Today Is Not Teachers' Day

Written in 2022

Every individual has different expectations, needs, and projections to one Teacher.

The truth is that not every person who seeks a Teacher is even ready to become a student!

These are, of course, not new revelations at all. They are as old as time. My own mentor and Teachers have warned me. They showed me, even.

“The moment you decide to put yourself out there, to shine and to speak, because you love your craft so much that you want to become it and embody it — the projections are drawn to you like moths to a flame, directed to you like daggers to flesh.”

Because: where else would they go?

I think often of the story of Shiva drinking-up Halahala, the deathly poison which arose from the churning of the oceans, just before Amrita was revealed. A poison so black it sucked the life out of everything. ‘Nilakantha’, they call him thereafter. Blue-throated One, for that was what the poison did, turned his throat blue.

A teacher of science may teach you the theory behind the science. But for the esoteric and spiritual Teacher, theory alone is never enough. On its own, theory may as well be meaningless. Teacher strives to embody. To understand. To taste. To experience. To feel.

To allow though their very beings.

If a Teacher desires to speak about ‘poisons’, then he or she will undoubtedly taste — if not drink — said ‘poison’.

Because that’s how it works. Halahala always comes before Amrita, the nectar of enlightenment.

But do not mistaken this as a ‘noble effort’. It is by choice and chosen as one’s path and dharma. There is nothing ‘noble’ about ‘swallowing poison’ — unless this is a circus show then it is done for entertainment and applause, and perhaps even financial gain.

That’s all fine, but the type of Teacher we are interested in are those who, like Shiva, swallowed Halahala not because he wanted to save the world — that is your own projection of lesser-ness — but for the sake of truly understanding the depth of blackness and void never seen before prior. What was unfathomable before now becomes somewhat fathomable, albeit at the risk of his life and cost of his well-being.

Teachers do the same.

Such a Teacher has dedicated his or her life to the understanding of that one thing, for the deeper embodiment of his or her chosen Halahala. And like all ‘poisons’ it draws-out the fascination, and simultaneously, the resentment of many others who have not learned the importance of their own consumptions.

Fascination and resentment. I have tasted both. I have bathed in them. Years, if not lifetimes. Yet both are part of Halahala. They are not the true Amrita.

So what is?

Amrita reveals itself in many ways. Direct Revelation is one way, the most important one.

Amrita also comes in the form of students, those real students. You feel them, as much as they feel you: those who are truly ready to listen. They have gone beyond the need to ‘test you’ to see if you know your stuff. They have gone through enough of Life and self-awareness to know that Teacher is here to illuminate, to spark your own light — and not to feed you with sweet illusions… those sugary treats for your forgotten inner child.

Because growing-up is also a choice.

Teacher never demands for his or her students to offer Amrita. But if they become it then it is the Teacher’s good karma and blessing.

I will tell you one secret — one that I could have only known for sure after a long time teaching, and experiencing students from all over the world, I believe this to be true:

As a Teacher now, I am blessed to receive Amrita as my students only because my own Teachers before me have drank Halahala on my behalf. In their time.

Before passing on just a single drop to me.

Because every Teacher hopes that the next generation of Teachers, those who walk after them, will have it a little easier.

One mortal life is short. But a lineage of light might just go on forever.

Because only a Teacher will know how much is taken in, how much is transformed, and how much is truly given. Even when the world doubts you. Or resents you.

Moths to a flame; daggers to flesh.

All my love to you, Bright Beloveds.

S.

10/4/2023