When Swami Vivekananda first visited Ramakrishna Paramahansa he asked “I have read the Bhagavad Gita and other scriptures many times, I lecture and give discourses on the Gita and Ramayana. Do I still need the refuge of a saint; do I still need a guru?”
Ramakrishna didn’t reply to Vivekananda’s question. After a few days, Ramakrishna called upon Vivekananda and handed him a parcel to be delivered at a nearby village a few hours away by sea route. Early in the morning the boat and sailor would be ready and all he needed was to go to the village and deliver the parcel to the designated person.
Vivekananda agreed and decided to start early. He found the boat and the sailor ready to put out to sea. Suddenly upon sitting in the boat, Vivekananda realized that he didn’t know the road to the village. He inquired with the sailor but he too did not have a clue.
Vivekananda decided to go back to his guru and ask him the shortest way to the village. Upon this Ramakrishna said, “This is the answer to the question you asked me when we met the first time. Today you have the medium (the boat), you have the resource (the sailor), you have the road (the sea), you know what to do (deliver the parcel) and you also know where to go, but you don’t know the way!”
“Likewise you have read all the scriptures and you can conduct wonderful discourses on them. However, to realize the wisdom of scriptures one needs a guru, someone who has already traversed the path so that he can guide you through the journey and encourage you to not give up”.
Wisdom Bite
For seeking truth and meaning of life, one needs a guru, a right guru, who will guide and show the right path.
The question is how does one find the right guru? It is not an easy question to answer and it takes years to find the right guru. However, there are some qualities that one can look for in a guru:
- A right Guru is always interested in your spiritual growth and guides you to achieve your higher self.
- He is detached from worldly pleasures and possessions.
- He is knowledgeable to answer your intellectual curiosity and answers you seek about life
But the best way is to read the life history of spiritual and enlightened gurus like Mahaveera or Buddha to understand the qualities of the guru.
