Question:
I am having doubts about the beliefs of a path I have been seriously following. This path, Akram Vignan from Dada Bhagwan, has an enlightenment ceremony in which one can have direct experience of the Pure Soul, after which one follows five basic steps for life which will take one towards moksha. This path does not hold that meditation is useful for this spiritual development; it is considered an experience of phases of mind, not direct experience of the soul. I had been meditating and reading widely until finding this path a year ago. I did not know where I stood about God, but was searching for spiritual connection.

In recent days I have started to question the fact that this path does not hold that there is no God as creator of us and the universe. God is simply within all life and the universe is created by “scientific circumstantial evidences”. Some part of me believes there is a higher power we are from and also can connect with. I also feel that surely meditation is one way of connecting and a truly spiritual tool that can also lead one to final liberation.
My questions regarding leaving the path:
I will try meditating again. But I am confused and worry that if I resume meditating on my own, I might get lost or not progress as I would under a guide. I have read before that meditation requires a teacher to help one navigate and stay on the right path.
Which brings me to finding a teacher – an enlightened guide. Again, I am concerned about how to find a guide and teachings that I accept entirely. I am scared because I have heard that one can be deluded (for instance in leaving my current path), so can I trust my own judgement? Shouldn’t I be able to tell the Right Way for me when I find it?
Do you believe that the right guidance will always come to someone sending out a fervent request to the universe for help?

Answer:
I think your concerns that this path does not hold there is a creator God is just a semantic problem. If you are getting good benefits from it, then don’t worry. There are so many valuable teachers each with different gifts, actively working to help the planet through this phase transition. Everyone is helping in their own way and each will be effective for different segments of the population. So if you feel a strong pull towards a teaching, then look more closely and see if it has something for you.
I’m glad you are resuming meditation. It is vitally important. Effective meditation takes you beyond all phases of the mind to the soul, pure consciousness, so the Akram Vignan teaching is poorly informed on that point, as are any others who devalue the importance of meditation.
Don’t worry about getting lost by meditating on your own without a personal guide. Meditation is meant to be done on your own and to awaken the inner teacher inside you. You are not likely to get lost without a personal guide as long as your goal is the highest level of enlightenment. But if you need a personal teacher for some period, then one will inevitably pop up for you.
The only thing I would add is that you need to be able not take it seriously when a teacher tells you their way is the only way, or the best way, and that your present path is wrong. There are some wonderful teachings that are still caught up in that vision of exclusivity and promotion of their ideas over everyone else’s. But that shouldn’t keep you from taking advantage of good evolutionary opportunities when they come your way and have something of great benefit for you. Neither should it confuse you into thinking such claims of exclusive truth amount to anything. There is so much spiritual transformation humanity must undergo now, and it is important that we recognize the value and role of all wisdom traditions and practices, and if we emphasize the commonality we will all be much more effective in reaching the grand process of global awakening.
Love,
Deepak