GURU BHAKTI

You will find in the Gita: “Learn thou this by discipleship, by enquiry and by service. The wise, the seers of the essence of things, will instruct thee in wisdom.” (Chapter IV – Verse 34.)

The guru must not only be a Brahma-srotriya (well-versed) , but a Brahma-nista (established in Brahman) as well. Mere study of books cannot make one a guru. One who has studied the vedas and who has direct knowledge of the Atman, through anubhava (direct experience), is a guru. If you find peace in the presence of a holy man (mahatma) and if your doubts are removed in his presence, you can take him as your guru. When the guru gives the mantra to his disciples, he gives with it his own power.

Just as water flows in a river, so also jnana (knowledge) and bhakti (devotion) are ever flowing from a sage. Only a thirsty man drinks water. So too, a thirsty aspirant, who has implicit faith in his guru and is eager to imbibe his teachings can drink the nectar from him. The student can imbibe from his guru only in proportion to the intensity of his faith in him.

The guru tests the students in various ways. Some students misunderstand him and lose their faith in him. Hence they are not benefited. But those that stand the tests boldly come out successful in the end.

The periodical examinations in the `University of Sages’ are very stiff indeed. Once a great sage (Gorakhnath) asked some students to climb a tall tree and throw themselves head downwards onto a very sharp trident (trisula). Many of the faithless students kept quiet. But one faithful student at once climbed up the tree with lightning speed and hurled himself down. He was protected by the invisible hand of the sage and had immediate Self-realisation. This man had no deha-adhyasa (feeling, “I am body”), but the others had strong attachment for their bodies.

Once Guru Govind Singh tested his students. He said: “My dear disciples, if you have real devotion towards me, let six of you come forward and give me your heads.” Two faithful disciples offered their heads.

Many people debate over the necessity for having a guru. Some assert vehemently that it is not necessary to have a guru for spiritual advancement and that one can attain Self-realisation through one’s own efforts only. No spiritual progress is possible unless a man gets the benign grace and direct guidance of a spiritual preceptor.

– Swami Sivananda

DEEKSHA or Spiritual awakening by a GURU by Swami Vivekananda

The Power of a Noble Guru in the  Initiation of Spirituality ( Deeksha and Shaktipata):

Most of the great sages and seers of the world had little or no formal education. The status of the spiritual evolution of the inner self is independent of formal  education or the regularly measured text book Intelligence quotient of the person.
The transmission of spirituality/ spiritual knowledge from Guru to disciple takes place at the level of the subconscious and unconscious cores of the mind and self (Chitta and Ahamkara). Therefore, an interaction between Guru and the disciple on the wisdom of spirituality is not an exchange of knowledge through word of mouth as in the case of regular text book knowledge that is communicated via the intellect.

The sacramental rite of ‘spiritual initiation” or (Deeksha) has been assigned a great status amongst all religions. In the process of initiation, a noble Guru uses his awakened spiritual power to interact with the disciple at great depths of the subconscious levels. He transmits bio-electric currents of his own spiritually activated life force into the sub-conscious life force of the disciple. These seeds of bio electric currents of the Gurus life force when nourished by the disciple can grow and fructify in a short time.

The wisdom of spirituality given by a competent Guru is never wasted. A noble Guru bestows “Shaktipata” (extra sensory transmission of spiritual power) upon deserving disciples. The secret process of “Shaktipata” can bring a metamorphosis in the entire personality of the disciple. Many Yogis in India are aware of the awakening of “Kundalini” (also known as serpentine fire or the source of miraculous vital spiritual energy) of man by simply touching the persons head. The author here has personally come across great spiritual masters and Yogis , who can electrify their bodies by activating the hidden force of the tremendous soul power(Atma Teja).In this state ,touching the bio electrically charged body of the sage gives you a shock like that of touching a live wire.

In our day to day living, we must not miss opportunities of interaction with spiritually evolved and virtuous persons. They bring to our lives the “Midas touch” –turning metal to gold OR in this case enabling the common man to communicate with God. 

Qualities of real Guru

Swami Vivekananda further elaborates on the theme of what defines a real spiritual Guide, Teacher or Guru ?

"Now in intellectual development we can get much help from books, but in spiritual development, almost nothing. 

In studying books, sometimes we are deluded into thinking that we are being spiritually helped; but if we analyse ourselves, we shall find that only our intellect has been helped, and not the spirit. That is the reason why almost everyone of us can speak most wonderfully on spiritual subjects, but when the time of action comes, we find ourselves so woefully deficient. It is because books cannot give us that impulse from outside. To quicken the spirit, that impulse must come from another soul.

That soul from which this impulse comes is called the Guru, the teacher; and the soul to which the impulse is conveyed is called the disciple, the student. In order to convey this impulse, in the first place, the soul from which it comes must possess the power of transmitting it, as it were, to another; and in the second place, the object to which it is transmitted must be fit to receive it. 

