Question 198: About the need for a true Guru.

Question 198: Do we need a Guru in order to realize our oneness with our Creator?

Yes, we do. A good analogy is the need for a guide to climb Mt. Everest. If the average mountain climber attempted to climb Mt. Everest on his own, he could easily get lost and bewildered by all the obstacles and difficult passages on the way to the summit.  However, the daunting climb has been accomplished by hundreds of people with guides and support teams. They prove that it can be done relatively safely with the guidance of someone who has already made it to the top.

For climbing Mt. Everest you can find certified guides who can prove that they know the way to the top by the testimony of the people they have led to the top. In order to reach the ultimate goal of realization of our oneness with the Infinite Spirit, we must find someone who has already realized his or her oneness with our Creator. Since that is an inner journey, it is not so easy to recognize or identify someone who has already attained God-realization.

We can seek out people who have followed spiritual and religious leaders and ask their opinions. We can ask, has your spiritual guide led you to know your oneness with our Creator? You can narrow your search down for a true Guru very quickly by using online resources. You can bypass all the dogmatic and doctrinaire religious leaders who have no true realization. They may have lots of followers, but they are the blind leading the blind.

True Gurus don’t have to be in embodiment now. If they have left written instructions, either directly or through disciples’ notes and testimonies, then you have a way to follow their guidance.  Jesus is a true Guru; Krishna is a true Guru; Buddha is a true Guru. However, it requires true dedication to follow their teachings. These three spiritual guides have millions of followers, yet, if we take an objective look at the results. It doesn’t look like very many of their followers have reached God-realization so far.

My personal recommendation is to read the books, lessons, and specific meditation techniques of Paramahansa Yogananda. His teachings on how to realize our oneness with Spirit are disseminated and supported by Self-Realization Fellowship. Yogananda left this realm in 1952. His organization has faithfully continued to safeguard and publish his teaching for everyone to read.

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A guru is like a live road map. If you want to walk uncharted terrain, I think it is sensible to walk with a road map. –Jaggi Vasude
If I go into the place in myself that is love, and you go into the place in yourself that is love, we are together in love. Then you and I are truly in love, the state of being love. That’s the entrance to Oneness. That’s the space I entered when I met my guru. — Ram Dass

Let no man in the world live in delusion. Without a Guru none can cross over to the other shore. –Guru Nanak

I bow at His Feet constantly, and pray to Him, the Guru, the True Guru, has shown me the Way. Guru Nanak

By the practice of meditation, you will find that you are carrying within your heart a portable paradise.” ~ Paramahansa Yogananda.