Question :
How can there be a “teacher” of non-duality? Non-duality implies that the distinction between the “student-teacher” (learner-learned) (a duality, may not be that of “opposites”) would also vanish too? Yet people identify as “teacher”?
Sri Prabhuji :
Nobody can be prime minister until people elect him. A man is not husband until wife says he is my husband. The Prime Minister, husband etc. are roles. Similarly Spiritual Master is role. Nobody can claim that I am spiritual Master. A student seeking Truth when he sees wisdom, love and peace in someone who he believes is enlightened approaches him seeking teaching. He calls the person who gives spiritual teaching as his spiritual Master. It is the recognition by the student which makes one Master not “self-proclamation”. Just like any subject in life physics, chemistry… spiritual teaching also requires a teacher. Normally a person with physics PH.D can be called a physics teacher because he has qualification. In spirituality no such qualification is available – humility, simplicity, love, service, compassion are not recognized in any university as qualification. A genuine seeker of truth – a student recognizes such qualities in a person and calls him Master. On his part, Master has no ego. He has no self-identity as “Teacher”. He plays the role of teacher to student and imparts knowledge of non-duality knowing very well Master and Disciple are one essence in absolute reality. In other word, Spiritual Teaching is a role played by enlightened based on request from the student. It is not a “self-proclaimed profession”.