HOW TO FIND A GURU In A Nutshell, one who believes in Karma theory, when you seek a guru you cannot find him; but the Guru who is matured would find you as a right sishya; so instead of you think, you found HIM, HE will find you; or it is mutual. The vibrations show the wave similar. For that I have few incidents out of which what I found interesting are below, at least 2 incidents.
1 How To Find A Genuine Guru Video Transcript *Jagad Guru*: Cassie. You have any questions? *Cassie*: How do I know that you are a… *Jagad Guru*: A bona fide spiritual master? *Cassie*: Yes. *Jagad Guru*: Yes. That is a good question. An intelligent person must ask this question, “How do I know that someone is a bona fide spiritual master?” You can know from God. That’s all. There are three basic ways. The first way that God tells you whether or not someone is His representative, the first way is from within the heart. From within the heart He tells me, He confirms to me within that, “What this person is saying is true. This person is My representative.” Not just that, but He actually helps me experience from within my heart that I could place my entire life in this person’s hands and in doing so, I am placing my life in God’s hands. Okay? I’ll have that vision from God. Second thing is, and it’s not necessarily… it’s not in order. It’s not that one comes first. The other thing is that through shastra or scripture. If a person is teaching that which contradicts scripture, then they cannot be accepted as representative of God. If a person is teaching the same thing as scripture… I don’t mean using the same terminology, I don’t mean necessarily calling God by the same name, I don’t mean… we’re not talking about custom, we’re not talking about time and place. We’re talking about the essence, okay? That the essential point, the essential teaching is identical. He doesn’t deviate from the central teaching. Do you understand this? He doesn’t deviate from the central teaching. The central teaching is the same. So for example, if I am teaching you, if I say to you that, “I am God and you are God but we forgot; I have remembered that I am God and I now know I’m God but you haven’t remembered you’re God yet so you must meditate to remember.” If I teach you this, then I am not a bona fide spiritual teacher because it contradicts scripture – because the living entity is not God. In scripture, it’s very clear that the living entity is a part and parcel of God but not God Himself. Okay? Do you understand this? So if I teach that which is contradicting scripture or if I teach you, for example, that you can do anything you like and still be a servant of God, this is not the conclusion of scripture so therefore you cannot accept me. Or if I teach you that, oh, you should pray to God… the relationship with God, and the reason why you must have a relationship with God is, and the basis of your relationship with Him is material sense enjoyment. Ask God for this and ask God for that. God’s business is simply helping you win horse races and, you know, get you a lot of money from your business or to make you have good health; then again you cannot accept me as a bona fide representative of God. If I teach salvationism as the ultimate truth, the absolute truth, then again you cannot accept me. If I teach you that God is not a person, that God is simply an impersonal void, then you cannot accept me. Why? Because all of this is contradicted in scripture. So you must check scripture. So you have scripture and you have the person teaching and you check what he’s saying, what he’s teaching. If he’s teaching something which contradicts scripture then you cannot accept. Do you understand? The essential points must not contradict. It cannot contradict. Otherwise you can’t accept. So these two are the ways you check guru, whether or not a person is a bona fide spiritual master. His teaching, whether or not it is contradicting scripture, and the Lord in the heart, hearing from the Lord inside your heart telling you that, “Here is My representative. This is My son. This is My beloved friend.” This must be there. And the person cannot be a living contradiction. He must be in disciplic succession. Disciplic succession means that a person who’s teaching you must himself have had a teacher. Not that he’s teaching you but he has no guru. If I’m telling you, you need guru but I myself don’t need guru, I myself I don’t need a teacher, I did not need a teacher; I’m saying that you need to be a disciple but I never needed to be a disciple, I don’t need to be a disciple, then this is contradictory. This is hypocrisy. This is not acceptable. So disciplic succession means that a bona fide spiritual master is one who has himself a spiritual master and that their disciplic succession begins with God Himself. So if a person is in disciplic succession, okay, they’re in disciplic succession to God, what they’re teaching is the essence of scripture, and the Lord in the heart lets me know, “Yes, here is My servant. Here is My representative,” then you can