Need of Guru - Narada His Shiksha Guru

Sukhdev Muni was the son of Ved-Vyasa [a great Rishi, author of the Mahabharata] and he had knowledge right from the time when he was in the womb of his mother. It is said that God suspended the action of Maya for five seconds so that he could be born. He had access to the in-ner planes and heavens from birth. But when he went into the region of Lord Vishnu, he was thrown out-because he did not have any Master over his head. He was very proud that his father was Ved-Vyasa, who was called yogishwar (or "great yogi") and because of that he thought that he didn't need any Guru or Master.

So when he was thrown out from Vishnu Puri, he came to Ved-Vyasa and asked him, "They won't allow me to enter that heaven. Do I also need some Master or Guru?" Ved-Vyasa said, "Yes. The law is the same for everybody, whether he is the son of a Rishi or Muni or anyone. This law is applicable to everybody because it is made by God Himself. No man has made this law; God Himself has put the Guru in between Him and the soul."

Then Sukhdev asked Ved-Vyasa whom he shouid accept as his Master.Ved-Vyasa replied, "At present time, only King Janak is a perfect Saint; and only He has been given permission from God
to give out knowledge of Naam-the practice for the realization of God." Now Sukhdev Muni was a renunciate and King Janak was a householder. He thought, "I'm a renunciate! How, can I take a householder as my Guru?" It is said in his history that he was born as an avatar, with twelve supernatural powers. So he would go to King Janak, but he kept coming back without getting initiation; because he was always thinking something bad about King Janak. And each time he came back he lost one of his supernatural powers: because this is the law of nature, that if we criticize or abuse any Mahatma or beloved of God, we lose whatever we have.So in that way, as he was losing his supernatural powers.

Rishi Narada had pity on him and wanted to make him aware of what he was doing. So Rishi Narada created a false river and disguised himself as an old man and, when Sukhdev Muni was passing by, Narada began throwing basketfuls of sand in that river. When Sukhdev Muni came there and saw this, he said, "Oh, old man, what are you doing? You are a fool.This is not the way to build a dam. First of all you should arrange some logs of wood and then place some big rocks among them and, after that, you should put sand on it. If you simply go on throwing in sand, that will just be washed away by the flow of the river, and your time will be wasted; you will not be able to build this dam in this lifetime."

Then Rishi Narada told Sukhdev Muni, "You are looking at what I am losing. But there is a bigger fool than I am, and he is Sukhdev Muni, the son of Ved-Vyasa. He does not realize that through criticizing a Saint, he has lost ten of his twelve supernatural powers." When Sukhdev Muni heard this, he was stunned and fainted dead away.

When he regained consciousness, he saw that there was no river and there was no Rishi Narada. He became conscious of a very great loss and started off to see King Janak to get initiation.