Guru

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Namaste Jitender,

 

>> there too much strenghth is given on Guru

>> but somebody please tell me what one should do

>> if he doesn;t have a Guru

 

Just wait. ;-)

 

* * *

 

Changdev maharaj waited for more than 1,000 years for his guru. Then he got

what needed from his guru in just a few days. Getting the right guru can

change one's spiritual trajectory for ever.

 

Some people say, " whoever is your guru, just follow that guru blindly and

you will achieve " . That is partly true. But, a moth that clings on to a rock

and does not leave it can be crushed when the rock falls from the mountain.

However, one who has blind faith in guru and follows guru completely is

atleast pushing the ownership of several karmas to guru and keeping own

account clean. That surrender is a smart (but difficult) thing and actually

the first step towards an unconditional surrender to god.

 

It is good to surrender to a guru and follow with blind faith. But the

reward for that attitude is maximized if guru is a capable one instead of a

fake one.

 

Good gurus first test the sishyas and push them to the breakage point and

test the limits. Good gurus are rare these days.

 

Just as a guru tests sishya, a sishya can also test guru until one is fully

satisfied. But, once one accepts a person as one's guru, one should be

faithful and obedient. People like Vivekananda and some fellow disciples of

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa tested their guru for an extended period of time.

Vivekananda tested his guru almost till the end. But then, those are special

plays of special souls. But, a good guru should not be angry or upset if an

intelligent sishya questions or tests.

 

* * *

 

Though many people go searching for a guru, it is not necessary. A good guru

will find the sishyas he/she is supposed to guide and approach them. Or

atleast a good guru should know how to make the sishya come to him/her.

 

* * *

 

For some people, a guru may have already entered their life and started

influencing them and yet they may not know it! Guru does not necessarily

mean one who sits on a high pedestal with you sitting at his feet and

teaching you things. Guru does not mean one with certain robes or certain

hair etc. Guru does not mean one with a " Swami " prefix in the name. Guru

does not mean one who has a certain age or a certain look. Guru is one who

removes darkness within you. A person you have never met consciously may

have decided to influence your thinking and slowly remove your darkness from

a distance. You may never meet and the person may have transformed.

 

A guru who is unable to transform you is worthless. A guru's job is to

transform a person. Similarly, a sadhana you are doing that is unable to

transform you in some way or the other is useless. The goal of all sadhana

is to transform yourself.

 

* * *

 

On a *personal note*, I did not realize it when I was approached by my

spiritual guru. I was actually quite put off by him. I thought he was a

wacko - a crazy man - talking about useless and impure things. He would talk

about tantra, aghora, Kaali, Taaraa, shakti chalana, kundalini, darshana of

devatas and stuff like that. He sent me a rudraksha mala he specially made

for me and asked me to use it to meditate on Gayatri mantra 216 times a day.

The only rules were to stay as still as I could, with an erect back and

closed eyes and not let any strange experiences or visions distract me and

keep the focus on the mantra. The other rule was brahmacharya. I did nothing

about it for a long time. He would patiently call me now and then and chat

about various things related to spirituality. Though I did not like him at

first, I slowly started realizing his purity and simplicity. He never put

any pressure and let things take their course.

 

About one year from the time he contacted me first, on a Vaisakha Pournima

day, after my monthly Full Moon Satya Narayana vratam, I suddenly got the

inspiration that I should follow his advice. He may be a tantrika, a Kaali

worshipper, a corrupt soul and what not (yes, that is how I thought then!),

but all he asked me to do was Gayatri mantra, a veda mantra, with a

Rudraksha maalaa and keep brahmacharya. What he asked me seemed " saattwik

enough " . So I decided in an impulse and started. Some things happened. After

18 days, something dramatic happened that changed my thinking and life

completely. Abstract concepts and bookish knowledge are one thing and direct

experience is another. It is ok to harp on the transientness of the

so-called " concrete " reality that our senses keep perceiving and hypothesize

that there is a far higher reality that one can merge one's consciousness

in, but one's conviction - especially that of a highly logical person like

me - will not be complete until one actually sees it. In fact, one's

conviction will be quite shaky until then.

