Guest guest Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 Dear Friends, Recently, there have been recent discussions about whether the Guru has to be in the physical body in order to be effective and help the student. One of the great living devotees of Sri Ramana, Sri Miles Wright, who has inspired us in so many ways shares his story on this topic. Namaste and love to all Harsha -- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 18, 2007 Report Share Posted July 18, 2007 sir, His Holiness Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Maha Swamigal of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. " Guru is Iswara (God) in human form, but who is however free from triple functions of creation, preservation and destruction, which pertains only to Iswara. If we have absolute faith in him, the Guru will dower us with all for which we go to God. In fact, god is needed only when we cannot find a guru. Guru-bhakti (devotion to Guru) is even higher and more efficious than Deiva- bhakti. Sri Vedanta Desika has declared that he does not consider God higher than Guru " . The role of spiritual guides While God will not make His appearance to human beings directly He has delegated His powers and responsibilities to a select few who, by virtue of their austerities and pure life, are in a position to advise those who come to them and guide them on to the path of spirituality. They are called by different names but all will know them as " Guru " . God sends them whenever world needs them, when men pass through difficult times and when they face problems, which they are unable to solve. Each one of these qualified and enlightened " Gurus " has perceived and realised God. Their task is to make the minds of those who seek their help pure. Just as men need food, the life of every person has to be closely associated with such a spiritual guide. The first duty of these pious men is to inculcate the spirit of devotion, the first step in the ladder of religious pursuit. As there is progress in a disciple who approaches them they will teach them one of the advanced " Sadhanas " or exercises- " Silence " , which leads them to enjoy God inside. When all external oscillations cease that which is steady and unmoving within stands revealed. In the past even kings would heed the advice of the " Raja Guru " . The world today longs for peace and harmony. Over the past several decades, attempts were made to achieve these two. The solution lies in knowing the nature of each individual. Peace does not mean an arid or barren state of existence. It implies contentment, eternal bliss and terrestrial happiness. In old days " Siddhars " expounded the highest philosophy of spiritual life and they guided men and elevated them to higher consciousness. Chanting the " Omkara " (OHM) regularizes the breath and fetches tranquility of mind, when self- discipline will become possible. The spiritual leader stands as it were on the threshold of immortality, and bending down, raises the struggling individuals. Materialistic happiness is perishable, leaving grief in its trail. The Guru infuses moral strength in aspirants and awakens the dormant power within them. It is necessary for those who desire to tread the religious path to surrender themselves at the feet of the Gurus and follow their instructions. We have seen many such spiritual Gurus who had been living among our midst. Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi, Sadguru Giananda Giri of thapovanam, Maha Periaval of Kanchi Mutt are few of them. regards cdr b vaidyanathan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 18, 2007 Report Share Posted July 18, 2007 Thank you Commander VAIDYANATHAN-JI for this wonderful tribute to Guru Tattwa ! You mention at the end of your Divine post " We have seen many such spiritual Gurus who had been living among our midst. Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi, Sadguru Giananda Giri of thapovanam, Maha Periaval of Kanchi Mutt are few of them. " All these three Saints ( Realized Beings)are not physically present in our midst today . But , in 'reality' they are all *LIVING* - HOW SO? here , i take great delight in quoting from Shri Harsha's blog My Living Guru Ramana: By Miles Wright Posted by Harsha on July 15th, 2007 " Bhagavan was a jivanmukta (liberated soul). So why this confusion about his being a " living " Guru? A friend recently sent me a book, " Surpassing Love and Grace " , An offering from His devotees. In it Chadwick says, " The whole mistake is initial, in the interpretation they put on the word jivanmukta; or in what they think a jnani really is and how he functions. When it is found that a jivanmukta is already absorbed in the Infinite and that for him the apparent change he undergoes is no change at all, there should be no more misapprehension. There is no further step for a jnani to take; he lost all sense of doership or association with a particular body when he finally knew himself to be jnani. The physical death is only just a happening in the myriad strange happenings in maya. He was in no way limited to a body while it was functioning. It was there, one might almost say, for us. We needed something that we could see, somebody who could speak to us. Now we must get along without the comfort of the physical presence, but it does not mean Bhagavan has gone anywhere, indeed, as he said himself: `Where could I go? I am always here. " " (p. 260) " (HARSHAJI! this is so beautiful- i luved every word of it! Thanx for sharing ) However , i would like to add one more thing- That Sri Ramana said on the realtionship between Guru and a disciple which is very significant! may i recall a verse that appeared in the collected works of sri Ramana " Keep advaita within the