06/23/2026
Learning from dead Gurus is like warming your hands on a fire; learning from a living Guru is like sitting on the Fire ~ Tapa
No one better than a living guru to initiate a disciple into the practice of tapa. It is a great comfort to read scriptures, join organisations, adopt masters long gone leaving behind descendants. The safety net of the qualities of love and compassion attributed to these bygone masters comes as a relief to many as they can manoeuvre placidly in these stagnant waters.
Living gurus however have a vitality and act as a catalyst, they check the disciples constantly, keeping them in a high state of alertness so they don’t fall into familiar intellectual or habitual pitfalls. Such a satguru can, in an instant, burn the veil of acquired mindsets, bias, flights of fancy and disproportionate ego, leaving the student disciple with an unclouded clarity accompanied by empathy, compassion and love.
Living gurus make our lives seamless so we wake up from one life into another and continue our learning, often with the same lineage.
Subramanian, Jyoti. Yog Uninterrupted (p. 133). (Function). Kindle Edition.