Guru Helps Those Who Help Themselves

[Guest guest]

"Although Sri Ramana taught that a Guru is indispensable for

those seeking Self-realisation, he also pointed out that the Guru has

no power to bring about realisation in those who are not

energetically seeking it. If the individual seeker makes a serious

attempt to discover the Self, then the grace and power of the Guru

will automatically start to flow. If no such attempt is made, the

Guru is helpless."

 

(From "The Guru," by Sri Ramana Maharshi; Preamble by David Godman)

 

**********

 

"When I switch on a computer, and the monitor, the programs come

alive. I interact and work on new programs. Is the computer, power

switch, the way to my experience of the programs (or whatever)? The

guru is like that. It is just an enabling device. Without it there is

no experience of program. With it, it is not guaranteed. However the

conditions are (1) having the computer, electricity and programs,

and (2) your willingness to sit in front of it and work. Given these

two, results are not guaranteed, but conditions have been met for

them to occur. Finally, you are the architect of your realization."

 

(From "Deepavali Message, 2003," by Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati

(Guruji))

[Guest guest]

OM fellow spiritual travellers

 

Swami Sivananda, in his book, Bliss Divine, has this to say

about the Guru-shishya relationship:

 

"The Guru is verily a link between the individual and the

Immortal. He is a being who has raised himself from 'this' to

'That', and thus has free and unhampered access into both the

realms. He stands, as it were, upon the threshold of immortality;

and, bending down he raises the struggling individuals with his

one hand, and with the other lifts them up into the imperium of

everlasting joy and infinite Truth-Consciousness.

 

Guru is the Moksha-dvara. He is the gateway to the

transcendental Truth-consciousness. But, it is the aspirant that

has to enter through it. The Guru is a help, but the actual task of

practical Sadhana falls on the aspirant himself.

 

A Guru is absolutely necessary for every aspirant in the spiritual

path. It is only the Guru who will find out your defects. The nature

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

defects. Just as a man cannot see his back, so also he cannot

see his own defects. He must live under a Guru for the

eradication of his evil qualities and defects.

 

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

safe from being led astray. Satsanga or association with the

Guru is an armour and fortress to guard you against all

temptations and unfavourable forces of the material world.

 

A neophyte must have a personal Guru first. He cannot have God

as Guru to begin with. He must have a pure mind. He must have

ethical perfection. He must be intensely virtuous. He must be

above body-consciousness. Then alone can he have God as

Guru.

 

Competent disciples are never in want of a competent Guru.

Realised souls are not rare. Ordinary ignorant-minded persons

cannot easily recognise them. Only a few persons, who are pure

and embodiments of all virtuous qualities, can understand

realised souls, and they only will be benefited in their company.

 

Let each man take the path according to his capacity,

temperment, and understanding. His Sadguru will meet him

along that path.

 

One Guru will tell you: "Do Soham Japa." Another will tell you:

"Do Japa of Sri Ram." A third Guru will tell you: "Hear Anahat

sounds." You will be puzzled. Stick to one Guru and follow his

instructions.

 

Listen to all, but follow one. Respect all, but adore one. Gather

knowledge from all, but adopt the teachings of one Master. Then

you will have rapid spirtual progress.

 

The disciple should not rest satisfied with the transmission of

power from the Guru. He will have to struggle hard in Sadhana

for further perfection and attainments.

 

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

Lord Buddha, Lord Jesus, Rama Tirhta have all done Sadhana.

Lord Krishna asks Arjuna to develop Vairagya and Abhyasa. He

did not say to him: "I will give you Mukti now." Therefore, abandon

the wrong notion that your Guru will give you Samadhi and Mukti.

Strive, purify, meditate and realise.

 

Guru-kripa - grace of a Guru - is very necessary. That does not

mean that the disciple should sit idle. He must do rigid

Purushartha, spiritual practices. The whole work must be done

by the student.

 

The Guru and the Shastras can show you the path and remove

your doubts. Anubhava of the Aparoksha kind or direct intuitive

knowledge is left for your own experience. A hungry man will

have to eat for himself. He who has a severe itching will have to

scratch for himself."

 

 

 

Jaya Guru

 

Omprem

 

 

, "Devi Bhakta"

<devi_bhakta> wrote:

> "Although Sri Ramana taught that a Guru is indispensable for

> those seeking Self-realisation, he also pointed out that the

Guru has

> no power to bring about realisation in those who are not

> energetically seeking it. If the individual seeker makes a

serious

> attempt to discover the Self, then the grace and power of the

Guru

> will automatically start to flow. If no such attempt is made, the

> Guru is helpless."

>

> (From "The Guru," by Sri Ramana Maharshi; Preamble by

David Godman)

>

> **********

>

> "When I switch on a computer, and the monitor, the programs

come

> alive. I interact and work on new programs. Is the computer,

power

> switch, the way to my experience of the programs (or

whatever)? The

> guru is like that. It is just an enabling device. Without it there is

> no experience of program. With it, it is not guaranteed.

However the

> conditions are (1) having the computer, electricity and

programs,

> and (2) your willingness to sit in front of it and work. Given

these

> two, results are not guaranteed, but conditions have been met

for

> them to occur. Finally, you are the architect of your realization."

>

> (From "Deepavali Message, 2003," by Sri Amritananda Natha

Saraswati

> (Guruji))

[Guest guest]

dear omprem,

namaste.

 

thank u for posting this article.god and guru are not seperate i

think they just look seperate.i have also heard of some episodes

where the disciple awakens instantly at the sight of the guru for

eg.there was one disciple of gautam budddha whowas enlightened at the

very sight of buddha and one devotee of bhagwan krshna also becomes

sat-chit-ananda at the mere sight of him.there is another such

episode in swami muktananda's life where he fails to show any sign of

progress in kundalini-awakening inspite of sinciere effort and his

guru nityananda kicked him into a awakened state with just a word

instantly.

