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“Do I need a living guru for my spiritual growth?” – This question may arise at any stage of our lives, often when we are struggling, or when we consciously start seeking inner development and spiritual evolution.Pujyapad Puri Shankaracharyaji (Maharajaji) explains how having a living guru is indispensable for our evolution.
To learn about anything, we require a guru.
To demonstrate this with an example, Maharajaji, refers to the use of electricity. When we wish to learn about electricity and the use of electrical gadgets, fans, light, etc., we need someone to teach us about it. The one teaching us also has to be well versed in the subject and taught by a reliable teacher himself, else we may get an electric shock and injure ourselves or die while handling the electrical equipment. We need to understand the nature of electricity correctly. Needless to say, we have to learn about it from someone who is living and can teach us how to actually handle it.
Even when we wish to learn something as basic as how to cook we need a living guru. Here, we are referring to the subtlest knowledge that leads to the ultimate Truth.
We wish to learn about that Paramatama (Supreme Being) who is beyond Prakriti – as nirguna nirakara (attribute-less and formless), and He who regulates Prakriti as saguna nirakara (with attributes and formless), or the one who manifests as the controller of Prakriti in the form of Sri Rama, Krishna, Durga etc, that is, as saguna sakara (with attributes and form).
It is impossible to imagine that one can learn about the Supreme Truth without a living guru.