Did Ramana have a Guru?

[Guest guest]

Devotee: Some people report Maharshi to deny the need of a Guru. Other say the

reverse. What does Maharshi say?

Bhagavan: I have never said that there is no need for a Guru.

D: Sri Aurobindo often refers to you as having had no Guru.

B: That depends on what you call Guru. He need not necessarily be in human

form.

Dattratreya had twenty-four Gurus - the elements, etc. That means that any form

in the world was his Guru. Guru is absolutely necessary. The Upanishads say

that none but a Guru can take a man out of the jungle of mental and sense

perception, so there must be a Guru.

D: I mean a human Guru. The Maharshi didn't have one.

B: I might have had at some time or other. And didn't I sing hymns to

Arunachala? What is a Guru? Guru is God or the Self. First a man prays to God

to fulfill his desires, then a time comes when he does not pray for the

fulfilment of a desire but for God Himself..So God appears to him in some form

or other, human or non-human, to guide him as a Guru in answer to his prayers.

 

>From The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi...editor Osborne