[Guest guest]

OM Aditya

 

You are correct when you say, "god and guru are not seperate i

think they just look seperate."

 

Something else to consider is that you and I and everyone else

are not separate from God and Guru. We only consider

ourselves separate because we are deceived by Maya, because

we believe what our untrained senses tell us and what our ego

tells us. Through intense sadhana we eventually rise above the

limits of the senses and the ego and above the limits of time and

space.

 

I believe that those instances of instant and sustained

enlightenment at the sight or touch of the Guru only occur when

the aspirant through many lifetimes, intense sadhana and an

all-consuming adoration of God has developed himself/herself

to a point where only one final piece of karma has to be

overcome and the Guru arrives to help with that last hurdle

 

Swami Sivananda was initiated into the Sannyas order after

meeting his Guru for only a few minutes in Rishikesh in 1924.

Swami Sivananda's Guru was Swami Visvananda and he

recognized immediately the Divine Nature of Swami Sivananda,

the result of years of intensive, selfless sadhana that Swami

Sivananda had performed.

 

My Guru, Swami Vishnu-devananda, used to tell this story:

 

Once upon a time, there was a wandering Guru who was also a

healer. He, along with his shishyas, went from village to village

healing the sick of body and spirit. One day, the Guru was in a

village and the villagers were bringing their sick and lame to the

Guru for healing. This process went on for many hours until

finally a young couple brought their small, very ill infant to the

Guru. They placed the baby in front of the Guru but the Guru did

nothing. After some time, the parents had to take their baby away

and the baby died soon afterward.

 

Naturally, everyone wondered why the Guru did not help the

infant. The shishyas were particularly perplexed by this event but

could not bring themselves to question their Guru.

 

The next day, the Guru and his shishyas left the village to

continue their wanderings with visits to other villages. Some

months later in another village and after many hours of a

procession of people bringing their sick and lame to the Guru for

healing, another young couple came with a very ill baby and

laying the baby in front of the Guru asked him to heal their child.

But the Guru did nothing and eventually the parents had to take

their baby away. The baby died soon afterward.

 

This time the shishyas could not contain themselves. One of

them approached the Guru and asked, "Master, forgive me but I

do not understand. Could you tell me why you healed all of the

people today except the last infant?"

 

The Guru replied, "That baby was an old soul. He was almost a

perfected soul. He needed only only one piece of knowledge, a

final awareness, to end his attachment. What passed between

us enabled him to let go of his last attachment and burn off his

last karma. When that happened, he no longer needed his body

and simply left it. Grieve not for the baby. Grieve for yourself who

has many lessons to learn before leaving the wheel of

samsara."

 

Jaya Guru

 

Omprem

[Guest guest]

Namaskar OmPremji:

 

Thank you as always for your contributions; hope to see more of you,

both on and off-board, in 2004 ...

 

Your post reminded me of an incident a few years ago, when my wife

and I lost an infant daughter due to some late-term complications

that resulted in a stillbirth. The baby was quite perfect and very

beautiful and I held her for a while, thinking "what-might-have-been"

sorts of thoughts; then my wife was sedated off into an artificial

semblance of peace, and I left for a walk through the streets around

the hospital.

 

It was a damp, overcast day, and I ended up stopping into a spice

shop run by a dear friend, a 60-ish woman from Hyderabad, and her

mother, who must have been in her late 80's -- this lovely old soul

used to sit all day in a corner of the shop, chanting a worn copy of

the Ramayana that she read through thick spectacles. My friend made

us some fresh, hot chai and we sat and chatted for an hour or so -- a

classic case of "tea and sympathy." She was sympathetic, though not

morose, at the news of the stillbirth ... but what really struck me

was when her mother, who had seemed to be paying no attention at all,

suddenly looked up from her Ramayana and told me almost exactly the

same story you just shared, concluding: "That baby was an old soul.

She was almost a perfected soul. She needed only a small piece of

knowledge to end her attachment. So small that not even a full nine

months were needed to achieve this knowledge."

 

She concluded, "So be happy. Your wife has helped this soul, and she

has been blessed by it also, and you as well. Such a soul chooses its

parents carefully. You have been honored."

 

Just a brief story to underline your Guru's wisdom, and perhaps offer

someone out there among our membership the same comfort and peace

that this kind revelation afforded us.

 

Aum Maatangyai Namahe

[Guest guest]

Om Devi Bhakta

 

Thank you for sharing such a private part of your life.

 

When the student is ready, the Guru appears. Your Guru at that

moment of your need, when you were extraordinarily receptive,

was that woman in her 80's. I'm pleased that she was there and

that you were drawn to the spice shop to hear her. The universe

does indeed arrange itself to accommodate our spiritual journey.

 

Several years ago, an neighbour came over to talk to me in my

yard. He was sad because it was the anniversary of his infant

boy's death. The neighbour had tears in his eyes as he told me

the history. I told him that same story that I just posted and he too

found relief at last. He said that he had never heard apparently

premature death explained in that way before and that it had the

ring of Truth and Wisdom for him. He was comforted and

hopefully able to let go of some of his grief.

 

Highest regards to you and all who bear losses.

 

Om Namah Sivaya

 

Omprem

[Guest guest]

Thanks in turn for your kind words, OmPremji.

 

Yes, I agree that, in addition to the Guru who gives diksha, all of

us have many other gurus, acting as guides along the path of our

lives, if only we make the effort to listen and understand. I have

been fortunate enough to meet many such individuals, including

yourself and more than a few other members of this group.

 

Aum Maatangyai Namahe