FW: Divine Article - PLACE OF THE GURU IN SPIRITUAL LIFE

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PLACE OF THE GURU IN SPIRITUAL LIFE

By Swami Paratparananda

* Editorial of

The Vedanta Kesari Magazine – February 1965; Vol. 51; page 487

 

AN INTERESTING question posed by thinkers,

who somehow have a vague knowledge that divinity is the true nature of the

human beings, is: ‘If we are all sparks of the same divine Spirit, what

need is there for one man to help another to realize it?’ It is an

intelli­gent and sincere poser. One can feel that the inquirer is sincere.

Perhaps a little of everything has disturbed such a mind — and there are

so many new philosophies springing up, enough to confuse any ordinary man.

What is the answer for such an inquiry? Let us probe the inquirer.

How does he know that he is a spark of divinity? Does he know from his own

experience or from books or literature or other persons? Well, if he has known

that from other persons or books he has defeated his own question. For if he

can believe in certain things said somewhere and by some persons what prevents

him to believe in the necessity of trusting in the efficacy and usefulness of a

spiritual guide, a person, per­haps, more regular in his prayers and medita­tions,

sincere to the backbone in his spiritual life, and of pure and unsullied

character? This of course the inquirer cannot answer except by conceding that

his assumption was wrong. Still he may feel that his query has gone unanswered.

So let us turn to the practi­cal side of the question. Let us take the exam­ple

of a child busy with its play. The play has absorbed him and he forgets his

studies. Is it not necessary that the mother should remind him of his studies?

In the spiritual world we are all children until we have reached the summits of

realization. We need the guide, the Guru to remind us, nay actually help us

overcome the obstacles in our path.

Why cannot we do so by our own efforts? Maybe it is possible in

very rare cases where the yearning for God is intense, where the renunciation

is like a blazing fire, but for the ordinary aspirants a spiritual guide is

essential. It is true that our nature is divine, that we are the children of

Immortality. But are we aware of the fact? How many days in a year are we

conscious of this fact and how many minutes in a day? We have to confess that

it is very rarely that we are aware of it. The idea of spiritual practices is

to become aware of this divinity more and more. Again, the spiritual paths are

numerous, which one should a particular aspirant select? All these intri­cate

questions are solved by the true teacher by his insight into the life of the

disciple. Otherwise, the aspirants will be tempted to try whatever path

presents to them as alluring, as easy. It will be like digging for water now

here and now there but not sufficiently until one reaches the springs. One has

to be persevering and persisting if one has to achieve any result in spiritual

life at all. Merely float­ing on the water will not get us the gems that lie on

the bed of the ocean. One has to dive and dive deep says Sri Ramakrishna.

The Kathopanisad

warns the would-be aspirers after the spiritual life rather sternly: ‘It

is not given to many even to hear about this. And even hearing about It many do

not understand. Wonderful is the teacher and fortunate is the obtainer of this

teaching. Still more wonderful is the one who understands It when taught by a

wise one.’1 Many a ship of life has foundered on the

unchartered seas of this life. A wise pilot is therefore incum­bent. If even

after repeated instructions we are not able to understand the Highest Spirit

then how can we by our own effort reach it!

Taking for granted that some day the spark in us may blaze out if

conditions become conducive, how do we know that other circum­stances will

allow it to burn? If, for instance, a huge load of wet firewood is heaped over

the dying embers would they be able to consume the firewood? Never. The fire

itself may be smothered and die out soon. But supposing one who knew how to

kindle that spark, would wisely handle and make it glow brighter by adding dry

leaves, were to help, would not then the same fire be able to burn even a

forest? Man’s condition is almost identical. A host of tendencies are

smothering the divine spark and making it impossible to gain a better view of

that divine glow. Lust and greed are the two chief burdens which weigh down on

his mind making it impossible for him to be conscious of his divinity at all.

