Acharya Vaani
shrImadAnandatIrthArya mukhanissR^itaM
same vikalpa eva syAt pUrvAnuj~nA ca sarvathA |
taduttamaguruprAptyai pUrvAnuj~nA na mR^igyate || 3.3.28
It has been said that in general, one should never leave a superior guru in favor of a lesser one. On the contrary, one can leave a lesser guru and approach a superior one for the sake of removing once ignorance and doubts. But what needs to be done in the case of a guru who has qualities equal to the previous one? Can one accept him leaving the former guru? To this we reply. Yes, one can choose to accept the new guru leaving the former in case he belongs to the same level. But before accepting the new guru, one necessarily needs to obtain the permission of the previous guru. Otherwise, he will become the subject of the statement “gurumantraparityAgI rauravaM narakaM vrajet” and fall in raurava naraka. One may ask here - does that mean we should always obtain the permission of the previous guru before accepting another one? To this the answer is no. Permisson needs to be obtained only if one is willing to accept a guru who is at the same level compared to the previous one. Obtaining permission is not required if one accepts a superior guru leaving a lesser one.
