Question – Buddha said, be your inner light, so why are the spirituality courses and techniques needed?
Answer from Gurudev
You have to listen to Buddha. Buddha had to come and tell you, be light unto yourself. Right? So that is a technique. Once in Rishikesh, They built a four story building and there were mounds around because Rishikesh is a hilly area, so after the completion of the four story building, they cleared the mound that was around. When that was cleared, suddenly they realized there no steps to the first floor. Because of the mound everyone was going through the mound all the materials was carried through the mound, when the mound was cleared, from the ground floor there were no steps to the first floor. There were steps from there onwards.
Like that, I was thinking when people say no need of technique, no need of Guru and all that, then there was no need of this question also. Right? Where is the need for an answer? If you were a bird, you don’t need the steps to go, but even a bird needs wings and should know how to flutter its wings. They learn how they should fly. And they need training. If a bird had no other bird around it, if they had just seen cats and kittens around, they would think they were one of them, they would not flutter their wings and fly.
We have a horse in the ashram, and the horse is in the cowshed. It is so friendly with all the cows, it will go and lick them. And somebody brought another horse, and they got very upset looking at each other. It looked like the horse thought it is a cow, when for the first time it saw another horse it became very wild. So you need a mirror to look at yourself, and the mirror is the technique. It’s needed.
To drink coffee you need a cup, right? You don’t drink the cup, but without the cup also, you can’t drink the coffee. You need a straw to have juice, but nobody eats the straw. But there is a connection between the cup and the lip through the straw.