WHO IS A GURU AND WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO DISCERN.

I still believe the most misunderstood word even today is Guru. Who is a guru? To answer this question, look at the root of this word: Gu+Ru. Gu, representing the darkness of ignorance, is dispelled by Ru, the one who illuminates. But we already know it, isn’t it? Then why do we still make mistakes in understanding it. When you are a kid and you don’t know how to read or write, the teacher that is teaching you most likely will be your mother or father, that is your first Guru, because they are removing your basic ignorance of how to speak and write. Later, you move into schools, and they teach you different subjects, some of which you may learn and some you don’t. So, the teacher who removed your ignorance is your Guru, and if he failed to do that job he is not. Say, if you don’t know something and learn it for the first time and as a result it awakened you, then that person is your Guru. Here, the word awakening is self-knowledge, which differs from enlightenment; which is the knowledge of the existence of God or its maya. Now, the classical scripts tell that you should respect your Guru or touch their feet to take the blessings, is it not? The emphasis is on the word Guru, not some old man with a beard or a man with a robe of cosmic orange, if that makes sense. If the person of interest is removing some darkness of yours and uplifting you, then he/she is your Guru. Your guru could be anyone in your life, even a janitor, or someone at the highest level of academia. Its influence is not dependent on age, gender, race, or colour. Guru’s description is comparable to how the wind sends the chaff flying while the wheat tumbles to the ground because it’s heavy. A guru will not teach you to wear someone else’s skin or pose as someone. Now, the best example reminds of the book of laws of Power, a favourite among young sigmas (or I call them chigmas). There was this saying “To catch a sucker, you got to play a sucker”. The statement is true, however, the problem is that impersonating someone only works half the time, and only until you meet someone who naturally embodies those qualities. A real-life scenario will result in your failure. You know why? Because a shark knows he is a shark and comfortable in his skin, if a fish tries to pretend as shark, then it would have huge problems because at the core it is not who he is. Instead, if it knows he is a fish, he will gather a huge number of other fish to create the illusion of a whale, which will drive the shark away. So when you ignore what is within you and choose to wear someone else’s skin you will fail. A guru will bring what is within you not what you want to become. When a product is weak then the marketing is peak, you will not find a Guru do that unless it is a marketing guru then it is acceptable. A guru will not dim your light to keep the mantle of arrogance on his head instead he will become proud that the student has surpassed him. When a leaf turns yellow on a tree and doesn’t wish to fall on its own volition thereby blocking the growth of new leaves, the storm comes and blows it away. Had it chosen to fall on its own it would have nourished the roots of the same tree as carbon rich manure, now it get cut off from the roots permanently. It is something a guru understands. “kya samjhe, all the best” :)