Guru and the Panca Sadhaks

[Guest guest]

Guru and the Panca Sadhaks

 

It seems to me that the idea of Guru only becomes an issue due

(1) to those who don't have a Guru but desperately want one and

(2) to some of those who don't have a Guru and not only don't

want one but vehemently reject the idea of Guru.

 

Let us first look at some of the characteristics of the Self-realized

Guru and then at the five types of sadhaks. Swami Sivananda

describes a Guru thusly:

 

1. A Guru is absolutely necessary for every aspirant in the

spiritual path. A neophyte must have a personal Guru first. He

cannot have God as Guru to begin with.

2. It is only the Guru who will find your defects. The nature of

egoism is such that you will not be able to find out your own

defects... He must live under a Guru for the eradication of his evil

qualities and defects.

3. The aspirant who is under the guidance of a Master or Guru is

safe from being led astray.

4. If you find peace in the presence of a Mahatma, if you are

inspired by his speeches, if he is able to clear your doubts, if he

free from greed, anger, and lust, if he is selfless, loving and

I-less, you can take him as your Guru. He who is able to clear

your doubts, he who is sympathetic in your Sadhana, he who

does not disturb your beliefs but helps you on you on from where

you are, he in whose very presence you feel spiritually elevated -

he is your Guru.

5. So long as there is a world, there are Gurus and Vedas to

guide the struggling souls in the path of Self-realisation...Let

each man take the path according to his capacity, temperment,

and understanding. His Satguru will meet him along that path.

6. The Guru will find out by close study of the aspirant his tastes,

temperments and capacity, and decide for him the most suitable

path. If his heart is impure, the teacher will prescibe selfless

service for a number of years. Then the Guru will find out for what

particular path the student is fit and initiate him in that.

7. Spiritual power is transmitted by the Guru to the proper

disciple whom he considers fit for Sakti-Sanchara [or Saktipat].

8. Realisation cannot come to you as a miracle done by your

Guru. Guru-kripa, grace of the Guru, is very necessary. That does

not mean that the disciple should sit idle...The whole work must

be done by the student. Guru and Sastras can show you the path

and remove your doubts. [but] A hungry man will have to eat for

himself.

 

The above will probably incite some of the types of aspirants

listed below to respond vociferously. To me, these are the five

types of spiritual aspirants.

 

1. Those who have been chosen by a Guru and accepted

him/her as their Guru have solid, incontrovertible evidence of the

benefits of having a Guru. They KNOW firsthand the value of a

Guru. They smile as the other sadhaks weep and wail, complain

and debate the issue of Guru.

 

2. Some sadhaks want a Guru and will go to any lengths to

obtain one, forgetting that it is the Guru who chooses the Chela,

not the Chela who chooses the Guru. The Chela can only be

alert to the prospective Guru's signals and then agree or not to

accept the Guru.

 

These sadhaks may attend an ashram, hear the Guru, and

perhaps even speak to the Guru. This does not, however, mean

that the Guru has agreed to accept them. The sadhak may say

that he/she has a Guru based on this type of impersonal

relationship, but unless the Guru explicitly agrees or invites the

sadhak to enter into a Guru-chela relationship, there is no

Guru-chela relationship. Being inspired by a teacher, even

someone else's Guru, is not the same as having a Guru of

one's own.

 

These sadhaks want a Guru to do all the work of enlightening

them. They either don't want to or don't think themselves capable

of taking responsibility for their own spiritual advancement. They

forget that while the Guru may give them Sakthi-Sanchara or

Sakthipat, a transmission of spiritual power and enlightenment,

with a word, look, touch, thought or will, that transmission is in

many respects temporary. It is up to the fortunate disciple who

receives such a gift to undertake extensive sadhana for a long

time to develop and perfect that transmission and make it his

own. The grace of Guru will show the aspirant the divine nature

of the world, removing all doubts, but it is the aspirant who must

develop himself/herself to such an extent that they know

Satchidananda independently of the Guru's efforts. For the lazy,

dilettanteish or unconfident aspirants, the Guru will not appear

until the aspirants have overcome these limitations.

 

In addition, these sadhaks leave themselves open to abuse

because of their longing for a Guru. They can fall prey to any one

or several of the thousands of false gurus who are after only

money, prestige, adulation, power, and sex. These negative

experiences only reforce the undesireability of seeking an

authentic Guru in those who reject the idea of Guru. But this is

the same as condemning a religion because of the misdeeds of

some of its supposed adherents.

 

3. Some sadhaks claim that they have been transported or had a

vision as a result of looking a picture of a Guru or hearing what

they claim to be the voice of an absent or dead Guru or reading

the works of such Gurus. The likelihood is that these people are

fooling themselves. There is no objective check on their

perceptions. Only time will tell if their perceptions are correct. If

the representation of the Guru is worshipped with faith and

devotion for some time, the Guru may appear and initiate and

inspire the aspirant. Or, the aspirant may be directed to an

authentic Guru to continue their spiritual unfolding.

 

4. There is the sadhak who rejects the idea of Guru and is

content to learn from a variety of mentors or teachers without

accepting any as a Guru. Of course, this person is unmindful of

the fact that it is the Guru who notices whether the person is

ready and then determines whether to accept the person a

disciple. Here, the person is perhaps to close to finding a Guru.

Their attitude is not clinging or desperate, but confident without

being egotistical. If they are able to continue to pursue their

spiritual path with faith and devotion, without expectation, but with

firmness and vigour, eventually their Guru will beckon.

 

5. Finally, there is the person who vehemently rejects the

concept of Guru. For this person, the idea of a Guru-chela

relationship smacks of indentured servitude and is an

infringement of their freedom. The ego is quite rampant here as

is the sense of the universe being composed of separate

objects which leads to the ideas of estrangement and conflict.

This vehement rejection of Guru is tamasic.

 

The process of spiritual enlightenment consists of removing the

filters that cloud our vision of Reality. These filters are

socializations that we have been subjected to by family,

community, peers, nation, and the workplace. They are the

karmic seeds of past lives that lie buried in the mind, nadis and

chakras and distort our preceptions of our self and our world.

They are are traumas and disappointments of childhood that

inform our thoughts and actions as adults. The purpose of

sadhana is to become aware of these obstacles, remove them

and replace them with more sattvic thoughts and actions.

 

This type of aspirant completely misunderstands the Gurukula

system whereby the aspirant becomes a working member of the

Guru's household in return for the instuction and grace of the

Guru. The authentic Guru is not concerned about the free labour

provided by the aspirant working on assigned tasks. The Guru is

only interested in knowing the attitude with which the aspirant

receives the instructions and performs the tasks. The Guru is

looking for a sincere attitude of selfless service. When that

attitude is present for long periods of time, the aspirant is ready

for higher instruction and revelation.

 

Jaya Guru/Jaya Maa

 

Omprem