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Source: The Hindu (http://www.the-hindu.com)

 

Repose total faith in the preceptor

 

CHENNAI, OCT. 10. The spiritual tradition avers that it is the

Supreme Being who assumes the form of the spiritual teacher

(Guru) and removes the ignorance of the spiritual aspirant by

blessing him with Self-knowledge. It is this fact that is

stressed when the seeker is implored to revere his Guru as God.

As it is not possible to realise God without the grace of the

Guru, the disciple can progress towards the goal of liberation

only by reposing total faith in the Guru.

 

According to the Puranas, God assumes various forms for the sake

of His devotees. The Upanishads also reiterate that the Supreme

One who is the formless Absolute becomes many. Though His forms

are unlimited, six faiths, each owing allegiance to a particular

deity as the Supreme, have become established since the time of

Adi Sankara.

 

Besides His various roles in the creation and sustenance of the

universe, the Lord also teaches the scriptures and hence He is

the foremost spiritual teacher. The Puranic tradition describes

the manner in which the ageless sages Sanaka and others received

the eternal wisdom from the Lord directly, who assumed a youthful

form for teaching them. The paradox of the young teacher and the

students who were old receiving spiritual knowledge from Him has

been tellingly portrayed by Sankara in a different way in his

hymn Dakshinamurti Stotra.

 

Dakshinamurti seen in Siva temples is the form in which Lord Siva

teaches the eternal truth to humanity. In this hymn Sankara

describes the significance of this image form. Spiritual seekers

flock to this divine preceptor with several doubts in their minds

and the wonder of all wonders is that all their doubts vanish the

moment they behold His captivating face and the ``Cinmudra''

(hand gesture) conveying the ultimate truth. It is in silence

that this transformation happens for the Guru does not utter a

word and the disciple finds that his doubts had vanished in the

presence of the Guru.

 

In his discourse, Sri Vijayaraghava Sastri said that though

Sankara had in his commentaries established God's transcendental

formless aspect, he had in his hymns adored the various forms of

God for the sake of devotees. This emphasises the truth that both

are aspects of the same Reality.

 

In the opening verse of the Dakshinamurti Stotra Sankara uses the

analogy of the dream state to highlight the fact that the world

of our experience is not ultimately real. To the person who is

dreaming, the objects he perceives in his dream appear real till

he wakes up. So also, this world of diversity we experience is

perceived to be real till the Self is experienced.

 

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