Om Sathguru Sri Seshadri Swamigal Thiruvadikkae
Sathsang : 31 /2010, 27th May 2010.
GURU
(This article has been taken from Soul Searchers
- The art of breathing.)
Guru, does not have its equivalent in English since Western world has never felt the intense pleasure of sitting with the Guru and learning from him in the Gurukula. Teacher is word that can be used for a person who teaches, Master for a person who is perfect in one form.
But what about a person whose presence itself transforms your own conscience and brings a radical change inwardly.
People who practise Martial arts have a term called Sensei. This is similar to a Guru, and it is better than the word Master/Teacher.
Gurur’ Brahma Gurur’ Vishnu Gurur’ Devo Maheshwara
Gurur’ Shakshat Parahbrahmah Tasmaye Sri Guruve Namah
Gurur’ Brahma:
Guru is like the creator of the universe Brahma. He is the one who creates the qualities of shishya (student) in me.
Gurur’ Vishnu:
Like Lord Vishnu supports and maintains the life on the universe, the same way guru shows the path of enlightenment. Like a friend guides through the path, like a mother caresses and loves, like a father scolds and guides to achieve the goal.
Gurur’ Devo Maheshwara:
Lord Shiva is the god of destruction, he destroys all the evil so that the new life can be created. In the same manner guru also destroys all my tamasic and rajasic guna to fill me with sattvic guna.
Gurur’ Shakshat Parahbrahmah Tasmaye Sri Guruve Namah:
Guru is true incarnation of the Parahbrahmah (one who is Omnipresent and Omnipotent), I bow to him with reverence. I pray he keeps me one with him.
The above sloka aptly explains the role of guru in the life of a sadhaka. Without an able Guru and a able Shishya (disciple) no dhyana can be successful.
The relation between the Guru and Shishya is like a child and a mother. Like mother who takes the tiny hands of the child and tells the child who his father is, as the child alone is not so strong enough to face the father. The same way the guru takes the hand of shishya and shows him the path to the Lord Shiva, a shishya alone may not be able to face the celestial bliss of the lord.
When a shishya finds such a guru he is not in control of himself but becomes only a toddler who wants to walk but cannot do so.
Vivekananda did not become Vivekananda
till he met Swami Ramakrishna Paramhamsa
and the day he was initiated
he was nothing but the image of his Guru.
In today’s city life, it is very difficult to find such a guru and also to find such a shishya. Any sadhaka who is very much interested to find the guru also should know the following :
Guru is one who knows more about the shishya
than the shishya himself knows.
Guru is one who is a mother, father, sister,
brother, friend and guide to the shishya.
Guru is one who knows all the answers
to the queries of the shishya.
Guru is one who takes the shishya
towards the total bliss.
Guru is one who initiates the shishya to ask questions. This question answer session inculcates the habit of finding the true reason of doing a particular thing and also keeps the shishya from blindly following the path without asking questions. This is important as in the Vedic tradition lot of things, which were done, had some scientific meaning and were not just done for the sake of doing. This also helps the guru to judge the development of the student. This path is not followed by the modern age gurus who tend to get influenced the western thoughts and discourage the shishya from asking questions.
Guru is one who does not exploit the shishya for personal gains but gives the shishya some of his energy for the spiritual development of the shishya.
Guru is not one who preaches austerity and lives in luxury. In today’s world lot of people are there who preach about austerity in living but travel in luxurious cars, travel by planes etc. They do the preaching and collect huge sums of money and live a life of rajasic tatva and claim to be sattvic in nature.
Guru never claims to be one to be worshipped but stays a worshipper of the lord. He who wants himself to be worshipped is nothing but a person who is full of ego and worshipping such a person will only increase the negative energy of the person and also increase the bad karma in the shishya. Guru’s who dress themselves as Goddess, Krishna, Shiva to be worshipped are nothing but people with high ego value. Following such gurus will cause destruction to the sattvic guna in the body.
A true Guru is one who is above ego, pride and sentiments, when he gives shaktipata to a shishya he only thinks of himself as a medium and this also happens only at a time when the shishya as well as the guru are ready for the ecstatic experience. He never feels pride in claiming to do shaktipata, as he knows he is nothing but a madhyam or a medium and not the source of the energy. Such a guru can be called a Sadguru.
Never consider the age of the Guru as a factor of ego for learning. Remember the idiom “Child is the father of man”. A child can teach more things to a person than even a very learned person about the realities of the nature. When Sage Sankaracharya, Saint Gyaneshwar gave the true knowledge to the world they were very young.
Never believe in a Guru who claims to give shaktipata to a huge number of people at one time. It is not possible to do, as the main reason being that every person has different energy levels and different sustainability. If we assume that a Guru is able to give shaktipata to a number of people at the same time without taking into consideration the requirement of the shishya then he/she is endangering the life of the person. When a Guru gives shaktipata to a shishya then he/ she is transferring a part of his/her energy to the awaken the Kundalini shakti.
Shishya Dharma
(This article has been taken from Soul Searchers
- The Art of Breathing)
SHISHYA (DISCIPLE)
The parlance of Shishya cannot be found in the Western world. Though they have a word called disciple the role of the disciple is not similar to Shishya. The disciple is one who is governed by the certain logistics of life and can work with preconceived knowledge, while a shishya is nothing but the true image of the Guru.
Yatha Guru Thatha Shishya
If you have seen the Guru, you know the Shishya
and if you have seen the Shishya you have felt the presence of Guru.
The relation between the Guru and Shishya is like a child and a mother. Like mother who takes the tiny hands of the child and tells the child who his father is, as the child alone is not so strong enough to face the father. The same way the guru takes the hand of shishya and shows him the path to the Lord Shiva, a shishya alone may not be able to face the celestial bliss of the lord.
When a shishya finds such a guru he is not in control of himself but becomes only a toddler who wants to walk but cannot do so.
Vivekananda did not become Vivekananda
till he met Swami Ramakrishna Paramhamsa
and the day he was initiated
he was nothing but the image of his Guru.
Shishya should respect the guru. It is said that if a shishya faces the guru, parents and the god, then the shishya should first give respect, to the guru then to the parents and then to the Lord. It is the guru who transforms a normal person into a sadhaka and becomes the medium for meeting the God, thus guru is the one who gives him the second life. Without the parents he wouldn’t be born.
Shishya should always be interested to ask questions and should continue the debate till he gets the satisfied answer.
Shishya should practice and remember the things taught by the guru.
Shishya should propagate the knowledge gained by him to his colleagues, friends and relatives after getting permission from the guru. This will help the shishya as he will remember the knowledge and also will try to improvise on it, to propagate the knowledge he gained.
Shishya should experiment and find new things so that he is able to gain sufficient knowledge to guide other.
