Guru: The Guiding Light of your Life!

 

It happens quite often, when one is thinking about God, trying to become one with the Almighty, thinking about good things, suddenly the mind starts wandering here and there. A wave of unwanted thought stirs the calm waters in your subconscious mind, you start thinking about worldly things, and get sidetracked. This is what maya (illusion of material world) does, distracts one from the right path.

But the person who never gets distracted for a moment, always seems engrossed in worshipping God, is a truly spiritual being. And those who are spiritual, always think about the Almighty feel that they are the ones worshiping God. In fact, it is God who has chosen them, and that is why one is able to continue the path of Parmatma praapti (finding the God). One does not get to choose the Guru, but the Guru chooses some pure souls as his disciples. There is chaos all around in this world and it is easy to get distracted without the guidance of a Guru. If one chooses to walk on the path shown by the Guru, then he is one of those pure souls chosen by the Almighty. Such a person is fortunate and must be grateful towards God and Guru both. Guru always looks after his disciples and never lets them face any disappointment in life.  The path of spirituality is so long that people get tired, but Guru keeps showing them the ray of hope and a reason to keep going.

Once Gautam Buddha was going somewhere with his disciple, Anand. On getting tired, they stopped for a moment and decided to ask somebody from the nearby village if they knew how long that journey was going to be. When Anand asked them, they said it is not that far and they just had to keep walking for a while. So Gautam Buddha and Anand walked and walked for two hours but couldn’t reach anywhere. When they saw some villagers nearby, Anand told Gautam Buddha, “Maybe the previous villagers were mistaken. Let me ask the people around here.” Even those people said, “don't worry, just keep walking. It is not that far. You are almost there.” Gautam Buddha continued his journey with Anand by his side. Soon twilight set in, but the journey became never-ending. Anand started feeling agitated now, thinking that people might be misguiding them by not telling them the truth. Then Gautam Buddha smiled and said, “They are not lying. They are trying to motivate us by keeping our hope alive. If they had not said what they did then do you think we could have walked so far?  

Similarly, the Guru keeps his disciples motivated by encouraging them to keep walking the long path of spirituality with unwavering courage. Walk a little and keep walking, you will reach the destination. This is Guru’s Grace and His Divine Power. The journey is very long, but one should not feel disappointed. If you are disappointed then you will never reach, and if you are full of hope then you will reach the ultimate destination in life. It is also important to adopt the teachings of your Guru, learn good qualities from wherever you can and keep moving ahead on your journey. Guru is the guiding light who shall guide you along this long path.