By Sanjib Mukherjee,
Swami Vivekananda used to preach you must never believe in anything until you have first hand experience of the truth for yourself, yet he also spoke about the necessity for having a spiritual teacher to guide you through your own unique journey in life . Please share your views on where you have learnt the most…through the wisdom of a spiritual master, or through your own personal life experiences?
Glad this self-questioning/exploration has been initiated…much needed for all, I believe!!
A Master’s words are the beacons on our path… and the Knowledge he imparts to us is the confirmation of what we have learnt–it gives us those precious “Aha!” moments where things dawn on us and register! But…merely reading up His word or listening is not enough…one has to experience it, live it, and learn from it for one to have conviction in the Knowledge….then you can really walk the talk!
Dear Sanjib,
My Life has taught me a lot and made me strong but only after meeting Guruji, He has shown me the right path and direction and my spiritual journey begun , to look within and find what you seek within yourself and I believe you need a Spiritual Leader to guide you through….
Love
Kalyani
listening to my Guru ji,he gives inspiration …..Ram Ram
Listening to the guru..and then relating his talks with my own personal experience…it helps me know and understand,where i went wrong and where i went right ,in my life’s journey…!!!
When you ask for a Guru,the guru appears…
the guru is one who takes you from darkness to light.The guru will be a person, books or good /bad experiences in life.
The most imporatant thing is the grace of God you recieve through any of these gurus’ and their help in difficult times…
hi Sanjib..wishing you a morning full of gratitude..!!!!
what a beautiful coincidence after so many days i tried to do Sudershan kriya and rememberd GURUJi so much…and then a thought of YOUrs reminded me of you..and then i was singling GURU MAT PITA GURU DEVTA SONG.. as i loved that one and i saw this question now as if all nature inspiring me… See More to feel gratitude and thanks to GURU…
this question is really thoughtful…yes whole life from birth till death each day each moment we have so many eperiences of life and we learn so much when we study in school coleege or even in job from our seniors ..so every moment is experience but thes experiences we take it according to our own mind our own nature…
for some people lucky enough they have so clarity in thoughts that they just go on in life taking every thing positivey and boldly and easy going life attitudes make them feel great all the time…
but the people like me who are so emotional they take everything in different ways…like whole lfe i had so many good or bad experiences but i took them acordingto my mental levels or emotional ignorance that some of those made me feel so bad and bitter that i lost my self confidence too …and the results of taking evvery exoerience in negative sense ..was total disaster…
so for learning from experiences too we need to have clarity of thoughts n strength to analyse those wisely …so that wisdom comes with guide or guru only…and that can be any form he may be a spiritual guru or a Great strong friend …or A FRIEND WHO CAN ACT AS FRIEND PHILOSPHER AND GUIDE TOO….
Meeting a Guru is like as if a person who is burning in scorching heats he gets shadow of a tree..as if someone thirsty since ages and he got nectar….as if someone has lost the way and guru showing him way and joined a person to group of people…as if somone is traped in cyclone and guru takes him out ..as if somone is sinking in sea and guru takes out and giving him life.again by giving breath also back to him…
as if a heart of a person is dried and burnt and now again ready to become like a bud…and ready to change into a flower….
all these are not just poetic descriptions i believe all those who have met a GuRU in LIFe definitley realised such feeling from their heart…the very few people in this world get such divine GURUs like we all got Guruji SSR and so many people changed completely…
so i truly believe that with the Help of guru we can overcome our fears..analyse our thoughts…analyse our whole experiences with different outlook and learn how to face new problems every day…as
life is never ending run and we are sure to get hurdles and weaknesses that wi stop us from moving and running n winning the race but with the help of guru nothing IMPOSSIBLE… we can not only overcome ourselves and feel happy but can make others lives also ful of smiles and happiness too….
a lot can be said more as such is vast ocean and sky like full of emotions we get after meeting guru that crores of word also wont be able to explain that….
Thank you so much….YOU ARE REALY A GURU FOR ME..
and what i learnt from you i could have never learnt from anyone in life..so accept my gratitude and love …you are realy an Angel and GREATEST FRIEND EVER for me who changed my lfie completely ..
.i hope i never feel weak again in my life as i believe and have complete faith in my guru who wil keep me STRONG ENOUGH…SANJIB MEANS STRENGTH for us.. SANJIB MEANS SMILES for all of us.
.SANJIB’s MYWISDOMCLUB..STRONCONNECTION for all of us….
regards and love and care always…Rekha…
Living your life with no strings attached can give spiritual growth to some.. however living your life according to your Guru’s sayings and keeping faith in your Guru is the surest way to grown in spirituality
First of all GURU is not a person he is the presence, your own higher SELF.
Listening to the Guru simply means, being aware & listening to your higher self for growth of your small mind… Experiences in life cannot be stopped until you are in this body but learning from it is Your Choice
Then let it be a Guru or an experience when you start listening & learning..only then spiritual or any kind of growth is possible!
Listening to Guruji gives exponential spritual growth n our own life experiences provides a unique experiences to us only!
both have equal importance! some times d toughest situations in lyf can b understood by gur’s words or smetyms d silliest of things can b thru own experiences…n vice versa..so it depends also how we perceive things is at equal importance..
One needs knowledge to understand from experience. Guru gives that knowledge and makes it easier to understand what you learnt from your experience.
Guru can decipher your experience better than your own ignorant mind. Question is we get experiences daily, do we learn continuously from every experience?? I doubt it.
