The distinctive characteristics of a Guru....Ramana

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D: What are the distinctive characteristics of a Guru by which on can recognize

him?

B: The Guru is one who at all times abides in the profound depths of the Self.

He never sees any difference between himself and others and is quite free from

the idea that his is the Enlightened or the Liberated One, while those around

him are in bondage or the darkness of ignorance. His self-possession can never

be shaken under any circumstances and he is never perturbed.

D: What is the essential nature of upadesa or spiritual instruction given by

the Guru?

B: The word upasesa literally means restoring an object to its proper place.

The mind of the disciple, having become differentiated from its true and primal

state of Pure Being, which is the Self and which is described in the scriptures

as Sat-chat-ananda {being-consciousness-bliss}, slips away therefrom and ,

assuming the form of thought, constantly pursues objects of sense-gratification.

Therefore it is assailed by the vicissitudes of life and becomes weak and

dispirited. Upadesa consist in the Guru restoring it to its primal state and

preventing it from slipping away from the state of Pure Being, of absolute

identity with the Self, or, in other words, the Being of the Guru.

The word can also be understood as meaning to present and apparently

distant object to close view; that is to say, it consists in the Guru showing

the disciple what he had considered as distant and different from himself to be

immediate and identical with himself.

D: If, as this implies, the real being of the Guru is identical with that of

the disciple, why have the scriptures categorically declared that , however

great powers one may attain, he cannot attain Self-realization without the grace

of the Guru.

B: It is true that the being of the Guru is identical with that of the

disciple; however, it is very seldom that a person can realize his true Being,

without the grace of the Guru...