What is the Role of a Guru in Hinduism ?

JaneSmith105

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According to the Vedic scriptures, the guru is the external representative of God on earth. Since the ordinary conditioned soul cannot directly see the transcendental form of the Lord, he cannot understand what the Lord is dictating in his heart. If one is inquisitive about spiritual life, then he must seek out a bona fide spiritual master and inquire submissively about the absolute truth. This is the eternal process of true knowledge.

The qualities of a real spiritual master are elaborately explained in the Bhagavad-Gita by the Lord Himself:

"My pure devotees are always absorbed in thought of Me, their lives are surrendered unto Me and they derive great satisfaction and bliss enlightening one another and conversing about Me." B.G. 10.9

The spiritual master is engaged cent per cent in the service of the Supreme Lord under the direction of his spiritual master. He does not waste unnecessary time on bodily demands and desires related to the body. Thus a bona fide spiritual master is called a paramahansa or swan like person because he uses his pure senses to seek out the real pleasure of pure loving service to the Supreme Lord. Ordinary persons use their bodily senses for their own temporary and limited pleasure through material contact and overlording.

Because the bona fide spiritual master is specifically graced by his guru, he is a reservoir of compassion and truth. Due to his full contact with the Supreme Lord, the guru can eradicate the sufferings of his disciples. Unless one is qualified, one should not become a mother, father, teacher or guru. It is customary in this Age of Quarrel and Confusion for unscrupulous and unqualified persons to claim they are guru and mislead many innocent persons from the path of pure devotional service. Such so-called gurus are fond of teaching that their is no God or that everyone is God. This cheap philosophy is not supported in any of the revealed scriptures but the masses of people are not familiar with real scripture so they accept any charlatan or magician as guru. This is the problem with today's society- their is no standard of authority. Everyone is encouraged to do whatever they feel is right. Generally that means sex, drugs, alcohol, and meat eating. Whenever the Vedic authority is given up, there is chaos and degradation in society. The people, being perplexed about their purpose in life, live only for their bodily comfort. Their motto is, " If it feels good, just do it." Without the proper knowledge of the soul, people wish to make the most they can of their short material life, becoming unnecessarily engrossed in relationships and possessions. Society teaches the value of economics and consumerism. No importance is placed on spiritual life because the tenants of spirituality have been forgotten or covered. A real spiritual master strives to resurrect the Vedic principles in human society. He knows that unless there is sacrifice being performed for the pleasure of the Lord, there is no possibility of cooperation from nature, which is under the direct control of the Lord, and thus man becomes subject to punishment by nature's restriction of her benevolent gifts.

Real hope can be found in the words of the bona fide spiritual master. He is everyone's best friend because he is situated on the transcendental plane of existence and desire's the same for his disciples. He has no ulterior motive in teaching the transcendental science of Godhead, other than for his student's liberation. There is no material remuneration that can satisfy such a great soul. He operates from the plane of pure compassion. It is a waste of time trying to manipulate the guru to fit one's motives. One must approach such a great soul with complete reverence and surrender. He must have implicit faith that whatever the guru says is as good as God speaking. The guru knows fully well what problems belie his disciple and like an expert surgeon tries to remove ignorance by sharp penetrating words. The root cause of material life is attachment bound by irrational affection. Affection or desire cannot be artificially suppressed because it is springs from the soul proper. Therefore affection must be properly reposed. When affection is fully reposed in Krsna, automatically all affection for this temporary material world is finished.
source: krsnaconsciousness.org
 

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