A man's needs and balance

Human needs can be broadly categorized as:

- Material needs: Basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, etc. and nonbasic material needs such as sensual comfort, objects to please sense organs, etc. needs fall under this category.

- Emotional needs: Man has a need to feel loved. Man has needs to express its emotions such as anger, hate, joy, sorrow, dissapointment, frustration, etc. to achieve mental equilibrium which is constantly perturbed by thoughts generated by outwardly focussed mind.

- Spiritual needs: Man has an inherent need for inner peace or resting place or tranquility. Needs such as attending temples and churches, reading holy scriptures, worshipping God, singing praises of God, prayers, etc. fall under this category.

A materially minded man needs to maintain a balance to derive worldly happiness (not talking about Divine Bliss here). One who is restlessly after money or material gain may greatly gain materially and temporarily fulfill the ego, but no doubt that he will fall victim to his lack of fulfillment of emotional and spiritual needs. Lack in these areas will show up in various forms, such as irritability, weight gain or loss, poor relationships, poor health, lack of peace, etc. etc.

Material needs are grosser forms of emotional needs. Emotional needs are grosser forms of spiritual needs. One whose emotional needs are fulfilled is not as restless for fulfilling material needs but vice versa is not true. One who attains the ultimate purpose of life, one who is self realized, will never be out of balance since his/her material and emotional needs are automatically fulfilled.

Does a guru need to be fully enlightened?

The question came up during my conversations with a friend. The short answer to the question is "No". It is the same as asking, does an elementary school teacher have to have a Ph.D.?

The knowers of the Truth have declared in the scriptures that the only purpose of the human birth is to know the Self or Brahman or God or in other words become self realized. They have also shown us various paths leading to the same goal. One is to choose a path according to one's tendencies or liking. A full knower of the Brahman or Self or God is one who realizes that there is nothing but Sat-Chit-Anand or the Existence-Consciousness-Bliss and always abides in that state of consciousness. Those who have fully reached the goal, they have reached the non-dual state and they have no one in that state to teach. Those who have come to get a glimpse of the non-dual state, strive to share the knowledge with others so that others may attain that state. Then there are those advanced aspirants, who have made significant spiritual advancement or progress in following a particular path and want to teach less advanced aspirants. There is nothing wrong in learning from them about the path and practice. The world is filled with such Gurus. A neophyte in the spiritual path can potentially benefit much from such Gurus and does not need to seek out a fully enlightened Himalayan Master.