go deeper into my experience, into my emotions, into my meditations. All that happens around that is satisfying and beautiful and helpful to others and me, but I feel that even more important than the outer work, is to see what is in alignment with myself. I feel more like playing guitar and writing than anything else. If that consecutively helps people – lovely! I don’t feel such an insane drive as I did earlier about saving the world and healing the people on the planet.

And that is my personal understanding and attempt to break concepts about teachers, spiritual communities and life’s purpose, in the context of a spiritual path.

Maybe my Dharma is to have one of these, a little man, my spectacular being of a nephew/Možda je moja Dharma imati jednog ovakvog, malog čovjeka, poput ovog spektakularnog bića kao što je moj nećak

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HRVATSKI

Vrijeme čitanja: 9 minutes, 48 seconds.

GURU

Da počnemo od vrha. Guru je definitivno na vrhu, barem iz moje točke gledišta. Tako je lako kada netko štuje i voli boga, božicu, božansko, ali voljeti, i da, čak i štovati čovjeka – to je već druga priča. Svaki čovjek koji nije nikad volio Gurua, ili prije nego je počeo voljeti Gurua, se tome opirao. Ljudskom egu se jako teško predati nekome tko je samo još jedan drugi čovjek na planeti. Imati duboko štovanje za neviđenog Boga ili izmišljeni princip – jako je lako. Biti zaljubljen u božansko – o da! Ali biti zaljubljen u Gurua – o ne! Predati se, štovati, voljeti – pojmovi koje je teško vezati uz drugo ljudsko biće koje nam nije partner. Mnogim ljudima se automatski na to veže osjećaj poniženosti ili umanjivanja nas samih. To je kult! To je kult ličnosti! Jako je lako donijeti prosudbu.

Sam Guru kaže: nemoj vidjeti Gurua kao čovjeka. Vidi Gurua kao Gurua. I jedna i druga takoreći ‘verzija’ su prisutne. Čovjek, osobnost, s imenom i tijelom je jedno. Guru, Učitelj je drugo. Da li ti je potrebno poznavati obitelj profesora/-ice iz povijesti kako bi učio od njega ili nje? Ni najmanje. Onda zašto prosuđivati osobnost Gurua, umjesto ga vidjeti u ulozi učitelja?

Opet, teško je prihvatiti da jedno ljudsko biće toliko snažno vjeruje, i čak je i opsjednuto s drugim ljudskom bićem. Da, ako vidiš Gurua kao osobu, a ne prihvaćaš ga samo u ulozi koju ima – Guruovskoj ulozi. Volimo li učitelje koji su nas podučili dragocjenim životnim lekcijama, ili vještinama? Naravno da volimo. Divimo im se, želimo biti poput njih. Mislimo da nikada nećemo moći biti poput njih. Guruova uloga je pokazati primjerom. Pokazati u ljudskom obliku, da je moguće biti oslobođen, prosvjetljen, živjeti točno ono što podučavaš.

Moj Guru kaže: tvoj prvi Guru je bila tvoja majka. Zatim si imao mnoge Gurue u školi, kasnije mentore, još Gurua, profesore na fakultetu, ljude koje si upoznao, koji su te podučili, i poveli sa sobom na tvom životnom putu: ka znanju, ka učenju vještina, ka nošenju sa svijetom. Svatko od nas je imao mnogo Gurua u životu. No, od duhovnog Gurua se treba zaštititi, može te povesti na krivi put. Nema povjerenja u Gurue. Pogotovo one koji su duboko voljeni, cijenjeni i da, čak i štovani. Mogli bi imati skrivene namjere.

Sjećaš li se kako si bio vezan za majku kao malo dijete? Kažem ti, ovo je isti taj osjećaj. Osjećaš se poput djeteta, osjećaš se vezano za Gurua. Teško ga je pustiti. Samo, kada se odrasli ljudi ponašaju poput djece, i vezani su za drugog odraslog čovjeka, a ne dijete za majku – čini cijelu stvar čudnijom.

Guru je netko tko je izmijenio unutarnji i vanjski život druge osobe. Guru je netko tko daje sve, a ne traži ništa zauzvrat. Guru dijeli bezuvjetnu ljubav, koja je jako opipljiva u njegovom prisustvu. Poput slatkog nektara, teško je odoljeti. Nema riječi ni osjećaja kojima se ovaj jedinstven i neobičan odnos može opisati.

Naravno da ima razloga za sumnju, svećenici i Gurui su poznati po financijskim, seksualnim i političkim skandalima. Naravno, nisu oni jedini, samo su više stigmatizirani kad se nađu upleteni u slične aktivnosti. Svatko može za sebe odlučiti što i u koga će vjerovati. Dakle, ti možeš odlučiti, i ja isto mogu odlučiti – zar ne? Sloboda narodu!

