One participant of my early Art of Living course raised these questions which I thought is worthwhile to answer here so that it can be helpful to others too.
Q. 1. What's the difference between a Guru, Yogi, and a Swami?
Guru: First of all I feel this space is too small to talk about Guru and the glory of Guru. Just one advice if you are walking on this path don't see Guru as physical identity. Guru is one who makes you realize there is no difference between Guru and you. Like Guruji (Sri Sri) says Guru, God and Self are synonymous. Now since God is one who is omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient and We as 'self' don't realize that omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience BECAUSE we are asleep. The Guru is one who wake us up and give us this realization that there is no difference between God, Guru & Your own Self :-) Guru doesn't make the follower rather he brings us up to realize our true 'self'
Yogi: Yogi is one who is practicing any kind of yoga for a long period of time without a break to evolve his consciousness and to realize his/her true 'self'. So we can count ourselves as Yogi.
Swami: The word Swami comes from the sankrit root word Swa which means self so Swami is one who is firmly established in the self and not swayed by craving and aversions of the world. It means Swami is one who has advanced on the spiritual path.
Q. 2. Why are there so many? And how should I take it?
We live in free world and everybody has Freedom to choose to act like what ever they wish to act like whether Guru, Swami or Yogi. But just realize that on this path there is no room for Hypocrisy so better you behave for what you are. I would prefer to be Yogi for this purpose :-) and rest let my Master decide for me :-)
Q. 3. Should I have more than one guru? I have noticed many people with more than one. It's confusing me. Not to mistaken that I did not appreciate and love AOL and Guruji... just noticed that even some in AOL that are close to have more than one.
I am aware the many people have this fix in there mind I have seen people in AOL as well outside. They are all searching. My personal take is One real guru is enough to fix your life forever while hundred of fake guru can put in FIX. So better to go with one Guru.
Also see the quality of mind of people who says they have more than one Guru. Why do you need more guru. Since you don't have complete faith on any one. Take a example if you sick you go to one doctor take prescription and complete the whole course or you keep jumping from one doctor to another one, it will spoil your health conditions. In similar way One should 100% follow one Guru since different Gurus may have different way to approach the truth and in the process you might get utterly confused and it will spoil your case rather than help your recovery faster.
Now what is the Guru is fake. Guruji (Sri Sri) has talked about the two qualities in seeker which seems very opposite in nature: Faith & Alertness. Once we have faith we keep our mind shut and resting and become blind follower while on the other hand if we do not have faith, we are fully alert and keep judging things. Guruji says for sincere seeker what is needed is faith with alertness and awareness. So that you are not trapped :-)
Further more when I meet other spiritual leaders, Masters I respect them, relish their company and have pleasant interaction and do the mutual exchange of ideas & blessings and come back and take all the spiritual advices from Guruji (Sri Sri ) because it is for my own Good as I have complete faith that I am in right boat :-) It will take me to destination.
Also you forget about other people whether they have one guru or many you fix your life first :-) That is sutra you can't fix others if you haven't fixed yourself.
4. Remember a few years back when I had initially taken the part one course with you, I had traveled to OH, and a friend had taken me to an ashram of another guru. I felt really uncomfortable with the whole thing, and told you about it. I mentioned this to you before, this guy, Dhyanapeetam Nithyananda Swami... recently came to light the issues with small thing mentioned in news about him and Guruji... wanted ur take on it from a AOL teacher point of view. I am aware of the controversy of Dhyanapeetam Nithyananda Swami.
Guruji has talked about Dhyanapeetam & Nithyananda here is the statement: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said that Swami Nithyananda has violated UNAIDS guidelines as well as the rules of tantra. Only a house holder is entitled or tantric sex. Claiming to be a monk and using so many people for one's pleasure is unpardonable. "He should have had one partner and announced himself as a tantric guru. It has caused damage to the faith of people in the institution and traumatized many."
I hope if you contemplate on the answer I wrote above and what Guruji is saying. See what your conscious is telling. Have faith and Be alert too and at any cost save your mind :-) and BE FREE.
