Of Gurus, the True and the False

Sanjeev Kumar Nath

Today, the world is full of false messiahs.

The sheer number of false gurus and their stupid followers can make one wonder how so many people, many of them well-educated, can be hoodwinked by cunning fellows ruling over business empire like organizations, living lavish lives, often hobnobbing with powerful people, appearing on TV and social media, sometimes embroiled in controversies and legal battles, and sometimes even going to jail for cheating people of their wealth and even for heinous crimes like rape and murder.

Sometimes a false guru would go to jail on charges like cheating and molestation, but the wonder is that when he finishes his jail term, he is treated by his devotees and disciples like a god again. Sometimes he wouldn’t have to go to jail however serious the criminal charges against him because of his intimacies with those in power.

It is indeed difficult to say which is more puzzling—the fact that cunning cheats can have long “successful careers” as gurus, or the fact that there are thousands or lakhs of people who actually consider these cheats gods.

What is more surprising—the “guruization” of plain cheats or the gullibility of their followers? Many right-thinking people today do not spend anytime on spiritual endeavours, and tend toconsider all religious and spiritual traditions as rubbish precisely because of the “fame” of the false gurus and the stupidities of their followers.

But can there be no true spiritual endeavour? Are there no true gurus and intelligent disciples? Did the Vedic rishis, Veda Vyasa, the Buddha, Mahavira, Sankaracharya, Christ, Guru Nanak Devji, Kabir, the great neo-Vaisnava saints including Srimanta Sankaradeva and Madhavadeva, the Sufi saints of the world, Sri Ramakrishna Parmahamsa, Ramana Maharshi, and so many others like them live in vain?

These great souls provide us with the yardstick with which to measure or evaluate the modern avatars of gurus. In all probability, all those fools who have been hoodwinked by modern-day false messiahs have never studied the lives of true gurus properly. True gurus are just unmistakable. Just as you don’t have to look for sunlight when it is morning, similarly, the moment you face a true guru, you know. No one needs to tell you.

However, since so many people have gone wrong and have held on to false gurus who will only lead them to despair (as the blind leading the blind), it is good to know some of the characteristic of true gurus.

The lives of all true gurus provide ample examples that demonstrate what a true guru is like, but here we present only a few incidents from the lives of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa (1836-1886) and Sri Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950), the spiritual giants of 19^th century and 20^th century India.

Perhaps the most important, and one of the most mysterious characteristics of a true guru is that in their presence, one feels great peace and contentment. Numerous written records exist which tell us how people who went to see Sri Ramana Maharshi experienced great peace and happiness in the presence of the sage.

One of the most famous accounts is of Paul Brunton, the British journalist who has described (in his 1934 book A Search in Secret India) how his thought-filled brain was cooled and refreshed, how all the questions he had wanted to ask the sage just vanished, how a profound peace seemed to invade his mind in the presence of the sage. There are many such accounts of visitors “peace-struck”(!) if not awe struck by the Maharshi’s presence.

The same is true of Sri Ramakrishna. There are many accounts of how a visitor would be immediately attracted to Sri Ramakrishna, and how he would understand that he was definitely in the presence of the divine.

Mahendranath Gupta went to Dakshineshwar and met Sri Ramakrishna almost accidentally, when he had agreed to the request of a friend to visit the beautiful temple garden at Dakshineshwar, but from his written accounts it is abundantly clear that that first visit was enough for him to be “hooked”, caught as a devotee of Sri Ramakrishna.

In fact, on his second or third visit, Sri Ramakrishna playfully teased him, likening him to a peacock which, if fed with a tablet of opium at a particular time of the day, would return exactly on time next day to receive its dose of opium!

When Murugan, a Tamil teacher and a noted poet, saw Ramana Maharshi, the attraction was so great that he would not leave the Maharshi’s presence even to attend to work at home. Many a time, he would board the train at Tiruvannamalai after saying goodbye to the Maharshi, but would jump out of the train when it started moving.

Later Maharshi actually sent people along to ensure that Murugan did not jump out of the train and continued his journey home. Of course, later Murugan would leave home and hearth and become a sadhu following Maharshi and write thousands of exquisitely beautiful Tamil verses in praise of his guru just like the poet-saint Manikavachagar praising Shiva in his poetry.