know. So that is how. So it’s not a simple thing. In other words, it’s not simply sentiment, “Oh! Feels like it, feels right.” Something can feel right and it can be wrong. Too many people they go and they get all gooey-eyed, you know. They cry, “Oh! This must be the representative of God. Ohh…” And he’s sitting there teaching them, “Oh, you are God, I am God but we forgot.” And they’re sitting there listening to all this. “Ohh! That makes so much sense. He’s so wonderful.” No. And they may be very impressed, he has great power, preaches with great power and authority, you know, makes everybody scared. They say, “Ohh! This must be from God. Oooh!” No. You must check what he’s teaching. You must check to see he’s in disciplic succession and you must hear from the Lord in your heart. Do you understand this? Hmm? So it is not expected that a person, nor is it desirable that a person blindly accept anyone as their spiritual master or as representative of God. You want to know whether or not I am actually the representative of God. There’s so many people saying they’re the representative of God. So you must check. You must check what I’m teaching <https://sif.yoga/yoga-wisdom> and you must check with the Lord in your heart. Not you should just lightly or blindly accept just because many people are accepting. You know, most people, they consider whether or not somebody is or is not a bona fide spiritual master by how many followers they have. This is how they judge. If some certain swami has fifty million followers bowing to him, then oh, he must be… They don’t look at what he’s teaching. They don’t listen to what he’s teaching. They don’t really ask the Lord in the heart. They don’t check. A person must check. They must check. They must go through experiences of doubt and prayer. Jesus Christ put it very nicely when he was asked basically the same question. They asked him how they are supposed to know he was from God, how they’re supposed to know he was the messiah, and he said, “Those who want to do the will of my Father, they will know that I am from Him. And those who don’t care to do the will of my Father, they won’t know that I’m from Him.” That’s all. It’s a very simple thing. So if a person wants to know, or if a person wants to serve God, if a person wants to dovetail their will with God’s, if a person actually wants to give their life to God, then God will show them who His representative is, how they can go about this activity, how they can go about giving their life to God. But if they don’t want to, if they just sort of want to know Him, if they just kind of want to know Him, if they just kind of want to have a little more distant relationship, maybe not quite so dovetailed, just a little dovetailed, then He lets them have that vision. He’s within the heart of each and every one of us and He gives us what we want, okay. So whether or not you know I’m God’s representative or not, it’s not up to me to try to convince you by trying to act in such a way to fit into your pattern of how you think maybe I should act according to your preconceived notions of your idea of what I’m supposed to be like or act like because it’s not my business! It’s not my job to try to make anyone think that I’m God’s representative. It’s simply an understanding of faith that the devotee of God has, that the representative of God has, that everybody is on a particular level in their relationship with God. Everybody’s in a particular place – how close they are, how much they want to serve Him – you know, there’s different degrees, okay? And he understands this fully and he understands that God is giving each person what they want, just how much of a relationship they want, what kind of relationship they want with Him and so on; He’s giving it to them, okay. He’s organizing it, arranging it. He understands that God even gives the atheists the lack of vision so that they don’t need to see Him. Okay? So he has full faith there. So he knows that if a person wants to serve God, then they will see that I am serving God and they can be serving God simply by dovetailing their will with mine, because mine’s dovetailed with God’s. They fully understand that God will show them from within their heart, if that’s what they want, if they want to serve God. If they don’t want to serve God, then He’ll show them something else. He’ll give them the vision by which they won’t see. So God gives us the vision. It’s God Who lets us see. Now there’s a slight danger that sometimes some people say, “I don’t see you as God’s representative but I want to.” This is wrong. This is wrong. You’ve got it backwards. I mean, what if I’m not God’s representative and you want to see me as God’s representative? Then God will give you what you want! He’ll let you see me as God’s representative even though I’m not. Do you understand this? People tell me that all the time, you know? Write me letters, “Oh, I don’t see you as God’s representative but I really want to.” You know? “I want to.” What’s that? No. Why do you want to see me as God’s