MOJA PRIČA

Sjećam se prvi put kad sam završila svoj prvi Art of Living tečaj. Sjećam se koliko sam ljubavi i olakšanja osjetila na tom tečaju. Izokrenuo mi je život naopako. Koliko mi je dao dubine, koliko sam bila impresionirana sa svakom sitnicom koja se na tom tečaju odvila. Prije nego što sam upoznala svog Gurua po prvi puta, osjećala sam povezanost s njim, osjećala sam kao da se znamo već dugo vremena. Osjećala sam se toliko povezano, kao da mi je član obitelji kojeg još nisam upoznala i puno više od toga. Kada sam ga prvi puta zapravo upoznala i vidjela, ugledala sam njegovo tijelo i bila sam iznenađena. Bio je toliko malen, bilo mi je jako neobično povezati tu snažnu povezanost koju sam osjećala s čovjekom koji ima tako maleno tijelo. Malo kasnije, se šetao i pozdravljao ljude ili razgovarao s njima. Sjećam se tog cijelog događaja poput nekog sna. Hodao je, i nisam mogla jasno vidjeti, djelovalo mi je kao da pluta, bez da dodiruje pod, i ja sam se tako osjećala. Bilo je baš čarobno i ostalo je čarobno, skoro svaki puta kad se fizički susretnem s njim.

SANGHA

Sangha, duhovna zajednica. Zajednica je poput šire obitelji, samo šira obitelj ti nekada može djelovati dosta daleko od tebe i tvog života. Ali Sangha je jako bliska. To je zapravo hrpa čudnih, raznolikih ljudi koji ti se odjednom nađu u životu. Imate jednu poveznicu – dijelite isti duhovni put. Prvo, Sanghu ne biramo, kao što biramo prijatelje. Sangha je neizbježna, poput obitelji. Samo obitelj povezuje nešto nezamjenjivo, a to je rođenje u istoj obitelji, bilo da dijelimo krv ili ne.

Ovo ne može biti objašnjeno, obitelj je obitelj i to je nepromjenjivo, bilo da nam se sviđaju ili ne. Prijatelje možeš napustiti ili zaboraviti, ali obitelj ne možeš. Odakle dolazi Sangha? Tvoja obitelj može biti u tvojoj Sanghi, možeš u Sanghi pronaći prijatelje, ali isto tako u zajednici postoje ljudi koji nisu ni jedno ni drugo. Neki ti se sviđaju i možeš lako surađivati s njima, neki ti se nikako ne sviđaju i ne možeš ništa s njima lako. Ali eto ih tu. Zalijepljeni za tebe, dok hodate istom životnom cestom. Možda želiš ostaviti svoju Sanghu, ali Sangha dolazi ruku pod ruku s Guruom. Neodvojivi su.

Guru kaže da te Guru vuče odozgora prema gore, a da te Sangha gura odozdola. Pokušava te povući prema dolje, ali ti je uspiješ nadići i ići prema gore, prema božanskom. Nekada odnosi s tim ljudima mogu biti toliko izazovni da ljudi napuste svoje zajedničke ciljeve, jer se ne mogu nositi s nerazumijevanjem i sukobima mišljenja s kolegama iz tima. To je baš neobično, zajednicu ne biraš, i nitko te ne tjera da budeš s njima. Zajednica je jednostavno tu, i ti postaneš dio nje, bez puno mogućnosti odabira. Kako je jedino što vas povezuje duhovni put, ljudi tu dolaze iz svih područja života, svih dobi i pozadina, iz cijele zemlje i svijeta!

Postoji latinska izreka: Quot linguas calles, tot capitas vales, a znači da vrijediš kao toliko ljudi koliko jezika poznaješ. Uzela bih tu izreku i dodala malo Guruovog začina, a on kaže ovako: koliko ljudi drugačijih od tebe ti postanu prijatelji, toliko možeš drugačijih stvari naučiti. Ako voliš jednu vrstu glazbe, i dobar si u jednom predmetu u školi i imaš prijatelje jedne religije – koliko poznaješ ostatak svijeta? Ako živiš u zatvorenoj zajednici ljudi koji svi imaju slična mišljenja, koliko možeš znati o ostatku svijeta? Ugodno nam je biti blizu ljudi koji misle i izgledaju slično.

Duhovna zajednica u nama rastvori sva ograničanja i prosudbe koje bi mogli imati prema drugim ljudima. Shvatiš, radeći jako puno stvari s tim strancima, kako ljudi sa svih srtana svijeta imaju vrlo slična unutarnja previranja. Bogati ili siromašni, mladi ili stari, zločesti ili brižni, svi mi nosimo ljubav, mržnju, strah, ljubomoru, tugu, radost, velikodušnost…

Suštinski smo zaista svi jednaki. Svi smo jednostavno ljudi. Kako izgledamo, koji jezik govorimo, kakve tradicije i običaje prakticiramo, boja kože koju imamo, način na koji izražavamo emocije – je sve samo šminka i maske, odijela i odjeća, ništa više.

Toliko je teško vidjeti ljudsko biće u svakom ljudskom biću. Ako vidiš ubojicu, ovisnika, političara – vidiš ulogu koju igraju i osuđuješ ih zbog iste. Zaboravljamo da nas svih boli, da svi volimo – negdje, nekako, smo svi isti. Rodimo se, živimo i umiremo.

