God and Guru are the same

Sri Ramana Maharshi

Q: What is the significance of the saying that the nature of the real Guru is that of the Supreme Lord?

In the case of the individual soul which desires to attain the state of true knowledge or the state of Godhood (Ishwara) and with that object always practices devotion, when the individual's devotion has reached a mature stage the Lord who is the witness of that individual soul and identical with it, comes forth in human form with the help of satchitananda, His three natural features and form and name which he also graciously assumes, and in the guise of blessing the disciple, absorbs him in Himself. According to this doctrine the Guru can truly be called the Lord.

Q: What is the end of bhakti and the path of Shaiva Siddhanta?

It is to learn the truth that all one's actions performed with unselfish devotion, with the aid of the three purified instruments (body, speech and mind), in the capacity of the servant of the Lord, become the Lord's actions, and to stand forth free from the sense of I and mine. This is also the truth of Shaiva-siddhantins called para-bhakti (supreme devotion) or living in the service of God (irai-pani-nitral).

Q: How can it be said that the end of both these paths is the same?

Whatever the means, the destruction of the sense of "I" and "mine" is the goal, and as these are interdependent, the destruction of either of them causes the destruction of the other; therefore in order to achieve that state of Silence which is beyond thought and word, either the path of knowledge which removes the sense of "I" or the path of devotion which removes the sense of "mine", will suffice. So there is no doubt that the end of the paths of devotion and knowledge is one and the same.