Hari Aum.
I recently came across yet another sickening story of a female disciple of some male 'Guru' who was exploited by him. There are countless nauseating stories like this all over the world in all religions. This made me want to share my views on how to find a true Guru, and avoid the fake ones as far as possible.
The key points:
1. God alone is Guru. Your ishta devata (favourite form or formless aspect of God) alone is your Guru. Nobody but God can be your Guru, my Guru or anyone else's Guru.
2. A human being can never be a spiritual Guru. Never.
3. A real Guru is one who has discovered his/her oneness with God. And is therefore a manifestation of God. (Once again, a human being can never, ever be anyone's spiritual Guru).
4. If Krishna is your ishta devata, then Krishna is your Guru. If Shiva is your ishta, then take Shiva alone as your Guru. If the Divine Mother is your favourite form of God, take Her as your Guru. Never ever accept anyone other than God as your Guru.
5. A real Guru is simple and humble. Will not ask you for money, for gifts, for praise, to write books praising him/her, for sexual favours, for any sort of favour. A real Guru will tell you to work hard. He/she will not encourage you to get siddhis. Rather, he/she will tell you to serve God.
Look at the Bhagavad Gita, for the clearest teachings by the great Guru of all time, Lord Krishna Himself. When He taught Arjuna, what did He say?
Did He ask Arjuna for money? For any favour? Did He pressure him to do anything?
No. He only gave Arjuna advice when Arjuna approached Him for help. He did not give unsolicited advice.
Further more, He did not encourage Arjuna to attain any siddhis or spiritual powers. He only told Arjuna to work hard, do his duty in life and develop true devotion. He did not tell Arjuna that He would merely touch him and grant him liberation. No, He told Arjuna that there are no shortcuts in the spiritual path and that he would have to work hard and do his duty. Finally, He even told Arjuna to use his own brain, to weigh the advice He had given, and make up his own mind about what to do.
The message of Lord Krishna, the ultimate Guru, is the message of any true Guru (who is one with Him). Compare the message of any human being calling him/herself a Guru, to the message of Lord Krishna. This is the acid test.
Beware of the following types of 'Gurus' who are almost certainly fake:
1. They promise you quick and easy spiritual progress
2. They tell you to stop using your brain and intellect as this is a bar to spiritual progress
3. They ask you to accept everything they say and do without any questions
4. They ask for your time, your money, your body, your mind, your everything
5. They promise that you will attain siddhis, spiritual powers, that you can use for whatever purpose you like
6. They talk about the many miracles they have performed and the many siddhis/powers that they have
7. Generally beware of people who have an affected sort of appearance, who are dressed in flowing robes, with flowing hair, wearing many rosaries and with many holy marks on their foreheads and bodies. Beware of those who try to look very special and very holy. There's usually something fishy about them.
8. Most of all, beware of those who tell you to stop thinking and just believe in them. That everything will be okay if you just trust them and let them do whatever they want to you.
Real Gurus will never demand that you switch off your intellect in order to develop your heart. They will ask you to serve humanity and other living beings to purify your intellect and develop intuition/heart. The intellect has a very important role to play in detecting fake Gurus. Never abandon the intellect (people often prematurely stop using their intellects seeing this as a barrier in spiritual life instead of using it wisely to guide sadhana and develop intuition).
Never ever surrender your body, mind and soul to anyone other than God. Never to another human being or anyone else.
God alone is the Guru. This is the single most important thing to remember.
As far as I am concerned, Narayana/Krishna is my Guru. Sivananda is only a part of Him. I see Sivananda within Krishna, not as a separate Guru. There is no Sivananda as far as I am concerned. It is Krishna alone who is my Guru. As Sivananda's teachings fit with Krishna's teachings in the Gita, I accept Sivananda as my Guru (as a part of Krishna, as a manifestation of Krishna).
Under no circumstances will I surrender any part of my body, mind or soul to anyone except God. There are plenty of Gurus around the world whose disciples sing their praises, saying that they can read minds, have clairvoyance/clairaudience, perform healing, manifest objects, can fly and have other powers. Who cares for these cheap spiritual powers? Even rakshasas (demonic beings) can have such powers after doing tapas- the scriptures are full of stories of this. Siddhis are not a sign of spiritual progress. Beware. One should never get mesmerised by such nonsense. Did Krishna boast about His siddhis? No, never. So why should any Guru who is one with Him?
Stick to God who is goodness as the Guru and one will be safe. One should be prepared to work hard on oneself and study spiritual books like the Gita for real spiritual teachings. Run away from Gurus who talk about their miracles and powers- they are definitely fake.
God resides inside us. The real Guru is within. Start some sadhana and discover the Guru within. Never fall for the tricks of fake Gurus who are here to take you for a ride. Ugghh, it is so disgusting to read about the awful things that fake Gurus do to exploit their foolish, gullible disciples. We get what we deserve. If we go to fake Gurus looking for a cheap shortcut in the spiritual path, we will get a suitable punishment by being fooled by them. Let us avoid the lazy attitude in spiritual life. Let us avoid fake Gurus like the plague.
Let us stick to practicing ethics as best as we can, and take God alone as our Guru. May God protect all sincere disciples everywhere from fake Gurus.
May God, the one and only Guru, guide us all.
