THE GURU is Everything in Spiritual Life
Channel: Consciousness Research Centre
Date: 2020-07-02

Guru’s Grace is Everything!
M.: Grace is always there. “Dispassion cannot be acquired, nor   realization of the Truth, nor inherence in the Self, in the absence of Guru’s Grace,” the Master quoted.  —Talk 220

D.: Realisation is said to be helped by Guru’s Grace.  
M.: Guru is none other than the Self.  —Talk 317

M.: ...Guru’s Grace is like a hand extended to help you out of water, or it makes your way easier for the removal of ignorance.  
D.: Is it not like a medicine to cure the disease of avidya?  
M.: What is medicine for? It is only to restore the patient to the original   state of health. What is this talk of Guru, Grace, God, etc.? Do you think the Guru will hold you by the hand and whisper something in your ear? In that case, you imagine him to be like yourself. Because you are with a body you think that he is also a body in order to do something tangible to you. No, His work lies within. 

How is Guru gained? God, who is immanent, in his Grace takes pity on the loving devotee and manifests Himself as a being according to the devotee’s standard. The devotee thinks that he is a man and expects relationship as between bodies. But the Guru, who is God or Self incarnate, works from within, helps the man to see the error of his ways, guides him in the right path until he realises the Self within. After realisation the disciple feels, “I was so worried before. I am after all always the Self, the same as before but not affected by anything; where is he who was miserable? He is nowhere to be seen.” —Talk 398

D.: Is success not dependent on Guru’s Grace?  
M.: Yes, it is. Is not your practice itself due to such Grace? The fruits are the result of the practice and follow it automatically. There is a stanza in Kaivalya Navanita which says, “O Guru! You have been always with me watching me through several reincarnations, and ordaining my course until I was liberated.” The Self manifests externally as Guru when occasion arises; otherwise He is always within, doing the needful. —Talk 425

Another visitor asked: “Please tell me which is the most efficacious of all the methods: prayer to God, Guru anugraha (master’s grace) , concentration of mind, etc.”  
M.: The one is the consequence of the other. Each of them leads to the next stage. They form a continuous whole. God, Guru and the Self are not different. They are one and the same. Therefore the methods offer no choice.  —Talk 440