A Guru is absolutely necessary for every aspirant in the spiritual path. God teaches through the human enlightened body of a fully realized Guru. The Guru is the pattern into which you should mould yourself. Guru is the door to spiritual liberation, but it is the aspirant who has to enter it through Niskama karma -righteous words, thoughts and actions performed without the expectation of results. Also a total surrender, a strong faith and a firm devotion towards the Guru is needed. The Guru will then be able to absorb part of your previous bad karma -dark energies that reside within your soul, due to errors commited in the past and that hinder spiritual liberation- and purify your soul. He will remove pitfalls and obstacles, leading you along the right path towards enlightment. The disciple should not rest satisfied with the transmission of knowledge and Light from the Guru. He will have to struggle hard in sadhana -spiritual disciplines- for further perfection and attainments. He must be a person full of love, humility, compassion, patience, endurance, forbearance; he must perform service to others without the expectation of positive results or any kind of reward.

It is important to realize that the more spiritual evolution the seeker attains for himself, through positive actions, faith, surrender and devotion towards God or to a fully realized Guru, the more responsibility the seeker has in the spiritual arena and minor mistakes in life can have profound effects in spiritual evolution.

The Guru can transform the disciple by a look, a touch, a thought or a word, or mere willing. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa touched Swami Vivekananda and by his grace Swami Vivekananda had supra conscious experience though he had struggled hard for the rest of his life in order to attain perfection. We must always keep on working -righteous thoughts, words and actions- no matter the spiritual level attained, remembering that the more we get, the more we shall be asked in exchange. Without the grace of the Guru, it is very difficult to evolve spiritually. To light a candle, you need a burning candle. An illumined soul alone can enlighten another soul.