Guru is the giver of Light. But just as there are several sources of Light so also there are several types of Gurus. There are those unconnected with the earth like distant constellations or stars. They point the path to us that we may follow but neither give light nor warmth. Others are like the moon, close to the earth yet not intimately linked to its life. They shed light and shower coolness of their grace in the human night. They show the way of escape out of the human night of Ignorance to the silent heart of endless Space.
Yet others are like fire that give us warmth and close comfort. They light up aspiration in our hearts and protect us from the animal stalking around us. They are like brief visitations of heavenly light clothed in forms more familiar to us. Of course there are many pseudo gurus who thrive on borrowed and artificial light like the bulbs and tubes. But they too serve a purpose in God’s plan to make the night a little more bearable.
But seldom one finds the guru as the sun, the Divine avatar shedding His light upon earth. He not only sheds Light but changes the seasons and the flow of time. He sustains and supports the cycles and the evolutionary journey of life upon earth by His mere Presence. Not many can bear His closeness and the intense pressure of Heat and Light. Hardly anyone can even gaze at him accept when he chooses to eclipse himself with a human cloak. All feel His warmth and share his light and benefit by His power and splendour. Nothing is hid from his sight and he knows all paths and every law since they originate from him. But none knows Him or can reach Him. Such a Master is born once in a thousand years or even less often. Such is our Lord and Master Sri Aurobindo, whose mere Presence is enough to change the earthly season and who shines deathless in the eastern horizon revealing Time’s secrets to earth and men.
