Guest guest Posted July 2, 2004 Report Share Posted July 2, 2004 Dear Friends: This was sent to me from the Chinmaya Mission list for the Temple I attend. I know that there is not much in the way of words for me to express the gratitude and deep love I feel for my Sat Guru. So tonight I will attend the services in honor of all Gurus. All I can offer, willingly and with much love, is the surrender of myself to my Self :-) Jai Gurudev!!! Love, Joyce >From Swami Siddhananda of the Kedar Lord Shiva Temple: Namaste friends, "Even if you were to make the entire earth into paper, all the forest trees into pens and all the seven seas into ink, it is impossible to write the greatness of the Guru!" - Sant Kabir thought-experiment: consider every single person you have learnt from in your life, in some way or another, whether it be material, spiritual, lifestyle or academic knowledge that has been gained... this list is too long to fathom, right? We owe our lives to all those that have been our Guru... (literal meaning: "remover of ignorance" - Gu=darkness & Ru=dispeller. what a beautiful meaning!); these stem right from our parents and elders, our contemporaries, to our secular teachers and great artists & scientists, and above all, our true spiritual teachers... we may not have necessarily met with each of these teachers physically, but have been inspired through their books, talks, works of art & music, teachings, legacy... I hope we all have a chance to spend a brief moment and pay homage to all our Gurus on the auspicious day of "Guru Purnima", this Fri 2nd July... there are some deeper quotes & useful links below to aid... "Hari Om Shri Gurubhyo Namah" - Salutations to all Spiritual Teachers of the entire World... the true student has the ability to openly and humbly learn the best from ALL directions & sources.. may we be such true ones... love, M Get Connected Leicester - 14-15 Aug http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=132407&command=displayC\ ontent&sourceNode=132390&contentPK=10040937 Destination: VICTORY - 27-30 Aug http://www.chinmayauk.org/destinationvictory.htm -------------- dr MILEN SHAH 07957-232469 happiness -------------- Guru Purnima: Guru Purnima heralds the beginning of the 'Chatur-Maas' (rainy season) and "Purnima" is the 15th day (full moon) of the month Ashadha. Swami Swaroopananda writes, "There is no day as auspicious as Guru Purnima for a seeker of Truth. There is no other way to the Truth other than Devotion to the Guru. The scriptures are final in their conclusions. May the blessings of the entire Guru Parampara (lineage of Spiritual Teachers) shower upon us...." Hindu Scripture: "Na guror adhikam tattvam, na guror adhikam tapah; Tattva-jnaanaat param naasti, tasmai Shree Gurave namah." "Salutations to that Teacher! There is no principle higher than the Teacher; There is no greater austerity than service to the Teacher; greater than true wisdom, there exists not anything..." - Guru Stotram Article: A very good piece on Guru by Pujya Muniji - http://www.parmarth.com/updates/june2001/message.htm A fellow seeker's viewpoint: some further nice thoughts on Guru: http://dalsabzi.tripod.com/Song_of_life/guru.htm Quotes: "The preaching of sermons may be true as a poetical figure, but no one can preach a single grain of truth until they have it in themselves... This eye-opener of religion is the true spiritual teacher... There is nothing higher and holier than the knowledge which comes to the soul transmitted by a spiritual teacher. Serve all such teachers like a child, open your heart to their influence, and see in them God manifested... When the teacher is the spiritual ancestor and the disciple is the spiritual descendant, then there alone do gigantic spiritual souls grow... Such teachers are few in number, no doubt, in this world, but the world is never altogether without them. They are the fair flowers of human life, and keep the world going; it is the strength that is manifested from these hearts of life that keeps the bonds of society intact..." - Swami Vivekananda "So long as you seek Self-realisation, the Guru is necessary. Guru is the Self. Take Guru to be the real Self, and yourself to be the individual self. The disappearance of this sense of duality is the removal of ignorance. So long as duality persists in you, the Guru is necessary. Because you identify yourself with the body, you think the Guru too is the body. You are not the body, nor is the Guru. You are the Self and so is the Guru. This knowledge is gained by what you call Self-realisation. You mistake the body for the Guru. But the Guru himself does not make that mistake. He is the formless Self. That is within you. He appears outwardly only to guide you..." - Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi "Let no person think, 'Of what use to me is a teacher? By means of my own intelligence I will obtain the Knowledge of the Soul.' Truly up to this moment, no person has attained the Truth except with the help of a great Guru and a study of the works on spiritual science. None can trust their intelligence alone to take them to the Supreme Goal. You can buy a number of philosophical books, but the books themselves will not help you to realise the Self. Unlike the things of the objective world, spiritual truths cannot be perceived by one's senses or even by the mere intellect. Therefore, only those disciples who possess the necessary qualifications and who, having learnt the Truth from noble preceptors, constantly meditate upon it, realise the Truth" - Swami Tapovan Maharaj "Guru is one. There are not many Gurus. Satguru is the impersonal Reality or God assuming forms for guiding humanity towards the goal. It may be in various forms in various parts of the world. You must not say, 'this Guru is different from that Guru.' All Gurus are manifestations of one Truth. They are not different." - Swami Ramdas "India has always been the guru of the world. This generation has been called upon to lead and guide the world. The time has come, not in killing, not in destroying, not in warfare, but in learning and understanding how to face the problems of the outer world. It is absolutely necessary to study the scriptures and learn to practice the teachings in our everyday lives..." - Swami Chinmayananda "The Guru is the lamp of enlightenment, which removes the darkness of ignorance, just as the Sunrise dispels the darkness of the night." - Sri Rameshbhai Oza (Pujya Bhaishri) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 2, 2004 Report Share Posted July 2, 2004 Thank you Joy-ce for this wealth of information on this great