Sorry, Steve.
My point there - ''direct disciples extol the virtues of a living Guru..." etc. was that there are schools of thought which suggest it is necessary to have met the Guru whilst s/he was in the physical body in order to receive his/her blessing.
I didn't realise that the next paragraph might be confusing. The reason why I have been away from my practice for a while is that I have been pursuing a Master of Arts in Professional Writing, which we simply call a 'Masters' in the UK. So, I didn't apply for the Lessons whilst doing that, because it took a lot of time and attention, which I would not then have been able to devote to studying Guruji's teachings.
I will continue to ponder what my next step might be.
Glad to be back,
LTL
O.K. Usually i hear it as Masters
Degree in the states. It will b interesting to hear what u intend to write about.
Thought this might b of interest;
"Brother Santoshananda said that once he went to see Turiyanandaji in his restaurant and he was sitting at a table reading the Autobiography of a Yogi. He told Bro. Santoshananda, “this book will change your life.” He told Brother Santoshananda he had found his Guru. Later, when Swami Ram Dass came to Switzerland, Brother T felt the spiritual vibrations of that soul and immediately went into a deep spiritual state - that’s when T asked the Swami to take him to India. The swami said, "but you have a Guru." T said: "my Guru's dead." The swami said firmly: "YOUR GURU IS ALIVE. YOU ARE DEAD. He later applied and was accepted to become a monk of the SRF order in 1954. Bro. Premamoy, Bro. Abhedananda, and Bro. T all entered the ashram within a fortnight. They were called the 3 musketeers."