Heart. Do not ever carry it into action. Even if you apply it to all the three worlds, O son, it is not to be applied to the Guru. " Annamalai Swami has given an account of how this particular verse came to be written. It began with the following remarks by Bhagavan: `Advaita should not be practised in ordinary activities. It is sufficient if there is no differentiation in the mind. If one keeps cartloads of discriminating thoughts within, one should not pretend that all is one on the outside. " to read the special relationship between a guru and a disciple , pl go to http://www.davidgodman.org/rteach/unverse39.shtml What i am trying to convey here is in our Hindu Samskriti , a " Guru " is to be treated with a bhava of utmost Shraddha ( faith combined with love and devotion) ! So , even though a Guru may not be " living " in our midst we still 'honor' him like he is still very much in our midst ! In other words , he is the self luminous lamp that is always shining within our hearts and in our souls! It is the 'eternal' soul connection! in the 60s , i was a Beatles fan - i remember how i used to love the Beatles " Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band " album! now , just try to recall the front cover of that album ! who were the four men on that album cover ? They were none other than Paramhansa Yogananda, Swami Shri Yukkteshwer, Lahiri Mahasaya and Babaji ! Now , at that time , i knew 'beatles' but i did not know these four yogis ! How embarassing ! Since then , i have travelled a long way in my spiritual journey ... We can all learn something from the Beatles - if George Harrison knows how to honor our Gurus , we should have no problem in honoring all the great Gurus our Bharat mata has produced from time immemorial ! Om Shri Gurave Namaha ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 18, 2007 Report Share Posted July 18, 2007 Hello Dhyan, and thanks for posting this. I went to the David Godman site and read the article. The example of King Janaka was wonderful, pointing out the relativity of everyday, ordinary life. Best wishes, STeve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 Hey Steve : i luv it when you address me as 'dhyan' ( which means 'meditation) ! i am waiting for the day when this 'dhyan' will turn into 'gyan' or ' ( knowledge or consciousness) ! Smile:-) i am glad you liked that story on King Janaka ! There was another important message right at the end of that wonderful article where it isstated how a paramajnani like Shri Ramana Maharishi, the greatest exponent of 'atma Vichara' ( who am I enqury) loved to make prostrations before 'Arunachala', his chosen Guru ! For the benefit of readers , i reproduce this important passage from the same web site : When Bhagwan Ramana composed his philosophical works such as Upadesa Undiyar and Ulladu Narpadu, his tone was non-dualistic. The verses were an uncompromising expression of what the Anubandham verse calls `advaita within the Heart'. However, when Bhagavan wrote about his Guru, Arunachala, in his devotional poems, he often adopted the pose of the loving, grateful devotee, a standpoint that enabled him show proper respect and veneration to the form and power of the mountain. One final story about Bhagavan: when Arunachaleswara (the God Arunachala who is the principal deity in the Tiruvannamalai temple) was being taken in procession around the hill in the 1940s, it stopped outside the gate of Sri Ramanasramam. Bhagavan noticed it as he was taking a walk to the cowshed. He sat on a bench to watch, and when devotees brought him vibhuti as prasad, he applied it reverently to his forehead and remarked, `The son is beholden to the father' http://www.davidgodman.org/rteach/unverse39.shtml Thus , Steve , in Hindu samskriti ( culture), when we address great saints or sages , we address them as Swamiji or atleast add 'shri' as a prefix or 'ji' as as a suffix. Thus , we never just say Ramana or Ramakrishna or Vivekananda .... and thus we never say these saints or sages are 'dead' , we always say they attained 'Samadhi' etc etc ... Just a cultural thing! The very first verse of Adi shankara bhagvadapada's Satasloki says " There is nothing in all the three worlds that can be compared to the Sadguru who imparts the knowledge of the Self. The legendary Philosopher's stone may perhaps be suggested as an apt comparison, because it has the capacity to convert a piece of iron into gold, just as the Sadguru converts an ordinary disciple into an enlightened person. But this comparison cannot stand because, while the Sadguru makes the disciple another Guru like himself, the Philosopher's stone does not have the power to convert a piece of iron into another Philosopher's stone like itself. Therefore the Sadguru is incomparable and even transcends the world in glory. " http://www.celextel.org/adisankara/satasloki.html Salutations to Jagadguru Adi shankara Bhagvadapada! Salutations to Mauna Guru Shri Ramana Bhagwan! Salutations to Atma guru shri Bhramanshakti! advaitin , " otnac6 " <otnac6 wrote: > > Hello Dhyan, and thanks for posting this. I went to the David Godman > site and read the article. The example of King Janaka was wonderful, > pointing out the relativity of everyday, ordinary life. Best wishes, > STeve. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 22, 2007 Report Share Posted July 22, 2007 advaitin , " dhyanasaraswati " <dhyanasaraswati wrote: > >Dhyana saraswathi madam, Namasthe, what ever you post it is like a capsule with strong medition ,one web site when we click it will contain a lot of matter worth reading and prserving . Thank U very much madam for ur services Sd/bagawan_sastry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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