When we say we have become our own guru, we should really try to find out with our introspection, are we our guru or not? Because before this your mind was on one side and your heart was on another side and your attention was in another dimension. So these three things were creating confusion within you. If you understand a human being, then you will be surprised to see how these three things act separately in a human being.
And sometimes they fight also. First is your intellect and your mind, second is your heart, your feelings, your emotions, and the third one is your attention. In these modern times this confusion is the worst, because all the time your attention is outside. It could be towards beautiful things, or beautiful women, or beautiful men or all kinds of nonsensical way of wasting your energy.
Such attention then is absolutely like a horse which is let loose. You cannot control such an attention. And this attention runs wild from one to another. Is a fashion also. It's sort of a very popular thing to keep the attention moving all the time. But this attention that has to be towards the Divine, towards the Almighty, is just being frittered away.
Thus, attention doesn't grow its own roots. First is to find out about yourself, where does your attention go? What makes you feel like looking after or concerned or attention? You see, the attention comes from various problems, and could be your upbringing where you are not controlled, could be your education, could be your atmosphere in which you live or could be your own ego or your conditioning.
So, this attention is being attacked by all these outside energies or negative forces and it gets entangled, like a river flowing straight into the ocean can get lost in a barren place. In the same way this attention, which has to go towards the Divine, gets frittered away and is finished. This weak attention cannot take you towards the Divine. Ultimately you find that all this attention is being completely absorbed or frittered away by the nonsense that's going on. Unfortunately or fortunately you are born in these modern times, and in these modern times, as you know, it's a very chaotic condition. In these chaotic conditions you don't know what is right and what is wrong.
And there are all kinds of attractions which can take away your attention and reduce the energy of your attention. It is possible more for the people who are very right-sided. Also the left-sided people can be very much affected. Right-sided people as you know go up to a point and become extremely dry, self-opinionated and aggressive. All their attention is in aggression, while the people who are on the left side are indulging too much into their own whims and their desires and their own temptations. Both sides can fritter away your attention which is the most important, it is the most valuable thing, is your attention. But the attention cannot be controlled by a person who has a weak mind or a weak heart.Sri Mataji Nirmala Devi July 16, 1995 Guru Puja Cabella Ligure, Italy