Nine syllable Mantra for the vicharin
oṃ śrīśrīśrīgurudevāya
(the nine syllable Mantra for the vicharin)
śrī - honorific; represents surrender.
śrī - invokes Sri Ganesa, lord of the host (first born amongst all others), the diffuser of light; remover of all obstacles.
śrī - represents 'I am'
guru - Self; Teacher; heavy with knowledge
\
– Chief amongst teachers, Self
/
deva - chief among (devāya is the dative case form)
oṃ śrī śrī śrī gurudevāya [om shree shree shree gurudevaaya]
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M.: So long as you seek Self-Realisation the Guru is necessary. Guru is the Self. Take Guru to be the Real Self and your self as the individual self. The disappearance of this sense of duality is removal of ignorance. So long as duality persists in you the Guru is necessary. Because you identify yourself with the body you think the Guru, too, to be some body. You are not the body, nor is the Guru. You are the Self and so is the Guru. This knowledge is gained by what you call Self-Realisation. (Talks with Ramana Maharshi no. 282)
The Guru may be sometimes inanimate also, as in the case of Avadhuta. God, Guru and the Self are identical. A spiritual-minded man thinks that God is all-pervading and takes God for his Guru. Later, God brings him in contact with a personal Guru and the man recognises him as all in all. Lastly the same man is made by the grace of the Master to feel that his Self is the Reality and nothing else. Thus he finds that the Self is the Master.(Talk 23)