What happens when the guru leaves the body?

Question

What happens when the Guru drops the body ? is there a sort of individuality or does he just dissolve in the universe ?

—jayantkumar dhruv, india

Answer

When the guru leaves his body, he merges his consciousness back into the Infinite Consciousness of Spirit. But, as Paramhansa Yogananda explained to Swami Kriyananda, that soul also retains “a memory” of who he has been as an individualized soul.

Paramhansa Yogananda was a guru who was also an avatar. Not all gurus are avatars. He said of himself that he had come back many times to help souls reunite with the Divine. He had reached the level of kaivalya moksha, or complete liberation, many lifetimes ago, and had the “desireless desire” to return to help others find God. He said he had returned many times over the ages to do this.

There are some wonderful explanations in The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita book of how this works, not only for the guru, but also for us as evolving souls. One commentary is on verse 3:3 and goes into great detail about this. Since you are located in India, you could contact the Ananda India publisher to know where you can buy this wonderful book at Ananda Sangha Publications. It contains answers to many spiritual questions such as this.