The Guru- 1
May 23, 2024
Many people say that they don’t want to have an intermediary between them and the Divine and they are not wrong. When a person is confident to walk on a spiritual path all alone, it is perfectly fine as Mother Nature Herself becomes the guru to them and each one of us decides our own path to Truth; but there is another point to be noted. Suppose you want to learn some subject. You can either refer to all good books that are there or you can hire a good teacher for a better grasp. A teacher won’t get into your head but will make your learning process easier by directing you to books and exercises that will benefit you and will also point out the instances when you deter away from the main goal. This was an example of education system where we approach a “shikshak” to teach us something. Here, we expect an intermediary (a teacher) to transfer knowledge to us and make us capable of reaching our material goal.
Similarly, a genuine guru or spiritual mentor becomes that path for us who guides up to our own spiritual destination which can be peace, tranquility, nirvana, darshan of ishta (main deity), feeling oneness with Divine etc.
The sorry state of affairs in the present-day world (21st century) is that this land is replete with fake gurus. People who haven’t worked enough on their own selves, people full of lust, ego and hunger for power have successfully placed themselves in the highest altar in the minds of the general masses. This has caused a great confusion about dharma, a distinct distrust and an underlying hate for all who are called gurus and spiritual mentors, including the real ones who comprise of maybe just 2% among them all.
A seeker or a spiritual aspirant who wants to be guided by someone should always look out for a genuine guru or a mentor and I found my guru in Sri Devi Om.
Guru- the word
A teacher in Sanskrit is called a shikshak, somebody who imparts information to the student regarding something in return of some fee. On the other hand, a Guru is much more than just giving out information to the disciple or a student for free or with a little fee.
Let us look at the meaning of the word guru in Sanskrit-
‘Gu’- means ignorance
‘Ru’- means the remover
Hence, collectively, guru means someone who removes our ignorance.
The ignorance can be of plenty. For some, ego is the major roadblock, for some, anger, for some, it’s a mix of many things etc. So, guru is the person who herself/himself has removed the ignorance from the self, realized her/his own spiritual goal and like a candle is now with us to help us light ours! A real guru becomes the path to our own liberation, She/He becomes the living Divine grace who guides us and I will bow my head down to the feet of such a person, my guru!
Oh, my Guru!
At Your holy feet will I reside
Cuz I am a mere dirt
At the mercy of your acceptance!
Jay Maa!
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Read the next part here- The Guru- 2
