When I entered the spiritual path in 2009, I dont know the meaning of the word Guru and I never thought I will have a Guru in my life. By the time I entered the path, Guru of this path left his physical body and I was introduced to the spiritual path by a wonderful couple whom I can never thank enough

I was in the path only because I liked this couple. Infact, I was and am blindly in love with them. Neither teachings of the Guru nor the Guru himself appealed to me. I used to think these teachings are good but they are impractical and cannot be followed by an ordinary person like me. I also never trusted the Guru and had critical thoughts towards him. I was not at all interested in the path but the love and compassion of my teachers pulled me to the path again and again

In 2012, I lost the keys of my home on Diwali. In my path, there is a tool called Sharanagati which is taught to us to connect with the Guru. It is said to be the miracle maker. I thought its a good opportunity for me to test this miracle maker. I did three Sharanagatis and I opened the lock with a borrowed key . Whoa! It worked. After entering home, I tried again to lock and unlock with this key but this time, it did not work. I was shocked by this miracle. On this Diwali, along with the key of my home, I found the key of my life too. I found my Guru. I started accepting Guru of this path as my Guru

I started practicing his teachings with more sincerity and eventually, I reached a phase where I used to feel bad that I could not see him alive. There were days when I cried because I could not see him and interact with him physically. I felt I missed a great opportunity by not meeting him when he was alive

As my spiritual practices progressed further, my relationship with my Guru became better and better. I started seeing him in my visions. I asked him questions and he responded. I complained to him and he pacified me. I became a child and he became an elderly person who pampered me

I remember one interaction with my Guru particularly. There came a tough phase in my life and I thought , sitting in bus, – I am doing so many meditations but still my problem is not resolved. Why Guru(we call our Guru as Guru)?
Immediately I got a question from my Guru asking me – Really?In the last three months, how many times have you meditated?
I counted the number of my meditations and its 5. Yes only 5 times and i thought I was doing so many meditations.
Then came a harsh reply from my Guru saying – You did not even practice 10 meditations and you are blaming me. Do your meditations regularly and then get back to me
After this conversation, I did my meditations for some time regularly and my tough phase was resolved.

There were countless number of such interactions with him. He is the one who has shown me my future husband and married us. He motivated me when I was down and I lost all my hope in my life. He warned me severely when I was falling away from the path. He answered my every silly question. He was there for me every time I needed him.He became my mother , my father, my friend, my guide, my boss, my God

Guru’s physical body is only a small, temporary truth of Guru and one need not feel bad or sad if Guru is not living in physical body. I learnt from my experiences that Guru can be experienced whether he is alive physically or not. I learnt that physical presence of a Guru does not matter in any way. Of course, it is good to meet the Guru physically if one has a chance to meet but more important point is to practice his teachings. What use it is to meet the Guru everyday and be the same person, without any kind of improvement, even after many years of physical presence!

After all this journey, I understood this truth – Guru and his teachings are one. When one practices Guru’s teachings, its equivalent to interacting with the Guru. The easiest way to spend time with Guru is to practice his teachings and read his books. Guru continues to live forever in the form of his teachings and the books written by him

I dedicate these words to my Guru.

Tvameva Mata cha Pita Tvameva, Tvameva Bandhu cha Sakha Tvameva,Tvameva Vidya dravinam Tvameva, Tvameva Sarvam Mama Deva Deva
Meaning: You are my mother, my father, my relative, my friend, my education, my wealth. You are my everything and my God

(Every person, who practices Guru’s teachings, experiences Guru and God in unique way. No two meditators will have same experiences. Getting visions or not getting visions is irrelevant. Getting visions is NOT indication of any spiritual progress. Its just a medium through which one experiences the truth. True indication of one’s spiritual progress is one’s character building. Spiritual progress is reflected in how well one practices virtues in day-to-day life)