What is a disciple, without a Guru?

Meaning: Only by the grace of the Guru can the disciple attain his ultimate benefaction, that is spiritual progress.

Once when we were with our Sadguru H.H. Bhaktaraj Mahar­aj (Baba) in Indore, Baba said, “The Path of Devotion (Bhaktiyoga) is the best among all paths (yogas) in Spirituality”. We had the audacity to reply, “No, Baba the Path of Guru’s Grace (Gurukrupayoga) is supreme.” Baba was overjoyed and said, “You are absolutely right !”

Seekers who have practiced Spirituality through various paths for several years and not progressed beyond a particular spiritual level yearn to attain the Guru’s grace. On the other hand seekers who have made spiritual progress by the grace of the Guru get spiritual experiences to prove the absolute supremacy of this path. One cannot perceive the special features of a Guru by looking at His gross body with ordinary vision. That is why this book describes the qualities of a Guru, His teaching a disciple both verbally as well as through a dimension beyond words, the Guru-disciple relationship, the all pervading nature of the Guru from His point of view, His behaviour like an average person, His behaviour with other saints, the Guru hierarchy, the importance of India in the context of Gurus, etc.

Only those who have experienced happiness of the dual­istic state (dvait) of a disciple and Bliss and Serenity in the non-dual state (advait) of a Guru will realise why Saint Tukaram has written the following line in one of His devotional songs (abhangs) :

A foreigner asked a saint, “Could you describe the uniqueness of India as briefly as possible ?” The saint responded by saying “The Guru-disciple lineage”. We pray to the Guru that on reading this book atleast a few may realise how true these words are.

For a better understanding of the topic along with the English word the corresponding Sanskrut / Marathi word is given in brackets. Where a suitable English word is not available the Sanskrut / Marathi word is used with the meaning alongside.  - Compilers

[The comprehensive preface to the book ‘Science of Spirituality’ is given in ‘Vol.1 A: Righteousness (Dharma)’.]

Every evolved person (saint) need not be a Guru, howev­er every Guru is a saint. Thus most of the information in rela­tion to the spiritually evolved also holds good for the Guru. Information on spiritual evolvement of a Guru is provided elsewhere in this section. - Compilers

(Ref: Sanatan's Publication - 'Path of Guru's Grace (Gurukrupayoga)')