The seed must be a living seed, and the field must be ready ploughed; and when both these conditions are fulfilled, a wonderful growth of religion takes place. "The speaker of religion must be wonderful, so must the hearer be"; and when both of these are really wonderful, extraordinary, then alone will splendid spiritual growth come, and not otherwise. 

These are the real teachers, and there are the real students. Besides these, the others are playing with spirituality — just having a little intellectual struggle, just satisfying a little curiosity — but are standing only on the outward fringe of the horizon of religion"

How are we to know a teacher then? In the first place, the sun requires no torch to make it visible. We do not light a candle to see the sun. When the sun rises, we instinctively become aware of its rising; and when a teacher of men comes to help us, the soul will instinctively know that it has found the truth. 

Truth stands on its own evidences; it does not require any other testimony to attest it; it is self-effulgent. It penetrates into the inmost recesses of our nature, and the whole universe stands up and says, "This is Truth." These are the very great teachers, but we can get help from the lesser ones also; and as we ourselves are not always sufficiently intuitive to be certain of our judgment of the man from whom we receive, there ought to be certain tests. There are certain conditions necessary in the taught, and also in the teacher.

In the teacher we must first see that he knows the secret of the scriptures.The whole world reads scriptures — Bibles, Vedas, The Koran  and others; but they are only words, external arrangement, syntax, the etymology, the philology, the dry bones of religion. The teacher may be able to find what is the age of any book, but words are only the external forms in which things come. Those who deal too much in words and let the mind run always in the force of words lose the spirit. So the teacher must be able to know the spirit of the scriptures.

The second condition necessary in the teacher is that he must be sinless.The question was once asked me in England by a friend, "Why should we look to the personality of a teacher? For the knowledge that the physical sciences require is simply intellectual and depends on intellectual strength; a man can have in such a case a gigantic intellectual power without the least development of his soul. But in the spiritual sciences it is impossible from first to last that there can be any spiritual light in that soul which is impure. What can such a soul teach? It knows nothing. Spiritual truth is purity. Therefore in the teacher of spirituality, purity is the one thing indispensable; we must see first what he is, and then what he says. 

To give a simile: If a heater is hot, it can convey heat vibrations, but if not, it is impossible to do so. Even so is the case with the mental vibrations of the religious teacher which he conveys to the mind of the taught. It is a question of transference, and not of stimulating only our intellectual faculties. Some power, real and tangible, goes out from the teacher and begins to grow in the mind of the taught. Therefore the necessary condition is that the teacher must be true. 

The third condition is motive. We should see that he does not teach with any ulterior motive, for name, or fame, or anything else, but simply for love, pure love for you. When spiritual forces are transmitted from the teacher to the taught, they can only be conveyed through the medium of love; there is no other medium that can convey them. Any other motive, such as gain or name, would immediately destroy the conveying medium; therefore all must be done through love. One who has known God can alone be a teacher. When you see that in the teacher these conditions are fulfilled, you are safe; if they are not fulfilled, it is unwise to accept him. There is a great risk, if he cannot convey goodness, of his conveying wickedness sometimes. This must be guarded against; therefore it naturally follows that we cannot be taught by anybody and everybody.

Dealing with major negative attributes, First the "EGO"

The ego is a kind of absence. Because you don’t know yourself, hence the ego. The moment you know yourself, no ego is found. The ego is like darkness; darkness has no positive existence of its own; it is simply the absence of light. You cannot fight with darkness, or can you? You cannot throw darkness out of the room; you cannot take it out, you cannot take it in. You cannot do anything with darkness directly. If you want to do anything with darkness, you will have to do something with light. If you put the light on, there is no darkness. try to see where the ego is. Look deep into it; try to locate it, where it exists, whether it exists at all or not. Before one can sacrifice anything one must be certain about its existence. Be alert, watchful. Watch the ways of the ego, how it functions, how it manages at all.  The word self-respect may create doubts in your mind because self-respect seems to again mean the ego. It is not so. You have to understand both words, self and respect; both are significant.

 

Self is that which you are born with. Ego is that which you accumulate; ego is your achievement.Self is a gift of existence to you. You have not done anything to earn it, you have not achieved it; hence nobody can take it away from you. That is impossible because it is your nature, your very being.

 

Ego is all that you go on accumulating through education, manners, civilization, culture, schools, colleges, universities… You go accumulating it. It is your effort, you have made it, and you have made it so big that you have completely forgotten your real self.To know the real self is enough: the ego falls flat on the ground without any effort to surrender it. Unless the ego falls on its own, without your effort, it is not going to leave you..The light comes in, the light goes out; it has positive existence. You can light a candle and there is no darkness; you can blow out the candle and there is darkness. To do anything with darkness, you will have to do something with light. The light of knowledge from masters  Especially a living Master. 

