Sandeha Nivarini - Post 4

CHOOSING THE RIGHT GURU 

Devotee: But nowadays, some great big people are granting a mantra (upadesa) to all who ask; aren’t they true teachers (sadgurus), Swami?

Swami: I won’t say they are or they are not. I declare only this: It is not the sign of a true teacher to grant a mantra to each and every person who comes with praise, without considering the past and the future, without discovering the qualifications of the pupil and testing whether the pupil is truly deserving it or not.

Devotee: Then Swami, I have committed a blunder! When one great person arrived at our village, and when all were receiving a mantra from him, I also went and prostrated before him and asked him for it. He granted me a good mantra. I repeated it for some time, but soon, I learned that the great person was a cheat. Since that day, I lost faith in the name he gave me; I gave up the mantra. Was this wrong? Or am I right?

Swami: Do you doubt the right and wrong of this? It is very wrong. Just as the guru, as I told you now, examines the qualifications of the disciple, the disciple also has to critically examine the credentials of the guru before receiving a mantra. Your first mistake was that you didn’t pay attention to this but hastily accepted the mantra. Well, even if the guru gave it without the necessary qualification, why did you break your vow and stop repeating the name? That is the second mistake: casting the fault of another on the sacred name of God.

Before receiving a mantra, you should have taken the time to learn of the guru‘s genuineness and develop faith in them. Then, when the desire to accept the person as guru emerged, you should have received the mantra. But once you accept it, you must repeat it, whatever the difficulty; you shouldn’t give it up. Otherwise, you commit the wrong of accepting without deliberation and rejecting without deliberation. That wrong will be on your head. You should not accept a Name when you are still afflicted by doubt or a Name that you do not prefer. Having accepted it, you should not give it up.

Devotee: What happens when it is given up?

Swami: Well, my boy. Disloyalty to the guru and discarding the name of God — on account of these, your one-pointed endeavor and concentration will wither away. As the saying goes, “The diseased seedling can never grow into a tree.”

Devotee: But if the guru grants the mantra even though we lack the merit?

Swami: Such a guru is no guru. The result of the guru’s wrong act won’t fall on you. The evil of that wrong will devolve only on the guru.

Dear All,

Swami has addressed the following points in today's post.

• A Guru should not be giving mantra to each and every one who throngs to  his feet. Guru is the one who should know the qualifications and the level of his disciple and guide the disciple accordingly.
• One must be very careful in choosing a right Guru. One must not be carried away by emotions and week mind while choosing and accepting some one as Guru.
• Even if one has accepted some mantra (Lord's name) from a guru and later on, find that the guru is not genuine, even then, one must not give up the mantra (of Lord's name) given by that Guru. Swami beautifully says, such giving up the mantra is The casting the fault of another on the sacred name of God.

We will deal with this choosing the right guru, hallmarks of a right guru etc. in the next post.

Love.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Sandeha Nivarini - Post 3

Dear All,

In the earlier 2 posts, we read about the need of a Guru in spiritual sadhana.

In today's modern world, all spiritual treatise, commentaries, discourses are available in internet / publications which can be purchased online. 

Then why do we need a Guru??

This was asked by some one and the answer is as follows:-

• As human beings, we have our own ego, our own hidden impressions that we have been carrying along with us for several births and then, there is influence of vasanas of various people with whom we come into contact on day to day basis.

• Thus, even if we are eager to evolve spiritually, if we resort to internet / online publications and discourses etc., our own mind with its own likes and dislikes, vasanas etc., will filter what we are taking in and color the same with its own preferences. 

Here is the need for Guru, a spiritual master who has experienced SELF Himself. 

The master may still be repeating / giving you the dosage of spiritual sessions which you may get otherwise from any book but the difference is, when you accept someone as Master, you surrender your own preferences, your own impressions, your own ego, your own intellectual knowledge of spirituality from whatever discourse / treatise you have heard / read,  at the Master's feet and are receptive to the teachings of the Master. 

Thus, the truth taught by Master GETS IN to your very identity, AS SUCH, without any coloring of your ego / your theoretical knowledge gained at intellectual level."

Now moving on to other questions and answers in the vahini,

Devotee: Swami, whom are we to believe, whom are we to discard? The world is so full of deceit. When those whom we believe to be good turn out to be bad, how can faith grow?

Swami: Well, My boy! Where is the need for you in this world or any world to grow faith in others? Believe in yourself first. Then believe in the Lord (Param-atma). When you have faith in these two, neither the good nor the bad will affect you.

Devotee: Swami, faith in the Lord also diminishes sometimes. Why is that?

Swami: When one is deluded by the mere external world, and when one doesn’t attain success in such external desires, faith in the Lord diminishes. So give up such desires. Desire only the spiritual relationship; then you won’t become the target of doubts and difficulties. The important thing for this is faith in the Lord; without that, you start doubting everything, big and small.

Author's note

Swami has beautifully clarified the reason for losing faith in Lord as faith / desires in things in the world other than Lord.

Let us see very briefly how faith in Lord is affected by our desires / wants in this material world.

• When we have desires in the world, say - to get a good job, to get a good wife, to amass wealth and build a good house, to gain power in society, in office etc. etc., then, what happens??
• We approach Lord and pray to Him to fulfill our desires.
• Now, at this stage, we put our faith in Lord in a vulnerable state.
• If our desire is fulfilled, then we praise Lord and thank Lord for fulfilling our desires.
• If, due to our own karma, any of our desire is not to be fulfilled or, the desire as such is an unwanted, bad desire which is never to be fulfilled at all, then, our faith in Lord is gone and we blame Lord for not helping us.

Whereas,  while  developing all such desires, we never keep Lord as our partner, we never get Lord's concurrence on whether it is ok to pursue any such desire. 

Thus, we have to realize Swami's words and put the same into  practice on day to day basis.

Never desire for anything other than Lord, says Swami in the above question / answer part.

When you crave only for Lord's Grace, Lord's love, Lord's nearness, then whatever you get in your life, you are able to accept the same without complaining to Lord because you never asked for anything from Lord in  the first place and in the second place, your Love for Lord tells you that whatever you are getting in this world, let me accept the same and move on, ensuring that such getting or not getting does not come in the way of my Love for / Love of God!!

Love.