A Guru Always Takes You for a Ride
"The Guru is constantly taking his disciples and devotees for a ride, because if you really tell them what they are supposed to swallow, they will just say this is impossible and run away."
Sadhguru
In every culture, anything beyond the normal perception of life, anything beyond the normal day-to-day happenings, means it is an opportunity to ask for and receive things which are not normally available to people. Whether it is Santa Claus of the West, whose bag is full of gifts, or the traditional three boons of India - whenever God appears he offers you three boons; you can ask him what you want. Why this interpretation, these stories, why this lore has taken this direction is - a large part of the population of the world is always deprived. It has always been so, a large part of the population in the world is always deprived of many things that they would aspire to have, or I would say, almost everybody is deprived of what they want to have. If they have this, they don't have that. If they have that, they don't have this. So almost everyone is deprived of something or the other. So if a new possibility arises, the first thing is to ask, and if anybody is of any worth, he is supposed to give. I know there are various people, there are various prayers and lamentations of the so-called devotees, where they are swearing to God and saying: "If you cannot even give this, what kind of a God are you? If you cannot even do this, what kind of a Guru are you? Where is your compassion?"
In the Shaiva lore, Shiva narrates many stories and incidents to highlight the limitation, to highlight the trouble that one can get into just by giving indiscriminately - the trouble that both the giver and the receiver can get into by simply giving somebody something for which they are not yet ready. If they had evolved their life to a point, to that which they desire, it would anyway happen; but before they reach there, they want to have it.
If you receive something before you evolve yourself to a point where you are ready to receive it, the great gift may become a great curse. There are any number of people on the planet who manage to somehow manipulate situations to get something that they want and suffer immensely because of what they receive. They would be better off with just the desire, but by fulfilling the desire, they get into deep trouble. So both the giver and the receiver can be in a lot of trouble simply by giving something or by receiving something for which they are not ready.
Many times, human beings, once they reach a certain level of attainment, have an urge to be overly compassionate. Misplaced compassion always comes from your ego; you want to be the most compassionate person on the planet. Wherever anybody needs anything, reach out. This is not coming from any kind of understanding, wisdom, or awareness. This is coming from wanting to be the best or the most. You know, whatever you do, you want to be the most. Wherever you go, even if people say, "I am stupid," people want to say, "I am the most stupid person in the world." Even there, they want to stand first. Somehow they want to be the best - one way or the other. "I want to be the most intelligent, or I want to be the most stupid, I don't want to be lost in between. I don't want to be ordinary; I want to be somehow special." So you want to be the most compassionate.
This problem is there among people - they want to be the most compassionate. True compassion is not about giving or taking. True compassion is just doing what is needed. You have no preferences of your own; simply doing what is needed is compassion. You revving yourself up into a huge amount of emotion and reaching out to somebody is not compassion. This is just self-satisfaction; devious ways to fulfill yourself. Compassion is possible, genuine compassion is possible, when there is nothing to fulfill in you, you are just doing what is needed. But always, if you get into a
"The Guru is constantly taking his disciples and devotees for a ride, because if you really tell them what they are supposed to swallow, they will just say this is impossible and run away."
Sadhguru
In every culture, anything beyond the normal perception of life, anything beyond the normal day-to-day happenings, means it is an opportunity to ask for and receive things which are not normally available to people. Whether it is Santa Claus of the West, whose bag is full of gifts, or the traditional three boons of India - whenever God appears he offers you three boons; you can ask him what you want. Why this interpretation, these stories, why this lore has taken this direction is - a large part of the population of the world is always deprived. It has always been so, a large part of the population in the world is always deprived of many things that they would aspire to have, or I would say, almost everybody is deprived of what they want to have. If they have this, they don't have that. If they have that, they don't have this. So almost everyone is deprived of something or the other. So if a new possibility arises, the first thing is to ask, and if anybody is of any worth, he is supposed to give. I know there are various people, there are various prayers and lamentations of the so-called devotees, where they are swearing to God and saying: "If you cannot even give this, what kind of a God are you? If you cannot even do this, what kind of a Guru are you? Where is your compassion?"
In the Shaiva lore, Shiva narrates many stories and incidents to highlight the limitation, to highlight the trouble that one can get into just by giving indiscriminately - the trouble that both the giver and the receiver can get into by simply giving somebody something for which they are not yet ready. If they had evolved their life to a point, to that which they desire, it would anyway happen; but before they reach there, they want to have it.
If you receive something before you evolve yourself to a point where you are ready to receive it, the great gift may become a great curse. There are any number of people on the planet who manage to somehow manipulate situations to get something that they want and suffer immensely because of what they receive. They would be better off with just the desire, but by fulfilling the desire, they get into deep trouble. So both the giver and the receiver can be in a lot of trouble simply by giving something or by receiving something for which they are not ready.
Many times, human beings, once they reach a certain level of attainment, have an urge to be overly compassionate. Misplaced compassion always comes from your ego; you want to be the most compassionate person on the planet. Wherever anybody needs anything, reach out. This is not coming from any kind of understanding, wisdom, or awareness. This is coming from wanting to be the best or the most. You know, whatever you do, you want to be the most. Wherever you go, even if people say, "I am stupid," people want to say, "I am the most stupid person in the world." Even there, they want to stand first. Somehow they want to be the best - one way or the other. "I want to be the most intelligent, or I want to be the most stupid, I don't want to be lost in between. I don't want to be ordinary; I want to be somehow special." So you want to be the most compassionate.
This problem is there among people - they want to be the most compassionate. True compassion is not about giving or taking. True compassion is just doing what is needed. You have no preferences of your own; simply doing what is needed is compassion. You revving yourself up into a huge amount of emotion and reaching out to somebody is not compassion. This is just self-satisfaction; devious ways to fulfill yourself. Compassion is possible, genuine compassion is possible, when there is nothing to fulfill in you, you are just doing what is needed. But always, if you get into a
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