Vivekachudamani- Post 41

Svaminnamaste natalokabandho 

karunyasindho patitam bhavabdhau,

Mamuddharatmlyakataksadrstya 

rjvyatikarunyasudhabhivrstya. 

O Master! O friend of those who reverentially surrender to thee! Thou ocean of mercy! I salute thee; save me, fallen as I am into this sea of change, with a direct glance from thy eyes which rain nectarine grace supreme. 

Chinmaya writes,

"Here a student of Vedanta is asked to surrender himself to  the Guru and to serve him with meek surrender. This prescription is not meant to make the student intellectually a slave to the Teacher but these practices, when pursued for some time, easily make the student fully tuned up to the Teacher's heart. 

What the Teacher has to convey is the experience of the Transcendental and as the Infinite cannot be defined in finite words, the words of the Master can echo their message only in a bosom that has been stilled in complete love. 

In order that we ourselves may not create any discordant notes and destroy the harmony, we, as students, are asked to serve and surrender, to pray and worship at the Master's feet."

The very first verse in one of the greatest works of Brahma rishi Sivananda-  Moksha Gita - exactly echoes the deepest essence of this verse.

The disciple said: O Merciful Master! I bow to thee. I have fallen into the dreadful ocean of birth and death. I am afflicted with the three kinds of Taapas. Save me, O Lord. Teach me, how I should cross this ocean of Samsara.

“The disciple approaches the Guru.  This is the starting point of Brahmavidya. The aspirant after equipping himself with the Sadhana-Chatushtaya, i.e., the ethical discipline necessary for the purification of the heart before enteringinto the field of Brahmavidya proper or the Science of the Ultimate Reality, goes to the Spiritual Teacher for higher Knowledge.

Humbler than a blade of grass, filled with the fire of renunciation born of discriminative understanding, the seeker bows down to the Guru who glories in the majesty of Brahmic Splendour. 

Not as the present-day student of the school or the college, but as an earnest votary of Life’s Grand Destination, roused up by the consciousness of suffering in pluralistic existence on earth, fully aware of the affliction of mortal living, cheated by chance, tormented by thought, defeated by the forces of nature, oppressed by the massive weight of worldly duty, shocked by the horror of death, dreaded by the consciousness of future lives where the tragedy of existence will be repeated, finding no way of escape from the prison of terrestrialness, the aspirant opens his eyes and looks up towards his Great Duty, the duty of Self-realization.

A spiritual Preceptor is absolutely necessary. He alone can foresee the pitfalls of the aspirant and direct him in the right path. The Chandogya Upanishad says that only he who is guided by a Guru can have the Knowledge of Brahman. Others will be misled and lost in spiritual blindness; for the road to Moksha is hard to tread. It is a razor-path. The Grace of God and Guru, Ishwara-Kripa and Guru-Kripa will raise up the aspirant to the heights of Spiritual Attainment.”

Every preceptor, from Sankara to Sivananda and all others lay such great emphasis on the importance of Guru and need for surrender to Guru in the path of wisdom. When they say this, the mean surrendering to the Guru Tatwam. 

But in the present day world, this differentiation between the name and form of Guru and Guru tatwa, the essence of Guru, is not clearly experienced and understood by the disciples/ intellectual beings. 

Even physically worshipping/serving one's guru, reverring one's guru should happen due to the surrender of the disciple to the essence of Guru, to the realized state from where the preceptor has come down to take the disciple on his lap and to teach the disciple.

Hence this total surrender to the Guru tatwa is lost during the journey of a sadhaka and sadhakas thus  get stagnant  in their spiritual evolvement and the downfall in their evolvement starts taking place, when they fail to surrender to their Guru (tatwa)  and  start existing / continue sadhana  as per their mind, their ego. This is the most unfortunate thing in present world where ego reigns supreme over all other things in the world.

Love

Vivekachudamani - Post 40

  Verse 34   

तमाराध्य गुरुं भक्त्या प्रह्वप्रश्रयसेवनैः ।
प्रसन्नं तमनुप्राप्य पृच्छेज्ज्ञातव्यमात्मनः ॥ ३४ ॥

 

tamārādhya guruṃ bhaktyā prahvapraśrayasevanaiḥ |
prasannaṃ tamanuprāpya pṛcchejjñātavyamātmanaḥ || 34 ||

 

(Worshipping that Guru with deep devotion, when he is pleased with your surrender, humility and service, approach him and ask him to explain what you must know). 

 

It is clear that no amount of enquiring into or discussing with a Teacher is of any avail unless the student has taken enough time to tune himself up to the Teacher. The essence of satsariga lies in perfect attunement (at-one-ment). 

 

Spirituality is not something that we can start discussing and arguing among ourselves to while away an idle hour. It is to be understood in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility, for, this understanding is an attempt at comprehending the deep experiences of the Master, expressed not so much through his words as perhaps, through the ring of sincerity that the words carry when they come from his heart throbbing with his own nistha. 

 

Therefore, Sankara here explains how a seeker should approach the Teacher and learn first of all, to love him, trust him and later on, through love inspired acts of service, become receptive and establish an intimate rapport filled with reverence; such a relationship alone will yield results. Therefore, Vedanta is almost over emphasizing the method of approaching the Teacher. 

 

Prahva prasraya sēvanaiḥ. So there must be humility. There should be shraddha and bhakthi. And prasraya means politeness in the language, softness, gentleness, politeness. The words should reflect the internal attitude of devotion and reverence. 

