If you are somewhat serious about spiritual practice, of course you should find someone who walked some of the path already, otherwise it's impossible for you to know - by definition, you haven't walked the path yet so you don't really know.
The journey is the destination. And if you are being led and shown you don’t develop your own compass.
Take tips, listen and gather some info BUT the only thing you need is to listen to ‘you’ and the other ‘you’ and decide how it works.
In my opinion of course.
Most of the human endeavors (art, science, etc) are facilitated by having teachers. Spiritual advancement is no different and in my book, anyone who thinks different is delusional. You may be perfectly happy with no teacher, but you are leaving out a huge chunk of it by navigating on your own. Of course you are free to disagree, but I think it is essential to know about the range of possibilities before deciding if it's worth to have a teacher, and most people simply have no idea.
By trying for America while worrying about India, would be like being hung up on trying not to be hung up. Or competing about who has attainted the most enlightenment, who sat for longest or the most uncomfortably. ~it cannot be grasped by thinking, it cannot be perceived by not thinking. ~The goose flying over the lake doesn’t mean to cast a reflection, and the lake has no mind to retain it. But still, it happens.