The western mind always finds it difficult to submit totally to a Guru and without total and unquestioning surrender to the Guru his help to you is paralysed. That is why generally I advise westerners to find the guidance and the Presence within themselves; it is true that this process is very often open to uncertainty and self-deception, mistaking some voice of the ego in disguise for the Divine’s guidance. In both cases, it is only an absolute sincerity and an unmixed humility that can be your safeguard. 21 January 1955 The Indians believe (or have the experience) that the Divine lives in the human being. The Europeans don’t believe it. For them, he is somewhere above. He has incarnated only in Jesus Christ. So they don’t bow down to any human person. But if one bows down to a person who has embodied the Divine Consciousness—of course with faith—then that person can more easily transmit his consciousness (or experience) to the other. March 1973