The need for a guru / initiation

[Unemployed]

Questioner: "Is a Master necessary for realisation?”

Ramana Maharshi: "The realisation is the result of the Master’s grace more than teachings, lectures, meditation, etc. They are only secondary aids, whereas the former is the primary and the essential cause." 

Questioner: “Can anyone get any benefit by repeating sacred syllables (mantras) picked up casually?"

Ramana: “No. He must be competent and initiated in such mantras.”

I enjoy listening to mantras on YouTube and sometimes I see comments with people scolding the video poster for sharing the "secret mantas" without proper initiation.

If you read the reviews on books about Kriya Yoga on Amazon you'll notice people posting hate comments towards the authors for sharing the secrets of Kriya and warnings of the dangers of practicing Kriya without a guru's guidance.  Ennio Nimis, author of "Kriya Yoga-Synthesis of a Personal Experience", released his book and received a lot of negative feedback.

Sadhguru also stresses the need for a guru and initiation into the meditative practices but in Jiddu Krishnamurti's opinion this is all nonsense.  

What do you guys think about this? 

[Leo Gura]

Bullshit

You are God. You do not need anyone to realize that. Unless you do.

It is an absurdity of the highest order to believe that God needs a human to realize itself.

It's a bit like you have convinced yourself that you need a human to assist you in order to take a shit. A mature adult can shit by themselves.

[mandyjw]

I wouldn't say there are any right or wrong answers, and I'd say that looking for a guru thinking you need one is not the thing to do. I'd also say that disregarding one when they appear to you is not the thing to do either.

Here's what Nisargadatta Maharaj said about this I found it incredibly interesting. 

"What you take to be the ‘I’ in the ‘I am’ is not you.To know that you are is natural, to know what you are is the result of much investigation. You will have to explore the entire field of consciousness and go beyond it. For this you must find the right teacher and create the conditions needed for discovery. Generally speaking, there are two ways: external and internal. Either you live with somebody who knows the Truth and submit yourself entirely to his guiding and moulding influence, or you seek the inner guide and follow the inner light wherever it takes you. In both cases your personal desires and fears must be disregarded. You learn either by proximity or by investigation, the passive or the active way. You either let yourself be carried by the river of life and love represented by your Guru, or you make your own efforts, guided by your inner star. In both cases you must move on, you must be earnest. Rare are the people who are lucky to find somebody worthy of trust and love. Most of them must take the hard way, the way of intelligence and understanding, of discrimination and detachment (viveka-vairagya). This is the way open to all." 

 

 

[Unemployed]

@Leo Gura @mandyjw

 Thanks, guys!!

[here-now]

You need a guru until you realize you don't need a guru.

Kinda like you need your Dad for advice on how to do stuff until you realize you can figure it out on your own (but you still like visiting him and listening to his advice anyway ).

 

[Epiphany_Inspired]

I am having such deja-va... I dont know if this is the second, third, fourth time I've posted this response... but Ganga Giri's " dont follow the guru, you are the guru" song always answers this question better than my words could... must be the dance-beat... lol...