We conclude our experience as per our own convenience (Positive or negative) whatever suits us…Guru is non-judgmental, he shows you the truth. What do you think??
Guru is needed for spiritual growth. If Shri Ram had Guru Vashisht, Shri Krishna had Sandeepni rishi, Swami Vivekananda had Swami Ram Krishna Paramhans, we definitely need a Guru.
You will be able to understand and appreciate and learn from your own experience when only a Guru has kindled that thing in you to experience your own experience……………………..
Yeah, Our Experiences can help us in our “Spiritual Growth”… But only if we are Listing our “Guru” with Heart…
When one has first hand experience of the Truth then only it is truth other wise its just a concept…When we live our own Truth we remain connected to our heart space..
We grow our souls through life experiences. The soul grows through adversity & the pure gold emerges after the process of crushing & refining have taken place. We also grow by listening to gurus, reading etc etc its an on-going process God bless belinda
Spirituality is a motivator to live life. The focus which identifies meaning.
So the bottom line is, anything that motivates more; Gnana(knowledge), Karma (action), Kriya (energy), and Bhakthi (devotion). These are 4 major parts of yoga.
life experiences can be totally drastically stupidly different from spiritual experiences… if you want spiritual ones then you need a Guru who can make it happen… if you want to build on your own illusions… a stage may come when even the Guru may not be willing to guide you…
“it is reall Nice to .hear everyone’ views …mostly people agree to having a Guru in life enhances the quality of life and in Spiritual or mental upliftment..so much inspiration we get from Spiritual Masters or Enlightened souls..
without Guru we can not even reach GOD..as guru not even shows the worldly paths but shows us the way to reach higher levels of mind and with devotion path or wisdom path only we can reach divine or God.. we cant get wisdom without guru and cant reach God without Guru…
that is why it is said that Guru is Devotion and Guru is love…and Guru is destiny and Guru is path…Guru is like guardian ..Guru is like Master…Guru is only hope …Guru is faith and trust…Guru is light..and that is why we salute to Guru and want to touch the feet of Guru to show our gratitude and take lessings … TERE CHARNO ME MERE KOTI PRANAM..
“Guru is more than GOD ….as we can reach Guru…and all our problems get sorted out ..instantly… but to God we pray and wait for the answers to our prayers..Sometimes answers we get are so late that our faith start geting weak but when we have GURU ..all our answers we find easily and instantly… so i believe Guru is more than God for me…as if God only could have given happiness we would have felt it whole life but why we could not feel happy …why after meeting guru whole scenario of life changes…how life becomes beautiful and instead of same circumstances and problems we feel like paradise on earth..everthing around seems beautiful and ful of love…
Once,my Guru did a ten minute pravachan on accepting people for what they are,and adjusting your own character and response to fit in with people around me.I started a new job two weeks later,and after listening to His pravachan,and practising it every day.My three month probationary period was over,and I was immediately promoted TWO levels higher than some people who had worked in the company for four yrs…!! AMAZING guidance at the right time….This experience was a direct result of my Gurus timely advice…and my willingness and ability to put his words into practice.As a result, I have progressed in my career with amazing progress,and am able to advise my teenage daughter in the same manner.Jai Pramukh Swamiji ki….
It Guru who gives you the knowledge and plenty of opportunities to experience> Finally you learn through the opportunities.
When you plant a sapling you save the plant from getting damaged by keeping a circular border made of metal. After the sapling grows into a tree, the metallic protection around it is removed. Similarly, a Guru protects us from experience until we are ready/ matured. He will guide us, protect us and safeguard us from the direct expereince. Once we are ready, he will slowly withdraw and permit us/ give us opportunity to exprience. Slowly we will find that there is no difference between ourselves and our Guru, we are two bodies but one soul. There is no speaking, no listening…only a common experience. When the disciple is hurt the teacher cries and vise-versa.
My own life experiences have always been my guide to spiritual growth
Hoping to find a living, breathing Guru…I am open, I am ready. Books and experience and friends and family and nature have helped me. Ready for the next step….
I would like to have my own guru, my own teacher. It is more challenging when you are alone, but easier with someone who can lead you.
Strength of Guru is unbelievable…as in bhagwad Gita…when Arjun was full of doubts and questions in his mind regarding what kind of path he should choose ..how he can fight with his own people then Krishna acted as A Guru or Teacher and he took him out of the storms of doubts of Arjun’ s mind…we also sometime got so stuck in thoughts and confusions that nothing clearly visible what to do how to face the situation
…doubts are so much ..but our love and faith towards guru is also so much the he wil solve every problems of ours…and the strength which Guru gives and the Shelter of love and kindness he provides is uncomparable and in this shelter we find ourself safe and sound and secured…and the tears of eyes are no more it all becomes clear we can see the way clearly and after passing through storms of emotions and guided by guru our faith each time becomes more stronger ..sometimes Guru behave strictly to make us understand and fight with our rigid weakness but if we keep faith this strictness also we can feel that it is out of love only as we behave strict to our kids sometimes. as we love them so much n want to improve them ..so Guru is really ALL in ALL forms for us..and the relation between Guru and learner is most beautiful relation…thanks and regards to my GURU and GOD
@Padma.ji..wow !!what an amazing description…i truly believe this..that there will be no diference between ourselves and guru..one can be image of other like we see in mirror…and soul can recognise other soul…and whatever felt is common with disciple and guru…if one gets hurt the other wil definitely able to feel it…i am realy impressed by this view…
thank you so much i guess this was best point that i loved in whole discussion…:):)