If the Guru is more powerful than God, Why do we continue to worship God's Forms like Krishna or Durga?

Question

According to the Guru Gita, the Guru is more powerful than God. It is also said that the Guru can stop God, but God can't stop the Guru.

If God's Forms are useless, should we worship our Guru only?
What about worshipping a Form & a Guru?
Or only a Form?
Thoughts?

http://www.pranakasha.com/guru_gita/verses_x-5.shtml

Answer 1

Guru is not more powerful than God, as I know. Guru is greater than God, because God will go by his rules whereas, Guru goes by his love for his disciple and if need be is ready to undergo even those punishments which ought to have been undergone by his disciple. It is said that in God's scheme, there is justice while in Guru's world, it is mercy and love. Guru frees you from the cycle of birth and death, whereas God has put you in this difficult endless cycle.

As regards worship of form, guru, etc. I would like to state that the forms disappear in deep stages of meditation. Form matters only in the beginning. After a point, form is irrelevant. It is power, energy, formless, timeless with which you are interacting in that sublime world. But you have to start with a form. The form of Guru is easy because it helps you reach to those heights much easily than doing it directly to God. You see you cannot connect your house electric meter directly to the power generating source. There must be a transformer in between to tone down the level of current to that level which suits the tiny meter and the small bulbs and tubelights and household appliances. Direct connection will cause everthing to go up in flames/destroyed. Similarly, connecting to God, that supreme source of energy, and power is very risky for a tiny soul. The soul has to be protected by the transformer called Guru.

Answer 2

No doubt Guru is very powerful. We should worship Guru because with out Guru's noble guidance you can not achieve anything in your life. For learning anything you need a Guru. But as you know Gurus also worshiped God forms like Krishna or Durga or Shiva. If the God's forms are useless then Gurus also would not have achieved anything or they would not have trained their disciples. God it the Super power and you can worship any form you like.-

Answer 3

If you are interested in the teachings of Lord Krishna, then one thing you may want to focus on to learn and practice in a more nonsectarian manner is the Uddhava Gita. The Uddhava Gita is a summation of the essence of the Bhagavad Gita, and so it is eminently suitable for nonsectarian, universal teaching which is the essence of Hinduism.

Here is a short summation of the Uddhava Gita which is found in the Srimad Bhagavatam (also known as Bhagavata Purana) 11.7:

EPILOGUE - LORD KRISHNA'S LAST SERMON

At the end of another long sermon comprising of more than one thousand verses, disciple Uddhava said: "O Lord Krishna, I think the pursuit of God as You narrated to Arjuna (in the Bhagavad Gita), and now to me, is very difficult indeed, for most people; because it entails control of unruly senses. Please tell me a short, simple, and easy way to God-realization." Lord Krishna upon Uddhava's request gave the essentials of Self-realization as follows:
· Do your duty, to the best of your ability, for Me without worrying about the outcome.
· Remember Me at all times. (Note that this is the point of chanting things like the mahamantra - Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Kare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare which is often chanted in kirtan or a variation of it. The whole point of kirtan and mantra is remembrance.)
· Perceive that God is within every living being. Mentally bow down to all beings and treat all beings equally.
· Perceive through the activities of mind, senses, breathing, and emotions that the power of God is within you at all times, and is constantly doing all the work using you as a mere instrument and a trustee.

I recommend the International Gita Society as they are nonsectarian, offer affordable translations of the Bhagavad Gita with commentary, and can help teach you the basics without having to spend a lot of money or submit to some guru you know nothing about:

http://www.gita-society.com/

http://www.gitainternational.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/international_gita_society

They also have an online Gita study and discussion forum:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gita-talk/

I hope these are helpful!

