Are Gurus still relevant or necessary in the modern age?
Seeing the exploitation brought on by some so-called gurus (many of whom have been outside any real tradition), there has been a tendency to want to reject gurus altogether. Some people have thought that the modern age will allow people to teach themselves or follow inner guides and that gurus are a thing of the past.
However, if we examine the matter deeply we see that teachers are as important in the spiritual field as in other domains of life …
August 10th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Its sad these sadhus ruin peoples faiths and are more interested in money just like modern UK pandits. But a good Guru is still essential. The same problem exists in Islam and Mosques harbour clerics with extreme views after brainwashing their young and getting money to fund extremism
August 11th, 2008 at 7:27 am
When you have lakshmi (satisfaction of desire . . in all of its aspects) you don’t need Moksha. . . you need Moksha when your desires are not satisfied.
Moksha is Krishna’s (Vishnu’s) weapon when Radha (Lakshmi) goes on strike. But even krishna (Vishunu) wants his wifew back so when she leaves to go to her father the ocean. . . Vishnu woes her back. . . Moksha or no Moksha.
With Moksha. . . divorce is easy . . . without Moksha . . . you are enslaved to Lakshmi and Kali Yuga opens its doors. . . and hell is summoned on earth. . . for all is done for Lakshmi . . nature is distroyed to satisfy here and even Shiva is corrupted by her calls.
August 11th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
There was nothing to loot in India after everything worth ‘lootable’ had already been looted by the Moghuls. What the British did was that by tapping resources like neglected forest areas they planted tea, coffee estates, teak and other valuable trees and thereby enriched the revenue od the country. By the middle of the nineteenth century they had brought peace to the country instead of anarchy, had mapped the fields and made lists of every man’s rights (all are equal before law, including Brahmins and untouchables) and had made a beginning of the task of building roads, bridges and railways, of harnessing rivers to irrigation. More important, they had associated Hindus (unlike the Moghuls) with them in the work and the greater part of the administration was carried out by Indians.
While Indian ministers amass wealth while in office, Lytton when he retired as Viceroy, did not have enough money to lead a comfortable life in England. While waiting to leave Calcutta he had time to look into his own financial position with the help of Brackenbury whom he had already come to like very much to depend on. He was dismayed by what he found. That is the case with most Viceroys, including Mountbatten. British Parliament would never allow them to loot.
August 15th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Shiv U Rathenam should be a new historian to write all that he has written.
Can this be termed as idiotic for any one to write *the way he has written* unless he has some special ajenda or he must be blissfully ignorant.
Kindly spend some time even thru the web and see what are the info that one can read.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_history_of_India
Also suggest to read the book published by Bhavans’ titled “THE RUIN THAT BRITAIN WROGHT”
- may be available on the web - if not kindly let me know and I can send it as an attachement as this may not be available now in printed format.
This is nice way to divert the discussion from the topic to something else.
enjoy
cheers
August 18th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Shri David Frawley is spot on with this article about the necessity of gurus. And I’m glad that he points out that the ordinary people have the responsibility to “turn the teacher into a guide of our practice (and not into an) external hero figure on whom we develop an emotional dependency”.
But unfortunately it doesn’t go further to solve the problem of how to deal with unscrupulous gurus. But thats best left for another article.
August 19th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
There were always false gurus. I don’t remember the exact reference but I believe that Ravaana was doing really well when he was mislead by a false guru and thus was reborn with a lot of power but misguided on dharma. It is the discriminating mind (buddhi) that ultimately guides us to the “right” guru. I also think the article is on topic for if we don’t find someone to challenge our misconceptions we end up ideological idiot slaves to some dead guy or silly book that are more real in our own delusions than in Tat Sat.
hariaum.
August 22nd, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Do we need schools, colleges, universities, when we can study at home at will? Do we need teachers (shiksha gurus), when each of us are super gurus? Do we need pustakalaya (libraries), when we have books at home or at book stores? Do we need to read books, when they are at shelfs of libraries, or at home or at book stores? Do we need to become sat, good human being, as it is simply superstitiion? List goes on.
First, one need to understand the word Guru and its significance. The moment one understands the concept of Guru, that person will not debate it. Wearing saffron cloths don’t automatically transformed someone into a Guru, same as writing surnames (Goswami, Sharma…) and wearing a thread don;t make one Brahmin.
A Guru is one who have great knowledge, wisdom and authority in a certain area, and uses it to guide others. The word Guru comes from Sanskrit Gu, darkness, and Ru, light (prakash); literally a preceptor who shows others knowledge (light) and destroys ignorance (darkness). Arjun accepts Sri Krishna as his guru on the battlefield, prior to the Kurukshetra war. In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna speaks to Arjuna of the importance of finding a Guru:
tad viddhi pranipatena
pariprasnena sevaya
upadeksyanti te jnanam
jnaninas tattva-darsinah ll BG 4.34 ll
“Acquire the transcendental knowledge from a Self-realized master by humble reverence, by sincere inquiry, and by service. The wise ones who have realized the Truth will impart the Knowledge to you. ”
OR
“Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth. ”
Bharat
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September 4th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Are Gurus relevant or necessary in this age, may not the correct problem that we have. Our problem is born out of our ignorance - and ignorance born mis-interpreatations.
When some one teaches us something, we are supposed to be respectful to his teaching. But instead, all over the world, the human nature seems to be to place such a person on pedestal and then make him a God or prophet or something like that - forgetting what he tried to teach us and further spending time to really probe into the teaching.
This is why the study of scriptures of Hinduism is a bit time consuming since one need to understand what is stated - not * believe*. And understanding takes its own time - exactly like in a normal class, where, a teacher explain something to students and there is a difference in grasping power of students.
cheers
October 3rd, 2008 at 5:49 am
Lorenz Kapitani’s reply August 11 fascinates me to say the least. His name suggests he is not a Hindu. I do not know what books he reads, his view of Hindu religion seems totally perverted unless he is deliberately trying to degrade the religion itself. I have never come across such a trash. My advice to him is he should read the correct books before embarking on mis-informing others and insulting Hindu religion. I don’t know he may be one of those brainwashed giggly Rambos created by Christian missionaries in India.
Pairamblr is right about respecting any person who teaches us. Such person may be a teacher in schools, a lecturer, a professor or any one who has made a special study of some thing that he zestfully and honestly wants to impart to others. One would find such persons have acquired inclinations and aptitudes naturally from previous birth.