In the Guru’s Own Words: Spiritual Progression  
The Guru shabda, I am going to elaborate is by Third Nanak, who shares his personal experience with us through it.  It is very important to know how one gets enlightened through the Guru teachings.
  In the most of the shabdas in Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the follower is advised to prefer Har Naam to all religious rite or rituals. Before involving with Naam, the follower must understand the concept of that Creator, whose Naam is taken as the support of life.
  Is it merely uttering Naam, which lifts the seeker to liberation or also a thorough change in  thinking is needed to be brought as per the Guru’s advice?
  In the Gurbani, it is advised to live as the Guru directs; in a nutshell, the Guru advises the followers to be one with that Creator, who exists in all and who exists independently as well.
  No difference is defined particularly between the Creator and His Naam (Jap Ji). The basic principle is to understand Har’s presence in all friends or foes equally; no one can exist without Har’s existence. There are people, who deny the existence of the Creator, and there are others, who strongly believe in a kind of power ruling the universes.
   There are those, who are known as believers, but their ways of identifying the Creator differ significantly. For the Guru followers, it doesn’t matter who is who and who believes in what; what is important to the Guru follower is to tread on a path that helps him or her in blending with the Creator, who is the source of all existence.
  The Gurbani clearly states that self conceit, lust, anger, greed and attachment have become a strong wall between Akalpurakh and the seeker. If the seeker remains under these negative forces and remembers Akalpurakh, he or she is simply trying to catch the wind.
  The following shabda can help us in this regard if we understand its vast application. No game or hair splitting is needed in following the Guru; all influences taken from other sources should be abandoned while following the Guru; the Gurbani states that seeing the Guru or sitting close to the Guru is useless if the Guru is not followed in full surrender; the Guru path is a guided path, which has no place for the follower’s own intellect or reasoning; if the Guru followers keep bringing their own intellect for further guidance, they really don’t need the Guru; they can follow their own pursuits leaving the Guru alone for those, who are ready to surrender unconditionally to the Guru.  
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Sincerely yours
  Anant Singh