What Is a Guru? Reflections on Devotion and the Spiritual Path
A Sunday morning satsang with Babaji
With great love and respect in my heart, I welcome you to this beautiful Sunday morning. It’s very chilly in Sonoma, but it’s perfect.
An Unexpected Question
I was just walking around the ashram the other day, working in the garden. A couple of people showed up who had never been to the ashram before. I asked them who they were, and then they asked me, “Who are you?”
I was not used to questions directed like that. Usually people know I am Babaji and then we start somewhere else. But these people were very new, and it was a question I did not expect. Who am I?
To carry on the conversation, I said, “I am just the caretaker here.”
“What is your name?”
“Babaji.”
“Oh, Babaji means a guru, right?”
“Yes.”
“So you are the person who started this place?”
“Yes.”
Their eyes were wide—who is this Babaji hanging around in the garden with a shovel in his hand? Because usually the gurus are sitting on a throne somewhere.
We had a nice conversation. It was very new for them. What is an ashram? What is a guru? We all started there.
What Is a Guru Really?
Most of you who have been around me know my definition of a guru. Guru is your own higher self, your divine self, the best you can be. That’s the real guru.
To access that guru self, we need a little help. We need some guidance, particularly from someone who has walked the path before, who has devoted his or her life to that.
So in our conversation, I told them, “Look, I am not anybody special. I am just also a fellow traveler like anybody else. I just happen to have experience of this path a little more, because that’s what I have done—devoted my life to this journey.”
They asked me, “What is devotion?”
People express their devotion in so many different ways. We express our devotion during pujas, during Navaratris, every day at the altar, with little rituals. But to them, because they were new, I said: My understanding of devotion is total alignment. Total alignment with whatever we are devoted to.
Are we in total alignment with our highest self that we aspire to be? The day that happens, we become a saint. But that’s our effort. That’s the direction we are going. And if I am unable to do that on my own, if I have little doubts, then a little help from somebody is needed. Or the right company is needed—the company of those who are aspiring to walk that path.
And that’s what this ashram is all about.
A Guru Makes a Guru
In an ashram, there is a Babaji, there is somebody playing the role of the guru. But everybody is actually on the same journey. Our one and only aspiration is really to be aligned with that vision—the best I can be, the highest I can be. The guru’s job is always to point that out. How do we live it?
Nowadays, there are so many different ways, different people who are playing the role of the guru and presenting themselves. It’s all good. Whatever works for everybody, that’s good.
In our tradition, my teacher, my guru, said to me: “Be just like anybody else. Be human. Live that life, still present yourself, live in a way that others can be inspired by.”
In some traditions, people really worship their guru. The guru is somebody out there, unattainable, but they’re worshipping. They have to be constantly mesmerized by, or in awe of, or think of something bigger, and bow to that. Maybe that works for some people.
But my guru told me: A guru makes a guru. Guru is not in the business of making disciples. Guru makes a guru.
And that is my aspiration. Everybody who comes to me, who is touched by me—that’s my aspiration for them. I want to see you as a guru. Your own guru. Your own best, the highest you could be. Yes, I will share my journey with you. I will tell you stories. But the journey is yours.
In this tradition, many guru-disciple relationships involve people surrendering to the guru’s feet, dumping all their problems there: “Now I’ll be fine.” That also works for some people. But in our tradition, we are fellow travelers. We are all walking together. Everybody has to walk on their own two feet to get somewhere.
A Lifelong Relationship
A guru is not someone you just meet somewhere on a weekend retreat and get a little mantra, a little meditation technique, and then that’s it. It’s not like that. Guru means someone with whom you have formed a relationship. And this is for life.
The guru is human. This relationship should not depend on little ups and downs. It’s a place in our heart that’s there forever.
I always have to remember what really brought me into touch with this person that I have given the place of guru in my life. Always think of that first moment. To tell you the truth, when I met Baba, when I really felt it inside my heart, no matter what happens, I always go to that moment. And that moment still carries the same energy, same effect.
So having a guru in your life, having a person that holds that place in your heart, is very helpful.
Creating Peace
Those people walked around the ashram and I spent a little time with them. They left very inspired. They said, “Well, I did not expect a place like this, but we just walked in. And just by being here for 10-15 minutes, I really feel all the stress has gone now. I feel peaceful.”
That’s what ashrams should really be doing—that no matter who people are, whether they know anything or not, they come in and they feel that peace. They feel that sweetness.
Walking on Your Own Two Feet
Nowadays, with the internet, there are so many people teaching, so many gurus, and so much happening. We have to realize that the journey is our own. Just by looking up at somebody, worshipping somebody, it’s not going to happen. We have to walk on our own two feet. Not judge ourselves too much. Just know that we’re at least going in that direction.
