People frequently ask me if there is a relationship between the Guru and our own Self-realization. This is a great question! As a starting point, the Guru mirrors to us our own innate divinity, our own potential to live a divine life. Most of us live in a dream world, not knowing who we are or what we are actually capable of creating, even with God’s help. Yet the same God that was in Jesus and Yogananda is in you and me. Remember that Jesus told his disciples, “Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.” Think about it: Jesus fed five thousand people, but Mother Teresa fed millions of people in her lifetime.
I will offer a caveat within this spiritual truth: the temptation of spiritual pride for those who have not undergone a purification process. The more evolved a person is, the more subtle and dangerous is the temptation to hubris or spiritual vanity. Truly evolved people know their own shadow because life has humbled them. Likewise, they also know that the grace and goodness that shines forth through them does not come from them, but from God. They know that the emptier they are of themselves, the more God is able to work through them. For those who are close to Self-realization, Jesus’ words become a living reality: “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
”Beloved Guru,
You hold the mirror up to me
So that I may glimpse
My divine reflection.
