The Necessity of the Guru God-brother Relationship
Most of us generally learn the basics of spiritual activities and conceptions from the older disciples of the Guru. Therein exists a hierarchy based on experience and realization. At some point direct association and possibly personal training comes from the Guru himself, but this actually turns out to be quite rare. To consider one's older god-brothers and god-sisters as śīkṣa-gurus in the living time of the Ācārya is the natural course one follows in spiritual life.