The True Teacher

The True Teacher is that one

who, having no need to come, for my sake came;

having no need to remain, for my sake remains;

and who, having no need to go, will for my sake go:

who rocks me to sleep and at the same time awakens me;

makes me blind and at the same time sharpens my sight,

and removes my ignorance by making me know nothing:

who without admonition makes me aware of my shortcomings;

without urging me to effort awakens and sustains my interest,

and rewards me without letting my ego become inflated:

who puts on a coat when it is cold and takes it off when it is hot,

satisfies hunger and thirst in the same way as I do,

but does not sleep as I sleep but watches for me my sleeps of unconsciousness:

who in every way in everyday life acts like an ordinary man,

is easily pleased and hurt, but being beyond pleasure and pain,

suffers as no one else can suffer and whose bliss shines through his suffering:

who is the father of children he has never begotten,

the mother who never brought forth with labor,

the brother and friend who sees no one but himself:

who is the Goal and its revelation and the pathway to it

and the path-treader who treads no path any whither

because he is where he is and has never been anywhere else:

who, in fact, is the supreme Reality

but appears to my eyes as very man, to my mind as Rightness

and to my heart as the ineffable Beloved who may be approached and attained.