As mentioned in sutras 1.30-1.31 twelve obstacles come in our way to prevent us from progressing in our inner journey. This can be prevented by having an ultimate goal in life, and firm faith in one’s sadhana. A seeker – sadhak needs inner stamina and without that, he or she cannot succeed in sadhana. The seeker gets the inner stamina only through the blessings of a Guru. Gu means darkness and Ru means light. In our inner journey, we are lone travelers and we come across many obstacles in the path such as sickness, depression, doubts, confusion, laziness, imagination, wrong information, arrogance, etc. 

These obstacles are called darkness and to overcome these we need light. A Guru is a light. A Guru shows the way to the light. A Guru illumines the way to the inner light. A Guru gives focus to our life.