Without accepting someone as a guru, can we gain spiritual enlightenment simply by reading scriptures or listening to lectures?

The simple answer is No! One cannot gain spiritual enlightenment by simply reading scriptures and listening to lectures. We may gain some understanding at the intellectual level, but one needs a living Enlightened being (Gnani Purush) to enlighten one’s Soul. To gain liberation, one needs a ‘liberator’ and that liberator is the Gnani Purush. No one has been able to attain Moksha without a liberator. Without a Gnani Purush (a living Enlightened being), there is no liberation For anyone seeking spiritual enlightenment, it is crucial to know the path of liberation. For that, we need the One who can give us this path. A Guru helps us develop religiously; he teaches us to leave the bad and to adopt the good. The scriptures point us to the spiritual path. However, thereafter, to actually attain liberation, they all state, “Go to a Gnani!” This is because the Self (the Soul) is beyond words and intellect, and hence it cannot be described in words or understood through the intellect. So for spiritual enlightenment, we need a living Gnani Purush, who can bestow upon us (all those seeking to be liberated) the knowledge of the Self. This is His sole purpose in life! The vital role of the Gnani Purush therefore is to help us attain enlightenment and look after us (our progress) until we reach our ultimate goal. Gnani Purush has seen the complete path to final liberation. He has known that path and He has the experience of it. Therefore, He can show us the mistakes obstructing that path; he can show us the difficulties, the obstacles, and the dangers along that path. To those who have embarked on the path of liberation, Gnani gives knowledge and also the remedy to eradicate one’s mistakes. At every step, He guides us on this path so that we never lose the way. From the living Gnani, we receive the knowledge of really ‘who am I?’ This is called Self-Realization, where we realize how ‘I am a Pure Soul, separate from the body and name.’ Thus, with the grace of Gnani, our Soul gets enlightened and the awareness of the pure Soul, the Self, commences. The wrong belief of ‘who am I and who is the doer’ is fractured and the right belief sets in. This is the beginning of enlightenment. Thereafter by attending the spiritual discourses of the Gnani Purush, repeatedly listening to His sermons, and grasping His teachings at length, the seeker begins to understand the spiritual science. Therefore, it is vital that we remain in the presence of the Gnani Purush for He can see what we cannot! Under the guidance and instructions of the living Gnani Purush, we gradually develop more and more awareness of the Self and attain strength to identify and visualize his own faults. When He shows us the mistakes in detail and helps us identify the nature of our mistakes, we start becoming free from those mistakes. It is because of these mistakes that we are held back. Nevertheless, to overcome those mistakes, one should completely surrender to Gnani Purush and follow his guidance to gain the maximum benefit of the Self. So, spiritual enlightenment can only be gained from a living Gnani and not from reading scriptures or listening to lectures. In His divine presence alone, spiritual science can be rightly understood, applied, and experienced from the perspective of the Soul, the Self. To read more about the 'Importance of Living Guru', visit: https://www.dadabhagwan.org/path-to-happiness/relationship/guru-disciple-relationship/living-guru/