Book or guru

Visit any major bookstore and you will find space exclusively dedicated to self-help books. Shelves and shelves of choices whether you are interested in developing habits of effective people, managing anger, selling your Ferrari or losing weight. You are certain to lose your mind with this buffet of mind-boggling choices. But the fact remains that self-help books sell like the proverbial hot cakes. Why, you ask? One probable reason may be our increasing awareness of areas in our life where we need to improve. What better place to look for solutions than into books where the essence of individual self-development has been whittled down into a successful method by intellectual writers? You can read them in the privacy of your home, and if you don’t practice the techniques suggested, no one would notice anyway. Plus you get to be seen with these high-priced tomes and appear more intelligent as you pursue the elusive goal of a new, improved “you”.

Don’t we need a teacher for this endeavor? I thought most seekers first sought out a guru, a master who was not just knowledgeable but enlightened in the ways of the modern world. Someone who had taken an alternate path and found the light after sustained practice and devotion. Not long ago, the gurukul system flourished in India where students learned from their esteemed teachers by spending their days with the guru in his natural environment, thereby imbibing both the spoken and unspoken teachings, life lessons, as it were. It would seem that in this day, with the abridged version of self-help gaining popularity with the public, the need for a guru has just vanished.

However, once in a while the opposite is proved to be true. Yesterday’s Economic Times carried news of the untimely death of well-known management guru, C.K. Prahalad. As a non-management type person, I had vaguely heard about Prahlad and his demigod status among top companies to whom he was a mentor and advisor. But from the heart-felt words of his students, protégées and those who had benefited from his insights, it appeared that the teachings of the master were thoroughly ingrained in them only due to the person himself. Prahalad has written many books and his interviews and columns filled with new concepts and thinking are available in print. However, it is the man himself who seems to have left an indelible impression.

It is not just personal charisma that makes a difference; there are enough airheads who draw a second look. And there are regular people who make a tremendous difference in an understated way. When there is a combination of an honest person with a genuine lesson to share with you personally, you not only have a great recipe but a chef to guide you as you attempt to try the recipe in the kitchen of life. A guru with great formula for success. What better way towards self-improvement?