The Spiritual Teacher's Job Description

What if you had to apply to teach in a spiritual tradition such as Trika Shaivism or Dzogchen?

A typical job interview. The candidates vie for nondual dominance.

Many ancient Tantras (texts) describe the qualifications for teachers in their traditions. In addition to being pure of heart, brave, truthful, generous, devoid of disturbed emotions, compassionate, devoted, accomplished in sadhana, and learned, you also must apparently also be extraordinarily good looking, charming, strong-limbed, and free from disease.¹

🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

But let’s play. What if you had to apply to teach in a direct realization (or nondual) tradition such as Trika Shaivism or Dzogchen? 

What would the job description look like?

:airquote:job:airquote: :airquote:description:airquote:

Location : Up close and personal

Seniority : Irrelevant. A conceptual data point that has been embodied in various ways, some not so nice.

Hours : Full-time for lifetimes

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Your role

Introduce people to their real nature

What you do

• Whatever it takes

• Laugh

Your competencies

• You have served as a devoted student and are a perpetual follower of wisdom.

• You have a nuanced and experiential understanding of the teacher-student relationship.

• You are able to directly introduce people to the natural state via multi-faceted means of transmission.

• Wellsprings of patience and endurance.

• An emerald earring filled with vastness, a toy horse’s head on a pole, ride and wave your arms in time to the music.

Who do you Report to? 

If male presenting: hardly anyone. You will be assumed to be an expert in the field, especially if you have a title or wear spiritual clothing or have an appropriate accent. You may be called upon to explain your behavior only if found to be horrendously abusive over a long period of time. By default, sentences are light and reinstatement is nearly guaranteed.

If female presenting: just about everyone. Expectations may be contradictory, but they will generally involve behaving in an idealized motherly fashion. A special caution has been issued in the Employee Handbook related to students who have difficult relationships with their mothers. 

Salary

• Variable and uncertain

Job Perks

• You will live a zero-waste life. Everything you have to give will be asked for. Contentment is the result. Mostly.

• If you meet the qualifications above, you will enjoy the most intimate, subtle, rewarding relationships with others that the human life affords. 

How to Apply

There is no application. You will be contacted. If you want to apply, you already don’t have the job. If you just enjoy filling out forms for no particular reason and with no particular outcome in mind, you may be an advanced candidate or . . .

Want more? Please join me and the Jaya Kula community for satsang & kirtan every Sunday at 3:00pm Pacific. Come in person to 1215 SE 8th Ave, Portland, OR, or join Jaya Kula’s newsletter on Substack to get the Zoom link for satsang. You can also listen to my podcast—Satsang with Shambhavi—wherever podcasts are found.

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1. [Kularnava Tantra 248-9]