How is the Guru found?

ராதே கிருஷ்ணா 24-03-2013

D: How is the Guru found?

M: God, who is immanent, in His grace takes pity on

the loving devotee and manifests Himself according

to the devotee’s development. The devotee thinks

that He is a man and expects a relationship as

between two physical bodies. But the Guru, who is

God or the Self incarnate, works from within, helps

the man to see the error of his ways and guides him

in the right path until he realises the Self within.

D: What should the devotee do then?

M: He has only to act up to the words of the Master

and work within. The Master is both ‘within’ and

‘without’, so He creates conditions to drive you

inward and at the same time prepares the ‘interior’

to drag you to the Centre. Thus He gives a push

from ‘without’ and exerts a pull from ‘within’, so

that you may be fixed at the Centre.

You think that the world can be conquered by your own

efforts. When you are frustrated externally and are

driven inwards, you feel ‘Oh! there is a Power higher

than man!’

The ego is like a very powerful elephant which cannot be

brought under control by any less powerful than a

lion, which, in this instance, is no other than the

Guru, whose very look makes the elephant-like ego

tremble and die.

You will know in due course that your glory lies where

you cease to exist. In order to gain that state, you

should surrender yourself. Then the Master sees that

you are in a fit state to receive guidance, and He

guides you.

D: How can the silence of the Guru, who gives no

initiation nor does any other tangible act, be more

powerful than His word etc.? How is such silence

better than the study of scriptures?

M: Silence is the most potent form of work. However

vast and emphatic the scriptures may be, they fail in

their effect. The Guru is quiet and Grace prevails in

all. This silence is more vast and more emphatic

than all the scriptures put together.


D: But can the devotee obtain happiness?

M: The devotee surrenders himself to the Master and it

means that there is no vestige of individuality retained

by him. If the surrender is complete, all sense of self

is lost, and then there can be no misery or sorrow.

The eternal Being is nothing but happiness. That comes

as a revelation.

From Maharshi’s Gospel