These are quite natural questions that arise in the mind of youth today. Most of us have gone through these questions at some point as they are part of the Age we live in. The Age of individuality that encourages individual freedom and equality of all human beings regardless of their inner stature or greatness contradicts the necessity of obedience and surrender to any other person. One is ready to accept the ideas that seem good and helpful while refusing those which do not sync with one’s own preformed conditioning is the gift of individuality. It has its own importance in our evolutionary journey from man as a part of the masses to man as an individual making his own choices, learning from errors, humbled by stumbles and walking through the challenges of life. Sri Aurobindo being well aware of the demand of the Age gave utmost freedom to the disciples and never imposed anything. He gave the guidance but left us free to accept or refuse.
However, out of his endless compassion, he also cautioned the disciples about the possible dangers of undertaking the tremendous adventure of consciousness oneself without the help of a Guru. The logic of this is very simple. If one were to learn everything by oneself including the laws of physics and the nature of the wild beasts then we can imagine how long will it take and, given the dangers, whether we will learn anything worthwhile at all beyond the Science of appearances. Spirituality is a much more vaster and complex field, with pitfalls and snares, many are the masks of deception that the ego wears, many the alluring and misleading experiences that the vital conjures for man with his ignorance and weakness to cross without mortal danger. The Guru makes it easier for us by providing the needed guidance and the light as we walk through dense forest of ignorance. This is the first necessity of a Guru who can speak the language we can understand.
Secondly it is not just the guidance through Knowledge but also a Power that helps, anticipates our stumbles, upholds us through it, lifts us, supports and protects and ensures that we arrive to the very end.
One may well ask that all these things can be done by the Divine as well. But the question assumes that the Divine and the Guru are two different entities. It is the Divine who becomes the Guru compressing his infinity into a finite form and name, packing his eternity to suit the play of Time. Guru is the unseen formless nameless Divine become tangible and visible and audible, the Divine whom we can grasp by our mind and senses, the Divine who seems to be seizable so that we can break free from all limits, the Divine who assumes a name so that we can address and call Him personally rather than through his qualities, the Divine who becomes like us so that learning from him and taking his example we can become the Divine even in this body of flesh and blood. The Guru becomes the bridge between us and the Divine since by surrendering to the guru we surrender to the Divine not only inwardly but also outwardly letting our body participate in the joy of the surrender. The Guru completes what remains incomplete in a purely inner seeking and finding of the Divine.
The Guru brings God nearer to us by giving Him the touch of earth and the joy of relating with the Divine in and through the very physical body. He is meant to facilitate the journey, to set our souls free in the infinity of God, not to make us dependent. To rely upon the Guru is not dependency, it is the royal road to freedom. Man can accept or he can refuse and turn to the more difficult road of doing it all by himself. But at its core is always the ego refusing to surrender and the vital refusing to obey.
But why one particular Guru and not many? This arises from the necessities of the path leading us to the summits of our consciousness. We must first reach the summits and from each summit there is a slightly different angle of view. Then we reach the highest summit and the widest seeing by going beyond the summits into the utter Oneness. But then our journey begins from where we stand and where we want to go. That makes different paths that we cannot traverse together. Each Guru takes us through the Path that he has trod. Though the ultimate realisation may be one but each Path, each journey is unique. What is applicable on one path may not apply or even be contradicted in another. Each Guru therefore, though representative of the same Divine, brings a different and unique influence which may not always mix with others. This is the logic of one path and one Guru.
The Guru does not die. After shedding the earthly cloak he either remains in the earth atmosphere as a presence and an influence, a guiding consciousness and a power that continues to help all who walk through the path that he opened. All that is needed is the chord of faith that binds us to him and the will to surrender and follow the guidance he has left for us through his words and teachings. The Guru has been sent by the Divine, he is the Divine and the Divine never dies. He is always there in the forms He has consciously assumed until the necessity of the play requires that he returns to the hills of Silence from where he came assuming a form and name and a body that harboured and upheld the conscious Divine.
Hope this answers your query.
Affectionately
Alok Da