Osho

Guru Purnima its Importance

Guru poornima is the day to witness completeness of the Guru. The Guru gets his completeness or reaches his peak by spreading the messages and practices of his Guru and when Guru devotes his life completely for the spiritual upliftment of humanity, he himself also reaches his full potential. On this day we surrender to this completeness of the Guru. On this day , one must serve and convey gratitude to all such Gurus who are imparting knowledge and are trying to remove the ignorance.  This poornima is known as Vyas Poornima. Maharshi Vyas belongs to a lineage of great ascetics and from his own experience, he himself started Guru poojan so that common person also should get the same divine experience. This is a rich culture of India where we worship those who give us knowledge or help us to serve Divinity. On occasion of Guru poornima, the disciple must perform three duties. First, Guru darshan, spending the day with Guru, being in his company, meeting him physically. Second is Guru poojan. While doing Guru poojan, one must have maximum mental purity, love, and only thought of how can I spend more time with my Guru or hear his divine discourses. Rather than just seeing him from a distance, we should try and meet the Guru personally and spend some time in his presence. Serving Guru selflessly is considered greatest Guru worship. The disciples who await eagerly for this day, who are eager to touch Guru's feet with complete surrender and devotion receive immense benefit.

There are many benefits of Guru darshan, but there is much more benefit in listening to Guru upadesh and trying to follow it. This is the third duty that a disciple must perform on this day. This is the day to make the rule to implement Guru's teaching and how you can follow this rule all your life. 

Guru Parampara

A day to celebrate the beautiful relationship between a Guru and a Shishya. All other relationships are mere bonds of karma, roles in a play of life. Except the relationship between spiritual Guru and Shishya.Its divine love, its divine help, its divine guidance, its divine support and its purest of pure divine concern for all the souls living life of pain, suffering and ignorance.

Guru parampara is an ancient tradition in India. Its said that after creating the creation and humanity, when the divinity felt the need to guide humanity, the divine forces incarnated as Gurus to guide humans out of ignorance. Since coming of avatar to guide is not possible all the time, hence  not only the Incarnations of Divinity took role of Guru, but also accepted and surrendered to some or other Guru themselves, reinforcing the importance of a Guru for spiritual enlightenment. This divine tradition was started by none other than Lord Shiva himself. And since the entire Guru parampara started with Lord Shiva, it got the honour of Guru poojan. All those Gurus who belong to some parampara or lineage of Gurus should be considered as image of SHIVA Himself. Hence Gurus ANUGRAHA should be respected by holding it in very high regards. Many Avatars, siddhas and realized souls have kept this ancient tradition of guru Parampara alive.

Every real disciple actually belongs to some or other Guru Parampara through his/her link with a "Living Guru" there is nothimg like stand alone Guru. The Guru is actually an active divinity on planet and belongs to GuruTatva a specialized branch of Divinity. This Parampara is started by DIVINITY especially for those who have faith in divinity , have devotion, have inclination to sadhana or practice to improve themselves, have liking for worship, so that they get guidance, feel  relief,  feel assurance, and gain confidence. Those who do not accept Guru, do not have Guru, who do not worship or devout to Guru will struggle to get lasting peace, happiness or balance.

To accept or decline this help is completely matter of free will of a person,  the opportunities will come, the help will come in the form of a living Guru, to recognize a genuine Guru an then to surrender to him are two extremely difficult tests that a genuine seeker has to give. If you miss its completely your loss, if you delay its completely your own ignorance, if you land up with a crook its completely your bad choice.

Whatever the Guru Prescribes is Sadhana

Let me tell you in a nutshell what paramartha is. It is, in essence, going through worldly life without having a sense of attachment for any worldly thing or matter. We remain unaffected by pleasure and pain when we realize that what we call our prapancha really belongs to God, who gave it us. This can be easily achieved by constantly keeping on the lips the nama given to us by the sadguru.
That person alone can be called a sadguru who himself has and will lead us to, a permanent sense of contentment. This applies to all sadgurus in all places at all times. Do not attach value to his look and physique, but judge him by his teaching. The sadhana he prescribes should be carried out diligently. To do so is, indeed, paramartha. If you make an alteration in the prescribed thing, it will only mean that your ego still persists, and anything done egoistically is doomed to failure. So first bury your ego and place complete trust in the sadguru.
True paramartha does not consist in empty prattle or lofty preaching to others; it is for one’s own sake. In fact, the less known it is to others the better. Public esteem is of no use, actually harmful. To be misled into feeling false greatness is injurious to our purpose.
One person opens a confectionery shop, another may sell coal. What difference does it make, so long as the business is profitable? Similarly, worldly status is of no count; what matters is the advancement in paramartha.
Any worldly situation can be put to use in paramartha, so long as our approach is same and steady. Control of mind coupled with strong devotion is what is of real consequence.
Paramartha, in fact, is easy to achieve. The fun is that it is neglected, not seriously attempted, merely because of its very simplicity. Remember that prapancha is by no means an impediment to paramartha; it can, in fact, be turned into a good aid. All that a sadhaka has to do is to accept his duties as prarabdha and carry them out to the best of his ability, and apply the mind devotedly to God. Let Him be ever in your heart, His name on your lips, and the body employed in doing your duties in prapancha: this, is, in essence, paramartha.