representative if you don’t know that I am? If you don’t know I’m God’s representative then why in the world would you want to see me as God’s representative? In the Bhagavad-gita, Krishna states that He gives a person who wants to worship the demigods, He gives that person the faith by which they can keep their faith firmly placed upon the demigod. So the method is not to try to ask God, “Please give me the vision that this person is Your representative.” But rather it’s simple. “Dear Lord, please LET ME KNOW WHETHER OR NOT this person is Your representative.” That’s a different way to ask. You don’t ask, “Dear God, please let me see this person as Your representative.” You ask, “Dear God, please let me know if this person is Your representative. I need to know.” That is the way. So what did you expect? *Cassie*: I don’t know… I guess, maybe, I expected you to be something other than human. You know? Not… *Jagad Guru*: Yeah. See, that’s the whole thing. It’s like you don’t know… you have certain conditioning, certain experiences. See, the problem with… if I was to try to fit into some image of yours, which is completely different than someone else’s, of what I’m supposed to be like, but then I’m no longer God’s servant, am I? I become your servant, yeah? I have to serve your concept or your image that you’ve gotten from your conditioning, from your life’s conditioning, you know. So I’m no longer God’s servant. I simply try to convince everybody that I’m God’s servant by certain actions, you see. Or maybe I should shave my head and wear orange robes or maybe I should wear my hair long and don’t comb it or comb it like Jesus does in his pictures. You see? (laughter) But what happens if I lose my teeth, you know what I mean? (laughter) What if I lose my teeth? (laughter) Huh? What will happen? *Audience Member*: Nobody will watch TV. *Jagad Guru*: Nobody will watch TV. (laughter) This is an important point, you know. Pity that pseudo guru, so-called guru, who has to spend his life trying to convince the masses of people and his followers that he is a bona fide guru. Pity this person who’s simply struggling to get the worship of others, trying to convince them that he’s God’s representative. There’s nothing more of a bummer. There’s nothing worse. There’s nothing more pitiful. There’s nothing more saddening. If you want to know what suffering is, that’s suffering. That’s suffering. All these external things. What is it? Therefore it is said that a vaishnava, a representative of God, is seen through the ears, not the eyes. That’s a fact. Through the ears you hear the Absolute Truth, you hear the truth, the same truth as it is revealed in scripture and you h <https://sif.yoga/kirtan>ear the holy names of God being sung by the pure lover of God. This is how we see the lover of God, not with our external eyes. This is one drawback with television. With television you see, “Oh, he’s Caucasian. Oh, he’s young. Oh, he’s like this. Oh, he has his hair like that. Oh, he wears this kind of shirt.” Yeah but that’s today. You should have seen last month. You should have seen last year. What do you know? But I’m not my shoes, I’m not my shirt. I’m not my hair. This is the body. I’m using this body. What am I using it for? To speak, to teach the Absolute Truth, to give instruction and hopefully have people follow it. People are so immersed in bodily identification, false bodily identification. They just don’t understand. They can’t transcend their eyes, what they see with their eyes. This is unfortunate. “Oh, he doesn’t look like a guru!” “What’s a guru look like?” “You know, different.” “What? What?” “You know, like, you know, whatever.” Depends. If you’re an evangelical Christian, it looks like, you know, the other evangelical Christians. If you’re a hippie Christian, then it looks like Jesus in the pictures with a long beard and long hair and robes on. If you’re a yogi type, meditator type, “Oh, where’s his orange robes? How come his hair’s like that? He’s not Indian! He’s not Indian. He’s haole <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haole>; he’s American. He’s Caucasian.” This is all false bodily identification. So you must transcend this. Just like some people think that someone’s a holy man just because he’s got long hair and an orange robe. You must look at what the people are teaching. Try to transcend the visuals, try to transcend what people look like. Try to transcend their manner. Try to transcend these things. I have my own manner, my own way of speaking. It doesn’t matter. If somebody else has a completely different way of speaking, completely different appearance and they’re saying the same truth, then it’s the same. Okay? Spiritual life means you must give up all your mental speculation, all your preconceived notions and conditioning and simply go to the heart of the matter. One, what is this person teaching? And two, is he living it? Does he dovetail his life with God’s will? And three, does God Who’s within you, does He confirm that this is His representative? This must