text: do any of you have a guru that you look up to or work with? and who is he or she? and how did you find this guru in your life? i just like hearing other people's stories.  sri sri mata amritanandmayi devi is my satguru. a month before i met her, i had this dream of a white owl that was my very best friend, confident. it let me play with it and sat on my shoulders. i loved it very much. there was love between myself and the white owl. one month later, i met amma. amma wears white and i feel that way towards her like i felt towards the white owl. so that is my story.  before anybody gives ignorant and/or judgmental answers, the purpose of a guru is to help you find your own inner guru to the point that you no longer need an external guru. it is a particular spiritual path that not all chose, but feels right for some of us. 1969, california, usmc, i was going to viet nam in a couple of weeks.  we went to la to party.  hollywood.  there was a girl.  i'd never seen such a beautiful and exotic girl, and so was very open to her.  she wore an orange robe, gave me incense and a pamphlet.  i was impressed greatly. i studied the pamphlet and immediately wrote to the man about whom the pamphlet was written.  within a few days i received a reply.  i had written to him about my situation (see above).  his repy was simple, "this will explain everything."  he had enclosed a book he had just published: bhagavad-gita as it is.  i will never forget his divine grace a.c. bhaktivedanta swami prabhupada.  the book had a bookmark where arjuna asks krishna how he can go to war against friends and family, more or less the same questions i had been asking myself.  that book is here on my desk these 37 years later.  my life was changed forever.  namaste