17. I am in earnest search of a Guru who can emphatically say that he has realized Brahman or the eternal Truth or God. Can you give trace of such a man? May I take the liberty to ask you whether you have realized Brahman?

The queries you have asked are quite common to all sincere aspirants in the spiritual path.

Suppose I tell you that a certain "X" is a realized soul, how can you verify my statement and how far will you be benefited by him?

Realized souls are not rare. Ordinary ignorant-minded persons cannot easily recognize them. Only a few persons who are pure and are embodiments of all virtuous qualities can understand realized souls and they only will be benefited by their company.

There is no use of running hither and thither in search of realized men. Even if Lord Krishna remains with you, He cannot do anything for you, unless you are fit to receive Him. Realize this point well and purify yourself by Nishkama Karma Yoga, charity, concentration, meditation, Japa, Brahmacharya and control of senses.

Testing a Guru is highly difficult. Don't use your intellect here. Have faith. The real aspirant is quite free from such questions and doubts. You will be miraculously helped if you believe in my words.

18. Is it too much for a teacher to make his followers great?

The question assumes that the teacher has attachment for his disciple in preference to others. If he had that, he would not be a spiritual teacher, because the first qualification for a spiritual man is conquest of attachment. The fact is that out of millions, one is found to have the qualification and it is he who comes up as ‘the great'—the superman. Each such great man is surrounded by men who are attracted by his inherent charm. But those who are so surrounding are not the people who are qualified to be masters. They are just ordinary men and no more.

19. A rather unusual lady studied for ten years under the strictest Yogic discipline with some of the "greatest of all great Yogis" and finally came to the conclusion ... that it is all a hoax and a mirage.

From your account of her, she was not qualified to benefit by contact with anyone, even if that one had the spiritual greatness of Lord Buddha himself. The one thing needed for spiritual progress is perseverance. She was stuffing herself with the writings of many, each of whom pointed a different path. One who wants to sink a well must go on digging in one place till one strikes water. If he digs pits in a hundred places, each not more than 5 feet deep, he will not have dug a well. That was her case. What value can be attached to her opinions?

20. Why is so much sanctity attached to a pilgrimage, and not to a mere sight-seeing trip or an official tour?

It is because the very idea of "going on a pilgrimage" prepares your mind to be in a highly receptive mood, in a highly prayerful mood. It shuts out the worldly grooves in the mind. You leave the cloak of your official life in your office room. You abandon the cumbersome apparel of social life when you leave your town or city. Even if you travel with your family, you gradually begin to look upon the family members as co-pilgrims and not so much as personal relations. If you are alone, perhaps you live completely in a spiritual world of your own, with little or no family cares, worries and anxieties. This is the mental condition that is most conducive to the greatest reception of the spiritual vibrations that surround you on all sides in holy regions like Uttarakhand. The pilgrim who goes as a pilgrim is conscious that he is engaged upon a sacred mission of gathering spiritual impressions and will therefore gain the greatest blessings by a pilgrimage. He will be a thoroughly changed man when he returns from the Yatra.