Sri Ramakrishna’s parable of the grass-eating tiger very

aptly describes man’s condi­tion. The tiger which as a cub was left in

the midst of sheep, even before it had drunk its mother’s milk, quietly

followed the ways of the sheep — eating grass and bleating while

threatened with danger. One day another tiger attacked the flock and when it

saw a tiger bleating and running away, it was surprised. However, it caught

hold of the grass-eating tiger and asked, ‘why are you running away? You

are a tiger like myself’. But the grass-eating tiger would not believe

it. Then the other tiger dragged the latter to a pond; showed it their

reflections in the water and then pushed some meat into its mouth and roared.

The grass-eating tiger thus convinced of its nature and having tasted the meat,

roared in response. Here is how the true teacher helps an aspirant. We have

forgotten our true nature and caught in the meshes of the world believe ourselves

to be sheep. So doubts arise in our minds even when we are told that we are

divinity itself. The other tiger is the Guru who makes us aware of what we are.

Now, let us take another illustration. Swami Vivekananda gave the

example of sowing a seed. ‘Do you grow the plant?’ he asked. No.

The vitality to germinate is in the seed itself. You cannot infuse that

vitality into it. ‘What you can do is to put it in the proper ground,

water it and thus help it grow.’ You only remove the impediments and

obstacles in its path and allow it to grow of itself. Likewise the divine spark

in man is to be felt, not simply theoreti­cally known. The work of the Guru is

to help the disciple feel It, realize It, by finding out and removing the

impediments that block his path.

We have only to look at the way in which Sri Ramakrishna trained

his disciples to understand this relation between the Guru and the sisya. There was first his selection of

the proper disciples and then his training of them. He knew the past, present

and future of those whom he took in his hand to mould as his disciples. It is

not Sri Ramakrishna alone that possessed such powers. Jesus too, had had it

before him. Did not Jesus choose some of his disciples from fishermen? The

Incarnations could at a glance know the nature of any man with whom they were

brought in contact.

Knowing thus their inmost thoughts the Incarnations could correct

their disciples whenever they would have gone wrong. Jesus foretold his fold

just a day or two prior to his crucifixion: ‘One among you shall betray

me.’ And they were sad that the Lord did not believe in them. But was

this prophecy not fulfilled? Again, he said to Peter, ‘Thou shalt deny me

thrice before the cock crew,’ and was it not fulfilled? Did not Peter

staunch­ly deny that such a thing was possible for him? Yet how did it come to

happen? This shows Jesus could see not only what was going to take place for

himself but also what thoughts were going to rise in the minds of those near

him. This proves that the Incar­nations of God do have the power to know

everything they want to know. Nothing lies hidden to their gaze. That is why

they have the highest place as Gurus, as teachers of mankind, for all time.

Sri Ramakrishna’s spiritual ministry was a wonderful

phenomena. It is like a panorama of everchanging hues, ever attractive and

never tiring, the spectral play of colours, however, pointing to the same

goal-post viz., God. Sometimes he would make his young disciples roll on the

ground with side-splitting laughter by his humour; at other times he would sing

to them songs about the divine and transport them to an exalted region. Again,

there would be discussions on the philosophies of the different sects at

different times. And yet again he would urge them on to meditation and austere

living. Once when a disciple said that he tried to meditate but that his medita­tion

was not deep, was not undisturbed, Sri Ramakrishna wrote something on the

disciple’s tongue and sent him to the secluded Pancavati at Dakshineswar.

The disciple even as he went towards the place was losing his outward

consciousness and lost all outer consciousness as soon as he sat under that

tree. He came to himself, to use a mundane expression, only when Sri

Ramakrishna stroked his body from chest downwards. Numerous are the instances

in the life of the Master and his disciples wherein the Master did accentuate

the spiritual potential of the disciples.

The question may be asked: Why do you then say that there is

divinity in every human being if it is to be attained by hard struggle and by

the help of a teacher? For the simple and obvious reason that an object cannot

change its nature and remain the same. We have not heard of cold fire or hot

ice, except as a way of expression. If fire were not hot, of what use is it

then? An object can mani­fest only what is inherent in it. If man was not

divine he could never become one. But our experience is quite the opposite. We

see divine personages manifesting themselves and human beings turned divine. So

the proposi­tion that man is not divine but attains divinity is also not true.

