Importance of A Guru
Om Namo Narayan
What if children were told to educate themselves in modern sciences without any teacher or any access to prior knowledge gained over centuries? What if we had to reinvent the wheel in every walk of life, without having access to knowledge that was already available from authorities in the field? If this were the case, we would spend a lifetime trying to educate ourselves without making much headway or perhaps even going down a wrong path.
In the same way, a guide is very much required in our spiritual journey too. It stands to reason that a guide in any field needs to be an authority in that particular field. According to Spiritual science a person who is an authority in the field of Spirituality is known as a Guru.
There is a saying that in the kingdom of the blind the seeing man is king. With a highly activated sixth sense, He is the totally ‘seeing’ person in the kingdom of the spiritually blind and ignorant. He is someone, who has already walked the spiritual road under the guidance of his Spiritual Guide and has access to the Universal Mind and Intellect. In this article, we will explain who can be considered a Spiritual Guide or a Guru and His characteristics.
The Need for A Guru
When Lord Narayan was in the midst of creating universe, Goddess Laxmi ,His consort was very upset. Lord Narayan saw this and asked her what the reason was. To this She replied that Lord Narayan was creating the universe in which He would create human beings and the Karma Department, which would be totally independent of anything. Due to the Karma theory, mankind would only suffer due to their own doings,as Karma is totally an independent theory.
No God or Demi God influences what a human being wants to do and all this would lead to misery and unlimited sorrow and sadness. Since humans are no one else but the children of Lord Narayan/Goddess Laxmi it was all but obvious that a mother would cry if she sees her children in misery. So She wanted the Lord to create some method, which could end the misery of mankind. To this Lord Narayan created the following method:
He said that any human being,no matter whatever bad karma he has done earlier in this birth as well as his previous births — once he accepts a spiritual leader or Guruji (in the disciple succession of guru Parampara), takes naam daan from the Guru and surrenders himself totally to his Guru(Sharnagati) — this person’s sin would be forgiven and forgotten and he would be on the path to Moksha (oneness with the Supreme Lord)
It is very funny that if someone wants to learn music, they look for a good music teacher.if someone wants to learn tennis he looks for a good tennis coach, but when it comes to spiritual life it is basic human nature that he thinks he is good enough on his own and does not need a teacher in this field.
We see around that everything needs a teacher so how on earth we enter the spiritual world without a teacher.That’s why a spiritual teacher or Guru is so important. The scriptures also say that a Guru is not only important, but is essential which means that there is no choice, if one wants to head towards self realization, then one has to have a Guru and there is no allowance to this rule
LAXMINATH SAMARAMBHA
NATHYA MUNI MADYAMAH
ASMADACHARYA PARYANTA
VANDE GURU PARAMPARA
Lord Krishna himself tells Arjuna that if you want to approach me then approach me through a teacher who himself is self realized and who knows who I am so that He can guide you successfully through this spiritual world and make you one with Me.
Our own Guruji says to have a Guru is so important in life. He further says that we feel Guru Nanikji was himself a Guru so He may not have needed another Guru,but dear friends even Lord Rama ,Lord Krishna everyone needed a Guru to sail across life cycle.
In the Purana we can get the gyan of our Gurus. Guru Nanikji in His Granth starts saluting His past Gurus including Pandit Hardayal Shastri and Bjakt Renu.
Lord Rama had Vashisht Muni as his spiritual teacher and Lord Krishna’s spiritual teacher was Sandipan Muni. So who are we to go through the spiritual world without a teacher or Guru.
To sum it all as Kabirdasji wrote:-
"Ram Krishna se koi bade,jinhone Guru kinh, teen lok taran tarn Guru aage aadheen."
Function of a Guru
The Guru function is mainly a spiritual one. A true Guru never claims to own or originate the spirit of higher consciousness which he conveys. He considers himself only an "instrument" of love and light. As his life has been immeasurably helped and uplifted by the Lord of his heart, he willingly conveys higher consciousness and awareness of the Lord to a worthy initiate.
