THREE KINDS OF PEOPLE

Saint Ramakrishna Paramahamsa refers to three types of Gurus and compares them to the medical doctors.

1. Pulse Doctor: Common Guru
   1. He looks at the One looks at the Patient, feels his pulse and then prescribes medicines and advices the patient to be regular in its intake.
   2. If the patient argues or refuses the doctor does not refute and simply goes away without any argument.
   3. This can be compared to teachers who simply teach and go away without really bothering as to whether their teachings are valued or taken note of.
2. Pursuing Doctor: Righteous Guru
   1. These sorts of Doctors do not stop with their prescribing medicines. They chase the patients and ensure that they take the medicines regularly and follow the instructions given.
   2. This means that they want to ensure that the path of righteousness and truth are duly followed meticulously and is done through their persuasion.
3. Ideal Doctor: Ideal Guru
   1. This doctor of-course ensures that the patient intakes the medicines prescribed which result in the patient’s recovery.
   2. This otherwise means that you walk on the path or righteousness through the Guru’s interference at every stage.

Out of these three Ramakrishna feels that the third category of Guru is supreme because:

1. He takes the risk of becoming unpopular.
2. He takes the risk of being labeled cruel
3. He even takes the risk of being considered unspiritual

• We should realize that once a man follows the path of spirituality and understands the goal of life, the worrying about worldly affairs should disappear.
• He even compares this to a man who chases money, who pays his 100% attention to the task he has undertaken.
• A man seeking the highest in life should ensure that he is capable of doing anything in this life, which alone can move one to the real path of spirituality.