If you are filling a bucket with water, you can always add more if there is still space. But when it is completely full, full to overflowing, it is pointless to add even a single drop. You may think that you have done enough, and you may believe that your bucket is full, but the Guru is in a better position to see that there is still a space, and that more water needs to be added. Don’t rely on your own judgement in this matter. The state you have reached may seem to be complete and final, but if the Guru says, ‘You need more sadhana ,’ trust him and carry on with your efforts.
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharishi often used to say, ‘The
physical Guru is outside, telling you what to do and pushing you into the Self.
The inner Guru, the Self within, simultaneously pulls you towards itself.’
Once you have become established in the inner Guru, the Self,
the distinction between Guru and disciple disappears. In that state you no
longer need the help of any Guru. You are That, the Self.
Until the river reaches the ocean, it is obliged to keep on flowing,
but when it arrives at the ocean, it becomes ocean and the flow stops. The
water of the river originally came from the ocean. As it flows, it is merely
making its way back to its source. When you meditate or do sadhana, you are
flowing back to the source from which you came. After you have reached that
source, you discover that everything that exists - world, Guru, mind - is one.
No differences or distinctions arise there.
Non-duality is jnana; duality is samsara. If you can give up
duality, Brahman alone remains, and you know yourself to be that Brahman, but
to make this discovery continuous meditation is required. Don’t allocate
periods of time for this. Don’t regard it as something that you do when you sit
with your eyes closed.
This meditation has to be continuous. Do it while you are
eating, walking, and even talking. It has to be continued all the time.
Annamalai Swami