Question: Babaji, is it necessary to have a Guru to meditate?

Babaji:

Well ultimately it will be your choice. The Guru's role is to bless and inspire you. Very often on the path you are likely to lose interest and become casual. You are likely to get confused, sometimes panicking also. So the Guru will always be there to guide you to proceed on the right path. The Guru is always there to inspire you to keep going, never to loose faith in yourself, never to give up until the last breath of life. It is the Guru who can tell you what it is about, what is the benefit of meditation, and how to do, how to start, how to practice; everything it is the Guru who gives.

In our scriptures since time immemorial the Guru's place has been kept very high, even above the God. I would like to quote just one small saying of the great Saint Kabir. In His song He sings: "If both Guru and God suddenly come in front of me, to whom should I prostrate first?" - For a while the mind gets confused, but soon it recovers and the confusion is cleared because it now thinks correctly – "Let me prostrate to you, my Guru, because it is you who told me about God". So that is the importance of Guru.

I remember somebody asking this question to my Guru, Shivabalayogi, then He simply said, "Did you come out to this world without your mother? As it was important for you to have a mother to be born into this world, it is important for you to have Guru to guide and tell you how to reach God". So that is the importance of Guru, but ultimately the choice will be yours.