David Godman portrays the relationship between Ramana Maharshi and the seeker as a paradoxical use of duality whose purpose is to reveal non-duality. The outer guru–disciple connection is acknowledged as a provisional aid, yet Ramana repeatedly points beyond it, insisting that the real guru is the inner Self rather than a separate person. The teacher does not confer something new but serves to remove ignorance about what is already present, much like a mirror in which the seeker recognizes the ever-existing Self. In this light, the apparent distinction between teacher and student is ultimately meant to dissolve, revealing that both are expressions of the same indivisible reality.

Within this framework, Godman emphasizes that Ramana’s teaching functioned primarily through silence and presence rather than through elaborate verbal instruction. The guru’s silent being is described as the highest form of teaching, a kind of wordless transmission that stills the mind more effectively than discourse. The teacher’s role is likened to a catalytic presence that turns the seeker’s attention inward, allowing latent tendencies to be dried up in the fire of awareness. Yet this influence is not portrayed as a personal act of will on the guru’s part, but as an effortless radiance to which each seeker responds according to their own receptivity.

At the same time, the relationship is not presented as passive or one-sided; grace and effort are shown as complementary. The teacher makes available a transformative grace that orients the mind toward its source, but the seeker must actively cooperate through self-enquiry and surrender. Ramana’s guidance consistently directs attention back to the practice of asking “Who am I?” and to the steady turning inward of awareness, rather than to dependence on the external form of the guru. In this sense, the teacher–student relationship is framed as a disciplined collaboration in which the outer guru continually redirects the seeker to the inner guru, the Self that has always been present.