Answer 4

Who wrote this Guru gita?
Guru is powerful as much as Krishna desires. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and no one is equal to Him.
The guru is the representative of Krishna, and is he the one who give Krishna to the disciple and takes to Him.
Krishna is the only object of worship as is stated in Srimad Bhagavatam:
"A person who has broader intelligence, whether he be full of all material desire, without any material desire, or desiring liberation, must by all means worship the supreme whole, the Personality of Godhead Sri krishna."
But Krishna also says :
mad-bhakta-püjäbhyadhikä
Perform first-class worship of My devotee.
In the Guru astaka we sing every morning at 4:30 am.
säkñäd-dharitvena samasta-çästrair
uktas tathä bhävyata eva sadbhiù
kintu prabhor yaù priya eva tasya
vande guroù çré-caraëäravindam
SYNONYMS
säkñät—directly; hari-tvena—with the quality of Hari; samasta—all; çästraiù—by scriptures; uktaù—acknowledged; tathä—thus; bhävyate—is considered; eva—also; sadbhiù—by great saintly persons; kintu—however; prabhoù—of the Lord; yaù—who; priyaù—dear; eva—certainly; tasya—of him (the guru); vande—I offer obeisances; guroù—of my spiritual master; çré—auspicious; caraëa-aravindam—unto the lotus feet.
TRANSLATION
The spiritual master is to be honored as much as the Supreme Lord because he is the most confidential servitor of the Lord. This is acknowledged in all revealed scriptures and followed by all authorities. Therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a spiritual master, who is a bona fide representative of Sri Hari [Krishna].

Çré Çré Gurv-añöaka (8)
yasya prasädäd bhagavat-prasädo
yasyäprasädän na gatiù kuto 'pi
dhyäyan stuvaàs tasya yaças tri-sandhyaà
vande guroù çré-caraëäravindam
SYNONYMS
yasya—of whom (the spiritual master); prasädät—by the grace; bhagavat—of Krishna; prasädaù—the mercy; yasya—of whom; aprasädät—without the grace; na—not; gatiù—means of advancement; kutaù api—from anywhere; dhyäyan—meditating upon; stuvan—praising; tasya—of him (the spiritual master); yaçaù—the glory; tri-sandhyam—three times a day (sunrise, noon and sunset); vande—I offer obeisances; guroù—of my spiritual master; çré—auspicious; caraëa-aravindam—unto the lotus feet.
TRANSLATION
By the mercy of the spiritual master one receives the benediction of Krishna. Without the grace of the spiritual master, one cannot make any advancement. Therefore, I should always remember and praise the spiritual master. At least three times a day I should offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master.

Ps. Durga is Krishna material energy, and is worshiped for material profit.

Answer 5

perhaps this answer may not be to your liking, yet if you needed sometime in future ...

Sathya Sai Baba say, that the 100 % Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient God Himself is the Real Guru and see what Shirdi Sai Baba say about Guru in Sai Satcharita in the previous incarnation of Sathya Sai

About the Necessity of a Guru

Hemadpant has left no note, no memo about what Baba said regarding this subject, but Kakasaheb Dixit has published his notes regarding this matter. Next day after Hemadpant’s meeting with Sai Baba, Kakasaheb went to Baba and asked whether he should leave Shirdi. Baba Said, "Yes". Then someone asked - "Baba, where to go?" Baba said, "High up." Then the man said, "How is the way?" Baba said, "There are many ways leading there; there is one way also from here (Shirdi). The way is difficult. There are tigers and wolves in the jungles on the way." I (Kakasaheb) asked - "But Baba, what if we take a guide with us?" Baba answered, - "Then there is no difficulty. The guide will take you straight to your destination, avoiding wolves, tigers and ditches etc. on the way. If there be no guide, there is the danger of your being lost in the jungles or falling into ditches." Mr. Dabholkar was present on this occasion and he thought that this was the answer Baba gave to the question whether Guru was a necessity (Vide Sai Leela Vol. I, No.5, Page 47); and he thereupon took the hint that no discussion of the problem, whether man is free or bound, is of any use in spiritual matters, but that on the contrary real Paramartha is possible only as the result of the teachings of the Guru, as is illustrated in this chapter of the original work in the instances of great Avatars like Rama and Krishna, who had to submit themselves to their Gurus, Vasishtha and Sandipani respectively, for getting self- realization and that the only virtues necessary for such progress are faith and patience. (Vide Sai Satcharita, Ch. II, 191-92).

Answer 6

There is only one God, and His name is YHWH. No one is more powerful than Him. Worship Him, and Him alone.

Answer 7

So you want to be a monotheist and worship only the most powerful being? How boring!

Answer 8

Let sleeping dogs lie.