be done. Be careful. That’s all. Careful is different than blind skepticism. So you don’t want to have either blind faith and you don’t want to have blind skepticism. You want to be able to have enough doubt and enough fear to be able to check or to be motivated to check. Just like some people they come to one talk or something. They go, “Oh, I believe! I believe! I believe! Oh! I believe! Wow! I believe!” But if I were to ask them, “What do you believe?” “I believe you, what you’re saying, what you’re saying.” I say, “What am I saying?” They go, “Oh, I don’t know but I believe it.” This is called blind faith. “No doubts? No doubt?” “No, no, no. No doubt. No doubt.” In fact that person is not really going to go… not really deep. If you don’t have any doubt, then why would you pray? You must have at least enough doubt to be able to pray to ask God whether or not it’s true. If you don’t have doubt and fear then you’re not going to pray. You’re not going to ask God, “God, is this person really as he says he is? Is he really Your representative?” You’re not going to do that and if you don’t really ask in that real doubt and really wanting to know, He’s not going to answer you anyway. If you don’t really want to know, then He’s not really going to tell you. But if you really want to know and it’s very, very, very important to you, it’s your life at stake and you’re asking God with this experience or feeling of importance and urgency, then He’ll let you know. Spiritual life is not for foolish people, shallow people. Spiritual life is heavy. So listen to what I’m teaching. Listen to what I’m teaching. Try to hear it, try to understand it. Maybe you won’t understand everything I’m saying, okay. You won’t. Try to understand. Maybe you’ll understand twenty percent, maybe fifty percent, maybe seventy percent but gradually the more you hear, the more you’ll understand. I don’t understand this today but maybe I’ll understand it better later. Understanding does not come all at once. So if you listen, you hear, you try to understand, you check it with scripture and you check within your heart, then there’s nothing to lose because if it contradicts scripture then you reject it. If it contradicts the Lord in your heart, your instruction from the Lord within your heart, then you reject it. If it doesn’t contradict the Lord in your heart and it doesn’t contradict scripture, then you accept it. So you’re really not alone. It’s not like you’re in a position where you have no protection. You have protection. If I’m a charlatan, then you’re protected by God within your heart and you’re protected by scripture. So you don’t need to worry about that. You’re not alone. So there’s not that much to worry about, you know. It’s very wonderful. If people only knew that God is there to give them instruction and they have enough sense, enough common sense to take that instruction… it’s not that a person is supposed to just blindly accept another person as their teacher. No. II Vivekananda was born Narendranath Datta on 12 January 1863 in Calcutta into an aristocratic Bengali kayastha family. In his early youth, Narendra joined a Freemasons' lodge and a breakaway faction of the Brahmo Samaj led by Keshub Chandra Sen and Debendranath Tagore. Narendra's initial beliefs were shaped by Brahmo concepts, which included belief in a formless God and the deprecation of idolatry. Surendra Nath Mitra was a noted householder devotee of Ramakrishna, who used to visit Mitra's house in Calcutta to deliver spiritual lectures. It was in Mitra's house where Ramakrishna met Narendranath for the first time in a spiritual festival. In this festival as the appointed singer could not attend for some reason, young Narendranath, who was a talented singer, was requested to sing songs. Narendra sang few devotional songs and Ramakrishna was impressed by his singing talent. He invited Narendra to come to Dakshineswar and meet him. Though it was their first meeting, neither Ramakrishna nor Narendra counted this as their first meeting. Narendra's father, Vishwanath Datta, wanted his son to get married and started making arrangements. Narendra was reluctant to marry and was attempting to quench his religious and spiritual thirst. Ram Chandra Datta, the maternal uncle of Bhuvaneswari Devi (Narendra's mother), also asked him to marry, but, Narendra refused. When Ram Chandra learned about Narendra's spiritual thirst, he told him to go to Dakshineswar and meet Ramakrishna. Ram Chandra told Narendra,If you really want to know the truth, why are you roaming about with Brahmo Samaj? You won't get success in your endeavours here, go to Ramakrishna Paramhansa at Dakshineswar.Though suggested by Rama Chandra, Narendra did not find time to go to Dakshineswar and forgot the proposal due to his upcoming F.A. exam pressure. Narendra's next introduction to Ramakrishna occurred in a literature class in General Assembly's Institution when Professor William Hastie was lecturing on William Wordsworth's poem, The Excursion. During the lecture, Wordsworth's use of the