What happens by the efforts is that he uncovers himself, discards the

encrustations surrounding him one by one. The only acceptable and rational

solution, therefore, is that man is divine, call him a spark of divinity or a

child of God or what you will.

Now we come to the assistance that the Guru really renders to the

disciple. Spiritual life has some matters that are to be taken on trust,

matters which you cannot fathom by reasoning. But it is not a fact that

religious living is devoid of all reasoning. Reason is given the fullest scope

in the Hindu religion and philo­sophy. You are free to question and inquire,

but when it becomes a case of mere argu­mentation, there the ancient sages drew

a line.

For reason would be blind when there was no comparison to make.

Reasoning is possible and helpful as far as the phenomenal world is concerned.

If you have to infer, you have to draw a parallel and what is there that can

compare with the transcendental life? If the transcendental can be reduced to

the pheno­menal it would no more remain transcendental; in other words

transcendental can never become the phenomenal. The laws of the phenomenal

world can, therefore, never apply to the transcendental. The Atman, for

instance, cannot be seen by the eye, not even the most powerful microscope can

reveal it. But it is the inmost being of man. When man dies something goes out

of him. It cannot be held back, for it is not visible. But that something,

which was moving the body and making it live even prior to the moment of death,

was in the body cannot be denied. Spiritual life deals with that being, the

Atman. Therefore, as you would go to learn music from a musician and not from a

professor of logic, so we have to learn about the science of the soul from a

spiritual teacher alone. Because he knows or will find out what our aptitudes

and what our inclinations are and guide us accordingly.

Human beings are not all alike; they have different tastes and

various natures. Perhaps, we all agree with this statement. Now, what is better

— to allow man grow in his own natural way which comes easy to him or

force him to follow a rigid, fixed and hidebound pattern of discipline, which

surely will mutilate and destroy his nature? The Hindu sages have thought it

better to allow man grow in his own way towards God; they did not try to modify

his inherent nature. That is why there are so many paths, to approach God,

described in the Hindu scriptures. So also about the form or formlessness of

God that the aspirant likes to worship. A particular form of God appeals to one

man most and thereby he is able to concentrate his thoughts on God easier,

whereas there may be other forms which though of the same Divine Spirit do not

awaken any response in him. It is the Guru who finds out what form of the Deity

suits each disciple, selects a mantra or a sacred formula by which he may call

on Him, and instructs him how to proceed on his path. All this the Guru does

with no motive at all. The Guru’s sole desire is that the disciple should

realize God, should get away from the meshes of Maya, of the world. It is

motiveless compassion, self-less love that drives the Guru to take all the

trouble to awaken the disciple’s spiritual potential. So we see what a

high place the true Guru occupies in the realm of the spirit. He is looked upon

as the father, mother, friend, philosopher and guide. Like a father the Guru

chastises when we go wrong, like a loving mother he helps when we falter, like

a friend he keeps us company in our difficulties and like a philosopher he

advises when we are in a quandary.

From all these it is quite apparent that the Guru occupies a

supreme position in the life of the spiritual aspirant. A great many hymns have

been written on the Guru, of which the Guru-Gita is famous.

The Mundakopanisad

gives the description of a true teacher: a srotriya,

one well-versed in the scriptures - and brahmanistha,

established in Brahman.2 Sri Sankara in his Viveka­chudãmani enlarging on this

concept and in keeping with the Sruti passages says that one possessed of the

deep spirit of inquiry and renunciation should approach a Guru, ‘who is

versed in the Vedas, sinless, untouched by desire and a knower of Brahman par excel­lence;

who has withdrawn himself into Brahman; who is calm, like the fire that has

consumed its fuel; who is an ocean of compassion that knows no reason and a

friend of all good people who bow down before him’.3 That is the true teacher approaching

whom we are certain to find our path and abiding peace

 

For full Articles Please visit the

following link:

 

http://www.thedivineshoppe.com/index.php?option=com_content & view=article & id=78:place-of-the-guru-in-spiritual-life & catid=28:-read-divine-articles & Itemid=116

 

 

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RSS FEED ON EMAIL BY CLICKING THE LINK BELWO:

 

 

 

Regards

Satyendra

Chauhan

 

[Guest guest]

 

 

 

 

 

PLACE OF THE GURU IN SPIRITUAL LIFE

By Swami Paratparananda

* Editorial of

The Vedanta Kesari Magazine – February 1965; Vol. 51; page 487

 

AN INTERESTING question posed by thinkers,

who somehow have a vague knowledge that divinity is the true nature of the

human beings, is: ‘If we are all sparks of the same divine Spirit, what

need is there for one man to help another to realize it?’ It is an

intelli­gent and sincere poser. One can feel that the inquirer is sincere.

