For a seeker who seeks God, who seeks the truth, Enlightenment, it is imperative that he overcomes ignorance, the myths and the lies that we have grown up with. So, what is the way out of ignorance? What is the way to realize the truth? What is the way to Enlightenment? Enlightenment is not knowledge. You may read a book, and you may acquire a lot of knowledge but remain in a pile of ignorance. How can you eliminate ignorance? How can knowledge become realization?
When we put water in a refrigerator, it remains water until the temperature dips. When it will crystalize into ice, it is no more water. So also, knowledge will remain knowledge till we realize the truth. Then, the knowledge becomes Enlightenment. Who can help us to move from knowledge to Realization? Only an enlightened Master, a Spiritual mentor or Guru can do so. However, he must be a genuine realized Soul, not one who appears to be religious or Spiritual through his robes or personal demeanour. The glow of an enlightened Soul can be seen from his wisdom, his humility and the way he lives in this world.
Unless we find a Guru, a Spiritual Master, we will just go around in circles. The Guru himself is enlightened and knows the tricks played by the mind. He has himself dealt with the illusory ME, Mind and Ego. Not only does he know that he is not the body, mind, and ego, he has realized this truth. He lives as the Divine Soul, with only one goal, to be liberated and then ultimately, be united with the Divine.
A true Guru will never be religious. He has evolved from the kindergarten of religion and passed through the university of spirituality. He doesn’t pray to a God, but rather through the God that was his Ishta Deva – personal God. The Guru realizes that God is SIP, the Supreme Immortal Power that is omnipresent – present everywhere, omniscient – knows everything and omnipotent – capable of any miracle. We need a Guru to handhold us through the journey of Enlightenment. Otherwise, we will continue to be ignorant and do things like cutting a cake on a day that is fake. Even if we know it is fake, we will not awake. A Spiritual Mentor plays a key role in the Enlightenment journey, which is incomplete without the guidance of a Guru and the Grace of God.
As we live in this world today, there is so much noise. There are hundreds of religions, dozens of philosophies, and theologies of so many masters, authors, and speakers. What is the truth and what is the myth? How will we discriminate? The only way is to use our intellect. Then what is the role of the Guru? The Guru helps us to sharpen our intellect so that we can cut through thoughts that are not true and that cause us to believe in fairy tales. The Guru trains us on a path that will help us move onward, forward, inward, upward, and Godward. Without the help of a Guru, it will be very difficult, practically impossible to climb the arduous peak of Enlightenment.