First of all we should know why we need a spiritual master or guru and what is the meaning of guru and the meaning guru is GU means darkness of ignorance and RU means one who removes.
In today’s modern era, we have all kinds of luxuries available. Still humans are restless and wandering unsatisfied, Everyone in this world definitely has some problems. someone has business problem, some has relationships failure, poverty, health issues & disease problem etc. If someone has money, he is unhappy because of health problems. if someone has good health, then he is unhappy because of lack of money and one who has lots of money and good health, his relationship are not good. he also unhappy. Its conclusion is that problems in this world never end and they keep increasing with time, These are some types of problems whose solution we can get only by going to the spiritual master or guru.
Because a spiritual master or guru is not an ordinary human being, he is a divine person. He is very scholar from spiritual point of view because he has reached the ultimate limit of truth or siddhi. And he have special blessings from their spiritual master or guru. Just as an elevator or a lift is required to reach the top floor of the skyscraper building. Similarly, to reach the top floor of the building of salvation, we need the help of the spiritual master or guru.
And in Bhagwat Geeta whose guru is lord Krishna himself. In chapter 8, verse-15, Lord Krishna says that this materialistic world is full of misery and suffering.
–“mamupetya punar janma dukhalayam ashashvatam/
napnuvanti mahatmanah sansiddhim paramam gatah//
(translation- After attaining me, the great souls, who are yogis in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have
attained the highest perfection)
Even according to the scriptures like shankhya yoga, panchratra, and vedas, it is said that it is rare to attain salvation without a spiritual master or guru and without a spiritual master or guru there is no knowledge and without knowledge how can one attain salvation?
then how can we be liberated from this world full of misery and sufferings?
We should go to the spiritual master in search of that knowledge which can liberate us from this world full of misery and sufferings. Because liberation means becoming completely peaceful and i think everyone has the right to this peaceful state and only spiritual master or guru can take us to this state. Because he himself has attained this state.
The qualities of spiritual guru or master
According to the scriptures, we should first look for some special qualities in the person we want to make our spiritual guru or master, because a spiritual guru or master becomes the main means to take us to the door of salvation. One who faithfully follows the rules of all the scriptures (Yama-niyama). And he applies the knowledge of all the scriptures in his behavior or conduct and lives his life accordingly. He truly deserves to be called a guru.
For example, bob’s mother takes her son to a saint to get rid of his bad habit of smoking and prays to the saint and narrates all her sorrows. The saint asks bob’s mother to come after a week, after a week passes, bob’s mother again comes to the saint. the saint says that before your son got rid of his bad habit, I also had the same bad habit of smoking, and it took me a week to quit it. Unless the spiritual guru or master himself follows the principles of the scriptures in his life, then how can he give knowledge or advice to anyone?
For thousands of years, India has provided the world with enlightened spiritual masters like-Adi shankracharya, Ramanujacharya, Madhavacharya,
Guru gorakhnath, Ramkrishna, Swami vivekanand, Swami yoganand etc.
India has advanced in this field. The lives of all the sages, saints, maharishis and gurus here have been divine, who has kept their disciples with them and given them love and spiritual knowledge like a son. This spiritual knowledge has been passed down through the tradition of spiritual master and disciple.
But in today’s modern era, people’s faith in the tradition of spiritual master and disciple seems to be decreasing. And there can be two main reasons behind this.
- Attacks by external rulers in India in the last few centuries.
- The trust of the society has also diminished due to some such fake saints& gurus and their scams or misdeeds.
- for example, if one baseball player does not perform well or gets caught in a scam, we cannot blame the entire baseball team or game. And i believe that even today both genuine spiritual masters and genuine disciples are present.
The spiritual master or guru who has these 7 qualities is the Best.
- The spiritual master who has enlightenment.
- The spiritual master who has conquered sexual desires.
- The spiritual master whose nature is always calm and polite.
- The spiritual master has steady mind & emotions in any situation.
- The spiritual master should be a master of his spiritual field.
- The spiritual master should have complete dedication and devotion towards his favorite deity.
- The spiritual master should reconnect the people with deity through his knowledge and teachings.
How to find a spiritual guru or master
Okay,if we are searching for a genuine spiritual guru or master,then we do not need to climb the himalayas in search of a genuine spiritual guru.When we are in search of a spiritual guru,we have to abandon our materialistic point of view.Because even though Guru may be around you,and you are not able to see him,Guru is always a divine person.But when we look at the guru from a materialistic point of view,we see him as an ordinary human being.Due to materialistic point of view,you may find many imperfections in the spiritual guru. But from a spiritual point of view he can be an enlightened being.
And if you have true faith in finding a spiritual master or guru and you have devotion in the tradition of guru and disciple, then you will definitely find a genuine spiritual guru. whatever spiritual path you want to follow, you will definitely find a guru by the grace of your cherish deity. Your favorite deity is always see and hear you.
If you do not have any connection with any spiritual guru, nor do you have any favorite deity, You can still search for a guru.
- You can find your spiritual guru by joining any ashram or organization near you.
- In today’s modern and technological world, you can take the help of internet to find a spiritual guru.
- In search of a spiritual guru, you can join different traditions of guru and disciple and read their related books, lectures, and blogs etc.
- The spiritual guru or master are also available due to the deeds of your previous births and if you have dedication and faith towards guru then you will definitely get spiritual guru in this birth.
- In your search for a spiritual guru, when you meet different spiritual gurus, then you can test them according to the 7 qualities mentioned above. Because a genuine spiritual guru also tests his disciple, there is no sin in this.