Mahendranath Gupta would later produce the immortal Gospel of Sri Ramkrishna (which was his personal spiritual diary, published as the Gospel only at the insistence of devotees, and especially because Ma Sarada also wanted it published).

Although a true guru exerts such powerful attraction, the wonder is that a true guru is always the simplest human being you can meet, with no external paraphernalia to inspire awe and admiration.

Sri Ramana Maharshi wore a simple white koupin, not because he adhered to any specific dress code (like the long robes and fantastic headgears of some modern gurus!), but simply because he chose to wear what a poor Tamil farmer would wear in hot Tiruvannamalai, the sleepy little place of his time and a major spiritual destination for seekers across the world today.

In his initial days as a poor sadhu at Tiruvannamalai, even this one piece of cloth that he wore got torn at times, but he would never complain. Later, when his fame as a great ascetic spread and people flocked to him, many brought gifts to him, including costly clothes, but he would never accept any such stuff. The only things he accepted were things that could be distributed among those present.

Thus, fruits or other food stuff would be accepted, but immediately distributed among the people present, and not kept for later use. Accepting expensive clothes was absolutely out of the question. Only, at times he would accept a koupin from a devotee, and one such lucky devotee was Mastan Swami, a Muslim from Polur near Tiruvannamalai.

A true guru never differentiates among people. Mastan Swami was a Muslim weaver, and after meeting Sri Ramana Maharshi, he became one of the most ardent devotees and a constant companion of the sage. There are many photographs in which he is seen with Maharshistrolling in the ashram, walking on Arunachala Hill, walking in the rain, and so on.

When Dr Hafiz Sayed, a professor from Allahabad University arrived at the ashram to see Maharshi, he was first taken to the dining hall to have food with everyone else.

In fact, according to an unwritten rule of the ashram in those days, he as a first-time visitor, got the chance to sit right next to Maharshi in the dining hall where people from all castes and creeds, were taking food together. Dr Sayed was so attracted to the sage that he and his wife set up home at Tiruvannamalai and lived there until Maharshi’s passing away in 1950.

Maharshi had devotees from all over the world and from different religions, but he never differentiated among them, and never told anyone to change their religion. In fact, many people reported becoming better Christians and better Muslims after meeting Maharshi. Frank Humphreys, one of the first westerners to seek Maharshi out in Tiruvannamalai, was a British police officer with a great interest in the occult.

Of course, Maharshi did not encourage him on his pursuit of the occult which is not true spirituality, but after visiting Maharshi, Humphrey’s spiritual orientation underwent a change, and from trying to becoming an occultist, he became a devout Christian, and a Catholic monk on his return to England.

Sri Ramakrishna, like Ramana Maharshi, declared that all faiths led to the same goal, and he did not merely preach this “truth”, but lived it, especiallyduring his period of sadhana as a Muslim.

When one reads of visions that Sri Ramakrishna had, not only of the Divine Mother Kali but of divine beings during his sadhana as a Muslim and his meditation on Christ and Christianity, one may find it difficult to comprehend these things in rational terms, but we need to remember that in Sri Ramakrishna we see the manifestation of the deepest or highest kind of mystical experience, and visions are the language of mysticism.

One unmistakable characteristic of a true guru is his utter indifference to power and wealth and also to the powerful and the wealthy. When a very wealthy or powerful person visited Ramanashram, the ashram officials would naturally be busy trying to arrange things for the big man, but Maharshi would be totally indifferent to all the commotion, and would go about his daily routine as usual, going out on his walk, for example, instead of sitting with the wealthy or powerful person.

During the British Raj, many kings and queens from different kingdoms in the Indian subcontinent used to visit the Maharshi. One morning, when one such royal personage came to the ashram, the Maharshi was seen picking the tender leaves of a moringa tree that had fallen in a storm in the night.

The news of the arrival of the great man was communicated to the Maharshi with great excitement, but the Maharshi did not seem excited at all. He just continued doing the work he was doing, and calmly walked into the hall when he had finished. Again, he would just sit in his place and remain quiet, not speaking until someone asked something. No discourse, no “show” of spiritual power.

