Question: I've heard that when one accepts a spiritual path, there is a point at which one must surrender oneself to a Guru who is higher than himself. But I've also heard that one must constantly question the teachings of the Guru and listen to a voice within himself. This idea of scepticism and questioning seems to contradict the idea of surrender.

Sri Chinmoy: First of all we have to know that if someone goes to the trouble of getting a Guru, then he has to listen to his Guru. It is better for him not to accept a Guru at all if he feels that he must doubt and question his Guru. Surrender is a different matter. A real spiritual teacher will say that he is not the Guru; the only real Guru is the Supreme. A human being is only a leader for a few people. It may be a hundred people, or a thousand, or it may be millions of people. But the real Guru, the only real Guru, is God. When you accept a human being as your Guru, it is just because he is more illumined than you are.

You should always listen to your higher part. Right now your mind is superior to your physical and your vital. When the mind asks you to do something, immediately the physical in you does it, the vital in you does it. But again, the heart is superior to the mind. We know that the mind doubts and suspects, and that it does not have one-pointed aspiration for a particular goal, whereas the heart gets light and illumination from the soul. That is why the heart is superior. Similarly, if the Guru, the human teacher, is sincere and illumined, then he is getting Light directly from the Supreme. He should then be considered as the higher part of the seeker, not as a different person. Since the physical feels that the mind is superior, the physical listens to the mind. Similarly, if the seeker feels that the person whom he has accepted as his Guru has more wisdom-light than he does, then he listens to that person, not with a sense of separativity, but as he would listen to his own highest part.

Now, the questioning mind can never realise the Highest. Only the aspiring heart can realise the Highest. If we constantly question, “Is he right? Is he wrong?” then we will never be able to go forward. We have to know what we want. If we want light, then we have to have implicit faith. Faith in whom? Faith in ourselves, faith in God and faith in the one whom we accept as our guide or leader. Once we reach the highest Goal, we do not need the guide. But if we start questioning the truth or the wisdom of the Guru, then we will never arrive at the Goal. If we really want to follow the spiritual life, we must have implicit faith in ourselves, in our teacher and in God. Then only will we make the fastest progress. If we question, if we doubt, then we can never make satisfactory progress.

A spiritual teacher is only the elder brother in the family. If he claims to be God, then he is fooling himself and others. The elder ones in the family generally know more than the younger ones. So they are in a position to show the younger ones where the goal is. Once they do this, then their job is over. In the spiritual life, it is necessary to abide by the soulful dictates of that part of us which is already illumined. It is not somebody else whom we are listening to; it is only our own highest part. We cannot consciously remain in our own highest consciousness all the time, but if we know that there is someone who always represents or embodies our highest part, then we can easily listen to him. If my head tells my legs to do something, my legs do not constantly question the wisdom or truth of my head’s directions. I do not feel that it is beneath their dignity to do what my head tells them, because I know that my head and my legs are part and parcel of my own body. In the same way, the Guru and his disciples are inseparably one.