The question is : how should a teacher be? Shreeshankaraachaarya Bhagavaan has said that one must take refuge in a "praajnya" or wise teacher. There are those great souls who are extremely detached, they are fakirs. Beholding them and serving them is a great merit in itself. But they are not conscious. They will not help you in removing your ignorance. This liberation cannot be gained through anyone's grace, shakti paat (energy transmitted through touch) or by other means. Take the mind which firtsly has the thought flow of its identity of ignorance and individuality. When the thought flow of the identity of the self and brahman, born of the great statements, arises, then that brahman-shaped thought-flow will destroy the individuality-shaped thought flow, and will become non-separate from its basis, the essence of the self. This is liberation. Therefore, the one desirous of liberation should a great souled teacher who is wise - in other words - a knower of the essence, be conscious to the world, and also, one who can, with his words, fix the identity meaning of the self and brahman, born of the great statements, in our mind. Subsequently, he should also have the capability to make our thought-flow shaped as brahman (brahmaakaara). This is the identity of the grace of the teacher. When this grace comes upon someone, it takes a form and comes. Like the grace of the formless supreme self comes by taking on a form of an avatar, so does the formless grace take a form and come into our lives. The rise of the brahman-shaped thought-flow is the descent of the grace of the teacher. If the grace of the teacher cannot generate knowledge, then that grace is barren.
The shruti says that the teacher should be "shrotriya" or well versed in the scriptures, and be established in brahman. Well versed in the scriptures means he who understand the supreme and comprehensive secret of the shruti and guides his disciples on that path, not someone who has learned the scriptures. Only scholarship will not get the job done. He should have the capacity to resolve any number of questions, objects and doubts. Also, he should have firm resolve towards the identity of the self and brahman, which is the final essence, and is described in the shruti. In other word, that is where his recourse (gati), intellect (mati) and delight (rati) should lie in.
The Upanishads have categorized devotion in brahman (brahma nishthaa) as follows : "brahma vit", "brahma vidvara", "brahma vidvareeyan" and "brahma vidvarishtha".
"He who plays in the self, he who is happy in the self, he is the foremost among the knowers of brahman". (Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.4). The teacher should be a foremost knower of brahman (brahma vittama). He is truly a supreme knower of brahman when other great knowers of brahman come to him for obtaining firm devotion in brahman. There is something known as knower of brahman (brahma vit). One among many such knowers of brahman is a foremost knower of brahman. One in a million is a foremost knower of brahman.
There are many clever people in this world. Taking advantage of words, there is a market now of teachers who are "scripturally versed and devoted to brahman". Simple and humble people get deluded. Therefore, we should examine some more qualities of a teacher. In the Vivekachoodaamani, Shree Shankaraachaarya Bhagavaan has said :
"A teacher should be well versed in the scriptures, without sin, with zero desires, a foremost knower of brahman, should revel in brahman, should be quiet like a fire without fuel, an ocean of compassion without any agenda, and a well wisher to those who have come to his refuge". (Vivekachoodamani 34-35).
1. Well versed in the scriptures : This has been described already.
2. Foremost knower of brahman : This has been described already.
3. Without sin (nishpaapa) : The sign of someone who is without sin is as follows : "I am sad", such a cognition will never come to him, even if his body is rotting, he is starving, he does not have clothes to wear, does not have anyone to accompany him. Sorrow is the result of sin, and "I am sad" is the thought flow of that result. This thought flow does not arise in one who is without sin. The causes of sorrow may come in all beings who have a body, but the pride of sorrow that "I am sad" is a mark of the sinner, not of the sin.
Besides this, the desire that "I should commit a sin" never stays in front of a teacher since the soership-enjoyership of sin does not reside within him.
He in whom there is no connection of prior sin and there is no desire to commit a sin in the future, he is without sin.
The biggest sin is mixing the ever-pure-aware-free self with the impermanent-impure ego. This is the root of all sins. This is removed in a knower.
4. Free of desire (akaamahata) : Those whose hearts have been injured with desires are "kaamahata". But the teacher is one whose heart has not been injured with desires. He is "akaamaahata". The desire to attain any object, person or situation that appears to be non-attainable is called desire or "kaama". Let me get what I do not have, this is desire. I have it and want more, this is freed. "I will kill he who becomes an obstacle in my attempt to attain" - this is anger. All these are forms of desire. "I should live for a thousand years" - this is desire for time. "I have lost this, I need to lose more" - this is also a desire. "There should be such a type of thought flow in my mind, and not of this kind" - this also has desire at its root. In a complete teacher, any thought flow that as non-attainment-related desire at its root is absent. But remember, this is the state of the teacher, not of the student. The student should give and take in a disciplined manner. The sign of a complete guru is that there is no objected called "another" anymore". In the fullness, the completeness of the self, no other object needs to be attained. That is why, there is no desire that can injure the knower of the essence.
5. Fulfilled in brahman (brahmanuparataha) : He should have retired from this world and have been established in brahman. A teacher should be one who has retired. The world is seen by him. But he does not revel in the world. He has retired from the world and is established completely in brahman which is the substratum. Now, the teacher could be busy in worldly transactions. Or he could be sitting in samaadhi, engrossed in the meditation of the beloved. Both these states are not amenable to a seeker, since there is no scope for teaching. He who is a teacher should be awake and not revel anywhere else.
6. Quiet like a fire without fuel : The teacher should be quiet. How should he be quiet? Like a fire without fuel. A teacher should be content. All his goals have been fulfilled. Neither is there any means to be employed through duties, nor is any state left to be attained. Then? Now, the quiet that is prevalent in his life is like the fire which is burning, but the fuel is extinguished. The fire will not burn by itself because wood, coal and stones are over, smoke does not arise. The fire is burning underneath the ashes. If the student blows into the fire then it will burn a bit, otherwise it has been extinguished. This is the thirst for liberation in the student that he can reignite even a dying flame and attain the knowledge of the essence. In this meaning, the teacher is quiet.
The teacher is quiet. In other words, his thought flow does not need a target object (vishaya). Telling the teacher that "O teacher, whatever you think is right, please tell me" is not right. In his mind, everyone is ever-pure-aware-free. He does not have any fancy that you should be like this or that. He knows that you are ever free. When you experience ignorance, sorrow, inertness, bondage in your self, and when you request him to save you, then he will say "Not so! You are brahman personified. There is not even a trace of ignorance, sorrow, inertness or bondage in you. This is the start of satsanga (company of saints) through question and answer.
7. An ocean of compassion without any agenda : Teachers are an ocean of compassion. But the donation of their compassion is not due to any goal. The sign of non-renunciation is their compassion. In their vision, everyone is their own true identity. They do not get influenced by anyone's qualities or actions due ti which they need to give compassion. What does a teacher care about the magnanimity of his student. What does it matter if someone is rich or poor? What if someone is a scholar or a fool? They are the same towards everyone. Whoever offers love to them, they respond with a flood of causeless compassion.
8. Respect for taking refuge : That wonderful person (student) who bows to a teacher, who takes refuge in a teacher when he arrives, who listens to what he says, who knows that he will benefit from his teacher, when the teacher accepts him and makes the student fearless, this is the sign of a teacher.
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