I know some people who have been with me for 20, 30 years. They even say, “Oh, I’m not getting anywhere.” But they’re still there.
Someone came to me once: “Babaji, I’m doing this mantra for so many years and I’m still not getting anywhere.” I said, “Well, why not stop it for a week? Don’t do it.”
After three or four days he came back and said, “No, no, no, I can’t do that. Then I don’t know who I am.”
So the practice that you have, the little simple practice that you have, really keeps you connected with yourself. It gives you a sense of the self. It doesn’t have big shooting-star effects. Nowadays there are all kinds of meditation experiences that are induced by something else, and in the name of spirituality people are going there. But something very simple and steady that you can do on your own is the most effective.
There is a craze nowadays for people to take substances to have experiences, mind-altering experiences. It’s not sustainable. It’s not sustainable at all. And I’m not confident that it’s very helpful.
Something very simple and steady. Something that is not needed from outside to connect with your fullness—that is what is needed.
You Are the Guru
The guru is not somebody else. You are the guru. Claim yourself. You are the guru.
“I am whole and complete unto myself without anybody else.” That is your true nature. That is your true self.
You don’t need anybody. You are the only one sitting on that globe looking into that vastness. There’s a little meditation I’ve shared with you—the Shivoham meditation. Try that sometimes. Nobody around. You are the only person on this planet. Sitting on the globe looking into the vastness, the darkness.
Our mind has habits. It’s conditioned. It thinks, “I need this to be happy. I want that to be happy.” Those things are not going to make us happy. It’s just the conditioning of the mind. Habit.
Baba used to say: Mind loves attachment. Attachment is an intoxication that wears off in time. Things that we think we need are really just the habit of the mind. Attachment. And it always keeps telling us, “This is what I need.” That’s not true.
Simple, Steady Practice
We take our devotion seriously. We take our practice seriously. Devote a little time every day to it. A little bit. It works. It works.
Sometimes we feel a little weak, a little wobbly. Then we find the right company, the right satsang of people. And then we get back on track.
It’s not that complicated. It’s not. It’s very doable.
So today in satsang, I will just ask you—I will pose a question: Ask yourself, what am I really devoted to? What does devotion mean to me? Is there an effort I am making to align myself, to align my journey with that vision? That’s devotion.
The Full Moon Ceremony
In the ashram, some of you know we do a havan, a full moon ceremony. What does that really represent?
There is the moon. There is the sun. The moon is illuminated by the sun’s light. So that’s what we really celebrate: May my life be so aligned with this, that what I am devoted to—my guru self, my guru—may be aligned in such a way that all the light from there falls and illuminates me.
When the moon gets a little out of the way or something else comes in the middle, then the light is obstructed—then there is a new moon. But there is a full moon also. So between the new moon and the full moon, life goes on. There will be some days that are happy, some days unhappy, some days that will look totally miserable. No light at all. It’s okay. It will pass. The next day there will be light. So having that kind of attitude towards our life, we keep moving.
A Special Announcement
Thank you. I can go on speaking like this, but today I have a very special announcement.
Marilyn has been working so hard on a book, and now it is out. This book was conceived during the pandemic at the very beginning when many of us were doing not too much. I felt a need for a book that could be used by people who were both fairly new to the practice and those who have been around for a long time, with chapters on each of the important aspects of the practice.
So I asked Marilyn to spearhead it, write some chapters and edit it. We agreed it would be really nice for members of the sangha to also write chapters. Some of the people who wrote chapters are here today: Amy, Richard, Natasha, Ajit, Maria, and others.
There are 14 chapters dealing with important aspects of the practice—for example, the lineage, initiation process, meditation, pranayama, asana yoga, havan, Navaratri. There’s also a glossary to help you.
The book is called Aghor Yoga Initiate. It’s available on the ashram store on our website. It’s a very nice little book. It starts from the very simple and explains all the little things. I think it came out pretty good. And it’s nice to see what people who have been around me for so many years have learned. Now they are the teachers.
Actually, I’m thinking about maybe doing some more Zoom calls with the people who have written these chapters so they can talk about and share their insights. In the coming year we’ll be looking into teaching these things in a more formal way, the way people are used to learning.
You see, I come from a tradition of sadhus. We don’t learn in a school setting. But most of the people who come or who are on this path nowadays learn in the setting of “here is a book, here is a chapter, here is what it means.” So we are going to try that way. I am very pleased to have those who have stepped up to be part of this and are willing to teach.
