Why have a guru or spiritual master?
I’ve recently been attending workshops offered by my local Sri Chinmoy center. They teach meditation techniques and offer many opportunities for meditative group activities. All this is great, in my opinion. The only thing I find weird is that whenever we gather for meditation, there is a mini shrine to Sri Chinmoy. Although I’m sure this person was a beautiful, enlightened, spiritual loving person (or maybe not, any thoughts on this?), he is not a god, I don’t want to pray TO him… I don’t know, it just makes me feel weird. It is the only aspect of the practice that I find odd. All activities and workshops are free and lead by volunteers.
So my question is, if the point of meditation is self-awareness and enlightenment, why is it good to have a guru or spiritual master (who is now dead, by the way)? Any other thoughts or reflections?
From where you are now, maybe you could simply view Sri Chinmoy as a figure to inspire you. If others feel love and devotion towards him, maybe you could empathize with their experience without necessarily sharing it.
If you just want to do a little meditation, I don’t think anybody could fault you for that. But meditation’s original purpose in the Indian system of Yoga was as part of an enlightenment tradition which also includes taking the help of a guru.
It all depends on how sincere a seeker you are. If you only want spirituality to be, say, 10% of your life, then there may be no need for a guru. But consider someone who only eats at a Chinese restaurant once in a blue moon; yet, they want to know how to eat with chopsticks, and how to order properly from the menu, balancing “yin” dishes with “yang.” You may get more out of meditation if you’re able to appreciate the finer points of the tradition, including guru devotion.
You may feel some affinity with Sri Chinmoy’s students, or why would you be studying meditation with them? But you don’t understand some things they do – or, having grown up in a secular setting, you’re uncomfortable when you see a traditional shrine with flowers and a picture of the guru. This is extremely common in India (and rather natural), but is not always well understood in the West.
As far as the guru being “dead,” if you ask disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, or Sri Aurobindo, or Sri Chinmoy if their guru is “dead,” they will probably tell you that he has left the body, but they feel his spiritual presence very strongly when they meditate (particularly in a group).
Spirituality is a process of unfoldment, and it can be helpful to remain open and follow the process where it leads you, rather than firmly planting your feet and defining in advance exactly what you will or will not do.
If you’re a spiritual person, then as you progress, you may feel the need to challenge some of your pre-conceived notions, as well as attitudes found in society. If you ask the average person on the street whether there is any need for a guru, he/she will probably say no. But if you ask people well-advanced along the spiritual path, many will say that a guru can be very, very helpful.
Sri Chinmoy tells this story:
“Sri Ramakrishna used to say that God is like a cow. Milk is there in the cow; but if I press the tail or the leg or the nose, I don’t get the milk. I get the milk only when I press the udder of the cow. Similarly, God is everywhere in this world. In this wooden plank God exists, but if I break the plank God is not going to appear. So the representative of God, the Guru is the udder and from there we get the milk. Milk means Compassion, Light, Peace and Bliss.”
http://www.srichinmoylibrary.com/public/0311/1/1
Sri Chinmoy also speaks quite beautifully and eloquently about the role of the guru as messenger here:
http://www.srichinmoylibrary.com/public/0166/12/1
Good luck with your spiritual practice!
A.M.
Meditation: What is Meditation? – Episode 1