Hari Aum Tat Sat
I recently came across yet another sickening story of a female disciple of some male 'Guru' who was exploited by him. There are countless nauseating stories like this all over the world in all religions. This made me want to share my views on how to find a true Guru, and avoid the fake ones as far as possible.
The key points:
1. God alone is Guru. Your ishta devata (favourite form or formless aspect of God) alone is your Guru. Nobody but God can be your Guru, my Guru or anyone else's Guru.
2. A human being can never be a spiritual Guru. Never.
3. A real Guru is one who has discovered his/her oneness with God. And is therefore a manifestation of God. (Once again, a human being can never, ever be anyone's spiritual Guru).
4. If Krishna is your ishta devata, then Krishna is your Guru. If Shiva is your ishta, then take Shiva alone as your Guru. If the Divine Mother is your favourite form of God, take Her as your Guru. Never ever accept anyone other than God as your Guru.
5. A real Guru is simple and humble. Will not ask you for money, for gifts, for praise, to write books praising him/her, for sexual favours, for any sort of favour. A real Guru will tell you to work hard. He/she will not encourage you to get siddhis. Rather, he/she will tell you to serve God.
Look at the Bhagavad Gita, for the clearest teachings by the great Guru of all time, Lord Krishna Himself. When He taught Arjuna, what did He say?
Did He ask Arjuna for money? For any favour? Did He pressure him to do anything?
No. He only gave Arjuna advice when Arjuna approached Him for help. He did not give unsolicited advice.
Further more, He did not encourage Arjuna to attain any siddhis or spiritual powers. He only told Arjuna to work hard, do his duty in life and develop true devotion. He did not tell Arjuna that He would merely touch him and grant him liberation. No, He told Arjuna that there are no shortcuts in the spiritual path and that he would have to work hard and do his duty. Finally, He even told Arjuna to use his own brain, to weigh the advice He had given, and make up his own mind about what to do.
The message of Lord Krishna, the ultimate Guru, is the message of any true Guru (who is one with Him). Compare the message of any human being calling him/herself a Guru, to the message of Lord Krishna. This is the acid test.
Beware of the following types of 'Gurus' who are almost certainly fake:
1. They promise you quick and easy spiritual progress
2. They tell you to stop using your brain and intellect as this is a bar to spiritual progress
3. They ask you to accept everything they say and do without any questions
4. They ask for your time, your money, your body, your mind, your everything
5. They promise that you will attain siddhis, spiritual powers, that you can use for whatever purpose you like
6. They talk about the many miracles they have performed and the many siddhis/powers that they have
7. Generally beware of people who have an affected sort of appearance, who are dressed in flowing robes, with flowing hair, wearing many rosaries and with many holy marks on their foreheads and bodies. Beware of those who try to look very special and very holy. There's usually something fishy about them.
8. Most of all, beware of those who tell you to stop thinking and just believe in them. That everything will be okay if you just trust them and let them do whatever they want to you.
Real Gurus will never demand that you switch off your intellect in order to develop your heart. They will ask you to serve humanity and other living beings to purify your intellect and develop intuition/heart. The intellect has a very important role to play in detecting fake Gurus. Never abandon the intellect (people often prematurely stop using their intellects seeing this as a barrier in spiritual life instead of using it wisely to guide sadhana and develop intuition).
Never ever surrender your body, mind and soul to anyone other than God. Never to another human being or anyone else.
God alone is the Guru. This is the single most important thing to remember.
As far as I am concerned, Narayana/Krishna is my Guru. Sivananda is only a part of Him. I see Sivananda within Krishna, not as a separate Guru. There is no Sivananda as far as I am concerned. It is Krishna alone who is my Guru. As Sivananda's teachings fit with Krishna's teachings in the Gita, I accept Sivananda as my Guru (as a part of Krishna, as a manifestation of Krishna).
Under no circumstances will I surrender any part of my body, mind or soul to anyone except God. There are plenty of Gurus around the world whose disciples sing their praises, saying that they can read minds, have clairvoyance/clairaudience, perform healing, manifest objects, can fly and have other powers. Who cares for these cheap spiritual powers? Even rakshasas (demonic beings) can have such powers after doing tapas- the scriptures are full of stories of this. Siddhis are not a sign of spiritual progress. Beware. One should never get mesmerised by such nonsense. Did Krishna boast about His siddhis? No, never. So why should any Guru who is one with Him?
Stick to God who is goodness as the Guru and one will be safe. One should be prepared to work hard on oneself and study spiritual books like the Gita for real spiritual teachings. Run away from Gurus who talk about their miracles and powers- they are definitely fake.
God resides inside us. The real Guru is within. Start some sadhana and discover the Guru within. Never fall for the tricks of fake Gurus who are here to take you for a ride. Ugghh, it is so disgusting to read about the awful things that fake Gurus do to exploit their foolish, gullible disciples. We get what we deserve. If we go to fake Gurus looking for a cheap shortcut in the spiritual path, we will get a suitable punishment by being fooled by them. Let us avoid the lazy attitude in spiritual life. Let us avoid fake Gurus like the plague.
Let us stick to practicing ethics as best as we can, and take God alone as our Guru. May God protect all sincere disciples everywhere from fake Gurus.
May God, the one and only Guru, guide us all.
Hari Aum Tat Sat
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