The True Guru (Words of Wisdom from Nisargadatta)
“You need not search for the Guru. For when you are ready, the Guru will find you. The Guru is not one who gives you something, but one who takes away your ignorance. You learn from everything if alert. Your own self is your ultimate teacher. A True Guru will never enslave you, nor bind you, nor ask you to depend on them. In fact, the Guru's function is to make themself unnecessary. If you remain dependent on the Guru, you have misunderstood them. The True Guru does not demand obedience; they point the way and leave you free. The True Guru shatters your concepts; they do not build new ones. They are not concerned with your comfort but with your freedom. They remove the false so that the True may emerge. The Guru is ruthless with your ignorance and infinitely compassionate with your being. I am not a Guru; I am only telling you what I have realized. I do not teach; I only describe what I see. I have no disciples, only fellow travelers. Do not make a person into a Guru. Truth alone is the Guru. Grace is not something that the Guru gives; it is what happens when you are open. Grace is the absence of resistance. When the disciple is ready, the Guru is already there. The Guru's presence is grace. In that body, the 'I am' is ticking; that is the Guru, and that pure feeling, 'I am,' is the only True teacher. You worship that 'I am' principle and surrender to that Guru, and that Guru will give you all the grace. The Highest teaching is silence. The True Guru teaches without words. Silence is the language of reality. The habit of considering self as body has influenced everybody too much. Do not be attached to the body of the Guru. Attach yourself to what they point to. The Guru has no form, no name, no place. Traditions and Gurus come and go; Truth remains. The Guru is like a mirror: they reflect your True face. The Guru is only purest Consciousness, which is all-pervading, whose words will do their work wherever you hear or read them. You can come here and listen in person, or you can read them in a book.