This world of MAYA is not a world of MAYA for you; it is very real, and the role of the guru is to show you that it is not real. It is real for you, so how can you think that it is unreal? You can think about unreality only if you have a glimpse of the real; only then can you compare. This world is not MAYA illusory, for you. You have heard, you have read that this world is MAYA, and you may have memorized it just like a parrot, so you also call this world illusory.
Everyday someone comes to me who calls this world illusory and then he says, "My mind is very much bothered. I am very tense, so tell me how to attain peace?" And this world is "illusory"! If this world is illusory, how can your mind be tense? If you have known that this world is illusory, the world will have disappeared, and with the world all its misery. But the mind still is. You don't "know" that this world is illusory.
In the morning when the sleep has disappeared, and with it the dream, are you worried about the dream? Are you worried that in the dream you felt ill or that you were even dead? While the dream was there, you were worried, you were ill, you were asking for a doctor, for some medicine. But in the morning, the moment you are not asleep and the dream has disappeared, you are not worried. Now you know it was a dream, and you are not ill.
If someone comes to me and says, "I know that it was a dream that I was ill, but now tell me something: where am I to get the medicine to get over that illness?" what will it show? It will show he is still asleep; it will show that he is still dreaming. The dream is still there.
In India, this parrot-like speech that "the whole world is illusory" has gone deep into the mind, but in the false center. It is not a growth. We have heard, the Upanishads, the Vedas and the RISHIS have been saying for centuries, that the world is illusory. They have propagated the idea so strongly that those who are asleep and dreaming, they think they are awake. The whole world is asleep, but their misery shows that the world is real, their anguish shows that the world is real.
The role of the guru is to give you a glimpse of the real -- not a teaching, but an awakening. The guru is not a teacher: the guru is an awakener. He has not to give you doctrines. If he gives you doctrines, he is a philosopher. If he talks about the world as illusory and argues and proves that the world is illusory, if he discusses, debates, if he intellectually gives you a doctrine, he is not a guru, he is not a master. He may be a teacher, a teacher of a particular doctrine, but he is not a master, not a guru.
A guru is not a giver of doctrines. He is a giver of methods -- of methods which can help you to come out of your sleep. That is why a guru is always a disturber of your dreams, and it is difficult to live with a guru. It is very easy to live with a teacher because he never disturbs you. Rather, he goes on increasing your accumulation of knowledge. He helps you to be more egoist; he makes you more knowledgeable. Your ego is more fulfilled. Now you know more, you can argue more. You can teach yourself, but a guru is always a disturber. He will disturb your dream and your sleep, and you may have been dreaming a very beautiful dream. You may have been on a trip, a beautiful trip. He will disturb it, and you will get angry.
A guru is always in danger from his disciples. Any moment they can kill him because he is going to disturb; that is what his work is. He cannot help you to be yourself as you are because you are false. He has to destroy your false identity. It is painful. That is why, unless there is a very deep love, the work is impossible. A very deep intimacy is needed; otherwise hate will be there. So a guru cannot allow you to be near him unless you have surrendered; otherwise you are going to be an enemy. Only with your total surrender can a guru work, because it is a spiritual surgery.
Of necessity, much suffering will be there for the disciple, and if he is not in deep intimacy with the guru it is impossible. He will not be ready to suffer so much. He has come in search of bliss and the guru gives him suffering. He has come to feel euphoria, and the guru creates a hell for him. In the beginning hell will be there because your image will be shattered, your expectations will be shattered. Whatsoever you have known, you will have to throw it. Whatsoever you are, he will undo it. Really, you are passing through a death.
In India, in the old days, we said, "ACHARYA MRITYUH." It means that the master, the guru, is a death. He is! And unless you trust him so totally, this surgical operation is impossible because in the beginning there will be suffering. Your anguish will come up; all your suppressed hells will be revealed. And only if you believe, if you have deep faith and trust in him, can you remain with him; otherwise you will escape, because this man is disturbing you completely.
So, remember, the guru's work is, his role is, to make you aware of your falsity, and because of your false center your world is false. The world is not really illusory, it is not MAYA. It is maya because your eyes are illusory. They are dream-filled. You project your dreams all around, and the reality is falsified. The same world will become real when your eyes are real. When the false center is broken and you are again rooted in your real center, in your being, this world will become the NIRVANA.
The mind is fragmented, so never trust it. One part wants beauty, another wants wealth; you go to fetch one thing and you return with something else; you came on earth to get one thing, but instead you take something very different when you return. Do not trust your mind or you will get nowhere; you will fragment into many pieces like a drop of mercury.
If you do not listen to your mind but instead heed the witness within, you will be able to remember what you have come into this world for, what you have come to buy from the marketplace of samsara. That remembrance will become your goal, then you will gain the ability to throw off the fragments that besieged your mind. To practice self-restraint involves the ability to leave the chaff for the wheat, to let go of the useless and worthless in favor of the useful and worthwhile.
The worthless has no value; it serves no purpose in life, brings no peace or joy. It is not designed to reveal the truth, but it has its own attraction, its own temptation and excitement. You can tell yourself: What harm is there in leaving the road to pick some flowers? I can always get back again. But when you take the first steps off the road towards the flowers, you see so many flowers up ahead, and your journey changes course as you shift a little this way or that to savor a little of the fascination of things that are perishable. Lean a little towards them and you are gone!
There are thousand of paths on which to go astray, but only one to reach the right place; therefore you need a very strong memory -- uninterrupted remembrance is required. There are many devices and tricks for losing the path, but only one way to reach the destination. There are millions to lead you astray, but only one who can lead you right. If you want to go astray and wander, go ahead. You can err for lives on end. That is what you did, and that is why you are here now, and that is what you still are doing. But there is one path.
Always remember: truth is only one, not many; untruths are infinite, countless. Only the one is worth attaining; the untold others are only worth discarding. It is like a children's maze with many, many paths, but only one exit; the paths all look as if they lead somewhere, but ultimately they arrive at a dead end.
Life is such a puzzle. Whereas children's puzzles are small and contained on a single piece of paper, life's puzzle is endless. It has no beginning and no end; therefore the need for a guru. If you try to solve life's mystery and persist in walking on your own, you will wander for millions of lives.
There is the danger that you might feel that there is no way to get out of the rut of the mundane world; you have tried so many times that you may be disheartened. You might become so despondent you will give up all hope. There is another danger, that you get habituated to wandering. When we do something so many times we become quite efficient at it. Then it doesn't matter what the work is; you've become such an expert wanderer that even if you come across the right path you will shun it.
Guru only means a person who has found the door and can stop you from wandering. He will warn you from treading a path that may seem very attractive and very promising but is only a pseudo-path. You may attain wealth -- untold wealth, but what will you gain in the end? Where will you reach? You will find yourself smack against a wall. What will you attain through position? Ultimately you will find the path is lost. Protect your reputation as you will, but what does it yield in the end? Those who respect you have nothing themselves, so what will they give you? What value is the opinion of worthless people? From whom do you seek honor and respect -- from those without eyes to see? Even if they pay homage to you, what is it worth? It is like a bubble; no sooner do you get it, it bursts into thin air.
This world of MAYA is not a world of MAYA for you; it is very real, and the role of the guru is to show you that it is not real. It is real for you, so how can you think that it is unreal? You can think about unreality only if you have a glimpse of the real; only then can you compare. This world is not MAYA illusory, for you. You have heard, you have read that this world is MAYA, and you may have memorized it just like a parrot, so you also call this world illusory.
