True Teacher

And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.--Luke 9:62

Once you decide to seek the Truth of your own being, your own existence, your own reality--there is no turning back.

Before you begin, however, it is very important to find a true teacher who will lead you back to yourself. Without a true teacher, you will easily lose your way.

Thoreau, too, emphasizes the importance of finding a true teacher in Walden:

"I have read in a Hindoo book, that "there was a king's son, who, being expelled in infancy from his native city, was brought up by a forester, and, growing up to maturity in that state, imagined himself to belong to the barbarous race with which he lived. One of his father's ministers having discovered him, revealed to him what he was, and the misconception of his character was removed, and he knew himself to be a prince.

"So soul," continues the Hindoo philosopher, "from the circumstances in which it is placed, mistakes its own character, until the truth is revealed to it by some holy teacher, and then it knows itself to be Brahme."

All human beings are born under a delusion. This false self, or ego, covers up our true nature. When we discover or realize our true being, we regain an inheritance that was once lost.

We find ourselves in Nirvana and the Kingdom of Heaven is ours.