Guru Purnima, 2023

Happy Guru Purnima to all.

On this Guru Purnima, I will try to respond to couple of important questions regarding the Concept of Guru. Here, they are –

1. Is it necessary to have a Living Guru?

Response – What is necessary is honesty of Disciple. If Disciple is honest then even a Guru from Spirit World can help him but if Disciple is not honest then even a whole team of Gurus cannot help him.

Let’s understand this –

There are three ways by which a person can have his Spiritual Evolution. These are;

Through Self Efforts

Through Scriptures.

Through Guru.

Let’s understand every way one after the other –

Through Self Efforts – So, if a person is honest with his own efforts for his spiritual evolution; i.e. Meditation, Yoga or any other Spiritual Pursuit, then there is no need of any Scripture or Guru in life. This can be the rarest of rare case but it is still possible. That’s why; Gurus like Jiddu Krishnamurti kept on repeating for 40+ years that there is no need of any Guru.

But the problem is that for majority of us, we need a Guru like Jiddu Krishnamurti to even know this much that there is no need of any Guru. Even this much is not our own realization. We are dependent on someone else to tell us even this. This is why; this path is available but for the rarest of rare person who is brutally honest with himself and doesn’t let his mind play any trick upon him during following his spiritual pursuits. On his own, he can choose the rightest of meditation techniques for himself, doesn’t matter how tough they are and can follow them without any mistake or lapse.

So, this path is also available but we should be brutally honest with ourselves.

Through Scriptures – Now, if we cannot be that honest with Self then 2nd option is through Scriptures. Then we should find right Scriptures for our spiritual growth and follow the methods or ways stated in those Scriptures religiously without any fail. For example, Bhagwad Geeta is not only to read it but also to apply its concept in life. Anyone can read all Holy Scriptures but it matters only when you adapt or implement words of Scriptures in our life.

But again, the biggest obstacle is human mind. Our mind can interpret Scriptures only at our own level. This is why I feel that if someone is trying to interpret or translate Parashara Hora Shastra then he must be at the same level of consciousness as Sage Parashara was. Anyone at lower level of consciousness level will do great injustice to Parashara Hora Shastra.

In India, we have recently seen the same result when some people tried to make a movie on Epic Ramayana. Such things are bound to happen if interpreter or translator is not at the same consciousness level of the original author.

But again, mind plays the trick here as please understand that human mind doesn’t want to lose its comfort zone. Now, if this type of Mind reads any Holy Scripture then it will settle to the easiest and most convenient interpretation of Scriptures, so that it doesn’t have to put any extra effort for Spiritual Process.

Again, if person is brutally honest with himself then he will take the toughest interpretation of Scriptures and then apply them into his life. So again, what is necessary is brutal honesty of individual.

Through Guru – And this is why the need of Living Guru in life because most of us are not brutally honest with ourselves. We can be super honest when those ideals are applied on others but when same rules are applied on Self then it is troublesome. This is why; we need a Living Guru because we can misinterpret a Scripture as per our wishes but we cannot misinterpret a Living Guru. He will correct us then and there, if He is really a Guru. He won’t allow our interpretations or meanings to Scriptures or to his Teachings. He will force us to follow his interpretation. This is why; it is difficult or even dangerous (to the Ego) to accept some living person as Guru because He can order you anything tomorrow and you are not supposed to say No to Him.

But this is also where disciple’s honesty is most important. Suppose a Guru tells his disciple to do a particular Meditation technique for 5 days for 30 mins/day. Disciple agrees but then doesn’t do it. What Living Guru can do? Even if He comes to know that disciple hasn’t followed His advice but even then what Guru can do?

This is why; I said that disciple’s honesty is most important. If a disciple is honest then he can evolve through Self Efforts or through Scriptures or through Living Guru or Guru in Spirit World. But if disciple is not honest then even Living Guru cannot do much. So, we should reflect back and see if we are honest or not rather than checking if Living Guru is more effective or not.

2. Real Guru + Real Disciple and Fake Guru + Fake Disciple – Believe it or not, this combination always takes place where Real Guru and Real Disciple find each other & Fake Guru and Fake Disciple find each other, sooner or later in life. This may take some more or less time in individual cases but this is what happens. So please don’t worry, if you are a Real Disciple then sooner or later you will find a Real Guru. Vice-versa is also true that if you feel that a Fake Guru has come into your life then maybe you yourself were fake or false at that time.

Understand how this combination takes place –

a. Suppose I am a Fake Guru and you are a Real Disciple. In this case, you will be after my life to tell you the methods, ways, tricks and techniques which can help you in your spiritual evolution. Now, as I am fake, I won’t have enough methods with me. So, I may make some excuses for a few days and when I see that you are after my life then I will simply run-away from you and settle down with disciples who are as fake as I am; i.e. neither they are concerned about any method nor I am concerned.

b. Now, suppose I am a Real Guru and you are a Fake Disciple. Now, the whole situation will take place in reverse order where I will be after your life and would be telling you to do this or do that for your spiritual evolution. Now, in this case, as you are fake disciple, you will be least concerned in doing anything. You are only there for a good time pass or having a chill time. So, you won’t like me giving you all the instructions. So here, you will run-away from me and settle down with Guru who is as fake as you are; i.e. neither He is concerned about any evolution nor you are.

This is why; this combination always takes place where Real Guru and Real Disciple find each other & Fake Guru and Fake Disciple find each other, sooner or later in life.

Osho says that if there is such a huge crowd of Gurus in this world then it is just because of laziness of disciples. If disciples start asking these Gurus methods and techniques, start performing them and start questioning them after performing methods then this crowd will be dispersed.

Happy Guru Purnima to all.

Hope this helps. Thanks,