By Neha Prakash*

Guru is that infinite doorway through which God walks into our lives. And God cannot possibly help us, if we don’t attune our will and consciousness to that of the Guru. These days, the thought of discipleship is considered akin to handing over one’s free will in acquiescence to the Guru. But loyalty to the universal compassion of a Guru is certainly not a sign of weakness.  

Swami Sri Yukteswarji said, “The freedom of will does not consist in doing things according to the dictates of prenatal and postnatal habits or mental whims.” However, ordinary human beings lead their everyday lives without really exercising their will power constructively-  In crisis, in grief and even in joy.

Freedom actually means to break away from being our ego driven selves. This comes only when we meditate on the infinite wisdom, the all-embracing consciousness, the omnipresent love; which disciples can experience through the teachings of a true Guru. 

The word 'Guru' comes from two words: ‘Gu’ meaning darkness, and ‘Ru’ meaning to eliminate or disperse. A Guru is one who holds our hands across incarnations until we traverse the dark alleyways of delusion and walk into the safety of our real home, in enlightenment.

How does one find a true Guru then?

It is said that we don’t find the Guru, the Guru finds us. When our longing for the Highest Truth intensifies, God responds by sending us a Divine channel or Guru to guide us along the challenging journey towards self-realization. Such a Guru is God-ordained. He is one with God and has divine sanction to speak as His representative on earth. Guru is this the speaking voice of silent God. 

By following the sadhana laid down by the Guru, the disciple builds his own lifesaving raft of wisdom to cross the sea of delusion.

Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda, was one such true Guru, who was from a lineage of divine Gurus and who worked towards disseminating knowledge of the path of Kriya Yoga to the world. Kriya Yoga is one of the highest paths to self-realization. In his spiritual classic, “Autobiography of a Yogi”, a book what has elevated the lives of millions, Yoganandaji writes that Kriya yoga is a psychophysiological method by which human blood is decarbonated and recharged with oxygen. The atoms of this extra oxygen are transmuted into life current with which a yogi can lessen and even prevent the decay of tissues.  

Such a powerful method of spiritual progress was imperative to be shared with mankind, and Yoganandaji, on the insistence of his Guru, Swami Sri Yukteswarji, established for this purpose, the Yogoda Satsanga Society of India(YSS) in 1917 at Ranchi, and the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) in 1920 at Los Angeles.

The Kriya Yoga teachings are available to truth seekers through home-study lessons in self-realization from SRF and YSS.

It is believed that if the longing of the believer is deep and his yearning to know God is tireless, a true Guru comes to guide his disciple himself. This is the divine promise of a true Guru. Whether a Guru is in physical body or not, he is ever close to the disciple who is in tune with him, since the consciousness of a true guru is eternal. In the words of Sant Kabir, “Great is the good fortune of a disciple who finds a true Guru!” For further info.: yssofindia