Do we need a living Guru, or is it sufficient to read books and pray to previous saints?

Question

pi joe, i know what i am asking thank u tho :-)

triskalon what great wisdom u have right on!

Jane, yes we need interaction with people, and we learn from many people.
by books i mean scriptures...

poorna your answer is great, you touch on many important points

sweetbreeze, WOW!! that little music video was excellent!!! Did you make that yourself?? the ending was fabulous!! what a catchy song, great lyrics and the pictures were very very beautiful. loved it

ammas child, you are right in your answer as well. God is controlled by love, and the pure sad guru has infinite love.
it is said that if one offends the Lord, you can dissolve the sin by taking the lords name, but if you offend the Lords devotee, nothing and noone can save you, (except ofcourse the pure devotee him or herself)

Aum, I was waiting for someone to bring up this point. there are a few who do not have guru, in the least physically, but generally, these rare souls are few and far between. thankyou aum for enlightening answer.

Muthu, for some rare people a guru is not needed, but for the ordinary folks who are full of anarthas, its necessary. if we took it all in our hands, how would weknow what is divine and what is from our previous samskars of material existence? like aum said, we are like dirty light bulbs, and until were clean, how can we know what is what?

exciting! I wonder what Aradhana has in store for us! :-)

Aradhana, your Guru bhakti is like a mountain!! you are like ananta sesa speaking the glories of Vishnu with thousands of heads lol.. very admirable..
I have understood that Guru brahma means= Guru is like brahma because he gives us a new life (diksha) guru vishnu he is like Vishnu maintaining our faith and devotion, guru Mahesh, he is like Mahesh, destroying our anarthas. and guru gives para brahma to us and presides over it.
It is ok for anyone to say that Guru is God, because we must have this kind of veneration for Guru, exactly like God or more- like you have said.
but if a "guru" tries to do rasa lila, and take the visaya position of Bhagavan, he is bogus... guru is asraya bhagavan... never visay. this is the specialized difference. Everything you have said is beautiful. you are very zealous!

nagaranjan, Yes we should always pray for a guru in case we don't have one. I have always trusted Srila Prabhupad, so he is who i prayed to before i met my Gurudev

sudarshan, yes important that Guru is bona fide. You give some good advice. but I am not talking in particular of a material guru (family councilor etc., can fill that in), but a spiritual guru.

ssrvj, i don't really understand all that you've said... but it seems this may fall under kulguru.


alok, very very good point.. perfect example.

ambika, good advice, and everyone to their path.. nice.

mata, how true! we should always be under the guidance of a guru, even if your present guru has left this world we need to take a shiksha guru. we need help from these Godly personalities.

I heard a beautiful thing... that prayers and books the Guru or saint is there, its true, but in a passive form. Guru in the physical form we can ask questions to, and we can get rebuked, and corrected by a guru now. we also can see their wonderful example.

What should I do? there are so many good answers here. All have shown beautiful sentiments, and have glorified Guru so much!

I just now read the edits on the answers.
I agree with amma and want to add that Krsna says inGita that that person that calls himself mydevotee, may not be, but that person that calls himself the devotee of my devotee, is certainly my devotee.

Aradhana, I did not mean to say that Guru has no lila...Guru has many, amazing and wonderful lilas..Truly!!! I am only reffering to the rasa lila of Krsna. There is one story of a bogus man named bhisakisen. he called himself God, an incarnation of Visnu, he performed many miracles, healed people etc., and had many followers. He called all ladies to perform rasa lila onthe full moon nights, and polutted many women, married or not...
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur showed him for who he really was.

Answer 1

Books will help to some extend. It will help you to find a suitable guru.

But you need a living guru to show you the path.

Even a dead enlightened guru will not be useful.

If you prey to previous saints they will help to find a living soul.

No book can show what is pure love, Only a enlightened one can make you feel it.

When you are on the spiritual path there will be a lot troubles, only with the help of a master you can come over those troubles and move further.

He will be your model.

The question arises, where to find a right guru, how to confirm whether he is good.

If you have burning desire to learn then the guru will come to you.

Answer 2

Did you know that a living Satguru (a True Master) is more powerful than God? Read the Sri Guru Gita. Not even God can stop the Guru, but Guru can stop God.

I had been reading spiritual books and praying to God for like 17 years. There was only so far I could go. I prayed for a True Master to come into my life that I could learn from and progress even farther spiritually. I wanted someone that would really guide, nurture and support me.

Then Mata Amritanandamayi "Amma" called me to Her two years ago. Ever since I've been taken under Her wing, I have grown so much faster spiritually than I did the past 17 years. It is remarkable! There is really no substitute for having a living guru like Her.

She hears my every thought and has sent me messages proving to me that She "heard" me thinking about certain things. I've had so many prayers answered immediately. Plus She comes to me a lot in my dreams to be with me or to teach me something. Amma also gives me these bursts of shakti or love which are extremely powerful.

This is one of the most amazing and most beautiful relationships anybody can have. Amma is accesible to all. There is no need to physically see and be with Her in order to receive Her grace. My gf called out to Amma a year ago, and Amma had been guiding and helping her for a year until she finally met Her in person a month ago.

You can call out to Amma, She will respond to you.

Edit: This is in reply to Aum's statement that Jesus, Buddha, etc did not have gurus. That's right, neither did Amma. A Pure Soul that is born realized does not need a guru because they are the guru! However, most of us aren't at that advanced stage.

