Do You Need to Surrender to a Guru?

Question

Do you need to surrender yourself to your guru, physically also, to the living guru?

—Abc, India

Answer

Dear Abc,

Joy to you! Swami Kriyananda was asked a similar question and his answer was quite surprising to me. He said, “NO!!!” you don’t have surrender your self to a guru, unless…you want to find God. If your goal is to merge into the Infinite then you would want to surrender your tiny ego to the Infinite Bliss of a Self-Realized Guru. Otherwise, you could spend lifetimes enjoying chasing your tail — until one day you realize that all fun and effort you would put into chasing your tail got you very little in return.

A person could teach them self to play a piano quite well. But, eventually, it would behoove them to learn from a maestro — if the goal is to play music at your highest potential. Learning from a Divine Master would be like having a map while driving in a new town. You don’t need a map if you’re in no hurry to get to wherever the wind takes you. You could quite an adventure driving around for hours, days or longer. But if you want to get to where you want to go to a specific location in a timely matter with ease and comfort, you want to use a map. A true Guru (one who lives in a God Consciousness) will get you through the ocean of life like being on a luxury cruise liner compared to being on a raft in the middle of the ocean.

It is said the soul loves being in Guru’s Grace. The soul’s wisdom recognizes it can’t do much without Guru’s Grace. The ego wants little or nothing to do with a Guru. It believes it can do it all by itself. The soul knows and understands the value of the Guru’s wisdom. So it would be extremely wise to surrender to a living Guru. To have the touch of a true Guru would mean one has must have very, very, very good karma. It would be an outstanding blessing!

Know a true Guru’s spirit has no limits. A true guru, like a Yogananda, or Jesus, passes their God-filled vibrations to anyone they choose. Most likely someone who has dedicated their life to serving a true Guru’s work would be endowed with the Guru’s grace and that person could pass that grace onto a devotee effortlessly. And if the devotee is open and willing to attune their self to the Master, the Grace would flow into the devotee like a river. And the blessings would be filled with tremendous bliss, love, and joy. One would know perfect peace. And one might experience their own Higher Divinity supremely. And there is nothing on earth that is more soothing to the soul as Guru’s Grace. The more one call surrender their ego the more grace can fill the void. And the grace is bliss beyond compare.

I pray this missive helps,

Blessings,

Nayaswami Gopal