Importance of a Guru

Let me share a joke with you all.

Once there was a priest who used to be an ardent follower of God. So much was his belief in God that he had submitted his entire life to God.

One day floods hit that village and everyone ran for shelter. The priest stayed in the temple and whenever asked would say "God will protect me" 

The water rose and everyone started vacating the village but the priest stayed saying "God will protect me" 

The water rose to first floor and a boat came to rescue the priest but again he denied saying "God will protect me" 

The water rose above the temple and the priest stood on top of the temple arch praying to God to help him. A helicopter came to his rescue and still he denied saying "God will help me" 

Inadvertently the priest drowned and found himself in front of God. Immediately he started cribbing "God I was an ardent follower of yours and you treated like this to me. My whole faith is devastated."

To this God replied "Son I sent the villagers to you .. I sent the boat and the helicopter to you.. but you would take none.. what is my fault.." 

Friends do we realise where the priest was wrong ..

Ego ... Many a times our knowledge creates an ego that we forget to see the God in every human being.. we feel as if God is a separate entity and human beings are just mortal beings .. whereas each and every creation is God's miracle and we need to be humble enough to learn from them. 

All said and done there comes the role of a Guru.. As Sadhguru once said in an interview that Guru is like GPS for travellers. So we need to be humble enough to accept Guru's in our life.. 

Even if we are the MD of a company or a learned priest if we want to learn cooking we need to make a chef our Guru even if he is just 12th grader. Like wise in any field if we need to excel we need coaches , Guru and mentors.. these are the persons who have already travelled the path the hard way and could save us lot of hard learnings and mistakes. 

A learned man thinks he is the ultimate.. A wise man always thinks there is so much to learn and grabs on every ounce of knowledge humbly. 

When someone asked me who is your mentor .. I always feel I don't have a single mentor ... I have my parents , my teachers , my friends , the books I read , the movies I saw,  the colleagues I met , my Juniors and my bosses , and society as a whole which has been mentoring me.. 

I take this opportunity to show my gratitude towards all for shaping me... I

I would like to finish by reciting this Doha by Saint Kabir 

My Guru and Lord were standing in front of me and I was wondering whom to bow first .. I bowed in front of my Guru because he was the one who brought me to the lord ..