Doubts on Guru and Guru's Grace

    Spiritual realization cannot come to you as a miracle done by your Guru. Buddha, Jesus, Moses, Mohammed, Rama Tirtha have all done sadhana -spiritual practices. Krishna asks Arjuna to develop vairagya -dispassion- and abhyasa -practice. He did not say to him, "I will give you mukti -liberation- now." Therefore, abandon the wrong notion that your Guru will give you instant liberation. You have to strive, perform positive deeds, pray, meditate, and realize. The seeker should not sit idle. He must work hard in order to attain liberation. The more you practice, the more benefit for your soul. Nowadays, many people want a magic pill to push them into full realization. If you have got such delusion, give it up immediately.

    God Almighty guides you through a fully realized Guru. This spiritual master can show you the path. He can help removing your doubts and he is able to purify your soul. You must always act up to his instructions with faith, devotion and a total surrender. The Guru transmits his spiritual Light to the seeker purifying, transforming and spiritualizing him. No doubt, the Guru’s blessings or Guru’s grace is very important in your spiritual evolution, but you must keep in mind that you must deserve this blessings or grace by performing positive karma -righteous thoughts, words and actions-, and then alone his grace and blessings can do everything.

    The Guru’s grace descends upon those who feel faithful to him. Real faith is a total confidence and trust in the Guru. Faith is firm conviction of the truth of what is declared by the preceptor, by way either of testimony or authority, without any other evidence or proof. The student can imbibe or draw Light and knowledge from his teacher, in proportion to his degree of faith, devotion and surrender.

    The Guru tests the students in various ways. Some students misunderstand him and lose their faith in him. Hence they are not benefited. The Guru always knows what is the best for your soul. Christ stated: "judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." (John 7:24). By not possessing full spiritual knowledge, we will not be able to completely understand the actions of a fully realized soul. That is why you should never judge such a great soul. Always remember that it is impossible to fully understand the nature of the actions of a fully realized soul, so never judge him, or you will end up immersed into chaos and confusion. Measure not his divine nature with the inadequate yardstick of your ignorance. Criticize not your Guru’s action which is always done on universal vision. His knowledge and experience is so vast that we will not be able to fully understand him. He only knows what is good for your soul and that he will give you. Maybe you will not like it but you must always remember that what he gives or instructs you, is the best for your spiritual growth.

    Due to your ever-changing mind sometimes doubts emerge towards your Guru: "is He really helping me," "I do not feel any change within my soul," "is he really a manifestation of God," "am I imagining things about his divine nature," "why does he answer me in such a way," "he does not smile at me as frequently as he does to others," "he does not give me what I want from him," "why should I surrender to a Guru, it is an absurdity," "I have the capacity to evolve by myself," "I do not need anyone to attain spiritual liberation," etc. All these ideas should be annihilated immediately because there is a great danger that I can perceive in darshans -spiritual visions. When you lose faith in your Guru, or there is a doubt or rebelliousness towards him, then automatically the spiritual connection that you have with your spiritual master diminishes, and you tend to move away from that precious Light that strengthens and purifies your soul, losing a precious opportunity to evolve at a higher pace, then you may undoubtedly go astray without the protection of that divine Light. This process is automatic, so be very careful on this matter. Whenever wrong ideas about your Guru rise in your mind, you must immediately pray to your Guru or to the Almighty in order to extinguish these wrongful thoughts.

    Because of their ego, some become self-sufficient, arrogant, and self-assertive in these days. They do not care to carry the spiritual instructions of a Guru. They think they are in a state of super consciousness when they do not know even the A-B-C of spirituality. This is the reason why they do not grow. This is a very common mistake nowadays. Ego is the archenemy on the path of spiritual evolution.

    As I stated before, sage Agasthiar, one of the Eighteen Tamil Yoga Siddhas, declared that he had depended on his own self and vanity, and this had deprived him of the attainment of wisdom.

Next Chapter: Surrender and Devotion to a Guru

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