In the end, the only way the earnest seeker can find a teacher is to find himself. The deeper he penetrates into the mysterious recesses of his own spiritual being, the closer he comes to the ever-present master within--the higher self. The longer he looks, the more powerful will be its attraction, the more magnetic its spell over him. This is true for all students generally, but it is especially true for those students who have had the good fortune of coming into personal contact with a living teacher. It is not by their physically seeing him or personally speaking to him or corresponding with him that they enter into real contact with such a teacher, but rather by finding his presence within their hearts in thought, feeling, and imagination, by responding passively to the intuition of such a presence, and by accepting the guidance of its prompting to a more spiritual existence. Thus not only is man's soul within him and must be found there, but even his living embodied teacher is within him, too, and must be found there likewise. It is not by living in the same house with a teacher that discipleship becomes a fact. It is not by sitting year after year in the same ashram with him that devotion is shown or the path is followed, but by seeking him intuitively and obeying his inward leading away from the surface of the ego to the deep centre of the soul. When this is realized, it will be realized that a distance of seven or seven thousand miles will not be long enough to separate a pupil from his master. An absence of seven years will not be enough to weaken the sense of his presence and of inner contact with him. The sooner the aspirant recognizes this truth, the quicker will he make progress.
-- Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest > Chapter 6 : Student-Teacher > # 769
