With the right Guru on his side, a disciple can save valuable time and use his energies for amiable purposes. Not just time, the disciple can use the opportunities that life gives him, and even create some for himself with the help of a guru. If a person surrenders himself to the guru unconditionally and reposes complete faith in him, he can achieve what he can’t in a lifetime. Such is the glory of serving the Guru. It is only when a person wins the confidence of the guru that the powers within him unravel themselves.
The Guru Parampara, which was introduced by the sages, has its roots in the Vedas and the Upanishads. Remember that man can harness the spiritual powers within him and use it for the good of the world only under a Guru’s guidance. Caught in the vortex of life and death, happiness and sorrow and truth and reality, man finds himself lost in the maze called life. It is only when he comes in contact with the Guru that he realizes his true self and comes out of the spell cast by illusions. This amply proves the invaluable service rendered by the Guru to the disciple. Initially, the Guru appears to be the bridge between the disciple and God. But when the disciple surrenders himself to the Guru, the latter himself becomes God. He becomes one with the disciple, and becomes his co-traveller in the final journey towards truth. So, never take the Guru lightly. For he is the repository of all powers. Likewise, the relationship between the disciple and the Guru appears to be very mundane to begin with. It revolves around discussions on various topics of common interest. But with the passage of time, this stage is transcended, and the Guru becomes one with the disciple. He becomes his thoughts as well as the contemplation. This is when the two cease to be separate identities. A disciple can understand the true powers of his Guru only by surrendering himself totally to the latter. Such a disciple is freed from rebirth.
The condescension of the Guru and the arrogance of his pupil do not go hand in hand. Both of them render truth meaningless. Spiritual self realisation is superior to intelligence of the worldly kind. For someone who has achieved self-realisation, there is no difference between himself and his Guru. Such a person considers the Guru to be a part of himself, and creates the image of Guru within his heart, to which he surrenders himself.
One who becomes a complete pupil also becomes a Guru onto oneself. Such a person treats his Guru as his own soul and inner light, and venerates the Guru, which helps him in attaining liberation.
The article is taken from the book Touch Stone by Gurumatha Amma