Jai Guru Dev
Your comments are welcome! :-)
Q. 1. What's the difference between a Guru, Yogi, and a Swami?
Guru: First of all I feel this space is too small to talk about Guru and the glory of Guru. Just one advice if you are walking on this path don't see Guru as physical identity. Guru is one who makes you realize there is no difference between Guru and you. Like Guruji (Sri Sri) says Guru, God and Self are synonymous. Now since God is one who is omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient and We as 'self' don't realize that omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience BECAUSE we are asleep. The Guru is one who wake us up and give us this realization that there is no difference between God, Guru & Your own Self :-) Guru doesn't make the follower rather he brings us up to realize our true 'self'
Yogi: Yogi is one who is practicing any kind of yoga for a long period of time without a break to evolve his consciousness and to realize his/her true 'self'. So we can count ourselves as Yogi.
Swami: The word Swami comes from the sankrit root word Swa which means self so Swami is one who is firmly established in the self and not swayed by craving and aversions of the world. It means Swami is one who has advanced on the spiritual path.
Q. 2. Why are there so many? And how should I take it?
We live in free world and everybody has Freedom to choose to act like what ever they wish to act like whether Guru, Swami or Yogi. But just realize that on this path there is no room for Hypocrisy so better you behave for what you are. I would prefer to be Yogi for this purpose :-) and rest let my Master decide for me :-)
Q. 3. Should I have more than one guru? I have noticed many people with more than one. It's confusing me. Not to mistaken that I did not appreciate and love AOL and Guruji... just noticed that even some in AOL that are close to have more than one.
I am aware the many people have this fix in there mind I have seen people in AOL as well outside. They are all searching. My personal take is One real guru is enough to fix your life forever while hundred of fake guru can put in FIX. So better to go with one Guru.
Also see the quality of mind of people who says they have more than one Guru. Why do you need more guru. Since you don't have complete faith on any one. Take a example if you sick you go to one doctor take prescription and complete the whole course or you keep jumping from one doctor to another one, it will spoil your health conditions. In similar way One should 100% follow one Guru since different Gurus may have different way to approach the truth and in the process you might get utterly confused and it will spoil your case rather than help your recovery faster.
Now what is the Guru is fake. Guruji (Sri Sri) has talked about the two qualities in seeker which seems very opposite in nature: Faith & Alertness. Once we have faith we keep our mind shut and resting and become blind follower while on the other hand if we do not have faith, we are fully alert and keep judging things. Guruji says for sincere seeker what is needed is faith with alertness and awareness. So that you are not trapped :-)
Further more when I meet other spiritual leaders, Masters I respect them, relish their company and have pleasant interaction and do the mutual exchange of ideas & blessings and come back and take all the spiritual advices from Guruji (Sri Sri ) because it is for my own Good as I have complete faith that I am in right boat :-) It will take me to destination.
Also you forget about other people whether they have one guru or many you fix your life first :-) That is sutra you can't fix others if you haven't fixed yourself.
4. Remember a few years back when I had initially taken the part one course with you, I had traveled to OH, and a friend had taken me to an ashram of another guru. I felt really uncomfortable with the whole thing, and told you about it. I mentioned this to you before, this guy, Dhyanapeetam Nithyananda Swami... recently came to light the issues with small thing mentioned in news about him and Guruji... wanted ur take on it from a AOL teacher point of view. I am aware of the controversy of Dhyanapeetam Nithyananda Swami.
Guruji has talked about Dhyanapeetam & Nithyananda here is the statement: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said that Swami Nithyananda has violated UNAIDS guidelines as well as the rules of tantra. Only a house holder is entitled or tantric sex. Claiming to be a monk and using so many people for one's pleasure is unpardonable. "He should have had one partner and announced himself as a tantric guru. It has caused damage to the faith of people in the institution and traumatized many."
I hope if you contemplate on the answer I wrote above and what Guruji is saying. See what your conscious is telling. Have faith and Be alert too and at any cost save your mind :-) and BE FREE.
Jai Guru Dev
Your comments are welcome! :-)
