I had kind of a funny experience the other day… …At least I find it funny. Someone asked me if I would be their teacher. Not in the sense of the martial arts or filmmaking or hatha yoga or something like that, but in the sense of spirituality. I just said, “That’s not me.”
 
Now, if I can walk this back a little bit in time. I believe the first time someone asked me to be their, “Teacher,” or as their put it, “Guru,” was when I was about twenty years old.
 
To tell the story, I was teaching a course on the various aspects of yoga at the extension college at California State University, Northridge. Where, I was also a student. I’ve written about this in other places, but I was teaching the course using my sanyas name, Swami Mokshananda, which I preferred back then, and it was a young couple trying to find their way on the Path. I invited them over to my apartment in Tarzana, offered them some tea and the like, as we sat on the floor, (I had no furniture to speak of), and we spoke about life, and spirituality, and… My answer to them, “No.” Nicely put, of course. But then, as now, I am not so ego driven to call myself a teacher.
 
I’ve spoken to people on this subject more than I have written about it. Though I have covered in via the typing keys, as well. Pretty much, anyone who claims to be a teacher is never a true teacher. All they are is an ego-driven individual who wants to rock their superiority over others by falsely believing that they know something that you or I do not.
 
And, that’s pretty much it. Look at all the so-called teachers, gurus, priests, ministers, swamis, you name it—by whatever name you can conjure up, and they’ve all fallen short and been found out to be fakes. Fakes, at least in terms of the truth of purity and righteousness, and all of that good stuff. That’s why people turn to and believe in avatars and the proclaimed beings of times gone past. They are gone. And, all that is left of them is their promised legacy. The tales of how true, and great, and holy they were. But, they are not here. They died eons ago.  There is no way for the living to know how truly holy they actually were. Yet, the myth lives on. And remember, that is all it is, a myth.
 
Many people seek the deeper meaning in life. Myself included. But, you need to be carful about who is saying what and why.

So, think about this whenever you meet someone who is a so-caller teacher—anyone who claims they know something that you do not. Anyone who promises you anything but puts a price tag on it.  If they truly were a teacher, they would never claim to one. And, they certainly wouldn’t put a price tag on it.