Q: I’m not having experiences of guides—not Mudrashram® guides or those of other spiritual traditions. How do I prepare myself to commune with a spiritual guide?

A: If you are initiated into Mudrashram®, one of the Multiplane Masters of our tradition looks after your spiritual progress. He or she sponsors you and guides you through your entire spiritual journey from where you start to the Infinite Stage. We call this Master, your Supervising Initiate.In other spiritual traditions, the Master on their Path plays a similar role. We point out that those of your who are currently studying with Mudrashram® may often see the guide forms of Masters from other spiritual traditions, who operate at different levels of the Continuum of Consciousness—it is common to encounter them if you were affiliated with their Path in your current or past incarnation, or if they play a role in helping you develop some aspect of your Soul Purpose or your Aeonic spiritual mission.

Many meditation students are not aware of this Supervising Initiate, in our spiritual tradition, despite regularly practicing the core techniques of Integral meditation. The same may be said for those of other spiritual traditions, who likewise practice the meditations that have been imparted to them, but they also are not contacting the Master that supervises spiritual development on their Path.

Several factors facilitate contact with this inner teacher:

1. Devotion – Meditation students who have devotion and love for God create a “magnetic center.” This lets a Master know an aspirant is sincere about making spiritual progress and drawing closer to God. It is said that the Masters readily work with those who have an active magnetic center.
2. Ability to contemplate – Those who have honed their ability to concentrate and contemplate can, in time, successfully discern the guide form of the Master. The Master’s guide form may appear to the attentional principle or the spirit; it may manifest as a Ray of Attunement anchored in a nucleus of identity or an ensouling entity.
3. Requisite depth of meditation – Aspirants need to be able to move their attention to the level on the Continuum of Consciousness where this guide form dwells. Those who get waylaid in the bands of the Conscious, Subconscious, or Metaconscious mind aren’t able to go to the inner location in the Superconscious mind where the guide can be contacted.
4. Selfless service – Seekers who contact the guide have pure spiritual aspiration, and dedicate themselves to the service of humanity and God—asking nothing for themselves. Those who are critical of the Divine and the spiritual Master of their tradition may believe they are entitled to immediately have all of their needs and demands met; these individuals have difficulty transcending their ego.
5. Accurate meditation – Meditators who gain mastery over the three core techniques of Integral Meditation—Mantra Yoga, Nada Yoga, and Raja Yoga—improve their chances of communing with the inner guide form of a Master. Those who do their meditation practices robotically without giving their full attention have decreased probability of contacting the inner guide.
6. Good ethical character – Developing holiness and virtue purifies the mind, and makes it more likely the aspirant can qualify for the inner sight of the radiant form of the Master within (darshan).
7. Achievement of inner silence and stillness – The inner Master’s presence dwells in great stillness and silence; having emotional reactions and projections, and cascading waves of thought do not allow the aspirant to reach the state where he or she can behold the Master within—and where he or she can hear the Master’s voice.

To the degree you are able to make progress on these seven factors, the more likely you are to encounter the inner Master. We invite you to reflect upon these seven factors, and to see which ones you can begin to implement.

If you are able to incorporate one or more of these skills and qualities, it will be easier to contact the Mudrashram® guides and those of other spiritual traditions.