Namasthe- Who is a real Guru?

[Guest guest]

Dear all,

 

Another e-mail I received from a Guruvayurappan devotee inspired me to write this. It says how we should be like an incense stick which spreads fragrance by burning all it's worth. Likewise we should burn the words we studied or knowledge we received from scriptures in the flame of actual living. Or in other words, we should apply all our scriptural knowledge in daily life to get the full energy and power of God's presence in us. 

 

A good percent of the innumerable " living Gods " in our era are often preaching scriptures to make a living with out actually practising what they preach. It is probably OK to do that to make a living just like any other profession as long as one does not misguide or hurt anybody. Preaching the knowledge of scriptures and getting paid in one form or another form has become a routine practice among Hindus. But as " shrothaakkal " or listeners, we have to be careful and should use our power of discrimination to decide whom we can see as Guru because all of them are not Mahaathmaas. Mahaathmaas are those people whose thoughts, words and deeds are in perfect harmony. As Ramana Maharshi puts it: " Mahaathmaas do not ask for money, do not ask for favors, do not demand respect or fame. They are Aathmaaramaas and they radiate their aanandam to people around them irrespective of their status by birth or achievements. "

 

And if we are not perfectly happy with any of the so called Gurus we see in flesh and blood, can we accept Bhgavaan himself who is the Guru of all Gurus as our Guru? Respected S.N. Sastriji's Guru Gita translation says :

 

" The letter ‘gu’ stands for darkness, the letter ‘ru’ stands for its removal. The Guru is so called because he removes the darkness (of ignorance).

 

All living beings have been bitten by the snake of ignorance. The Lord in the form of knowledge (Guru) is the only physician for them. Prostrations to the Guru. "

 

May Guruvayurappan ( can we say à´—àµà´°àµà´µà´¾à´¯àµ‹à´°àµ à´…à´ªàµà´ªà´¨àµâ€) remove the darkness of our ignorance!   

 

Regards and prayers

 

Savitri

 

 

[Guest guest]

Dear

Savitriji and others, When

I saw the original posting Savitriji refers here almost similar thoughts went

through my mind. During my life I had privilege of inter acting with quite a

few "Mahatmaas", (Let me call them Swamis). I have to say some self styled

and some accepted by the society, some in saffron clothes and some in white and

some in all clothes of all colors. Some had the real radiance of jnAnam and

divinity in them, but only very few had the selflessness in their service to

the society. Few did practice what they preach to a certain extent. But most

the self styled did not. Some were very selfish to the core and some were even

unfit to be called human being. As Savitriji said, they never demand any thing;

they may or may not accept what you offer as dekshina. They may turn around and

distribute to the people around them, if they feel they deserve it or need

them. In

my village we had one of them in my childhood. He was 'Narayanan', He had no

saffron cloths, and He claimed He never took a bath. But He always radiated a

divine fragrance, which always made me to want to stay close to Him. His

clothes were always dirty, but never gave out a bad smell. They always had a

touch of fragrance and His words were always filled with some thing which I never

understood at that time. Later I realized that they were all the golden traits

of the Spirituality of our ancestors as preached by Shree Narayana Gurudevan

and Chattampi Swamikal. This Narayanan had very close ties with both of them

during their wandering and unknown years as Avdoothas, which no historian has

written about. This Narayanan used to talk on the Mahavakyaas, in His colloquial

MalayAlam to us which we never understood in those days. But every thing came

to me later in my life and now I accept Him as one of my Guru, in fact the

first One. Later

in my life I came to accept Bhagwad Geetha as my scripture and thus accepted BhagwAn

Shree Krishnan; our Guruvayurappan also as my Guru. All my childhood my

parents, Uncles, Aunts and all the elders taught me a lot about Shree Narayana

Gurudevan and Chattampi Swamikal and thus they too became my Gurus. Now there

is not even a day in my life I don’t spend some time meditating on the words of

these Gurus. Of course slowly but surely some of you are also getting into that

stage, especially You, Savitriji. I have a cousin who is about 20 years older

than me. I call her Chellamma Chechi. She is practically like Mother to me.

Even though Savtriji is few years younger to me, when ever I think about

Savitriji, Chellamma Chechi comes to my mind. Then again when we put the picture on a larger

canvas we are all the same, Prajnanam

Brahma, Ayam Atma Brahma, Tat Tvam Asi and Aham Brahmasmi. "Consciousness is Brahman", "This Self (Atman) is

Brahman", "Thou art That" and "I am Brahman" And Ishaa

vaasyam idam sarvam; “You

are the creation, the creator And

the myriad variety of creations Oh

God, are you not the Very

material cause of creation.†My

Prostrations to all the Gurus. (I think we can say) à´—àµà´°àµà´µà´¾à´¯àµ‹à´°àµ à´…à´ªàµà´ªàµ» remove

the darkness of our ignorance! With Regards

and prayers Sincerely,Udayabhanu Panickaraum namaH ShivaayaOUR BODY IS THE ABODE OF THE JEEVATMAN, WHICH IS IN FACT THE PARABRAHMAN. LET US NOT MAKE IT A GRAVEYARD. LET US NOT EAT FLESH. LET US BE

VEGETARIANS AND STAY HEALTHY. Animals are to be loved, not eaten.Eating flesh is good neither for the mind

nor for the intellect, not even for the body. It distorts the basic character of human.

--- On Mon, 9/21/09, Savitri Puram <savitriopuram wrote:Savitri Puram <savitriopuram[Guruvayur] Namasthe- Who is a real Guru?Monday, September 21, 2009, 7:02 AM

 

 

Dear all,

 

Another e-mail I received from a Guruvayurappan devotee inspired me to write this. It says how we should be like an incense stick which spreads fragrance by burning all it's worth. Likewise we should burn the words we studied or knowledge we received from scriptures in the flame of actual living. Or in other words, we should apply all our scriptural knowledge in daily life to get the full energy and power of God's presence in us.

 

A good percent of the innumerable "living Gods" in our era are often preaching scriptures to make a living with out actually practising what they preach. It is probably OK to do that to make a living just like any other profession as long as one does not misguide or hurt anybody. Preaching the knowledge of scriptures and getting paid in one form or another form has become a routine practice among Hindus. But as "shrothaakkal" or listeners, we have to be careful and should use our power of discrimination to decide whom we can see as Guru because all of them are not Mahaathmaas. Mahaathmaas are those people whose thoughts, words and deeds are in perfect harmony. As Ramana Maharshi puts it: "Mahaathmaas do not ask for money, do not ask for favors, do not demand respect or fame. They are Aathmaaramaas and they radiate their aanandam to people around them irrespective of their status by birth or

achievements."

 

And if we are not perfectly happy with any of the so called Gurus we see in flesh and blood, can we accept Bhgavaan himself who is the Guru of all Gurus as our Guru? Respected S.N. Sastriji's Guru Gita translation says :

 

"The letter ‘gu’ stands for darkness, the letter ‘ru’ stands for its removal. The Guru is so called because he removes the darkness (of ignorance).

 

All living beings have been bitten by the snake of ignorance. The Lord in the form of knowledge (Guru) is the only physician for them. Prostrations to the Guru. "

 

May Guruvayurappan ( can we say à´—àµà´°àµà´µà´¾à´¯àµ‹à´°àµ à´…à´ªàµà´ªà´¨àµâ€) remove the darkness of our ignorance!

 

Regards and prayers

 

Savitri