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 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 Ahamkāra (egotism). All of you should try to root out this devil from
your heart. Complete self-surrender is the only way to spiritual
illumination. [VIVEKANANDAR]
The first criterion, according to the Vedic scriptures, is the quality of
the words the teacher speaks. (Even a fool may be highly esteemed–until he
speaks.) In the Bhagavad-gita Lord Sri Krishna, the original spiritual
master, tells His disciple Arjuna, “The self-realized soul can impart
knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.” In other words, a
genuine guru must have realized the Absolute Truth, the Personality of
Godhead, and he must be able to impart this truth to his disciple, thus
freeing him (or her) from repeated birth and death.
Another important criterion for a guru is that he himself must be a
disciple of a bona fide spiritual master–one who is part of a succession of
spiritual masters coming from Lord Krishna Himself. A guru’s teachings
cannot be genuine unless he has received his knowledge by this process of
disciplic succession, because one who is not part of a genuine disciplic
chain can have no access to the Vedic knowledge. So we cannot
over-emphasize the importance of the disciplic succession in determining
the credibility of a spiritual teacher. No matter how learned a scholar may
be, he cannot understand Vedic knowledge by the speculative approach. In
other words no one can know the Transcendence by his imperfect sense
perception. As the Svetasvatara Upanisad (6.23) explains: “Only unto those
great souls who simultaneously have implicit faith in both the Lord and the
spiritual master are all the imports of Vedic knowledge revealed.
Six chief criteria mentioned in the authoritative Vedic scriptures
determine the authority of a guru. First, the guru’s teachings must be
fully spiritual: he must not cheat his disciples by promising them material
benefits; rather, he must teach them how to become free from material life
and obtain liberation from the miseries of repeated birth and death.
Second, the guru must have attained the highest realization of the Absolute
Truth–the Personality of Godhead–which is beyond the incomplete impersonal
conception. [isckon]
In the Vivekachudamani, Adi Sankara Bhagavadpada defines “Who a Guru is”
{Verse-33}
श्रोत्रियोऽवृजिनोऽकामहतो यो ब्रह्मवित्तमः ।
ब्रह्मण्युपरतः शान्तो निरिन्धन इवानलः
अहेतुकदयासिन्धुर्बन्धुरानमतां सताम् ॥ ३३
“The Guru is one who symbolizes the spirit of the scriptures. He is
sinless, and unmoved by desire, and among the knowers of the Brahman, the
best (Brahma-uttama). He is one who has found his peace in the realization
of the Brahman and is soaked in it. He is calm like that fire that has
consumed itself (retaining its warmth). A boundless, limitless ocean of
mercy and compassion, he is the friend of all good people who prostrate
before him in humility”
Paul Brunton in his book “A search in secret India” dedicates an entire
chapter to the Paramacharya and begins with a short description of the
Acharya’s countenance –
“I look at him in silence. This short man is clad in the ochre coloured
robe of a monk and leans his weight on a friar’s staff. I have been told
that he is on the right side of forty, hence I am surprised to find his
hair quite grey. His noble face, pictured in grey and brown, takes an
honoured place in the long portrait gallery of my memory. That elusive
element which the French aptly term spirituel is present in this face. His
expression is modest and mild, the large dark eyes being extraordinarily
tranquil and beautiful. The nose is short, straight and classically
regular. There is a rugged little beard on his chin, and the gravity of his
mouth is most noticeable… with the added quality of intellectuality.”
The Paramacharya’s answer to Paul Brunton’s request that he take him as his
disciple is another gem. He couldn’t do it himself as he was a
Mathadhipathi.
“…His Holiness does not reply till after an interval of protracted silence.
“Yes. I know of only two masters in India who could give you what you wish.
One of them lives in Benares, hidden away in a large house, which is itself
hidden among spacious grounds. Few people are permitted to obtain access to
him; certainly, no European has yet been able to intrude upon his
seclusion. I could send you to him, but I fear that he may refuse to admit
a European.”
“And the other ?” My interest is strangely stirred.
“The other man lives in the interior, farther south. I visited him once and
know him to be a high master. I recommend that you go to him.”
“Who is he ?”
“He is called the Maharishi. I know him to be a high master”
In Deivathin Kural, maha Periyava had lectured about GURU in detail,
which I had produced some years back Today Gurubyo namaha
K RAJARAM IRS 5925
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