 

Even after this, my ego was still there. I was a young achiever. I had BA

degrees in Sanskrit at the age of 10 and wrote metred poetry in Sanskrit

like ancients, at 11. I was a highly intelligent young achiever with a lot

of pride over my intelligence and scholarship. Thus, accepting one who was 6

months younger and one whose Sanskrit knowledge and Sanskrit pronunciation

seemed quite inferior to mine as my guru was too much. As if sensing it, the

first thing he told me when we met face to face a few months later was: " I

am not your guru. Never be under the illusion that I am your guru. We are

sishyas of the same guru and our guru is not here now. I started first in

this life and hence I am guiding you. I will do whatever I can for you, but

I am not your guru " . I was " relieved " .

 

Slowly, the change triggered earlier started accelerating. My mind became

clearer about what is what. When I saw myself as a completely transformed

person with much clearer vision and realized that the change was brought by

Manish, I told him that I now thought of him as my guru. He said fine.

Basically, he had accepted me as a sishya long back and waited till I

accepted him as my guru (though he kept playing that role even without my

acceptance). Basically, the names used for the relationship did not matter

to him and he did what thought he needed to do. Simple.

 

Later, the homam movement started. I started doing homam everyday. I

experimented with many and settled down on daily Chandi homam. Once I looked

at Manish with suspicion because he was a Kaali worshipper. Now, I was doing

Chandi homam myself! I saw my prejudices for what they were. I became very

clear in my mind about so many things. Many things that seemed conflicting

and contradictory fell in place smoothly now. Some of that clarity of

knowledge translates into my writings, but some of it is difficult to

translate into the physical plane.

 

What a good guru does is precisely this - to transform you from something to

something else, preferably something better!

 

* * *

 

If you want to find the right guru who can make this human life worthwhile,

you should not be in a hurry at all. Be patient and keep praying. While you

wait, you can use whatever knowledge, teachings and tools are available to

purify and transform yourself and remove some of the darkness yourself. In

the process, you may end up finding your guru!

 

Best regards,

Narasimha

 

Do a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homam

Do Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/tarpana

Spirituality:

Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro.home.comcast.net

Free Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.org

Sri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org

 

 

> Dear Jitendra,

>

>>there too much strenghth is given on Guru

>>but somebody please tell me what one should do

>>if he doesn;t have a Guru

>

> My opinion for the crucial question you asked - one need not worry,

> need not despair, need not feel dejected if one don't have Guru. one

> must not be in any hurry to make Guru. one needs to commit one's

> self to spiritual Sadhana. sincerely, dedicatedly. crux of the

> matter is to purify one's heart. to calm one's mind. Chitta Shudhhi

> must be done. GURU will come to You when you are ready.

>

> that is my conviction. When i am ready, my guru will come and even

> if some physical entity as Guru never comes, i am not doomed.it

> won't stop me from getting the realisation of the self.

>

> Best Regards,

>

> Utpal

>

> , " dahiyajiten " <dahiyajiten

> wrote:

>>

>> Namaste to all

>>

>> i loved the article on Importance of brahamcharya

>> and similarly i loved these topics in book AGHORA

>>

>> but i have one serious question

>>

>> there too much strenghth is given on Guru

>> but somebody please tell me what one should do

>> if he doesn;t have a Guru

>>

>> Ok i may not have done some good work in my past life

>> that i should a guru quickly

>> bcoz untill i don't become pure no Guru would accept me

>> and untill i get a guru, i ll never become pure

>> so.its a vicious circle

>>

>> and when i hear be patient you ll find your Guru when time will

>> come i wonder if chang dev maharaj had to wait for so many

>> years to get his guru and though he was a capable person

>> who could live for so many years evading death(i think 1400 years)

>> what if i forget about spirituality in the next

>> 10-15 years(or something wierd happens to my thinking style),

>> leave about forgetting it in next births

>>

>> and i m not an advanced Jyotishi and

>> i have no confidence on my calculations

>> and i cant find out my ishta devata

>>

>> so in the end its too confusing

>> (may be that MOTHER wants me too struggle at present)

>>

>> but yes i liked th line written by narsimha ji

>> " " If there is one good thing to use free will for, spiritual

>> progress is definitely *the* thing. One should push one's free will

>> to the extreme when it comes to spiritual progress. It is worth

> it! " "

>>

>> So, bearing with my confusions please ignore it

>> if you find it disturbing

>>

>> regards

>> jitender