ShirdiSaiBaba

What for a Guru is needed? Is it reaching God or God- reallisation? Is that the highest? The AKtho Upanishad says: Unless somebody else point out to one, there is no other way of finding it. The realization of Self or God is so very subtle a matter that no amount of trouble in various directions such as study and running up to meet people will alone suffice. Study, Tirtha Yatra, Dana other Punya works, Ishta and Poorti, will not themselves show God, but will help one to a purer state of mind from which we can get the proper Guru and finally Realization of God. In the Puranas and Itihasas, we notice that a Guru is able to achieve not only the above but everything else. Baba’s marga is called the Guru Marga. In it, the Guru provides everything, including food, safety, and protection, to the sishya. That is the present counterpart of the ancient Guru sishsya system for every study. In ancient times, all knowledge was one. All training was one. Any knowledge was called Veda, including Mathematics, Astronomy, Prose and Grammar. Therefore for any and every learning, teaching was the regular course. Every boy must go to Gurukulam. There he was expected to live with his Guru for 12 years as a part of his household and rendered even menial services and was treated as a member of the family. He reaped a rich reward in having not only his food and clothing and shelter provided for him but also in the attention paid to every other item of his welfare. Consequently the Guru and his wife loved the pupil as their child and the pupil loved the Guru and revered his Guru’s wife as his mother.