Reminiscences

A Guru Is Required Even if For Saying ‘No Guru is Required.

A disciple of Shri Maharaj was the secretary of a well-qualified industrialist. Both used to go and listen to discourses of a well-known philosopher. In one discourse the speaker said, “One has to bring about one’s own uplift. A guru is not needed here, nor is he of any use.” This had an effect on the secretary’s mind. He asked Shri Maharaj what the true situation was in regard to a Guru. Shri Maharaj said, “What the speaker says is correct. One has to speak in a way that is appropriate for the attitude and aptitude of the listeners. If one were to tell them, the style of whose lives reflects that they possess complete faith in their own abilities, that they should rely on some one else, it will not be acceptable to them. It is therefore only appropriate to tell such listeners to seek their true selves with the help of their own experience, reading, and unbiased thinking. But for a person of the common run the support from a Guru is necessary. If the listeners obeyed the speaker’s exhortation, “Do not follow a Guru”, does not the speaker get assigned the position of a Guru?”. So is it not the proof that there is no attainment of God without a Guru?