Parents, even in the world, take a lot of care and do everything for their daughter, right from the time she is an infant. They spend money on her education in various fields such as arts, culture, science, etc. They exert so much effort to instill in their daughter values of good conduct, good behavior, qualities of head and heart. They do so much. They nurture her. And when she grows up to be old enough to be married, then what happens? A young man comes to ask for her hand in marriage. And if she passes the interview, all good. Yes, it's possible that he probably rejected so many other girls. So, Shri Mataji gives us this analogy so we can reflect on this analogy to understand the role of the Guru. What does the Guru do for us? He does everything. Everything from… just like a mother, from birth, from the time the mother gives birth until her child is old enough to become independent. So, the Guru does the same thing.

The Guru puts in so much effort. He tirelessly, day in and day out, works toward our welfare to purify us, to prepare us to be accepted by the eternal groom, the soul of the soul, the supreme soul, God, so that God can accept us. So, the Guru tirelessly works to inspire us, to elevate us. He rewards us with Divine grace, Divine knowledge.

In so many ways, he is relentlessly serving us. That is what he does because God is not going to come until we are qualified. So, who qualifies us? It is the Guru. It is our Guru who qualifies us. He renders us pure; that's what he does. Because even if there is even a trace of attachment anywhere in our heart, even a faint glimmer of attachment to anything or anyone, God will not reveal Himself.

So, until we reach that point of “mam ekam sharanam vraj” (complete surrender), until that point of perfect surrender, unbreakable oneness with God and Guru, until our heart reaches that height, the Guru will keep serving us life after life after life, so long as we don't deviate from his lotus feet. We don't deviate from the shelter of our Guru he will serve us.

So, this is why, even though the scriptures emphatically claim that God and Guru are one, they are the same, yet, for our welfare, from that perspective, the Guru's place is higher. It is superior because it is the Guru who, right from the beginning, until God's realization, it is his hard work that we reap the fruits of his hard work when we finally meet our eternal groom, God. So, the Guru does everything for us. He imparts when our heart is fully purified, he imparts that swaroop shakti, that final grace in our heart.

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