And yes one can reach enlightenment without a guru, but that would take much longer than with the guidiance of a guru. They are the "freeway" towards God. They put us on jets whereas if we were going solo, we'd be going at a snail's pace. The question one should ask themselves is how fast you want to get there. Are you ready to get serious? I was ready, it was all I wanted. When the student is ready, the teacher appears.

Answer 3

The need for a Guru is for “Mantra Upadesam”---Upa=near---Desam=place.So the Guru should be nearer to student. Sruthi=Vedham is derived from --Srotram(ear) of the student and the Srotas=tube—Praanavaha=blowing the Vital air –that is the trachea >vocal chord >mouth of the Teacher should be very near—Veda tradition is “Telling and Listening” and not Writing and reading. So the Guru should be a “Live” Guru.

Mantra Upadesam is for attaining the 4 Purushaarthaas—Dharmam,Artham,Kaamam, Moksham---first 3 are important for Grahastha(Family persons) and last for Sanyastha(Ascetic who has no family).So a Live Guru only can decide what kind of Mantram a Sishya should receive.

A Guru would decide from the letters of the name of the person (Naama Karana name and not the western Numerology name) which Mantram having a particular number is not “ARI”(bad effect) for a person. Then the Guru will fix the Mantram –Pancaakshari(5),Shadaakshari(6),Ashtaakshari(8)Dwaadasaakshari(12),panca dasaakshari(15)-Soubaagya Panca Dasaakshari,Shodasaakshari(16) and do Upadesam.For that a Live Guru is needed.(Sathapatha Braahmanam—Mudra Vigjnaanam)
Desam=Place --Kaamam--Shadaakshari(6)--Panca Dasaakshari(15)missing in the main post

Answer 4

Life becomes easy and progressive if u ve a support, a Guru, but the Guru should be right and willing to impart knowledge, accept u in his fold as u r and develop u spiritually. Gurus like Baba Lahiri (Autobiography of a Guru Yoga Nanada) r a rare breed and those who meet such Guru r fortunate. Baba Lahiri gave hard time to yoga Nanda but never let him down in the world. Now the question is how to find such a guru, focus on such a Guru and nature will contrive it for u. Till u get the right Guru, please read books on positive thinking and follow the principals written therein. This will help u in understanding the sermons of meaningful gurus. Those Gurus who simply translate the scriptures in their own style r no gurus for u. A guru who shows u the path to attain solution to ur problems in worldly life will be befitting. If u r surrounded by family problems, job problems, health problems and no relief comes to u from any quarter then how can u concentrate on Bhakti. If u come in contact with Right Guru he will uplift ur thought process which in turn will solve all ur problems and life will be smooth. U cannot shirk from ur responsibilities and further by spiritually developing urself u should serve humanity so that others follow in ur foot steps. If u gain knowledge and u r not useful to the fellow beings then what is the purpose of ur spirituality. What legacy u leave for posterity. Ur life should be in service of humanity whatever course of conduct u adopt then only u will experience inner bliss. Be happy and make everyone happy and for this positive thinking is a guide.

Answer 5

It really depends of the person's path, and what the spiritual seeker is looking for. There are many gurus who taught great things in the past, which became sacred litteratures. But if you really need interactions with a spiritual master, a living guru is needed.

I am personally a devotee of Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma) and since I am walking on this path, I prefer Her teachings, Her words which contains all the essences of the Vedas, to other Saints' autobiographies/books. Amma is teaching me how to focus on mySelf, to be a better person, to be more open to Love & selfless services. Amma is a great model, cause She shows us how to do it.

To respond to your question, my point of view is a living guru is preferable. If you want to ask a question to a "dead" guru, it might take more time to get an answer :P

Answer 6

wow tough one. I guess it all comes down to what you need as a person. I don't know if we need a Guru a such, cos that tends to mean that you follow someone blindly. We all need interaction with human being in some form though, and all those interactions influence us in some ways - some much more than others of course. We can learn something from everyone we meet if we allow it. We need books as well - they give a depth that you can slowly absorb by reading. I'm not a big one for self help books myself - good novels can provide as much illumination about the human condition as any "7 tips for blah blah blah" - East of Eden, crime and punishment etc etc etc

does taht answer teh question - probably not but then is tehre an answer? probably not

Answer 7

Can a little child get knowledge from books without a living teacher/guru? We are just like little kids in the realm of spiritual evolution. (Arrogant people may please excuse me. I do not want to get into any argument with you people. Leave me alone with my views whether you like it or not.) So we need a living guru. Actually the path of spiritual evolution is vast and time consuming and at times dangerous too. So you must walk on that path under the close tutelage of a Master who is living.

Answer 8

We need a living guru- and to find a real guru may mean that one has to travel far and wide-but seek and you will find!
Guru is not a cheap thing--we need shiksha guru at all times in our lives-otherwise we will come to a point where pride and the desire for respect and fame will creep in and destroy our bhakti creeper-only the guru can uproot these weeds--

Answer 9

There are people today that continue in the lines of the prophets. I'm sorry if this sounds like heresy to some people but the truth is that God, Yahweh, or whatever your name for him continues to send people into our lives to give us his word. I personally think if foolish for us to believe that everything we need is in the bible, or other holy book. That would mean that all of the knowledge that we were ready for hundreds and thousands of years ago is still all we're ready for. It took centuries for most of the holy books to be written. What makes us think that The Great Power is no longer talking to us and adding to the great stores of spiritual knowledge and discipline?

Answer 10

(1.) Living Guru is not needed. Whether Guru is dead , his invisible guidance is available to all. (2.) To some extent one should read spiritual books. (Gossipping ,TV watching-- Pl reduce.( 3.) Select prayer in your own words. ( 4.) Devotion is must