 

And finally sēvanaih, sēvanam means what, service. All these are part of guru upasādhanām, as Krishna said in the Gita, tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sēvayā, upadekṣyanti te jñānaṃ jñāninas tattvadarśinaḥ. Up to this we have come to. And the next stage is: paripraśnaḥ. 

 

Asking for this knowledge, because no guru will automatically teach Brahma vidya to a disciple. If the shishya comes and does namaskara, he will bless alright; but Brahma vidya cannot be and should not be given unless it is specifically asked for. And therefore, praśna is also another important step or preparation

 

A sage writes,

 

“With the help of one light you can light up several other lights. Even so, a realized soul can make several others to realize God, provided they are in a fit condition to receive the light imparted by him. 

Therefore, serve your preceptor with great devotion. Out of compassion on you, one day or other he will enlighten you. He will lift you up. Wait patiently. Surrender yourself unto him completely.

He alone who sits at the lotus feet of a preceptor, who has knowledge of the Self and who is also well-versed in scriptural knowledge is able to grasp the Truth. In the Gita also, Chap. IV-34, Lord Krishna says: "Know it by means of prostration to the Guru, interrogation and service. The wise who have cognized the Truth will instruct thee in that knowledge of the Self."

Unless you are pure, you will not be able to realize the true greatness of a liberated sage. When he appears before you, you will take him for an ordinary man only, and you will not be benefited. You will try to find out defects in him on account of your fault-finding nature (Dosha Drishti). 

 

It is quite true that mere Grace of a Guru, his touch, sight or Sankalpa can work wonders, but that does not mean that the disciple should sit idle. Guru will show the path and remove obstacles, snares and pitfalls. The student will have to place his feet on the rungs of the ladder of Yoga. The Gita says: "uddharet atmana atmanam na atmanam avasadayet-Let him raise the Self by the Self, let him not lower himself." Chap. VI. 5."

 

Love.

 

Vivekachudamani - Post 39

  Verse 33   

श्रोत्रियोऽवृजिनोऽकामहतो यो ब्रह्मवित्तमः ।
ब्रह्मण्युपरतः शान्तो निरिन्धन इवानलः
अहेतुकदयासिन्धुर्बन्धुरानमतां सताम् ॥ ३३ ॥

 

śrotriyo'vṛjino'kāmahato yo brahmavittamaḥ |
brahmaṇyuparataḥ śānto nirindhana ivānalaḥ
ahetukadayāsindhurbandhurānamatāṃ satām || 33 ||

 

(He who is well versed in the scriptures, sinless, unafflicted by desires, a full knower of the Supreme , who has retired into the Supreme, who is  as calm as the fire that has burnt up its fuel, who is a boundless ocean of mercy that needs no cause for its expression and who is an intimate friend of those who have surrendered unto him). 

Sankara exhausts his list of adjectives in enumerating the qualities of the true Guru to supplement his declaration that the Master should be well-established in the supreme Consciousness. He adds here certain qualities which, on a closer observation reveal  that every Man of Realization and Wisdom cannot aspire to and  become an efficient teacher of spirituality. 

To guide and instruct a deluded soul and help him to unwind himself and unravel the knotty traits in him, one must have something more than a perfect experience. The Teacher must, no doubt have full realization but he  must also have a complete grasp of the great scriptures. 

A jnani without having a guru will become a mystic but he will never become a teacher. But a jnani who has studied the scriptures in a traditional way, he alone can become a guru. Sankara calls him a sampradayavith, the one who has the key of opening the scriptures and Sankara goes one step further and says asampradayavith murkavath upekṣaṇiya. 

If there is a person who claims himself to be a jnani but who does not come under the traditional guru sishya parampara, that non-traditional person should be upekṣaṇiyaḥ. 

Then the next qualification is avr̥ jinah. avr̥ jinaḥ means the one who is pure; papa rahitah; adharma rahitah; the one who has the values mentioned in the scriptures; amanitvam, adambitvam, ahimsa, santiḥ; the one who is not immoral; the one who does not lead an immoral life; the one who does not lead an unethical life; moral ethical person. 

Then the third qualification is akamahataḥ. So the one who does not have any expectations out of the student. He does not want to teach for the sake of money or to make the student as his own client; he does not want the status of money or fame or anything, because once it is motivated, he can never be true to the teaching. Therefore, akamahataḥ means the one who does not have any motive or expectation.

Then Brahmavittama rahitaḥ; the one who is brahma or sthira prajnaḥ, the one who has got clear knowledge of Brahman. If Guru have to tell the student that you are Brahman, it is possible only when for me it is very clear that He is Brahman. 

And then the next qualification is Brahmani uparataḥ; the one who abides in Brahman, his own nature; with total satisfaction. Atmaneva Atmana tustaḥ. So his satisfaction does not depend upon any external factor. 

And when there is no dependence at all; there is a totally anxiety free mind. And that is called uparatah; uparataḥ means a mind that has subsided, which has resolved; which is totally tranquil. So Brahmani uparataḥ; abiding in Brahman. Earlier we talked about stotriya, here we talk about brahma nistah. And therefore only santah. 

He must have an irresistible flow of mercy which demands no special cause for its manifestation, especially when it descends upon those who have surrendered themselves to him, having reached his feet as spiritual refugees. Thus, He becomes an intimate friend of those who have surrendered to Him.

 

Love.