word "trance" was explained to mean the experience and feeling of the poet. But Narendra and other students failed to understand. Narendra then asked Professor Hastie to elucidate. Professor Hastie explained its meaning and suggested Narendra goes to Dakshineswar to meet Ramakrishna, a person who experienced "trance". Narendra entered the room through the western door facing the Ganges. I noticed that he had no concern about his physical appearance. His hair and clothes were not tidy; like others he had no attachments for external objects. His eyes showed that a greater part of his mind was turned inward all the time. When I observed these, I wondered, is it possible that such a great aspirant could live in Calcutta, the home of the worldly-minded? Ramakrishna warmly welcomed Narendra and asked him to sit on a mat spread on the floor. Then Ramakrishna asked him to sing a song. Narendra gave his assent and started singing a devotional song. When Narendra finished singing, Ramakrishna suddenly became emotional, grasped Narendra's hands and took him into the northern porch of the Kali temple and with tears in his eyes said to him —Ah! you have come so late. How unkind of you to keep me waiting so long! My ears are almost seared listening to the cheap talk of worldly people. Oh, how I have been yearning to unburden my mind to one who will understand my thought! Then with folded hands he said: 'Lord! I know you are the ancient sage Nara — the Incarnation of Narayana — born on earth to remove the miseries of mankind.Then Ramakrishna and Narendra returned to their room and started talking. Narendra asked Ramakrishna if he had seen or experienced God. Narendra asked the same question to Debendranath Tagore as well, who skipped the question and praised Narendra's inquisitiveness. But, this time when Narendra asked Ramakrishna the same question, the latter immediately replied in the positive. Without any hesitation, he said: Yes, I have seen God. I see Him as I see you here, only more clearly. God can be seen. One can talk to him. But who cares for God? People shed torrents of tears for their wives, children, wealth, and property, but who weeps for the vision of God? If one cries sincerely for God, one can surely see Him. Vivekananda was so much impressed with this meeting that he started visiting Ramakrishna daily when he felt: "Religion could be given. One touch, one glance, can change a whole life".Narendra felt amazed, as this was the first time he was meeting someone who could say that he had met or experienced God. He also understood those were not mere words, but words uttered from deep inner experiences. He left Dakshineswar and came back to Calcutta in a highly puzzled and bewildered state of mind. The first meeting with Ramakrishna so much puzzled the young mind of Narendra that he was feeling anxious to meet Ramakrishna again. He finally went to meet him for the second time on a weekday During the second meeting, he had another strange experience. When he was talking to Ramakrishna, Ramakrishna suddenly placed his right foot on Narendra's chest and Narendra started feeling unconscious, he felt as if everything around him, the rooms, the walls, the temple garden were vanishing away. Narendra got scared and cried out "What are you doing to me? I have my parents, brothers, and sisters at home." Ramakrishna laughed and moved his foot from his body. He restored his consciousness and said, "All right, everything will happen in due time." Narendra became even more puzzled and felt that Ramakrishna had hypnotized him. He also felt disgusted as he apparently could not resist Ramakrishna from influencing him.Narendra went to meet Ramakrishna for the third time. This time he was very scared after his last experience. Ramakrishna welcomed Narendra and started talking with him. Narendra was trying to stay alert and not to be hypnotized once again by Ramakrishna. Ramakrishna took him to the adjacent garden and touched him. Narendra failed to resist Ramakrishna's exalted spiritual touch and became unconscious. Ramakrishna later said, after making Narendra unconscious, he asked him many questions such as his previous works, his future aims etc. After receiving answers to his questions, Ramakrishna felt assured, and later he told other disciples that he was confident that Narendra had attained "perfection" in his previous birth. The meetings with Ramakrishna proved to be a turning point in Narendra's life. He started visiting Dakshineswar regularly. Swami Nikhilananda has written—The meeting of Narendra and Sri Ramakrishna was an important event in the lives of both. A storm had been raging in Narendra's soul when he came to Sri Ramakrishna, who himself had passed through a similar struggle but was now firmly anchored in peace as a result of his intimate communion with the Godhead and his realization of Brahman as the immutable essence of all things. Narendra was attracted by Ramakrishna's personality, but he initially could not recognize Ramakrishna. After his second day's experience considered him