Need for a Guru

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...... " Need for a Guru. The question whether Guru is

needed is often times debated by people with great

warmth, some holding that there is need and others

holding that there is no need. These debates are

usually in fructuous and they excite and result in

loss of peace. A good example is Hemadpant alias Anna

Saheb Dabolkar’s case on his first visit to Shirdi. He

hotly contested for one hour or so and, contended that

a Guru was an unnecessary fetter and quoted the Gita,

in his support. Bala Saheb Bhate took the opposite

view and maintained that destiny was supreme and that

a Guru was had by all. The dis­cussion made Anna

Dabolkar less fit to approach the great Guru Sai Baba

by reason of restlessness. But Baba by graciously

revealing his Antarjnana of all that passed during the

discussion made Anna Dabolkar feel humble and

contrite, and he felt that Baba was a wondrous Supreme

Power before whom he and his weak powers should bend

and give up his “reason” and supposed independence.

And thus he became the shishya of Baba by the latter’s

grace and found that destiny had fixed him up, though

his reasoning might indicate independence was his

proper course. The Sastras, for example, Srimad

Bhagavata, Bhagavata Gita, Guru Gita, Katha, Mundaka,

Taittiriya, Maha Narayanopanishad say clearly that

without a Guru Brahmanjnana and Moksha cannot be

attained. " .......