[Advaita-l] Electronic Gurus

[smallpress]

Within the Vedanta tradition much is made about finding the right guru, how the guru will find you, and how without a guru one cannot progress in one's spiritual evolution.
So what do you all think the proliferation of Vedanta lectures available on youtube and podcasts?
Personally i am very grateful for availability of lectures on Mandukya Karika, Tattva Bodha, Drig Drishya Viveka, and others. Mostly in English but I am also listening to one in Tamil. I check out the lectures to see if it meets MY needs and temperament before I commit to the whole series. 
So yes, I am qualifying my Gurus, by objective measures such as their knowledge and ability to explain. I like those that stay close to the text and also can elaborate around it drawing from other sources. Gives historical background.  
I have been to lecture in person at Chinmaya centers and was always put off by their references to corporate life or stereotypical roles played in domestic life as comedy breaks. My electronic Gurus are so much better, the kind of lecture I had always wished for but never got. This must a new generation of acharyas. 
Although I have never met them I respect their depth of knowledge and the way they propound. They ARE my gurus, I am grateful for having found them and that they have provided me this way of learning. And I am learning. I donate to their ashram/institution as a guru dakshina.
--Soma