johnee
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All scriptures emphatically declare the importance of a Guru. A guru has been placed on par(and infact above the Gods themselves).
Guru brahma, guru vishnu, guru devo maheshwarah
guru sakshat para brahma, tasmai sri guruve namah.
There is also a famous quote," If Shiva(God) is angered by you, you can be saved by Guru. But if Guru is angered by you, even Shiva will not save you..."
It has been said that Scriptures have to be understood via Guru, without Guru, the scriptures cannot be understood properly. The meditation and its methods are also be taken from someone who has already mastered them(Guru), otherwise, the meditations are futile.
To believe that an individual himself can somehow discover God, without the help of Guru is declared by all scriptures as foolishness. `Shraddha' is the first pre-condition is all spiritual quests. And `Shraddha' is defined as one's strong belief in the instructions of scriptures and Guru. One who lacks in `Shraddha' is lost. `Shraddavan labhate gyanam'. Gyanam, here, is defined as the realisation of one's innate Godliness.
The chief opponents of `Shraddha' are Ego(Ahankara) and wrong reasoning(durbuddhi). These both stop a person from placing a belief in Guru's or scripture's words.
Adi Shankara-Acharaya had spelled out two requisites for someone to be qualified as a Guru:
a) He should be Brahma Gyani, jivan mukta, ...etc( a realised soul)
b) He should be thinking of welfare of his disciple.
Scriptures also predict that in Kali Yuga(the present yuga), many mischievious Sanyasis will delude people from righteous path. So, people need to be careful while choosing the Guru. The best thing is to stay in the traditional path setup by Adi Shankara. Adi Shankara established 4 Peethas
a) Sharada Peetha at Sringeri in south india
b) Kalika Peetha at Dwaraka in western india
c) Govardhana Peetha at Puri in eastern india
d) jyotih Peetha at Badri in northern india
He annointed his primary disciples, namely, Sureshwara-Acharya, Padmapada-Acharya, Hastamalaka-Acharya and Totaka-Acharya as the heads of these peethas. These heads were reffered to reverentially as `Shankaracharya's and `Jagadguru's. These four peethas along with Kanchi Peetha and their Guru paramparas are authentic and safe to follow.
Guru brahma, guru vishnu, guru devo maheshwarah
guru sakshat para brahma, tasmai sri guruve namah.
There is also a famous quote," If Shiva(God) is angered by you, you can be saved by Guru. But if Guru is angered by you, even Shiva will not save you..."
It has been said that Scriptures have to be understood via Guru, without Guru, the scriptures cannot be understood properly. The meditation and its methods are also be taken from someone who has already mastered them(Guru), otherwise, the meditations are futile.
To believe that an individual himself can somehow discover God, without the help of Guru is declared by all scriptures as foolishness. `Shraddha' is the first pre-condition is all spiritual quests. And `Shraddha' is defined as one's strong belief in the instructions of scriptures and Guru. One who lacks in `Shraddha' is lost. `Shraddavan labhate gyanam'. Gyanam, here, is defined as the realisation of one's innate Godliness.
The chief opponents of `Shraddha' are Ego(Ahankara) and wrong reasoning(durbuddhi). These both stop a person from placing a belief in Guru's or scripture's words.
Adi Shankara-Acharaya had spelled out two requisites for someone to be qualified as a Guru:
a) He should be Brahma Gyani, jivan mukta, ...etc( a realised soul)
b) He should be thinking of welfare of his disciple.
Scriptures also predict that in Kali Yuga(the present yuga), many mischievious Sanyasis will delude people from righteous path. So, people need to be careful while choosing the Guru. The best thing is to stay in the traditional path setup by Adi Shankara. Adi Shankara established 4 Peethas
a) Sharada Peetha at Sringeri in south india
b) Kalika Peetha at Dwaraka in western india
c) Govardhana Peetha at Puri in eastern india
d) jyotih Peetha at Badri in northern india
He annointed his primary disciples, namely, Sureshwara-Acharya, Padmapada-Acharya, Hastamalaka-Acharya and Totaka-Acharya as the heads of these peethas. These heads were reffered to reverentially as `Shankaracharya's and `Jagadguru's. These four peethas along with Kanchi Peetha and their Guru paramparas are authentic and safe to follow.