as a "Monomaniac" His thoughts had been shaped by the teachings of Brahmo Samaj, which were against "idol worship" and he was an atheist in real life. K Rajaram IRS 5 9 23 On Tue, 5 Sept 2023 at 14:15, Markendeya Yeddanapudi < [email protected]> wrote: > Sri K Rajaram is a born Guru.His daily radiations put the torch light on > him. > YM > > On Tue, Sep 5, 2023 at 11:20 AM Rangarajan T.N.C. <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> How does anyone realise that he is a guru? >> >> On Monday, 4 September, 2023 at 04:03:28 pm IST, Rajaram Krishnamurthy < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >> >> WHO IS A REAL GURU? >> >> A real Guru is one who is born from time to time as a repository of >> spiritual force which he transmits to future generations through successive >> links of Guru and Shishya (disciple). The current of this spirit-force >> changes its course from time to time, just as a mighty stream of water >> opens up a new channel and leaves the old one for good. Thus it is seen >> that old sects of religion grow lifeless in the course of time, and new >> sects arise with the fire of life in them. Men who are truly wise commit >> themselves to the mercy of that particular sect through which the current >> of life flows. Old forms of religion are like the skeletons of once mighty >> animals, preserved in museums. They should be regarded with the due honour. >> They cannot satisfy the true cravings of the soul for the Highest, just as >> a dead mango-tree cannot satisfy the cravings of a man for luscious mangoes. >> >> The one thing necessary is to be stripped of our vanities — the sense >> that we possess any spiritual wisdom — and to surrender ourselves >> completely to the guidance of our Guru. The Guru only knows what will lead >> us towards perfection. We are quite blind to it. We do not know anything. >> This sort of humility will open the door of our heart for spiritual truths. >> Truth will never come into our minds so long as there will remain the >> faintest shadow of Ahamkâra (egotism). All of you should try to root out >> this devil from your heart. Complete self-surrender is the only way to >> spiritual illumination. >> >> Divine grace is needed to get the right guru. If the seeker is earnest, >> he will get the right guru at the end for sure. >> >> A truly realized Jnani can be a pauper like Bhagwan Ramana Maharshi or a >> king like Janaka Maharaja. Sri Krishna, an absolute total Avatar of God was >> living amidst worldly pleasures and materialism but nothing touched him. >> >> Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa lived a poor man’s life; he could not even >> touch money with his hand. He lived such an exemplary life of renunciation. >> But think of Swami Vivekananda, his prime disciple, to whom Sri Ramakrishna >> transferred all his *shakti* before leaving his body and the way he >> “extracted work” from Vivekananda! >> >> Vivekananda roamed all around India as a penniless mendicant; he got the >> divine prompting to go to USA again as a penniless person. He swept the >> west like a storm, brought wealth, started Sri Ramakrishna Mission and >> Math, built Belur Mutt, built a grand temple for Sri Ramakrishna there, set >> up several branches of the mutt, engaged his brother monks into various >> social service activities, built educational institutions and other >> institutions for the welfare of the downtrodden men and women. >> >> Like a tempest he worked ceaselessly and built a huge institution and >> left his body when he was just 40 with total detachment as a true Sanyasin! >> >> Think of Swami Sivananda. He was floating in wealth as a popular doctor >> in Malaysia. He was gripped by thirst for spirituality, came to India, got >> initiated into Sanyas, did tapas at Rishikesh, lived the life of a begging >> monk and got enlightened. >> >> He served the poor and sick monks of Rishikesh. He started Sivananda >> Ashram – ‘Divine Life Society’ from a humble hut and built it into a huge >> Ashram comprising of a temple, a hospital, a photo studio, a Yoga >> Institute, a Vedanta Institute, a printing press and he had an office >> manned by some 40 typists with typewriters to handle all his correspondence >> and writing! >> >> Swami Sivananda once said, “If I can serve 100 people unobtrusively or >> serve thousands of people through advertisement, I would choose the >> latter”. Same Swami Sivananda, when his ashram was gripped with financial >> difficulty, said, “I have no qualms if we have to shut down everything and >> we can always go back to our old simple ways by taking food at >> Annakshetra”. That is the sign of a mahatma. >> >> Likewise, there are indeed Gurus of today that the media may project as >> billionaires rolling in luxury, materialism and worldliness, but they may >> be totally untouched by any of them even today. >> >> Kali yuga is such that even Ashrams cannot totally escape some pomp, >> show, commercialization and materialism. If the head of the ashram is a >> pure realized soul, everything can remain in