“My true home was closer and more real to me than anything in this world”

Aadi has stepped out into the unchartered territories of reality with honesty and courage, to carve a new path through the mountain of the self. Out of his deep devotion to truth, he has created a rich and singular vision of the path which completely transcends one-dimensional, simplistic views of self-realization. His teaching is a true gift, a salvation from confusion for any soul who holds the fire in their being to seek higher understanding. To follow it, a seeker must have the passion to explore the inner realm, the sincerity to let go of the false, and the courage to stand alone in a world that is ruled by lethargy and spiritual conformism. Above all, he needs to awaken true love for his soul so that he can begin to serve her highest purpose of becoming whole.

“A deep spiritual longing was present in my heart from the very beginning of my life, but my intelligence was naturally too undeveloped to contain it. Still, as a child I found different ways to connect to my inner self by spending time in solitude or going for endless walks in the woods. At the age of five, in a situation of deep fear, I experienced a breathtaking shift into consciousness, finding myself in the realm of pure subjectivity. I suddenly remembered who I was and where my true abiding place in reality was. This realization was not permanent, but through it my soul had revealed to me the deeper meaning and purpose of my existence. While my mind could not fully grasp it, I knew without a doubt that this was where I belonged; my true home was closer and more real to me than anything in this world.”

Link to full autobiography: Journey to Wholeness: An Autobiography of Aadi

“You cannot imagine what you cannot sense within your being. So although one of the crucial roles of a teacher is to guide the seeker conceptually, above all he must assist his student to energetically activate these hidden dimensions. His role is to turn the key unlocking the seeker’s inner potential. This activation happens in the intimate proximity of the spiritual guide; it is a transmission of the light of the self. Such transmission cannot bring about awakening or enlightenment on its own. Rather it is a transmission which gives the student energetic and intuitive access to one of the dimensions of his or her higher self.  It is then the student’s responsibility to align their spiritual imagination with this access and to do the internal work based on it.”

What is a spiritual teacher and do I need one?

A spiritual teacher is your guide in the dimension of forgetfulness, the living torch that illuminates your path out of the darkness into which you were born. The role of the teacher is to provide you with a proper conceptual understanding of the path and of your true self, and to support you along the way both energetically and through personal guidance. Some seekers carry the idea that if we all carry an eternal self within us, we should by nature be able to access it by ourselves. Do you know what the problem with this notion is? We do not carry our eternal self within us – we need to create it. And this act of creation cannot be done without the energetic and conceptual support of someone who has already manifested his or her deeper self.

The bottom line is, the average person is simply too limited to realize anything of real value in the spiritual dimension. To accept and understand our limitations represents our basic humility, without which we cannot truly begin our spiritual journey. Those who think that they can walk the path alone are approaching it too much from their ego – they are either deluded or insincere.

What is the nature of the relationship between spiritual teacher and his student? 

The student-teacher relationship is one of mutual love and commitment to spiritual actualization. This relationship is not characterized by the student’s blind devotion and surrender to his or her master, which is in fact a type of slavery. Rather, a student must have deep trust in and respect for his teacher, while being empowered through practical tools and precise concepts to carry out the inner work in his own right. In addition to trust and respect, a student should also feel deep gratitude for the help he or she is receiving, and display natural humility towards his or her teacher. There is a law of gratitude within this relationship that can never be broken – when it is, the sacred bond between your soul and the divine that manifests through the living teacher is severed.

In some traditions, a teacher is seen as an omnipotent savoir, while in others, as a person who is more advanced and experienced on the path. What is the correct way to see a spiritual teacher?

No one is omnipotent, but your teacher is indeed your savior – he rescues you from a life of suffering by showing you the way out of the animalistic prison of low consciousness. At the same time, he is indeed just a more evolved human being that can guide you towards the realization of your true self. Given this, you could look at your spiritual teacher as a spiritual friend who already has access to the realms of consciousness that are still inconceivable to you. 

Should a teacher behave in a moral way, such as not eating meat, abstaining from sex, not drinking alcohol, etc…? 

Your spiritual teacher is a human as you are: he is not priest, monk, or saint. And if that teacher is truly free, he or she is not confined by the moral rules of society. Do not judge a book by its cover, as the saying goes. To feel who your teacher is, you must feel his heart and his intention. 

If a teacher’s behavior goes against your expectations, you should try to learn from your reactions. You should ensure that you have confronted your idealism and examined any naive notions that society has brainwashed you with regarding what is right or good. In Buddhism there is a concept of ‘crazy wisdom’ which describes a master deliberately behaving in ‘unacceptable’ ways to help his students to reach emancipation from collective conditioning. He does whatever he wants, but he does it from a place of love.

In any case, how a teacher behaves is his own business.  All you really need to be concerned with is – can he help you?

Where is the line between the students own responsibility and the grace and help of the teacher?

It all needs to be in balance. To put it simply, you rely 100% on the grace of the teacher and 100% on your own inner work.

How can one know that he has found the right teacher and teaching?

People choose their teacher for a number of reasons. They may like the teacher’s personality, may resonate with their philosophy, may be attracted to their charisma, or may even just accidentally come across him and follow him by luck or chance.

When you encounter a teaching, you need to first of all carefully study it and feel whether your intelligence and intuition resonates with its energy and vision. Then, you need to identify if that particular teaching can directly help you to evolve. Just because someone uses very lofty words or phrases about consciousness or no-self, does not mean that there is real substance or practical value in what is being offered – this you must sense for yourself. The next step should be to meet the teacher personally and feel who he is and from which place he is speaking to you. Some ‘masters’ gather thousands of devotees around them who they never meet face-to-face, but this is just wrong. For it to be truly effective, your connection with your spiritual teacher must be personal.

Perhaps the most important question is this: can this teacher awaken you – not tomorrow, but now? If the teacher is not immediately helping you to awaken, it means that either he is not the right teacher for you, or that you are spiritually too immature to receive the help on offer. If you do all that you can, and you feel that you have a deep spiritual honesty within you and genuine longing to meet yourself, and yet your teacher is failing to actualize your awakening right now, this means that he is a fake teacher. 

It is said that you find the teacher that you deserve. It is both true and not true – sometimes things just happen for no deeper reason.