The Importance Of A Guru In Modern Spiritual Life

Among all the full moons in the year, the Ashadh Purnima is dedicated to all the Gurus of the past, present and future, also being the day Maharishi Ved Vyas took birth.

He compiled the four Vedas including 18 Puranas, Mahabharat and Srimad Bhagavad Gita, and so came to be called Ved Vyas, the one who compiled the Vedas.

Guru Purnima is the day of the devotee. It is time to review how much knowledge you have ingrained in your life and how you are growing in knowledge.

This may make you realise, that there is so much to grow and learn, which will bring humility in you. Gratitude and humility together birth a genuine prayer inside you.

Guru Bina Gati Nahin

Why is there so much emphasis on having a Guru in the Orient for thousands of years? It is because our people understand and honour the role of the lineage of enlightened masters who have preserved timeless wisdom that uplifts human minds to this day.

We honour the fact that there is no freedom, liberation, or progress in life without a Guru. A city without streets, a king without a treasury, a merchant without a business, a face without a nose, a life without wisdom and a life without a Guru is all the same.

The Role Of A Guru In Modern Life

There are two things. One is to have a Guru and another is to play the role of a Guru to someone. ‘What is the role of a Guru? What does a Guru do? Why does one need a Guru?” — all these questions come up in our minds from time to time.

Life is full of dichotomies. There is pleasure, pain, happiness, suffering, generosity, greed, passion and dispassion.

With a life filled with opposite values, we are sometimes unable to handle these complications just from the level of the mind and often break down. It is then that you need the wisdom to guide you through these challenging times.

Guru is not the body. Guru is that wisdom and light. You may have noticed you give great advice when you are not involved in a situation but the same is not true when you are in trouble.

This is because wisdom dawns when you are out of the mess. Guru is the eternal witness, the one out of the mess. He is the one who has reached the destination and so can take you to the goal.

Guru is like a circuit breaker. When you cannot handle life, your Guru comes and saves you, and helps you regain your sanity and centeredness. If a compelling desire bothers you, your Guru is there to offer solace.

You offer all your desires and pain to your Guru. The Guru is there to tell you, "Don’t worry. Let’s make it happen," if it is good for you.

Having a Guru means to be able to smile without worry or fear, to be able to walk with confidence, and to have a broader vision. And, that is wisdom.

Guru is a tattva — a quality inside you. It is not limited to a body or a form. Guru comes into your life despite your refusal. The Guru principle is so vital in life. There is an element of the Guru in every human being. That wisdom in each has to be invoked and awakened.

When this element is awakened, misery in life disappears. In our consciousness, wisdom comes to life when the Guru tattva comes to life. When we have no desires of our own, then the Guru tattva dawns in our life.

Being A Guru To Someone

But there is another aspect to being a Guru. To be a Guru is to be uninvolved yet full of love and compassion.

Usually, wherever you have love, you are involved and entangled or you don't care. But Guru is not that. Guru is content, caring, and full of compassion, at the same time, established in wisdom. Can't you play this role to others in your life?

If you have not played the role of a Guru to at least one person in your life, your life is not complete. Can you love people unconditionally without expecting anything from them?

If not, then you are missing out on something. You are missing out on the complete expression of the divinity in you. It is not that difficult to be the Guru. You give advice anyway, but you must be wise also. Wisdom is being centred and being in knowledge.

Don’t sit and wait that someday in the future this wisdom will dawn on you and then you will be a Guru to someone. No, you have to know it is there in you already. You simply have to start playing the role. Then your life finds completion.

Both aspects are needed in life. Playing a Guru, which is seva or service and having a Guru, which means experiencing total relaxation and having total unity with the Being.