Do I need a GURU to guide me on my spiritual journey?
Can I begin my spiritual journey without a guru?
Before you begin your spiritual journey, let’s answer this first! Who is a spiritual guru anyway? A guru is a trusted teacher. If you are my guru, it simply means that I trust you no matter what. That I open up myself to you and let you guide me and show me the way to spiritual enlightenment. The relationship between “guru-shishya” (‘shishya’ means ‘student’ in Hindi) is a complicated one if you do not trust the guru or a simple one if you do.
A guru is a realized being. A guru is not a scholar or a person that has knowledge that you do not yet possess. In fact, a guru understands that true happiness lies within and he or she has seen the darkness and the light and successfully maintained a high vibration without getting sucked into the darkness (that is very appealing to 99% of people).
Many people pretend to be gurus. They learn various modalities of healing and mark themselves as guru xyz. In fact, they change their names just to give the perception that they are authentic gurus. I am not saying that changing names is a negative… but you have to ask what their reasoning was when they did it.
When you are beginning your own spiritual journey, it becomes quite difficult to identify people that have pure intentions as teachers. How can you find out if a teacher is teaching for fame and money or because that is their true life purpose, without which they are also complete and whole (and abundant).
When I started on my spiritual journey, I needed teachers. I needed someone at a higher vibrational frequency to guide me on this path. But did I commit to that person? Not completely. I did, however, commit to their teachings for a while. I needed to understand if they actually worked for me. Sadly, maybe only 1% of the ‘gurus’ out there are worth spending your time and energy on.
Just because someone is at a higher frequency level, does not make them a guru. Teacher – yes. Guru – no.
My experience with gurus on my own spiritual journey
I have followed various spiritual teachings through books, online videos and in person. And I can tell you that following someone and committing to a person’s teachings requires nothing short of devotion. I can’t seem to find that devotion, for another human being, within myself.
On the other hand, it’s quite straightforward for me to find devotion for god. What makes this even more effortless is that my god does not live in religious texts or in places of worship. My god is the one that created me and my forefathers and humanity and all living beings and this universe. The god that I am talking about is the creator of the oneness. Because the oneness is where I want to merge. I want to experience what it is to create from the oneness. That is where my spiritual journey is headed.
In my opinion, no guru out there is going to be able to fulfill the goals I have set for my spiritual journey. After all, as human beings (enlightened or not), gurus also have their unique distortions. They have learned what they have and developed certain abilities by connecting to a source of some sort (pure or dark).
Even if I trusted a guru completely, wouldn’t I be adopting their distortions (in addition to my own existing distortions) and then working to clear those after I find some success in aligning with my spirit or higher self with my physical self?
The only quality I like to see in a guru is that they don’t want to be your guru. They want you to be independent of them. They want to help you generate your own abilities. And they want you to keep your powers and devotion to yourself. Most importantly, they do not need you to honour them.
The middle path of spirituality
Spirituality, for me, is the path of connection to my higher self. There is nothing complicated about it. The HOW is what makes spirituality complicated. After years of studying various tools, evaluating them and experimenting with them, I follow this simple strategy called the ‘Middle Path’.
The middle path is where I learn from various teachers, for a short while, only to experiment with their approaches. Experimenting in this way gives me insight into various concepts that will help me understand the human body, the role of the mind and the energy system. The middle path is a very scientific approach to spirituality. It involves understanding the laws of physics, learning about planetary systems, experimenting with energy and observing various aspects of life.
This is a long study project. I research various teachings and find what resonates with me. Studying distinct teachings helps me determine strategies that work for a diverse group of people.
In the past I have experimented with hypnosis, talk therapy, NLP, tapping, law of attraction, working with parts therapy, human design, astrology, numerology etc. On their own, each tool can only help you get to a certain level. What most of these tools miss is the energetic blueprint that you come to this world with. Sure, most can make you aware of the belief systems you run or the patterns that make you. But they do not target the underlying frequency that you run.
The tools that I have mentioned above address the symptoms of the underlying issue. They act as a band aid solution for some pain you might be feeling. But they do not go deep enough to bring awareness to the pattern that might be causing the pain. And they definitely do not release the pattern and the frequency that created the pattern in the first place.
Spiritual Practices that work for me
The end goal of my spiritual journey is always to create a practice that works for me and is created by me. Note that I do not believe there is an end to this journey (even after death). I am still in the process of committing to a certain practice that works for my life. Whatever I choose in the end has to make practical sense for my life and my family.
Today, I use the following tools to connect with my higher self and change life.
1. Meditation (simply focusing on breath). I practice every single day and this practice has helped me stay grounded even when my physical self is in chaos. Read more about my article on why families need to meditate.
2. Yoga for creating space in my body. Yoga helps me come into my body even more and realize that the only thing I can control is my body and its movements.
3. Journaling when I have too many ideas coming in. Automatic writing has been a game changer for me. I shift very easily when I start writing and expressing how I feel. I like doing this first thing in the morning and also during the day if my heart desires.
4. Blogging to help me share this knowledge and experience with you. Writing and presenting my thoughts in an aesthetic manner keeps me uplifted.
5. Frequency work (daily) as it helps release what does not serve me anymore. I practice this work because it helps align me to pure source every single day.
6. Mantra meditation – chanting a mantra that resonates with me works well for me. My favourite mantra is OM NAMAH SHIVAY. I feel love and joy and transformation when I chant this mantra.
7. Daily workouts – because a strong body will have a better connection with spirit. And remember you have to take your physical body with. You cannot leave your body behind to ascend. Your body is the channel for that connection to pure source.
8. Essential oils because they create connection with plant medicine and ground me even more.
9. Being in nature as it grounds me and gives me space to just be. Nature has very powerful frequencies and being in nature allows me to absorb those frequencies of spherical abundance and become even more expanded.
10. Observing life. Noticing my thoughts and actions. This helps me understand the patterns I run and need to let go of or keep.
I am my own TEACHER
The only teacher I can truly trust is me. I know what I feel at any given point and I trust my intention and connection to a pure state of being.
Trusting yourself and being personally responsible for your own inner spiritual journey to self is what creates that deep connection with self. Once you do that, the universe opens up various avenues and solutions for you.
But if you decide to give your power away to another human (a GURU for example), you will be completely dependent on their connection to their self. Who knows if they are even connecting to their pure self or just another power source out there.
Try it out. Connect with your self. See if being your own guru works in advancing you in your spiritual journey. Experiment. Learn. Fail. It’s all part of finding the tools that work just for you.
Feel free to connect with me to learn more about how I developed my own practices.
