(Based on the Teachings of Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj)
तद्विद्धि प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन सेवया ।
उपदेक्ष्यन्ति ते ज्ञानं ज्ञानिनस्तत्त्वदर्शिनः ॥ (Gita 4.34)
“Approach a shrotriya brahmanishtha Guru, question him with reverence and devotion and serve him sincerely and wholeheartedly. Attain spiritual knowledge from him and practice devotion under his guidance, only then will you know God.”
But from where and how can we find such a Guru? People often fall prey to the eloquence and apparel of beguiling people and regard them as God-realised souls. Some people are impressed by the mere fact that such and such a baba is a great renouncer; he lives only on fruit and resides in a wild forest. Someone else is wearing their hair matted, another is observing the vow of silence, someone is a scholar of the scriptures, etc. Such notions make people believe that they are God-realised. There is no harm listening to them, if they relate divine lilas of Shri Krishna, but worshipping them as a God-realised soul and completely surrendering to them has disastrous consequences.
Public propaganda and glorification by the media also make such ‘pseudo gurus’ enlightened in the eyes of the layperson, but such people make the irredeemable mistake that real enlightened souls shun such glorification, name and fame.
Some babas know the art of manual skill. They can produce ash, almonds, sweets or money from the air or from their kamandala (a small water pot normally used by ascetics) and so people believe them to be endowed with supernatural powers. People are mistaken here because only a person with a tamasik nature would adopt such tactics, for his own self-glorification. A true Saint keeps himself away from all these false shows.
Some people commit a grave mistake by believing in the tradition of Guru succession, where the same regard is given to the original Guru’s successor, even though he may not be illumined like his predecessor. Some Gurus provide worldly things like wealth, prestige and so on; and yet command the status of a true Saint. Those who worship them as their Guru commit a Himalayan blunder because a true Saint never gives worldly wealth or pleasures, as it only puffs up a person’s pride and makes them more depraved. A true Saint blesses only with divine things related to God.
Some people accept, without any question, the self-declaration of so-called swamis who claim to have been in the Himalayas for so many years performing tapasya and have consequently attained God, undergone bodily transformation and are now two hundred years of age. How ignorant those people who accept him as a Mahapurusha are! Great souls never make a show of their greatness: rather they conceal it and disclose their secret to their intimate associates if required.
