When we met Pujya Swamiji again in Dorset this summer, I realised just how much his voice chanting mantras had touched me, how powerful the vibrations of this practice is. In Rishikesh I started to single out his voice amongst all the voices that filled the air. I Dorset, it was only him, and it shifted something inside me.

When a spiritual leader, a Guru, is for real, they do not exploit their position and you do not question their motives. If you have a person in your life who proclaims to you to be your/a Guru, but they make you feel unsafe, if they make you do things against your own will and use threats and/or awards as manipulations to make you, step away. The real Guru helps you to see what you need to do, what you need to change, where you need to go, without any kind of force; they don’t have an Ego they need boosting up by you. Neither do they spend time boosting yours.

The ‘self-proclaimed’ Guru often get to you by making you feel amazing and special, for then to take their attention away, leaving you confused, craving what has been taken away from you. They create an attachment they can use to punish and reward you. Don’t accept this, step away, even if it hurts.

Guru means the remover of darkness, they give you wisdom to see beyond the maya, the illusions of the external world. It is like love; if it is real, you don’t have to question it, you don’t have to rationalise their behaviours or your own feelings. Beyond all the noises of your mind, they empower you to see the real truth.