What is Guru Paduka Puja? And Why?

[Guest guest]

[From an address by Dr. V.V. Prakasa Rao on Guru Purnima Day, July

13, 2003.]

 

If you have faith in the Guru's feet

If you have deep feeling for the Guru's feet,

If you imbibe the state of the Guru,

Then you don't have to look for God --

God will come looking for you.

- Bhakta Tukaram

 

* What is Guru Paduka Puja?

* Why do we do it?

* What is the significance of it?

 

.... The Guru's feet are worshipped or revered because all the Guru's

shakti dwells in the feet. If you did research into this, you would

find that the vibrations of the inner self constantly flow out

through the feet. The nerves that come from the Sahasrara reach right

down to the feet. The feet serve as the support for the whole body.

This is the reason the feet are given so much importance. More skakti

flows form the feet than any other part of the body, the glory of the

Guru's feet for the Guru’s sandals is great.

 

Kularnava Tantra says: " Remember the Guru’s sandals ... They provide

protection against great diseases, great disturbances, great evils,

great fears, great calamities, and great sins. "

 

According to Chinese medicine, the body contains many acupuncture

meridian or channels which will congregate around the feet. By

treating the feet, the Chinese physicians adjust the flow of energy

to different parts and organs of the body. Additionally, there is a

particular acupuncture point in the sole of the foot called

yongquuan, which means gushing spring. When a person needs energy, he

is taught to focus his mind on this point. Sooner or later there is

energy charge that goes from the mind to this point in the sole of

the foot, and from there energy shoots up to the crown of the head.

It is the major point for meditation and acupuncture.

 

The foot of Guru is no ordinary foot. " