When a person is in great physical or mental pain, he or she searches for a guide, and some seek knowledge of the self. Unless you are pure in your quest, you will not be able to realize the benefit of having a guide. You will see the guide as an ordinary person. The guide can first draw you with love but, later, has to butcher your ego. Soon you will find faults. It is at this stage that many seekers walk away. The few that stay for the roasting get spiritual instruction. Realization does not come as a magic pill but with inner strength and power of endurance. To attain God on your own is possible but very difficult. A guide, pushing your buttons, puts you on the correct path. I have had many guides and many a time wanted to leave them and never see them again. But the inner thirst was strong enough for me to go back and hold their hands. They were happy I left, but, they are all still stuck with me. — Satish Daryanani
