Many people will never, ever find a real Guru. Just to elucidate what a Guru is, Gu means light and Ru means darkness, so the person you would apply this word to can mean the one who shows you the light through the darkness. Another meaning of Guru is heavy, or weighty. No, not meaning a fat guy, although some of them can be fat, but meaning someone with a lot of knowledge or who is dense with the knowing, and those would be the ones you’re seeking out to learn from. But most often the Guru will find you, or you will find them without effort, as mine did.

If you go looking for one you will usually never find them, he/she will be there as soon as you stop the search. And often they will tell you that you are the one and ask you to learn from them. And as the Aghori Vimalananda states the shishya will never understand how much work the Guru is doing for them before they even meet, or even during their time together. He/She is always absorbing your karma, helping to pave the way for your absorption of the knowledge they are sharing for you at the same time they are teaching you. This is really something to me and makes me appreciate my Guruji even more.

The biggest problem is when the person, as stated in the first paragraph, gets stuck looking at the finger. Which means that they become obsessed with the person rather than integrating the teachings that will help them “reach the moon.” If that makes sense. Which is often what seems to happen with Westerners, I think because we in the West have idolised celebrity so much, so as soon as someone makes you feel better in a role they played or a story they’ve written you worship them. Same with a Guru, they’ve taught you a technique that takes away so much of the mental or emotional pain and so you then get stuck worshipping them and stop absorbing that which they are trying to teach you, and lose yourself in the worship of their physical vessel rather than the divine that lives within them and you.

So be wary but also be open to receiving one if you find them inserting themselves into your life. Recently an Aghori, and I’ve been obsessed with the path of Aghora so was enthralled by the idea of him, more than by him, came into my life and kept telling me to worship him and call him Guru, when at the time I’d already told him I had a Guru, but was curious about Aghora and wanted to learn more about it, so didn’t cut him off totally. Until I did because I’d been told one to many times to call him dad or Guruji, and to worship him on my altar and from what I’ve read in the shastras that I have read “if one names himself a guru, he is the furthest thing from it..” and I believe that.

If someone is a real Guru you will feel yourself being drawn to call them that, they themselves will not need to tell you to call them that, and should not be demanding it for sure. That alone is enough reason to question them. Also from what I’ve read one should test the Guru to make sure they are the right one for oneself. And mine has passed that test, and I hope he still thinks I’ve passed his test!

Anyway, Happy Guru Poornima to all those teachers out there who’ve gone the extra mile and helped someone go deeper into the experience of life!