Seeking a Guru to Embark on the Path of Spirituality

Guru, the beloved

Dada JP Vaswani writes, "It is only when you have found your Guru that your spiritual journey begins, in earnest."

The start of the spiritual life is a struggle and striving. We starve—and our hunger cannot be satisfied by the most delicious dishes. We feel thirsty, and our thirst cannot be quenched by the choicest drinks on earth. Our hunger and thirst grow more and more. Then it is, that a yearning heart cries out, “O, for someone who may take me out of this little self into the larger life of the spirit, someone who has drunk the elixir of life and tasted of the nectar of God’s grace.” Such a one, for want of a loftier name, we call Guru. I love to speak of him as the beloved.

It is your greatest good fortune to come into contact with such pathways of life. You will look at him, he will look at you, he will look into you, he will read your heart as the pages of an open book. Each will recognise the other, and you will hear within your heart, his whisper, “Come, my child! Follow me!” And, without a single question, a single doubt, you will follow him wherever he leads you to the very ends of the earth, even unto hell.

It is only when you have found your Guru that your spiritual journey begins, in earnest.

If the search of the worldly man is for the goods of the earth, for pleasure, power and possessions, the quest of the true seeker is for the life of the spirit. It was Jesus, who said: “Seek and ye shall find”. By seek, did he not mean, “Seek thy Guru”?

It is only when you have found your Guru that your spiritual journey begins, in earnest. And you do not have to leave your home and wander far and near, in search of such a One. All you need to do is: aspire, aspire!

Aspire that it may be your fortune to draw near to someone, touching whose feet may be to you, a communion with God. Aspire! Aspire! And aspiration, like the smoke of fire, always rises upward. So let the fires burn within you continually.

Read books, but remember that books will not take you far. Books may, indeed, become a barrier. For there is always a danger of dropping into the pitfall of the vanity of learning. Therefore, read little, and practice more. Let your reading be reflected in your daily life.

And remember—you may not find your Guru. But if you seek him, aspire for his grace, he will surely find you. And when he does, you will feel, “This is my Guru! He is the one I have been waiting for all these years! My blessed Master, why were you away from me for so long!”

He, in his grace, will find you. And it will be his grace, his responsibility to ensure the success of your sadhana.

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