Perhaps a little of everything has disturbed such a mind — and there are

so many new philosophies springing up, enough to confuse any ordinary man.

What is the answer for such an inquiry? Let us probe the inquirer.

How does he know that he is a spark of divinity? Does he know from his own

experience or from books or literature or other persons? Well, if he has known

that from other persons or books he has defeated his own question. For if he

can believe in certain things said somewhere and by some persons what prevents

him to believe in the necessity of trusting in the efficacy and usefulness of a

spiritual guide, a person, per­haps, more regular in his prayers and medita­tions,

sincere to the backbone in his spiritual life, and of pure and unsullied

character? This of course the inquirer cannot answer except by conceding that

his assumption was wrong. Still he may feel that his query has gone unanswered.

So let us turn to the practi­cal side of the question. Let us take the exam­ple

of a child busy with its play. The play has absorbed him and he forgets his

studies. Is it not necessary that the mother should remind him of his studies?

In the spiritual world we are all children until we have reached the summits of

realization. We need the guide, the Guru to remind us, nay actually help us

overcome the obstacles in our path.

Why cannot we do so by our own efforts? Maybe it is possible in

very rare cases where the yearning for God is intense, where the renunciation

is like a blazing fire, but for the ordinary aspirants a spiritual guide is

essential. It is true that our nature is divine, that we are the children of

Immortality. But are we aware of the fact? How many days in a year are we

conscious of this fact and how many minutes in a day? We have to confess that

it is very rarely that we are aware of it. The idea of spiritual practices is

to become aware of this divinity more and more. Again, the spiritual paths are

numerous, which one should a particular aspirant select? All these intri­cate

questions are solved by the true teacher by his insight into the life of the

disciple. Otherwise, the aspirants will be tempted to try whatever path

presents to them as alluring, as easy. It will be like digging for water now

here and now there but not sufficiently until one reaches the springs. One has

to be persevering and persisting if one has to achieve any result in spiritual

life at all. Merely float­ing on the water will not get us the gems that lie on

the bed of the ocean. One has to dive and dive deep says Sri Ramakrishna.

The Kathopanisad

warns the would-be aspirers after the spiritual life rather sternly: ‘It

is not given to many even to hear about this. And even hearing about It many do

not understand. Wonderful is the teacher and fortunate is the obtainer of this

teaching. Still more wonderful is the one who understands It when taught by a

wise one.’1 Many a ship of life has foundered on the

unchartered seas of this life. A wise pilot is therefore incum­bent. If even

after repeated instructions we are not able to understand the Highest Spirit

then how can we by our own effort reach it!

Taking for granted that some day the spark in us may blaze out if

conditions become conducive, how do we know that other circum­stances will

allow it to burn? If, for instance, a huge load of wet firewood is heaped over

the dying embers would they be able to consume the firewood? Never. The fire

itself may be smothered and die out soon. But supposing one who knew how to

kindle that spark, would wisely handle and make it glow brighter by adding dry

leaves, were to help, would not then the same fire be able to burn even a

forest? Man’s condition is almost identical. A host of tendencies are

smothering the divine spark and making it impossible to gain a better view of

that divine glow. Lust and greed are the two chief burdens which weigh down on

his mind making it impossible for him to be conscious of his divinity at all.

Sri Ramakrishna’s parable of the grass-eating tiger very

aptly describes man’s condi­tion. The tiger which as a cub was left in

the midst of sheep, even before it had drunk its mother’s milk, quietly

followed the ways of the sheep — eating grass and bleating while

threatened with danger. One day another tiger attacked the flock and when it

saw a tiger bleating and running away, it was surprised. However, it caught

hold of the grass-eating tiger and asked, ‘why are you running away? You

are a tiger like myself’. But the grass-eating tiger would not believe

it. Then the other tiger dragged the latter to a pond; showed it their

reflections in the water and then pushed some meat into its mouth and roared.

