radams@cerritos.edu (06/07/91)
There has been a tendency of some of the posters to this newsgroup to
proselytize or subltly imply that their guru is the most highly evolved
being around or simply "MY GURU IS BETTER THAN YOUR GURU naa naa naa
naa naa!!!" or at least that their guru is more evolved than anyone else's.
I think this is absolute nonsense and I think we should stay away from
this kind of self-serving or guru-serving combativeness and proselytizing.
But I _would_ like to make the point that a Guru is necessary on the spiritual
path. We need to get rid of the disturbances to our Being the Self - ie.
get rid of the delusions that prevent us from Being who we already are - the
Self. If you need to learn anything else, you go to a teacher who has already
mastered the subject or at least knows more than you, but when you decide
you want to be enlightened or self-realized (whatever), you say that you
don't need any help even though getting rid of all this delusion, which is
like a mudball covering up the diamond inside or Self, appears to be much
more difficult than the other tasks we routinely go to teachers for.
Even Sri Ramana Maharshi, who is said to not have had a guru, said that
a guru is necessary. When he was questioned about the seeming contradiction
between him not having had a guru and his saying that a guru is necessary,
he said that he did indeed have a guru but this guru was not in the ordinary
physical form that most of us would expect. One many occasions he said
that the mountain that he found enlightenment on was his Guru! At any rate,
he said that the Guru in physical form is none other than your own Self
projecting itSelf outside of your self to try to direct you inward to find
the Source of that Guru which is your own Self. As long as we are in delusion,
we need the Self to project itSelf outside of us as God and Guru etc. until
we are ready to discover the ultimate truth (this is what Ramana Maharshi
taught even though he was most known for being a non-dualist). I would
like to also mention that Ramana Maharshi mentioned Two paths to enlightenment:
either surrender completely to God which includes surrendering your ego or
sense of separateness from God (thus surrendering you are non other than
God or Self) or inquire as to who is in need of enlightenment and trace
this source of 'I'ness back to its Source since when you look for the basis
or support for this ego, you find its nonexistent and what remains is the
pure Self. I mention Ramana Maharshi because he has been said not to have
had a guru and also is known for his non-dualist teachings and yet even
he said the guru was necessary (thus making my point easier to make).
But since in modern times when there seems to be alot more people
who are on the spiritual path but not enough gurus to go around, then
it appears to not be possible to have a physical guru by oursides in
most cases. Yogananda often said somewhat facetiously that "there are
many sinners and few saints" so he came up with the idea of letting the
teachings of a realized master be the Guru, and organizing these teachings
in a format that allows gradual for gradual exposure to liberating techniques
of meditation. It appears that other organizations such as Sri Aurobindo's,
Ramana Maharshi's, and Swami Sivananda's have also served spiritual seekers
in a similar manner by preserving the teachings in their original form
available for all to study.
Roger Adams
radams@cerritos.edu To those in whom love dwells,
Cerritos College the whole world is one family.
11110 Alondra Blvd A Hindu Proverb
Norwalk, California 90650
USA
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