8.8 - Guru Worship

Need for a Guru – Sastraic authority:- “Acharya Devo Bhava” is mentioned in Taittiriya Upanishad.

Acharyavan Purushoveda says, “it is the man who has a Guru that can get knowledge or realization.”

Mundaka Upanishad says, “to get Brahman, Knowledge realization, one should go with his Guru who has realized God.”

Srimad Bhagavata says, “the Sadhaka must resort to a Guru devoted to God, who has realized God and is calm.”

The Katha Upanishad says,”in this matter of realization unless some one else speaks it out, there is no way.”

Guru Gita says, “Studies do not suffice. Without a Guru, there is no Realization.”

This Atman, that is, its realization is not got by study or repeated chanting Vedas nor by keenness of intellect or by much learning. It is he whom Realization desires that gets it. To him it reveals it’s from. Of course this realization, which is personified, comes as a matter of fact because there are methods through the grace or bodies of the Gurus.

Even Vyasa, who taught his son Suka all the Vedas, sent him to Guru Janaka for confirmation. King Janaka acted as his Guru and enabled him to perceive that what his Guru had taught and what the Vedas explained was the same as the actual realization, which Suka had in him. Until and unless such a seal is set on one’s realization, that realization is not complete.