Zajednica te uči svemu ovome, najčešće na najteži način. Prvo ti se netko ne sviđa, pa procjenjuješ, čak mrziš, a onda s vremenom, situacije ti pokažu pravu prirodu istih tih ljudi, koje odjednom razumiješ, s kojima suosjećaš i zapravo i zavoliš.

MOJA PRIČA

Na samom početku sam upoznala puno ljudi u Art of Living-u, i osjećala sam neobičnu bliskost sa svima, iako ih nisam dobro poznavala. Istovremeno sam bila zbunjena, jer to nisu bili moji prijatelji, niti obitelj. Nedavno sam, na primjer, doznala, da sam poznajem osobu više od 10 godina, i ne znam što je po profesiji. Susretali smo se mnogo puta na različitim događanjima, i mogu ti sa sigurnošću reći tko on jest, kako reagira na situacije i ljude, koje su mu najbolje i najgore kvalitete, dok istovremeno ne znam jednostavnu činjenicu o njemu, kao tu koji posao radi. I ne čini se bitno, u danom kontekstu.

DHARMA

Kako ja vidim stvari, postoje dva duhovna životna cilja. Jedan je malo duhovniji, a drugi malo materijalniji, a i oba su duhovna. Duhovni cilj je prosvjetljenje, a materijalni je misija pomaganja ljudima, i mijenjanje svijeta na bolje. Ljudi često propituju svoju Dharmu – svoju životnu svrhu. Pitaju se, da li je to što rade u skladu s njihovom Dharmom, idu li pravim putem i poduzimaju ispravne korake u pravom smjeru. Osobno mislim da svatko treba svoju Dharmu sam otkriti, nego da nam je dana, pa čak ni od Gurua. Guru može biti dio tvoje Dharme, ali može li zaista itko u ovoj kreaciji reći nekom drugom što je njegova najdublja želja koju želi ostvariti u ovom životu? Osjećam da ne.

Nisam sigurna može li itko ikada biti uistinu siguran koja mu je Dharma, dok ne dođe do zadnjih dana i sati života, kada možda može shvatiti što je Dharma bila u tom životu. Život se odvija dok se potraga za Dharmom također odvija. To je poput nečeg što te povuče, i zbunjuje, dok ne osjetiš sigurnost, i tako do slijedeće nesigurnosti. Zapravo, mislim da ono što Dharma jest, je pokušaj shvaćanja što jest naša Dharma. Konstantno sebe preispitivati što je to što bi trebalo raditi, s čim se osjećamo povezano, a da za to isto osjećamo da doprinosimo svijetu.

Dio Dharme je sigurno duhovni rad. Radiš u svijetu, i osjećaš se ispunjeno (ili ne, ovisi), a onda također želiš znati što još možeš napraviti za svoj duhovni rast, za svoj duhovni cilj u životu.

Guru je jednom rekao da je pomaganje u otklanjanju nasilja i siromaštva važno, i da moramo raditi u svijetu, ali to nije jedino čemu bi trebali stremiti. Trebali bi također stremiti poznavanju i razumijevanju najvišeg. Što je to najviše? Istina o tome što život jest, tko mi jesmo. Kako to znati? Tako što se trudimo doznati, tako što se krećemo prema tome da saznamo, istraživanju, učenju po putu.

Što ja osjećam da je moja Dharma? U ovom trenutku sam poprilično zbunjena oko svoje Dharme, zato mi je uopće teško pisati sve ovo. Mislila sam da je moja Dharma isključivo se baviti Art of Living radom, puno različitih projekata istovremeno. Htjela sam raditi sa zatvorenicima, s ovisnicima, pomagati traumatiziranim ljudima, htjela sam raditi s problematičnom mladeži i pomoći im zacijeliti. Nekako se to ništa nije ostvarilo, ili možda ne radim dovoljno na tome. Sada ne osjećam da je sve to moja Dharma, osjećam da je moja Dharma samo biti to tko jesam i štogod radim ili štogod ću raditi će biti moja Dharma u tom trenutku

Ovo baš zvuči kao da dolazi od duboko prosvjetljene osobe, ali eto, tako se sad osjećam. Možda sam zbunjena oko svoje Dharme?

Trenutno osjećam da želim ići dublje u vlastito iskustvo, u svoje osjećaje, u svoje meditacije. Sve što se događa oko mene je ispunjujuće i lijepo i pomaže drugima i meni, ali osjećam da je još važnije od rada na van, vidjeti što je to što je uistinu u skladu sa mnom. Najradije bih svirala gitaru i pisala, nego bilo što drugo. Ako to da za rezultat da su drugi sretni – prekrasno! Ne osjećam taj luđački poticaj kao što sam ranije osjećala, za spašavanje svijeta i iscjeljivanje cijele planete.

Ovo je moje osobno razumijevanje i pokušaj da razbijem koncepte o učiteljima, duhovnim zajednicama i životnom smislu, unutar pojma duhovnog života.