Rani Rashmoni, a very wealthy philanthropist and devotee was the person who had the great temple of Dakshineshwar built, so naturally her visit to the temple would be a special occasion, and the temple stuff would be alert and willing to be of service toher if required.

On one such occasion, when she went into the temple where Sri Ramakrishna was praying to the Divine Mother, he suddenly slapped her, saying something like, “Such thoughts in the presence of the Deity!” and the temple stuff was aghast at what had happened.

The great lady, however, assured them that Sri Ramakrishna’s slap was a well-deserved admonishment for her because at that moment her mind had actually strayed from the contemplation of the divine to some business matter. An ordinary priest would perhaps behave obsequiously with Rani Rashmoni (who paid him for his work in the temple), but Sri Ramakrishna, in his mood of divine ecstasy, did not at all care for such things as social standing or protocol.

While a true guru shows no special interest in meeting the rich and the powerful, he may show special consideration for the poor and the weak. Tiruvannamalai can get very crowded during the annual Deepam festival of the Arunachaleshwara Temple and the Arunachaleshwara Hill, and during all full moon nights when lakhs of people go round the Hill.

Once, during such festivities, there was a huge rush of devotees in the ashram, and the ashram authorities wanted to “protect” the weak, old Maharshi from the surging crowds wanting to bow down to him, so they placed a wooden barrier between Majharshi’s couch and the crowd in the hall.

Maharshi generally did not interfere with the activities of the ashram authorities, so he said nothing about the placement of the wooden barrier, but seeing the crowds anxious to get near him, he just got up from his coach, walked beyond the barrier and sat down on the ground right in front of the crowd.

Once, a poor farmer who used to do odd jobs for Maharshi and his followers when the Maharshi lived in caves on the Hill, came to Ramanashram. This man, like many poor farmers in those days, used to rear some sheep. When he came to the ashram (years after he had served the Maharshi and his followers on the Hill), Maharshi recognized him instantly, called him by his name, and asked about his welfare.

The farmer said that he was worried because one of his ewes, which was pregnant, was missing for two days. At that moment, Maharshi was placing stones along a path (Many people think of Ramana Maharshi as ever meditating, but in reality, he never needed to meditate! He only lived like other people, apparently performing odd tasks, but ever established in the Self), and even after hearing the story of the farmer, he just continued the work of placing the stones.

The farmer came forward spontaneously and also started doing what the Maharshi was doing, thus helping the Maharshi with a task, as in the old days. After some time, the task was over, and it was time for the farmer to go. Then Maharshi asked him to go by a specific path, and said that he would find his ewe. The farmer went as directed, and to his pleasant surprise, found the ewe with two little lambs she had given birth to.

Occasionally, the Maharshi would go round the Arunachaleshwara Hill, performing what is called  girivalam in Tamil and giripradakshina in Sanskrit. Many devotees followed the Maharshi as usual, singing devotional songs, and discussing spiritual issues. Maharshi always did a very slow giripradakshina,  sometimes taking a whole day or even more to finish the 14-kilometer route which most people finished in about five hours.

So, it was natural for him to sit quietly at different spots of the pradakshina route, but this time the devotees were surprised when the Maharshi suddenly went off track, into a small path in the woods. Usually, no one interfered with what the Maharshi did, so, instead of asking him to take the pradakshina route again or asking him what he was doing, they just observed from a distance.

They saw that Maharshi went rather deep into that path in the woods until he came upon a poor villager waiting with a pot in his hand. This man had come to know that the Maharshi was on his giripradakshina round because whenever the Maharshi went on a pradakshina, the news would spread like wildfire and people from the town and the nearby villages would rush to see the Maharshi on the road, and some would offer him food and water.

Of course, Maharshi would insist on the food and water being distributed among all the people present. Even small amounts of food offered would have to be distributed among all, and Maharshi would usually accept his portion only after everyone had been served. Also, he would never accept a bigger or a better serving, but insisted on everyone being served the same stuff and the same amount.

On this occasion, it so happened that the man whom the Maharshi met inside the wooded path was so poor that he couldn’t affordany really “good” food, but nevertheless he wanted to offer something to the Maharshi. So, he brought some kanji (rice soaked in water, similar to poita bhat of the Assamese) in a pot, but was feeling reluctant to come forward and offer it to Maharshi because it was such an ordinary, poor stuff.

