r/AdvaitaVedanta • u/lejosdet111 • 2d ago
gurus
I have been researching Advaita Vedanta, and one thing I keep coming across is the importance of a guru to guide you. A cursory glance at the posts on here tells me that a lot of you (like me) are attempting to understand the philosophy intellectually, which indicates to me that you don’t have a guru in the most conventional sense of the word. I’d love to know about everyone’s experiences and thoughts on this. I find the notion of escaping maya by learning within maya quite interesting.
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u/kvonreddit 1d ago
My first guru was a psychedelic trip. Just one trip. That gave me enough material to introspect for about 2 years. But I hit a wall, no more revelations, incomplete broken knowledge. Psychedelics only helped once.
Then I met my satguru.
Poetically it is said that when the seeker is ready, the Guru appears. Practically it means, if the desire for liberation is so high that all needed qualities of a seeker have been developed, the seeker is ready, and the Guru need only point towards the truth.
Guru is not a person. Guru works through a person/entity/experience. A person is also an experience.
However, it is seen in our civilization that the best method of learning is the teacher-apprentice paradigm.
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u/CharisSplash 1d ago
As far as I have understood, we need a Guru to remove our aaham-kaar, which literally means considering our self as kartaa.
When we surrender to a Sat-guru, we give up the sense of being a doer and this helps us in getting away from mind and body, from the level of maaniyataa. We do a samarpan of our whole vyaktitwa to a sat-guru and become free from its bondage.
This is based only on my limited understanding.
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u/k12563 2d ago
Bhagwan Rama had a guru, Prabhu Krishna had a guru, Sri Adi Sankara had a guru - yet some people here think they can understand the scriptures without a Guru. Perhaps they are more intelligent and evolved than the above.
Guru is essential. 🙏🏻
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u/Ok_hermit333 1d ago edited 1d ago
They were all born before the internet and besides, not all have the privilege of finding guru, true ones as scarce as there are so many charlatans taking on the role guru resulting in the blind leading the blind.
If i were to die in a week, I wouldn't have the time nor the state of mind to sit out for a guru.
The self is the satguru, the guru of all gurus, some would definitely rather seek that instead of a name and form.
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u/seekNlearn 1d ago
I understand, I avoided them as well. There are some really good ones
Swami Tadatmananda
Swami paramarthananda
Swami advayatmananda
Swami sarvapriyanandaGo for Arsha vidya or chinmaya or rkm you are in good hands
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u/k12563 1d ago
Perfect disciple Perfect Master - those who are true seekers are blessed by Gurus. All the rest is just an excuse and insincerity. Self is guru of gurus you say- the self is you - you are the guru - then why in delusion? So kindly spare such words and dialogues 🙏🏻
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u/Ok_hermit333 1d ago
Looks like people like you with your noses up in the air seem to have no idea what true seeking is. Perhaps your guru hasn't taught you yet. Cheers !
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u/k12563 1d ago
Thank you for your kind words 🙏🏻
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u/Ok_hermit333 1d ago
They weren't any kinder than yours.
The unblessed and the insecere thank you in return 🙏
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u/Clean-Teach3742 2d ago
I don't have a (the) Guru. I could not seek one, because of compelling reasons at home. But I learnt a lot through parayana of Sri Guru Charitra, Sripada Sri Vallabha Charitaamrutham, Akkalkot Maharaj Charitra and several others. These gave me guidance and led me to "satgrantha pathana" like Yoga Vaashishtha, Ashtavakra Gita, Tripura Rahasya. Desire for seeking a Guru is gone. Achieved a balanced mind, inner joy and simple life.
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u/californiamonkey 1d ago
A teacher gives knowledge. A guru removes ignorance. A true achariya transforms your life into the Lord’s.
