How do I know if my guru is taking me for a ride? Let's come to it directly. Let me tell you, you are always being taken for a ride, because you are still not yet in that state where I can either expose or impose or even tell you what Enlightenment is about.
It is like, in India mothers have a whole technology as to how to stuff the child with more food than he would normally eat. They will take a whole plate of rice and whatever and the child says "No this is too much, I am not going to eat it".
The mother says "OK, you eat one half of it." This half as the child begins to eat; and the again she mixes everything together. Then again the child says, "No way, it is too much". Again the mother makes it half, and says "Ok, only half of it I will give you".
It goes on like this till the plate is empty. Unknowingly the child eats up the whole plate full of rice. Definitely the mother is taking the child for a ride, isn't it? Similarly, the guru is also constantly taking his disciples or devotees for a ride, because if you really tell them what they are supposed to swallow they will just say this is impossible and they will run away.
So because you like everything in installments, I too am taking you for a ride in installments. Enlightenment will never happen in installments. It is whole or nothing, but your willingness comes in installments. Do you see the first day you arrived at the introductory talk what level of willingness you were, and today what level of willingness you are?
Slowly we have taken you for a ride, isn't it? Making you a little more willing, a little more willing, and a little more willing. The way I am talking to you today if I had spoken to you on that day, you would have left. Never to see my face again. Isn't it so? So we are taking you for a ride.
Guru is the map
Let us say all that you are seeking is to go to Kedarnath right now. Somebody is driving; the roads are laid out. If you came alone and there were no proper directions, definitely you would have wished, "I wish there was a map to tell me how to get there." On one level, a Guru is just a map. He is a live map. If you can read the map, you know the way, you can go.
A Guru can also be like your bus driver. You sit here and doze and he will take you to Kedarnath; but to sit in this bus and doze off, or to sit in this bus joyfully, you need to trust the bus driver. If every moment, with every curve in this road, you go on thinking, "Will this man kill me? Will this man go off the road?
What intention does he have for my life?" then you will only go mad sitting here. We are talking about trust, not because a Guru needs your trust, it is just that if there is no trust you will drive yourself mad. This is not just for sitting on a bus or going on a spiritual journey.
To live on this planet, you need trust. Right now, you trust unconsciously. Let us say you are sitting in a bus, which is just a bundle of nuts and bolts and pieces of metal. Unknowingly, you trust this vehicle so much. Isn't it so? You have placed your life in the hands of this mechanical mess, which is just nuts and bolts, rubbers and wires, this and that.
You have placed your life in it, but you trust the bus unconsciously. The same trust, if it arises consciously, would do miracles to you. When we say trust, we are not talking about anything new to life. To be here, to take every breath in and out, you need trust, isn't it?
Your trust is unconscious. I am only asking you to bring a little consciousness to your trust. It is not something new. Life is trust, otherwise nobody can exist here. So if you can draw your own map, if you can drive your own bus, that is wonderful. But on an uncharted path, if you go without a map, it may take lifetimes to find a certain place.
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