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My heart can never understand
Why my mind, vital and body
Are so attached
To the fleeting finite.
Sri Chinmoy, Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, part 9, Agni Press, 1998
The Guru has to be a perfect example of what he teaches. His outer being has to be the perfect example of what he is saying. Otherwise, he is not a Guru. Books have been written about everything. If you read or think about God-realisation or think of God a thousand times or pray to God, that is not enough to realise God. But the Guru can show you the way to realise God just by a mere touch. The responsibility of a Guru is tremendous. If the Guru is not a perfect example of his teachings, then he is not a true Guru. He is what in the medical world they call a “quack.”
So the disciple must be very, very careful in selecting a Guru. If he makes one mistake in his spiritual life, it is not like an ordinary mistake: his whole life can be ruined. It is not as if he is eating a particular kind of vegetable one day and then if it does not suit his system, he can eat a different vegetable the next day. No, it is not as simple as that. Here if a seeker accepts a Master and if he is not the right Master for that seeker, then the experience can be very destructive. The poor disciple can lose faith even in God. He will say, “God, I was sincere. Why did You bring me to this kind of Guru? I did not know what he was like. I am a blind, innocent, helpless fellow. I was so devoted to my Guru and my Guru deceived me. Now to whom should I go? Must I go to some other Master? He will also deceive me.” At that time the seeker starts judging God. Then the seeker loses all faith in the Guru, in God and in himself. At that time his mind and his heart become a barren desert.
There is a saying that before getting married one should think a thousand times about whether or not he will marry a particular person. Similarly, in the spiritual life, before a seeker selects a Guru he should wait a while and dive deep within to see whether that Guru is meant for him or not. If the Master is not meant for the seeker then the seeker should forget him. 1
Sri Chinmoy, The spiritual journey: oneness in diversity, Agni Press, 1977↩︎