The Guru: the Guide for the Spiritual Practice and Realisation

There is one subject that leads to tremendous confusion on the part of a spiritual seeker, particularly in the modern world where there is such an emphasis on individuality, and mental development and a strong emphasis on independence and self-reliance. That is the topic of the “guru”. The term as used in the original Sanskrit is translated with a wide range of meanings, and can represent a teacher of a specific subject, or a spiritual guide to aid a spiritual seeker in both achieving spiritual realisations, and navigating through the confusion of the potential diversions, distortions, confusions, and mistakes that occur as the seeker leaves the safe harborage of the external physical, vital and mental life behind.

In order to overcome the potential obstacles, it is stated that the disciple must surrender to the Guru. This gets particularly confusing to Westerners who have no cultural history to understand and evaluate the Guru/Shisya relationship. This has allowed a certain amount of abuse and manipulation to occur as Westerners became more exposed to teachers from the East. The surrender called for is the giving up of the mental preconceptions and vital demands so that a true evolutionary change of consciousness can occur.

There are numerous historical tales of famous Guru/Disciple relationships. Sri Krishna and Arjuna gave us the Bhagavad Gita. Ramakrishna and Vivekananda led to a revival of the strength and vibrancy, in the modern day, of the Hindu Dharma breaking out of the chains imposed by the Western colonizers of India. Paramahansa Yogananda recounts in his Autobiography of a Yogi his life-long relation with his Guru and the inner spiritual relations that occurred through that confluence. One of the most famous recountings is that of the relationship between the great yogi Milarepa and his guru Marpa. In each case, we can see the difficulties involved in trying to understand, judge and attain a correct and effective relationship between the Guru and the disciple.

The role of the Guru is to first and foremost, create the spiritual atmosphere that opens up the realms of spiritual experience for the prepared seeker in a profound way. The Mahayana tradition of Tibetan Buddhism calls this the granting of “gift waves” of psychic energy. The second major role is to act as a guide to whom the seeker can come with his experiences, his thoughts, feelings, emotions, perceptions and gain through the interaction insight into his spiritual status and how to avoid the inevitable obstacles, attacks or misdirections that can take place as the seeker leaves behind the comfortable and ‘normal’ modes of thought and action to take up the spiritual quest and the evolutionary development to an entirely new mode of consciousness.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “No, surrender to the Divine and surrender to the Guru are not the same thing. In surrendering to the Guru, it is to the Divine in him that one surrenders — if it were only to a human entity, it would be ineffective. But it is the consciousness of the Divine Presence that makes the Guru a real Guru, so that even if the disciple surrenders to him thinking of the human being to whom he surrenders, that Presence will still make it effective.”

“The Guru is the Guide in the yoga. When the Divine is accepted as the Guide, He is accepted as the Guru.”

“One can have a Guru inferior in spiritual capacity (to oneself or to other Gurus) carrying in him many human imperfections and yet, if you have the faith, the bhakti, the right spiritual stuff, you can contact the Divine through him, attain to spiritual experiences, to spiritual realisation, even before the Guru himself. Mark the “If”, for that proviso is necessary; it is not every disciple who can do that with every Guru. From a humbug you can acquire nothing but his humbuggery. The Guru must have something in him which makes the contact with the Divine possible, something which works even if he is not in his outer mind quite conscious of its action. If there is nothing at all spiritual in him, he is not a Guru, only a pseudo. Undoubtedly, there can be considerable differences of spiritual realisation between one Guru and another; but much depends on the inner relation between Guru and sisya. One can go to a very great spiritual man and get nothing or only a little from him; one can go to a man of less spiritual capacity and get all he has to give — and more. the causes of this disparity are various and subtle; I need not expand on them here. It differs with each man. I believe the Guru is always ready to give what can be given, if the disciple can receive, or it may be, when he is ready to receive. If he refuses to receive or behaves inwardly or outwardly in such a way as to make reception impossible or if he is not sincere or takes up the wrong attitude, then things become difficult. But if one is sincere and faithful and has the right attitude and if the Guru is a true Guru, then, after whatever time, it will come.”

Sri Aurobindo, Integral Yoga: Sri Aurobindo’s Teaching and Method of Practice, Chapter 12, Other Aspects of Sri Aurobindo’s Teaching and Method of Practice, The Guru, pp. 350-352