balance. The institutions may >> have to be run by ordinary people with ordinary morals (who are yet to be >> evolved) and some of them may bring bad name to the Mahatma who runs the >> institutes too! But true Mahatmas accept all sorts of people out of >> compassion to elevate them spiritually. >> >> As I said, it requires divine grace — the grace to know the difference >> between the right Guru and a fake Guru, to differentiate the wheat and the >> chaff. >> >> Thus so many had wonderful gurus; so many had false gurus also;the best >> Guru is the books. Because the mukti, GURU cannot give but only >> individually we have to seek. K Rajaram IRS 4 9 23 >> >> On Mon, 4 Sept 2023 at 14:48, 'N Sekar' via iyer123 < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >> Excellent message, thanks >> >> N Sekar >> >> Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android >> <https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&af_sub1=Acquisition&af_sub2=Global_YMktg&af_sub3=&af_sub4=100000604&af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_> >> >> On Mon, Sep 4, 2023 at 12:07 PM, ARR >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> Why do we need a Master? Once upon a time, a cow went out to graze in the >> jungle. Suddenly, she noticed a lion racing towards her. She turned and >> fled, fearing that at any moment the lion would sink his claws into her. >> The cow desperately looked for someplace to escape and at last, saw a >> shallow pond. Barely evading the lion's reach, she jumped into the pond, >> and in the heat of the chase, the lion blindly leaped after her. To the >> surprise of them both, the pond was extremely shallow yet filled with deep >> recesses of mud. After toppling over each other, the cow and the lion found >> themselves a short distance apart, stuck in the mud up to their necks. Both >> had their heads above water but were unable to free themselves no matter >> how much they writhed. The lion repeatedly snarled at the cow and roared, >> “I am going to enjoy the sound of crunching your bones between my teeth!” >> He thrashed about in fury but soon became fretful as he found no prospect >> of escape. The cow thoughtfully laughed as the lion struggled to free >> himself and asked him, “Do you have a master?” The lion disdainfully >> replied, “I am the king of the jungle. Why do you ask me if I have a >> master? I myself am the master!” The cow said, “You may be the king of the >> jungle, but here all your power has failed to save your life.” “And what >> about you?” Retorted the lion. “You are going to die here in this mud >> too!”’ The cow smiled mildly and said, “No, I am not.” “If even I, the king >> of the jungle cannot free myself from this mud”, snapped the lion, “Then >> how can you, an ordinary cow?” The cow gently replied, “I cannot free >> myself from this mud, but my master can. When the sun sets and he finds me >> absent at home, he will come looking for me. Once he finds me, he will >> raise me up and escort me home sweet home.” The lion fell silent and coldly >> glared at the cow. Soon enough, the sunset and the cow’s master arrived. He >> immediately recognized the plight she was in and lifted her to safety. As >> they walked home, the cow and the master both felt renewed gratitude for >> one another and pitied the lion they both would have been happy to save if >> only the lion had allowed them. The cow represents a surrendered heart, the >> lion represents an egoistic mind, and the master represents the Guru. The >> mud represents the world, and the chase represents the struggle for >> existence therein. In brief Its good to be independent and not rely on >> anyone. But don't take it to an extreme, you always need a >> partner/coach/mentor/ friend who will be always on the lookout for you. >> Having them does not mean you are weak, it's just that you can be stronger >> with their help. Make sure to share this story with your >> partner/coach/mentor/ friend and express your gratitude. >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "iyer123" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/iyer123/CABnwRDdTkmNWFOiqK5yhxQv%3DxA0WM0%2BepLiRQeTxFuQUBs6o%2Bw%40mail.gmail.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/iyer123/CABnwRDdTkmNWFOiqK5yhxQv%3DxA0WM0%2BepLiRQeTxFuQUBs6o%2Bw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "iyer123" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/iyer123/1729097767.3604626.1693819088139%40mail.yahoo.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/iyer123/1729097767.3604626.1693819088139%40mail.yahoo.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Thatha_Patty" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZopXfYYrsBYUx-LCZ_ckKcJUhq3t%3DoS1woWrcXNkX89KWQ%40mail.gmail.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZopXfYYrsBYUx-LCZ_ckKcJUhq3t%3DoS1woWrcXNkX89KWQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > > > -- > *Mar* > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZoq3aQJZX7BJGy8KnM6RJ757Djs5Mq8ofSdu%2BpsskwpUSw%40mail.gmail.com.