The grass-eating tiger thus convinced of its nature and having tasted the meat,

roared in response. Here is how the true teacher helps an aspirant. We have

forgotten our true nature and caught in the meshes of the world believe ourselves

to be sheep. So doubts arise in our minds even when we are told that we are

divinity itself. The other tiger is the Guru who makes us aware of what we are.

Now, let us take another illustration. Swami Vivekananda gave the

example of sowing a seed. ‘Do you grow the plant?’ he asked. No.

The vitality to germinate is in the seed itself. You cannot infuse that

vitality into it. ‘What you can do is to put it in the proper ground,

water it and thus help it grow.’ You only remove the impediments and

obstacles in its path and allow it to grow of itself. Likewise the divine spark

in man is to be felt, not simply theoreti­cally known. The work of the Guru is

to help the disciple feel It, realize It, by finding out and removing the

impediments that block his path.

We have only to look at the way in which Sri Ramakrishna trained

his disciples to understand this relation between the Guru and the sisya. There was first his selection of

the proper disciples and then his training of them. He knew the past, present

and future of those whom he took in his hand to mould as his disciples. It is

not Sri Ramakrishna alone that possessed such powers. Jesus too, had had it

before him. Did not Jesus choose some of his disciples from fishermen? The

Incarnations could at a glance know the nature of any man with whom they were

brought in contact.

Knowing thus their inmost thoughts the Incarnations could correct

their disciples whenever they would have gone wrong. Jesus foretold his fold

just a day or two prior to his crucifixion: ‘One among you shall betray

me.’ And they were sad that the Lord did not believe in them. But was

this prophecy not fulfilled? Again, he said to Peter, ‘Thou shalt deny me

thrice before the cock crew,’ and was it not fulfilled? Did not Peter

staunch­ly deny that such a thing was possible for him? Yet how did it come to

happen? This shows Jesus could see not only what was going to take place for

himself but also what thoughts were going to rise in the minds of those near

him. This proves that the Incar­nations of God do have the power to know

everything they want to know. Nothing lies hidden to their gaze. That is why

they have the highest place as Gurus, as teachers of mankind, for all time.

Sri Ramakrishna’s spiritual ministry was a wonderful

phenomena. It is like a panorama of everchanging hues, ever attractive and

never tiring, the spectral play of colours, however, pointing to the same

goal-post viz., God. Sometimes he would make his young disciples roll on the

ground with side-splitting laughter by his humour; at other times he would sing

to them songs about the divine and transport them to an exalted region. Again,

there would be discussions on the philosophies of the different sects at

different times. And yet again he would urge them on to meditation and austere

living. Once when a disciple said that he tried to meditate but that his medita­tion

was not deep, was not undisturbed, Sri Ramakrishna wrote something on the

disciple’s tongue and sent him to the secluded Pancavati at Dakshineswar.

The disciple even as he went towards the place was losing his outward

consciousness and lost all outer consciousness as soon as he sat under that

tree. He came to himself, to use a mundane expression, only when Sri

Ramakrishna stroked his body from chest downwards. Numerous are the instances

in the life of the Master and his disciples wherein the Master did accentuate

the spiritual potential of the disciples.

The question may be asked: Why do you then say that there is

divinity in every human being if it is to be attained by hard struggle and by

the help of a teacher? For the simple and obvious reason that an object cannot

change its nature and remain the same. We have not heard of cold fire or hot

ice, except as a way of expression. If fire were not hot, of what use is it

then? An object can mani­fest only what is inherent in it. If man was not

divine he could never become one. But our experience is quite the opposite. We

see divine personages manifesting themselves and human beings turned divine. So

the proposi­tion that man is not divine but attains divinity is also not true.

What happens by the efforts is that he uncovers himself, discards the

encrustations surrounding him one by one. The only acceptable and rational

solution, therefore, is that man is divine, call him a spark of divinity or a

child of God or what you will.

