Question: Does a Guru represent God to his students?

Sri Chinmoy: If the aspirant has a spiritual Master, then he has to feel that for him his Master represents God on earth and everything will come to him from and through the Master. If one constantly separates God from his representative, the Guru, then one is bound to meet with constant frustration. And if one does not renew one’s love, devotion and surrender on the spiritual path under the guidance of one’s Master, then dark forces will disturb and destroy the balance of that individual’s human mind. The desiring vital, the uncertain life and the doubting mind can never offer satisfaction, peace and joy to a seeker. Unless an aspirant is totally sure of his inner journey and has complete confidence in his spiritual guide, he is bound to enter back into the world of illusion and delusion, where he has remained for many incarnations. The spiritual Master has a broad heart which houses understanding, wisdom, action and reaction. He is just an instrument of the Supreme. As a messenger from above, he plays his role on earth, especially for his disciples. He is happy only when he executes the Will of the Supreme. Again, he is happy when the disciples are happy with what they have and what they are. But a time comes when the disciples feel that their happiness can have meaning only when it is founded on the Supreme’s Happiness. Right now we are living in an undivine world of personality and individuality. An aspirant’s divine personality is his oneness with his Inner Pilot, or his Guru. An aspirant’s divine individuality is to fulfil his Inner Pilot in and through his own life. So let the disciple always live in the world of divine personality and divine individuality. Then the disciple will be divinely fulfilled and the Master will be supremely manifested. A real aspirant has to feel that he is for God. Whether God is for him or not, is up to God. If any of my disciples want to go to God directly or go to God through a church, synagogue or other spiritual place, I will not prevent them. I do not want to create any misunderstanding between God and my disciples. But if you consider me to be your Guru, and at the same time you have no faith in me, then to stay with me is a mere mockery of the spiritual life and a waste of your precious time and my precious time.

From:Sri Chinmoy,The spiritual journey: oneness in diversity, Agni Press, 1977
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