Quoting for authority?- Guru Tattwa! !

[Guest guest]

Steve , please allow me to reproduce here a dialogue between Sri

Ramana Maharishi and his disciple on the subject of '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.

 

pl read the entire text

 

http://www.hinduism.co.za/guru.htm - 97k - Cached

So, there you have it! Lord Arunachala himself was Sri Ramana's

Guru! THE lEARNED ONES HAVE EVEN ADVISED ME IN THE PAST THAT BEFORE

YOU FIND A GURU IN HUMAN FORM, PRAY TO Lord Dakshinamurthy , the

guru of all gurus! He himself will appear in human form when you are

ready!

 

on another note , it was very heartening to read Sri Anandaji's

response to my inquiry on 'living teacher'

 

" As the teaching is thus received, it goes into the inmost centre of

a disciple's heart. And there it lives unchanged, beyond all time

and personality. There, at the centre of a disciple's heart, the

teacher is found always present, as undying truth. "

 

Wonderful words! Yes! This is what Sri Ramana bhagwan says as well!

 

Guru Shraddha and Guru Seva are interlinked phenomena. The following

verse from Mundaka upanishad comes to mind ... .

 

Nayamatma pravachanena labhyo

na medhaya na bahunaa shrutena!

yamevisha vrunute tena labhya

stastaisha atma vivrunute TANUM swaam!! (3.2.3)

 

Advaitic interpretation

 

This Atman is not to be attained through discourses, through

intellect, or through much of hearing. That which one seeks, by that

alone it is attained. To such a one this Atman reveals its true

nature.

 

and a Bhakta's interpretation

 

God is NOT known through the study of scriptures,

nor through subtlety of the intellect nor

through much learning.

 

WHOM the Lord CHOOSES (Out of His causeless Grace) by him alone is

God is attained, verily unto him does the Supreme reveal His true

Being.

 

This is equally true of a self-realized Guru as well ! Only , by

purva janma phalam, one obtains the grace of a guru in this

janma ! For guru is God in human form!

 

one knows the greatness of a guru only through his Sisya! A sisya's

conduct should be such that everyone is curious to know who is this

great teacher of this egoless sisya?

 

Totakacharya , a disciple of Adi Shankara Bhagvadapada was

considered the least intelligent by the other three Disciples of Adi

Shankara bhagvadapada ! But Totakacharya knew how to 'surrender' to

his guru by serving his lord and master with love and devotion! So

much so , Adi Shankara blessed him with Jnana Drishti ( call it

ethreal Transmission , if you like! ) and Totaka was able to compose

a beautiful hymn in Totaka metre wherin he admires his guru thus :

 

VIDITA NA MAYA VISHATAIKAKALA NACHA KINCANA KANCANAMASTI GURO

DRUTAMEVA VIDEHI KRUPAM SAHAJAM BHAVA SANKARA DESIKA ME SARANAM

 

NOT EVEN A SINGLE BRANCH OF KNOWLEDGE HAS BEEN UNDERSTOOD BY ME

CORRECTLY. NOT EVEN THE LEAST WEALTH DO I POSSESS, O TEACHER. BESTOW

ON ME QUICKLY THY NATURAL GRACE. BE THOU MY REFUGE O MASTER, SANKARA

 

There you have it in a nutshell! It is the guru who chooses you and

not the other way around!

 

Om shri Gurave namaha !

 

ps - anandaji ! thank you for your well docummented response. Shri

Atmanandaji also says 'one should stick to one guru and not do guru

hopping. ' ( i am quoting from memory, of course) )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

advaitin , " otnac6 " <otnac6 wrote:

>

> And further, while Ramana Maharshi did not generally acknowledge

> having learned from a personal guru, I do seem to remember a

report

> that on one occasion he was a little ambiguous about this --

saying

> that perhaps he may have had a guru.

>

>