Karibkween,

I’ll respond to this part of your post.

You said: “For sometime now I have been craving the experience of a sustained level of consciousness, which so far I have only read of in books.
I know such a state is attainable, much like I know that our ancestors exist alongside us in a different dimension.
I know these things because I have been granted glimpses. These experiences are so poignant that they are not eclipsed by years and each is remembered with the utmost clarity.
My inability to sustain such levels has lately convinced me that what I lacked was a teacher and for the past two years I have been seriously contemplating abandoning my responsibilities for a sojourn to the East in search of a Guru, hence my interest in your post.”

*** For a person to attain, and eventually sustain a high level of consciousness, they DO need the help of one/s already conscious and stable. So if you feel you can get that from someone in the East then you should go there.

It takes tremendous self-control to lift someone.

The initial part is getting to feel/experience your personal self and the higher self. Once you have felt yourself lifted, then you would know that you are dealing with someone who can take you far. It is up to you to ask for this kind of help from who you feel can do it.

Once this lifting starts taking place it affects different people in different ways. This essential energy empowers the underdeveloped selves that draws close, and quickens it to go in its own direction. In other words, if a person has good motivations, engages good reasoning and acts on it, he/she will have very blissful experiences. Conversely, if a person has bad motivations he/she can experience the negative effects of their poor standing. Both directions serve the interest of the Self. Once this energy is engaged the battle between one’s personal self and one’s material and emotional attachments intensifies. This point is called the crossroad. If one struggles and moves to greater understanding, one experiences the stripping from lesser attachments.

Taking on someone as a student is no simple matter as in this exercise, the teacher pays for the poor conduct of the student if the teacher gives the student insufficient/wrong advice/guidance, and if the student acts in poor character. So it is also in the interest of someone who is so connected to try to ensure that those who seek help are working on improving their character. This way, the teacher does not have to ‘suffer’ as a result of their students’ poor actions.

Ensure that this is what you really want, and then ask.