Continuing from Spiritual Work and Practical Results

Ultimately, the following questions arise: “When to begin spiritual work, and how to protect myself from the false gurus and their teachings?”
To answer the first one is easy – you should start now. This is the only time you own; and if you can muster enough will and courage (blended into what I call the earnestness) make the first step now. Don’t waste one second of your life!
Yes, life can bring some auspicious moments that will make the decision of putting on the garb of spirituality, very easy. Personal triumphs and tragedies, unexplainable phenomena unfolding if front of your own eyes, witnessing Nature’s extraordinary beauty, etc. can catapult anyone on the fast track of self-exploration that leads to the discovery of the Self.

As for the second part of the question: how to protect yourself from the false gurus and their teachings, the answer really depends on who you are now. Your intellectual development, age, emotional state, familiarity with spiritual subjects, etc. will determine your starting position. Many successful spiritual practitioners built on their religious background. In most cases, that’s the safest way to begin the long and arduous journey to the self realization. Even for the non-believers, less strict religions like Buddhism provide the initial encouragement and stability. For others, all it takes is finding one trusted and recognized spiritual teacher. He or she doesn’t have to have star-like qualities, be charismatic, wealthy and followed by the millions. On the contrary, great spiritual teachers and gurus look very average; that’s why it’s so hard to find them…

Fortuitously, with the huge body of information available on the Internet, spiritual seeker can search and research libraries and schools of spirituality and consciousness research, with relative ease. In many cases, peer review can be used to test veracity of the officially proclaimed credos. When one comes across teachers that live for the highest Truth, and not money, fame and adulation, you know it’s safe to invest your faith in them.

Based on my personal experience, I’d recommend beginning with Dr David R. Hawkins. His teachings are, at least initially, easier to absorb than those of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, for example. Sooner or later, you’ll come across the techniques of consciousness calibrations. Practice and develop some proficiency with them, and you’ll have a fail-proof instrument to measure the level of integrity of any teacher or teaching.
Remember, teachers are merely milestones on the path to discovery of what is already living in you – your true Self. And this is the result worth living for!