day of Guru purnima ! you have captured the essence of Guru (tattwa) beautifully in one sentence All I can offer, willingly and with much love, is the surrender of myself to my Self :-) Guru Purnima: Here are some responses from Shri Ramana on this subject! Sri Ramana Maharshi: The master is within; meditation is meant to remove the ignorant idea that he is only outside. If he is a stranger whom you await, he is bound to disappear also. What is the use of a transient being like that? But so long as you think you are separate or that you are the body, an external master is also necessary and he will appear to have a body. When the wrong identification of oneself with the body ceases, the master will be found to be none other than the Self. Question: Will the Guru help us to know the Self through initiation? Sri Ramana Maharshi: Does the Guru hold you by the hand and whisper in the ear? You may imagine him to be what you are yourself. Because you think you are with a body, you think he also has a body and that he will do something tangible to you. His work lies within, in the spiritual realm. Question: How is a Guru found? Sri Ramana Maharshi: God, who is immanent, in His grace takes pity on the loving devotee and manifests himself according to the devotee's development. The devotee thinks that he is a man and expects a relationship between two physical bodies. But the Guru, who is a God or the Self incarnate works from within, helps the man to see the error of his ways and guides him on the right path until he realises the Self within. Question: How can I find my own Guru? Sri Ramana Maharshi: By intense meditation. Question: If it is true that the Guru is one's own Self, what is the principle underlying the doctrine which says that, however learned a disciple may be or whatever occult powers he may possess, he cannot attain Self-realisation without the grace of the Guru? Sri Ramana Maharshi: Although in absolute truth the state of the Guru is that of oneself (the Self), it is very hard for the self which has become the individual (jiva or embodied soul) through ignorance, to realise its true state or nature without the grace of the Guru. Question: What are the marks of the Guru's grace? Sri Ramana: It is beyond words or thoughts. Question: If that is so, how is it that it is said that the disciple realises his true state by the Guru's grace? Sri Ramana Maharshi: It is like the elephant, which wakes up on seeing a lion in his dream. Even as the elephant wakes up at the mere sight of the lion, so too is it certain that the disciple wakes up from the sleep of ignorance into the wakefulness of true knowledge through the Guru's benevolent look of grace. Question: What is the significance of the saying that the nature of the real Guru is that of the Supreme Lord (Sarvesvara)? Sri Ramana Maharshi: First, the individual soul, which desires to attain the state of Godhood, or the state of true knowledge, practises incessant devotion. When the individual's devotion has reached a mature stage, the Lord, who is the witness of the individual soul and identical with it, manifests. He appears in human form with the help of Sat-Chit-Ananda (Existence, Consciousness and Bliss Absolute), his three natural features, and form the name, which he also graciously assumes. In the guise of blessing the disciple he absorbs him in Himself. According to this doctrine the Guru can truly be called the Lord. Question: How then some great persons attain knowledge without a Guru? Sri Ramana Maharshi: To a few mature persons the Lord shines as the formless light of knowledge and imparts awareness of the truth. Question: How is one to decide upon a proper Guru? What is the swarupa (nature or real form) of a Guru? Sri Ramana Maharshi: He is the proper Guru to whom your mind is attuned. If you ask, "How to decide who is the Guru and what is his swarupa?", he should be endowed with tranquillity, patience, forgiveness and other virtues; he should be capable of attracting others even with his eyes just as a magnet attracts iron; he should have a feeling of equality towards all. He who has these virtues is the true Guru, but one wants to know the swarupa of the Guru, one must know one's own swarupa first. How can one know the real nature of the Guru if one does not know one's own real nature first? If you want to perceive the real nature or form of the Guru you must first learn to look upon the whole universe as Guru rupam (the form of the Guru). One must see the Guru in all living beings. It is the same with God. You must look upon all objects as God's rupa (form). How can he who does not know his own Self perceive the real form of God or the real form of the Guru? How can he determine them? Therefore, first of all know your own real form and nature. Question: Isn't a Guru necessary to know even that? Sri Ramana Maharshi: That is true. The world contains many great men. Look upon him as your Guru with whom your mind gets attuned. The one in whom you have faith is your Guru. Question: What is the significance of Guru's grace in the attainment of liberation? Sri Ramana Maharshi: Liberation is not anywhere outside you. It is only within. If a man is anxious for deliverance, the internal Guru pulls him in and the external Guru pushes him into the Self. This is the grace of the Guru. Question: Some people reported you to have said that there was no need for a Guru. Others gave the opposite report. What does Maharshi say? Sri Ramana Maharshi: I have never said that there is no need for a Guru. Questioner: Sri Aurobindo and others refer to you as having had no Guru. Sri Ramana Maharshi: It all depends on what you call a Guru. He need not be in a human form. Dattatreya had twenty-four Gurus including the five elements- earth, water, etc. Every object in this world was his Guru. The Guru is absolutely necessary. The Upanishads say that none but a Guru can take a man out of the jungle of intellect and sense perceptions. So there must be a Guru. Questioner: I mean a human Guru- Maharshi did not have one. Sri Ramana Maharshi: I might have had one at one time or other. But did I not sing hymns to Arunachala? What is a Guru? Guru is God or the Self. First a man prays to God to fulfil his desires. A time comes when he will no more pray for the fulfilment of material desires but for God Himself. God then appears to him in some form or other, human or non-human, to guide him to Himself in answer to his prayer and according to his needs. AUM TAT SAT! om namo shri Ramanaya! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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