As to the question of pursuing the Path without an embodied Guru – well, we may not be able to see Her, but She is able to see us, and yoga depends primarily on the Divine rather than on human end. Swami Sharadananda, who was blind on both eyes, came here for a Darshan of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, and when asked why he did come here, he replied that it is having Them put Their gaze upon a person which matters the most…
At best they invite some gods and beings of the vital world where much falsehood is mixed with fragments of truth, at worst they invoke certain dangerous forces in the atmosphere.