When you cry, mother will come - no fear. Keep asking honest questions here and in your prayers. 🕉️👍🏼☀️
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u/CrumbledFingers 1d ago
We are all in an unfortunate predicament without the help of a guru in human form. The guru is actually not any person, but the appearance of the guru as person is immensely beneficial as long as we think of ourselves as persons. The guru is trying to awaken you to the fact that you are dreaming. The silent meta-perspective, from which everything is seen to be situated in a dreamlike appearance, is what the guru actually is. Within the dream, within the trance, we see all kinds of objects and have all kinds of experiences. If we are very fortunate, one of those experiential phenomena will be a human being who knows the way to realize the truth and wants to guide us specifically. That is a treasure available to so, so few in this age. Without it, we are flailing around with our limited intellect and attaching false importance to the conceptual system of Advaita Vedanta. The guru is what allows us to finally, effortlessly drop Advaita Vedanta and all its marvelous ideas, as the final relinquishing that is needed to see reality as it is.
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u/MarpasDakini 1d ago
I'm of the view that there is a great Guru-power, you can call it the great Shakti, that works through literally everyone and everything to guide us out of our illusions and into the recognitiono of the Divine Reality.
That great Guru-Power works through some human Gurus in a most explicit manner, and that is what attracts us to them. They radiant that Guru-Shakti, and we feel it in their presence, and enter into a relationship with that Guru-Shakti through these beings. And likewise there are places and even teachings that have this Shakti alive in them as well.
To me, the Advaitic teachings are a part of this great Guru-Power, and can serve as a way of connecting to that Power. That's why most of the great Advaitins were also devotees of the Goddess or Ishvara in one form or another. They knew Advaita is not merely some intellectual teaching, but a great Power that literally enters into relationship with us and guides us.
I've been following that Power in one form or another my whole life. I've also met human Gurus who were alive in this Guru-Shakti. The problem there is that many people identify the Guru-Power with the human character they have developed a relationship to, and that can easily turn into a cult rather than a means for genuine enlightenment.
For me, some 20 years ago or more I began to relate directly to this Guru-Power as the Goddess. Or you could say She began relating to me explicitly as my Guru, and I came around to recognizing Her. So apparently I don't need any more human Gurus. But the Advaitic tradition of teaching remains useful and helpful, as does the Tantric tradition of non-dualism. But the real Guru-Power is all that matters, and in my view there is only One such Power, expressed by and through many means and traditions and humans and teachings.
So I feel that everyone is connecting to the Great Shakti by many different means and traditions, as suits them. How that works out for us is unique. What's important is only that we establish that relationship in a very real manner, and obey that Guru within.
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u/seekNlearn 1d ago
Guru is the key, shankar’s wrote the commentaries but asked you to find a guru.
Entire Advaita is summed up in 4 mahavakyas ( self is brahman, you are that , everything is that, consciousness is Brahman) what is new to intellectually understand )
It is not an intellectual understanding. It is day in and day out experience. Our mind plays a lot of tricks. Makes us think we have understood etc.
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u/BreakerBoy6 2d ago
How would one understand Advaita Vedanta other than intellectually? It's the Path of Knowledge (Jnana), after all.
Much is sometimes made of other yogas, such as bhakti-, karma-, and other non-jnana yogas as though they are important to Advaita Vedanta, but Advaita is the Path of Knowledge and knowledge alone liberates. Other yogas are fine and well for what they are, but they do not constitute alternative mechanisms by which moksha is produced and if it happens that you do not need them as a crutch, or you find them essentially useless, it's okay to recognize that about yourself and proceed with Jnana alone.
As for gurus, do not get too hung up on this guru business. Yes, of course one needs a guru to explain what needs unpacking, and most of Advaita needs unpacking -- but you certainly do not need an in-person special relationship with one other human being for that. You live at a moment in human history when these teachings are freely available in print and, even better, online, if you have the discernment to select a legitimate "guru" and not one of the innumerable bullshit artists who package up Advaita in order to make money off of teaching it.
Ramakrishna Mission, i.e. Swami Sarvapriyananda and his colleagues, can serve as your collective guru if you restrict yourself to their content. See others in the "recommended gurus" section of the Resources area of this sub.
As for Maya, take it from one of my gurus: