Gurus are the fairest flowers of mankind,
they are the oceans of mercy without any motive
—Swami
Vivekananda
Why do we need a Guru? What does a Guru do?
We are ignorant and ignorance is a curse.
The Guru removes ignorance and grants knowledge. He makes us realise the power
of knowledge and the use of knowledge.
Is there only one Guru one has in life?
- Have
we ever asked ourselves why we read a newspaper? We do so because we want to
know what is happening – –to gain knowledge about what is happening in the
world around us. In that sense, is the newspaper a Guru?
- Again,
whilst being educated in school or college, we are taught by several teachers
and each teacher teaches us a different subject. Are all these teachers our
Gurus?
- When
we join a business or profession we have a mentor(s) who teaches us how to act.
Are these mentors our Gurus?
- Again,
every book we read and gather and absorb some thoughts from, in that sense – is
the author our Guru?
The answer to all these is in the
affirmative. Hence, in my view one has several Gurus and each one contributes
to removing our ignorance or adds to our knowledge.
I have personally learnt from my seniors, my
peers and my juniors. They were big contributors to my knowledge.
Mistakes made by juniors and others made me think how to deal with the mistakes
and their suggestions added to my knowledge. Both thinking and knowledge remove
ignorance.
Who needs a Guru?
The answer is, everyone – let us not
forget mother is the first Guru – she brings awareness in the child.
Napoleon says ‘The first university is the mother’s cradle’. Let us remember
that even realised souls need a Guru.
A few examples:
- Adi
Shankaracharya, an evolved soul, searched for a Guru and when Govindacharya
asked ‘Who are you?’ he recited the Nirvan Shatakam – so a person who
had realised and was aware of the nature of self still needed a Guru to
complete his journey.
- Paramhans
Ramakrishna, who is said to have had the darshan of Mother Kali and is said to
have exhibited in his body Buddha, Krishna, Christ and Mohammed, realised the
ultimate only when he met Totapuri.
- Arjun,
when in a quandary in the Mahabharata, sought Krishna as Guru.
Ramana Maharishi says ‘Even a Guru is
ever a disciple’.
What does a Guru do!
Guru empties the seeker’s mind by removing
irrelevant thoughts and guiding him with knowledge of self and God.
He is a friend, a brother and burden bearer and shows the way. Guru is an
anchor. He is a man of peace. Guru guides the seeker to a higher state of
being.
Sadhguru Jaggi rightly says: ‘Guru is not
a crutch but a bridge’.
By God’s grace a moment comes when we ask
ourselves a simple question:
What is the purpose of life? And we seek
a mentor – we seek wisdom.
Blessed is the person who meets such a
person. My Guru’s teaching is simple ‘See God in yourself and everyone and
serve other human beings as you serve yourself. Service without expectation’.
However, there are mentors – Gurus – who go
beyond this simple spiritual teaching and who guide us even in
non-spiritual issues – the mundane demands of life. In my view one needs such a
Guru – one who guides not only when one is alive but also beyond this life. I
would conclude by quoting Osho:
‘The
more you become surrendered to the Guru,
the
more you feel that you have freedom
you never had before.’
In short we have two genres of guides –
teachers who mentor us on ‘how to live – knowledge of life’ – and Gurus
who bestow on us the wisdom of life and death.
Blessed are
those who have only one Guru who does both.
