After having met a person who is member of a cult and has a Guru to whom he has dedicated most of his life too, and learning about few more such persons (co-incidentally at the same time) I got into this debate - is having a Guru good or not? Are all the Gurus out there to capitalize on human minds or are there some who are there to nurture them?
And then was wondering, what makes a person seek a Guru?
Well we know that human mind is inquisitive, there are questions - that are yet not explained - concept of God, concept of life and concept of death ...it is sometimes good to question - but how correct it is to find some answers and believe in them to an extent that it sabotages your normal life?
I alternate between believing in God and believing in randomness -all the time ...I don't know if that is right or having a consistent belief is better ..it works well for me - I feel it balances me out from drifting on either side (though I must say I am a bit partial to the fact that God exists - there is a certain comfort in that thought - you know like someone is figuring things out for you).
I was told by one of the followers that - you have to give up your mind - if you continue to reason everything then you will never experience the truth - but for me giving up the mind is like giving up me ..and if I give up myself then how can I experience? ...In this living form, are we adequate to realize the truth? Or is it just me who is naive?
What makes a person seek a Guru? Does he get answers of all the questions in that person? And gets a purpose in that devotion? Answers and purpose that he cannot reason but he can believe - belief without reason? Is it realizable? reasonable? And then aren't the most real emotions of life unreasonable - like love ... - Is finding a Guru like falling in love - experiencing the pleasure of getting psychologically seduced - experiencing the comfort of being belonged - or of belonging? ...Or is it just an illusion? A mind game that targeted your vulnerabilty...may be your inquisitiveness too ...I am still confused ?
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"It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers."
- James Thurber
10 comments:
I want to reiterate something that has already been said in your blog:
Don't think so much. I am getting worried
to me, this is a very good analysis. i think people tend to seek a "guru" when they are looking for a refuge pshychologically, open up for answers which cannot be answered by friends or family. sign of mental weakness to me.
"Guru..." I had a pretty definite idea of what such a person would be like(-read pretty vague idea about what the concept behind 'it' is / never really thought about it). Your blog kinda prompted me to actually look it up in Wikipedia(some people do have a LOT of time on their hands, which is a good thing only in Wikipedia's context). There it says that "A Guru is a spiritual guide who is considered to have attained complete insight." And then it goes on to say that 'Guru' is seen as a "sacred conduit or a way to self-realization". I don't get the 'complete insight' part(I guess if D. Adams had a 'Guru' his 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' series of stories would have turned out a wee bit different). If you have not done so already, I would recommend reading the etymological analysis of 'Guru' in Wikipedia.
Unanswered questions are a part of our lives, in fact, I feel that they are our lives. Unanswered questions are why we are still functioning. Happiness, enlightenment depends on how obsessive we are about getting answers to which questions. I'm sorry, but I don't think much of a person who needs to have a 'Guru' to find his answers for him. I've met a few people who believe in 'Gurus' and I must say that I was a bit disturbed by their conviction. Seeking spiritual guidance is okay by me as long as it does not turn into blind fanaticism.
P.S. I do enjoy reading your blogs and My 'Gurus' would be Calvin and Hobbs. Their 'teachings' are very perceptive. Who do you feel/think your guru is? (God does not give us all our answers.) :-)
Awesome !!! looks like you have given words to my thoughts.. thanks... :-))
Hey there, I stumbled on to your blog through orkut.
my two cents..
I think we're all like dots moving across a screen, total randomness and i love it! more often that not, its when i've grabbed life by the crazy horns have I had unexpected successes rather than when I had plans, so im a firm believer of freeflow. I dont think I'd like to have one 'guru' but multiple mentors at different times would do jus fine..
I dont know whether I am that BIG (enligtened) to understand the
concept of "GOD" or even to talk on the matter, but I will give it a try.
According to me, when one says that I believe in God or God exists - means that he Believes in HIMSELF. For the fact of the matter remains, God is nothing but an "Ideal" person/human being, whom everyone trys to follow.
When someone says that he believes in God, that means he himself believes that whatever he is doing is similar to what a figure of God would have done in the situation/problem. Now, the real Big problem remains that, no one has seen God for that matter, so how to symbolise him. So, we turn our focus to Gurus, who we agree are more closer to the entity called God, since they have achieved a certain spiritual stage, which brings them closer to the Almighty. So, we try to follow that Guru, who in turn follows the Supernatural Power called God.
I hope this gives u a better explanation and u might be feeling a little bit less confused now.....
For record, I am not religious or spiritual, but I still believe that there is an un-explainable Power in this World/Universe, which we call as GOD. But I dont have any Guru, that doesnt means I dont follow God, but I follow him directly rather than following him through
a Guru.
wankash
wankash- I have seen ppl who believe in God and still do things which they know are wrong and offcourse, God would have never done that.
@wankash, I don't think that there is an 'ideal' person/human being. God, maybe yes. I don't think that our lives give us enough 'good for everybody' choices to remain an ideal person. Whatever we choose almost always has a downside, so it kinda becomes a case of picking the lesser evil. I'd say instead of Gurus, keep your ears open to your conscience.
Cheers.
How about having multiple gurus .. each one owns a part of the "key" but only "you" know how to combine all of them to reproduce the secret .. akin to secure multi-party computation in crypto literature but the analogy works, doesnt it :-) ..
@vids - thanks girlie - to me it is more a sign of lonliness
@saurabh sen - Calvin and Hobbs are good choice - I personally don't have a Guru but as Kakkajee said I learn (rarely though) various things from various people ...
@amit - thanks dude
@sixstringsguitar - yup man that is a great way to go about things - as I said whatever works well for you is better
@wankash - Guys I believe when he said ideal person - he referred to the "idea" of ideal person -
@kakkajee - bhai that crypto part thing is good and I guess that's how most of us thrive ..isn't it?
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