How the Maharshi knew where the poor farmer was waiting (and hesitating), will never be known, as so many things about the Maharshi’s activities remain shrouded in mystery, but the devotees saw the Maharshi take the pot of kanji from the poor farmer’s hands and consume it. This time, the Maharshi did not even share the offering with anyone and finished the kanji off himself!

While Maharshi demonstrated such whole-hearted acceptance of a “gift” from a poor man, Maharshi never accepted any costly gifts from rich devotees. Maharshi used a walking stick on his walks on Arunachala, and sometimes he made his own walking stick with fallen branches of trees on the Hill.

Occasionally, a rich person would “gift” an expensive walking stick crafted by skilled artists, but Maharshi would always just touch such a gift, as an expression of gratitude, and return the item to the owner. Many such gifts, returned by the Maharshi, have adorned the puja rooms of his devotees, like Sri Ramakrishna’s shoes, still to be seen in the puja room of the house owned by his householder disciple, Mahendranath Gupta.

There is a story told about a worker in the temple garden of Dakshineshwar who used to sweep the temple compounds. Once, it is said, he confronted Sri Ramakrishna and asked him if there was any hope of spiritual salvation for him, and Sri Ramakrishna, the compassionate master, assured him that at the point of his death, he would realize God. There are accounts of how, at the time of his death, this worker had a vision of Sri Ramakrishna, come to save him.

True gurus do not differentiate among people even in terms of conventional morality.One of the devotees of Sri Ramana Maharshi was once caught in an immoral act, and most devotees thought that he would be expelled from the circle of Maharshi’s devotees, but the Maharshi made him one of his personal attendants, so that he would not have the opportunity of bad company again, and could also benefit from his association with the Maharshi.

At a time when society looked down upon women who took part in theatrical performances, women artists from the theatre group of Girish Chandra Ghosh found a compassionate master in Sri Ramakrishna.

Girish Ghosh himself was an alcohol-dependent emotional wreck when he first met Sri Ramakrishna, but Sri Ramakrishna’s never-failing grace lifted Girish up from depression and guilt, so that in time, he became one of the most saintly, extraordinary devotees of Sri Ramakrishna.

Another characteristic of a true guru is that he doesn’t fix up special days of darshan, with elaborate fanfare. There are modern gurus whose special “powers” on special days are much advertised, but the true gurus are just like an ordinary villager whom his friends or acquaintances can meet any day, without any special appointments, tickets, tokens, fees or special arrangements

. Ramana Maharshi was available to people 24 hours a day, with the ashram gates open even in the night because of the possibility of visitors arriving at the railway station at night, and seeking shelter in the ashram. One could just walk into the Maharshi’s presence without any formalities.

Sri Ramakrishna’s room at the temple grounds of the Divine Mother at Dakshineshwar was a “mart of happiness” where spiritual seekers could find entry anytime of the day. Some of Thakur’s devotees arrived late, and would spend the night in the temple compound. Many of the close disciples and devotees of Sri Ramakrishna spent days and night with him, without any specific arrangement for darshan.

Yet another characteristic of true gurus is that they do not advertise themselves as gurus, but often downplay their parts as spiritual guides, encouraging the spiritual aspirant to gather strength on their own, but always bestowing great blessing on the devotees. There are recorded accounts of how a single glance from Ramana Maharshi infused power into a devotee so that meditation and abidance in the Truth became easy.

There are similar accounts of Sri Ramakrishna glancing at a devotee trying to meditate, and the devotee entering into a samadhi-like state. But all such miracles happened without any fanfare, so that it is the written records of truthful devotees that alone give us the details.

Perhaps the greatest mystery about true gurus is that they themselves say that i) their grace is available to us always, and is not dependent on their physical presence, ii) that if a seeker is steadfast, then he doesn’t have to go seeking for a guru not only because the grace of the guru is ever available, but also because if it is the seeker’s prarabdha to meet a guru in the physical form, the guru will seek him out, iii) andthat the true essence of the guru, guru-tatva, is not outside, but inside, in the stillness of the mind.

10-07-2025

Sanjeev Kumar Nath,  sanjeevnath21@gmail.com

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