The 16 Facets of Perfection of a Kundalini Yoga Teacher

Sola Kalyan Sumpuran Yogi Bhajan, September, 1995

1. A Teacher will never alter the teachings because of personal opinion. You'll teach by example.

2. The higher your grow as a teacher, more humble you have to be.

3. The Teacher always serves his students, so that they can be, ten times stronger than you, because every student is a Teacher for tomorrow.

4. A Teacher has to be extremely kind, caring, compassionate, and forgiving.

5. As a Teacher you should always poke, provoke, confront, and elevate your students to excellence.

6. As a Teacher you have to continuously imagine, visualize, believe, expand in all directions, connect everything, meditate, practice, and project that you are Ang Sang Wahe Guru("With every limb, every part of me, I belong to the Divine."), and that the energy of Guru Ram Das is flowing through you.

7. As a teacher you will always be in Chardi Kala (elevated spirits) and connected to your higher self, never caught in emotional turmoil. Count your blessings, not your curses. Always be graceful. Glow and grow.

8. As a teacher, you'll continuously graduate towards the Divinity and infinity that is the essence of your existence. You're not a human born for a spiritual search, you are a spirit, an Atma (soul), born for an experience as a human. Your purity and piety as an Atma is always maintained, protected, exalted, projected, as a priority over everything and kept in sight mentally, physically, and spiritually.

9. As a Teacher listen to, and obey all righteous teachings. If you read something, you'll know it; if you write something, you'll understand it; if you teach something, you'll perfected.

10. It is perfection of your deliverance that gives you grace as the teacher. Your success as a teacher lies not in what you know, but in what your student receives.

11. A teacher is measured by the growth, dignity, and excellence of the student. If you find a talent, nurture it, teach its, results it to the best of your ability and divinity.

12. As a Teacher do not relate to ego or politics. Always relate to the spirit, soul, and essence of a person. Always relate to the intelligence, talent, and consciousness of a person. Always relate to the manners, methods, and mentality of a person. Pure thoughts are the way to universal knowledge and will make you bountiful, blissful, and beautiful.

13. God and Guru have blessed you with karma (the law of caught his and effect). As a Teacher you must offer yourself in Dharma (lifestyle of righteousness) to honor the gift of God of life. Never create a drift or rift between you and your Atma.

14. The Teacher wears white cotton clothing while teaching. White clothing makes you as a teacher look divine and represent light. Color white represents seven colors. Cotton is the flower of the earth. It is good for your psyche, for your energy, and for your nervous system. Your way of dressing should be saintly and make you glow with grace. You should look like a sage and a prince or princess of peace and divinity. A Teacher is a Ph.D.--Prince or Princess of High Divinity.

15. Just as a seed has to wither to become a tree and bear fruit, Teachers who do not become perfect students do not become perfect masters.

16. Universal spirit that rotates earth can take care of all your problems. As a teacher you have to learn trust and faith. Regard every breath of life as a gift. Strive for conscious breathing, breathing one breath a minute,.

The motto of the teacher is: "In God I do well." The standard of arms of the teacher is: the honor of a teacher: "In the name of God I serve."The motto of a teacher is: "Peace of mind and peace within the material world."

A Teacher needs to commit to Nam, the God given identity. Without Nam, you cannot have the purity of self and the divine projected grace to master all the elements.

• Without commitment there is no character.

• Without characters there is no dignity.

• Without dignity there is no divinity.

• Without divinity there is no grace.

• Without grace you cannot sacrifice or serve others. Your compassion and presence will not work and you cannot be happy.

Remember once and for all, happiness is your birthright and it is always right to be happy. So be happy, be healthy, be holy.

We are all holy, because we all have nine holes. Adding two arms and two legs makes 13. You are born with thirteen, you will live with thirteen, you'll die with thirteen. Thirteen (three and one) makes four --Cup of Prayer. Prayer is your power, your protector, and your provider. Sat Nam