BillyG. wrote: > The personal Guru becomes the inner guide when the aspirant succeeds > in rising above body consciousness (physical) and into the subtler > realms of spirit; the astral and causal planes of existence (The three > worlds are the entire field of relative existence, MMY Gita). > > Once the aspiring Yogi purifies the nervous system from the > attachments or *doshas* enough, he is able to consciously 'slip' out > of the physical body and ride the kundalini serpent fire to higher and > higher chakras (milestones on the path of kundalini, MMY). On these > inner planes the 'radiant form' of the Master/Guru appears and acts as > the guide and portal to the sanctum sanctorum, or the inner state of > Atmanandam. > > Hence as Charlie Lutes once said, the Master/Guru introduces you to > God. Since MMY is not a personal Guru I'm not sure who would perform > that function in TM, perhaps Guru Dev or perhaps any form that is most > pleasing to the Yogi, maybe even Christ or Buddha, I personally don't > know. Maybe that is why these precocious Yogis from India always went > on a search for a personal Guru early on....... You walk away from TM as I did many years ago and after a while I came across a guru here in the US through a friend. Basically a guru is someone who has mastered a path (sort of like mastering a guitar) and can teach you to master the same path. It's not as big a deal as a lot of people make it out to be. There are plenty of these people all over of the world. Some advertise themselves usually in the Indian press as astrologers. And the charlatans way outnumber the real ones so you have to be knowledgeable to separate the wheat from the chaff. I tested my guru (and him me) for six months before I started.
Personal gurus have the time and the authority to teach you things like mantra shastra and above all answer questions one on one especially the ones that can't be addressed in a group. Those are the things a "pop" guru can't do.
