Guru or Spiritual Master

 

A Guru by definition must to be enlightened, else he/she is an acharya Meaning just preaches from the books.

A Guru is capable of "designing" a specific path for a disciple based on his/her tattvas and gunas. And there is a very specific method to evaluate the Guru based on 

1. Shastra Pramana;
   
2. Apta Pramana;
   
3. Atma Pramana
   
4. Shakshi Pramana
   

Shrutis Says — "He who knows the secrets of Vedas", not bookworms, not grammarians, not Pandits but he who knows the inner meanings - An ass laden with a load of sandalwood knows only the weight of the wood, but not its precious qualities";

Guru, — "Who has himself crossed this terrible ocean of life, and without any idea of gain to himself, helps others also to cross the ocean."

A self Assumed Guru— "Themselves steeped into darkness, but in the pride of their hearts, thinking they know everything, the fools want to help others, and they go round and round in many crooked ways, staggering to and fro, and thus like the blind leading the blind, both fall into the ditch." Thus say the Vedas.

We have many interpretations, opinions, expectations and personal experiences of it. Most of the time our opinion and faith matters in choosing a person as a guru. Either by birth or by religion you were told this is your God and this is your truth. Without knowing whether it is true or not we die to defend it. The Real Existence of Truth lies somewhere.

Dont be bogged down by the opinions and recommendations of the world. You don’t need a guru. YOU ARE THAT GURU. You are the one who is crossing the ocean of life with expectations and betrayals. Lessons learned. Working hard in all aspects of life to attain the Brahmmandam.  The burning Quest as your Guru will help you to go to deep sleep state. There the Truth is revealed. By surrendering to Vishnu and accepting him as your guru, he will lead you to enlightenment. Every step of the like Arjuna he will guide you.

“Satguru” – The guru of the highest order

Purely from the spiritual point of view, worldly knowledge is considered a lower level of knowledge and even such a “lower” knowledge requires teachers to make students comprehend the subjects clearly. Obviously, the ultimate spiritual knowledge, which is the very goal of life to be attained, requires qualified spiritual masters to teach and guide the earnest spiritual seekers.

Ideally, only a God-realized (or self-realized) soul, who is truly a knower by personal experience, could be the perfect guru. Such a guru is called a “Satguru.” A Satguru is none other than God himself descended in human form or a human who has attained the highest level of spiritual knowledge – who has “obtained” the divine authority to transmit his knowledge to the earnest seekers who surrender to him. According to Sri Ramakrishna, a great religious master, a Satguru is like a huge steamer that can safely carry a lot of people across a turbulent river.

Hinduism advocates the concept of “Avatar” – God descending to earth in human form from time to time to establish righteousness in the world, to satisfy the longing of earnest worshipers and to provide appropriate spiritual guidance to people in a way most suited to the period and circumstances of the descent.

The Avatar and his immediate and handpicked lieutenants who fully imbibe his teachings, who are empowered to carry forward his teachings function as Satgurus. However, it need not be interpreted to mean that Satgurus are always associated with the arrival of avatars.

A Satguru bears the burden of a disciple

Unlike a guru whose responsibility ends with initiating the disciple in the religious path, a Satguru bears the responsibility of the disciple who surrenders to him wholeheartedly. It is said that at the time of giving Diksha, a Satguru transmits a small portion of his vital energy (“Prana”) into the disciple. It is also said that the Satguru absorbs the accumulated karmas (good and bad effects of the disciples’ actions in the past) and makes him a “clean slate” to start his religious quest with full vigor. While the need for “self-effort” to be done by the disciple to attain the ultimate goal can’t be wished away, the Satguru makes the path much easier for the disciple to tread, by removing the obstacles coming out of his past deeds.

It is also said that a Satguru never forsakes his disciple, even if he tends to slacken his spiritual efforts or gets distracted away from his ideal; Satguru’s watchful eyes are always on him to goad him back to his track at the appropriate time.