Now we come to the assistance that the Guru really renders to the

disciple. Spiritual life has some matters that are to be taken on trust,

matters which you cannot fathom by reasoning. But it is not a fact that

religious living is devoid of all reasoning. Reason is given the fullest scope

in the Hindu religion and philo­sophy. You are free to question and inquire,

but when it becomes a case of mere argu­mentation, there the ancient sages drew

a line.

For reason would be blind when there was no comparison to make.

Reasoning is possible and helpful as far as the phenomenal world is concerned.

If you have to infer, you have to draw a parallel and what is there that can

compare with the transcendental life? If the transcendental can be reduced to

the pheno­menal it would no more remain transcendental; in other words

transcendental can never become the phenomenal. The laws of the phenomenal

world can, therefore, never apply to the transcendental. The Atman, for

instance, cannot be seen by the eye, not even the most powerful microscope can

reveal it. But it is the inmost being of man. When man dies something goes out

of him. It cannot be held back, for it is not visible. But that something,

which was moving the body and making it live even prior to the moment of death,

was in the body cannot be denied. Spiritual life deals with that being, the

Atman. Therefore, as you would go to learn music from a musician and not from a

professor of logic, so we have to learn about the science of the soul from a

spiritual teacher alone. Because he knows or will find out what our aptitudes

and what our inclinations are and guide us accordingly.

Human beings are not all alike; they have different tastes and

various natures. Perhaps, we all agree with this statement. Now, what is better

— to allow man grow in his own natural way which comes easy to him or

force him to follow a rigid, fixed and hidebound pattern of discipline, which

surely will mutilate and destroy his nature? The Hindu sages have thought it

better to allow man grow in his own way towards God; they did not try to modify

his inherent nature. That is why there are so many paths, to approach God,

described in the Hindu scriptures. So also about the form or formlessness of

God that the aspirant likes to worship. A particular form of God appeals to one

man most and thereby he is able to concentrate his thoughts on God easier,

whereas there may be other forms which though of the same Divine Spirit do not

awaken any response in him. It is the Guru who finds out what form of the Deity

suits each disciple, selects a mantra or a sacred formula by which he may call

on Him, and instructs him how to proceed on his path. All this the Guru does

with no motive at all. The Guru’s sole desire is that the disciple should

realize God, should get away from the meshes of Maya, of the world. It is

motiveless compassion, self-less love that drives the Guru to take all the

trouble to awaken the disciple’s spiritual potential. So we see what a

high place the true Guru occupies in the realm of the spirit. He is looked upon

as the father, mother, friend, philosopher and guide. Like a father the Guru

chastises when we go wrong, like a loving mother he helps when we falter, like

a friend he keeps us company in our difficulties and like a philosopher he

advises when we are in a quandary.

From all these it is quite apparent that the Guru occupies a

supreme position in the life of the spiritual aspirant. A great many hymns have

been written on the Guru, of which the Guru-Gita is famous.

The Mundakopanisad

gives the description of a true teacher: a srotriya,

one well-versed in the scriptures - and brahmanistha,

established in Brahman.2 Sri Sankara in his Viveka­chudãmani enlarging on this

concept and in keeping with the Sruti passages says that one possessed of the

deep spirit of inquiry and renunciation should approach a Guru, ‘who is

versed in the Vedas, sinless, untouched by desire and a knower of Brahman par excel­lence;

who has withdrawn himself into Brahman; who is calm, like the fire that has

consumed its fuel; who is an ocean of compassion that knows no reason and a

friend of all good people who bow down before him’. 3 That is the true teacher approaching

whom we are certain to find our path and abiding peace

 

For full Articles Please visit the

following link:

 

http://www.thedivineshoppe.com/index.php?option=com_content & view=article & id=78:place-of-the-guru-in-spiritual-life & catid=28:-read-divine-articles & Itemid=116

 

 

TO GET DIVINE ARTICLES ON YOUR EMAIL PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE

RSS FEED ON EMAIL BY CLICKING THE LINK BELWO:

 

 

 

Regards

Satyendra

Chauhan