I had the good fortune when I started the first leg of my inner journey years ago to be associated with several loving and helpful mentors who gave me a different perspective of the spiritual path than the one I’d acquired from the religion of my childhood.
They didn’t have all the answers, but they provided what I needed at that time in my life. They broadened my horizons, then sent me on my way. In the long run, that may be the most we can expect from a good teacher.
In the process of looking for a teacher, I also did a lot of exploration on my own. If I heard about a mind-expanding technique or a guru who sounded interesting, I would check it out. Some were legitimate, others not. All were instructive. And, in one way or another, they were all part of the journey.
At one point in my youth I heard about a young “master” who was giving “knowledge” to anyone who wanted it badly enough to pin him down for it. As it happened, he had made a trip from India and was temporarily based in Houston.
On a whim I took a week of unpaid vacation, got into a van with half a dozen other seekers, and headed south. The Astrodome was filled with all manner of people looking for the answer. Many of them didn’t know what the question was.
But after waiting days and days, those of us who wanted it got knowledge, an ancient meditative technique that was revealed to us in small dark rooms by thin guys wearing white robes. It was supposed to help us achieve cosmic consciousness. I didn’t know what that was, but I figured since they were passing it out, I’d take some.
Several months later word spread that one of the more comely devotees had been impregnated by the pudgy little guru. Eventually this charlatan was sent back to India.
I left the fold at that point, and it took me years to admit publicly that I’d been so naive as to fall for that impostor. But advancing years have led me to see the benefits of that experience. After all, I got to Houston, where I’d never been before, and I picked up an interesting and effective meditative technique that I used on and off over the years.
I didn’t achieve cosmic consciousness as promised but, all things considered, it was not a bad teaching. And, contrary to what I wanted to believe then, I’ve since learned that enlightenment rarely happens overnight—and probably only very rarely in the Houston Astrodome.
The point is, if you stumble in your search for enlightenment, don’t be afraid to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again. And just keep listening. If I’d been listening back then, I’d never have gotten into the van.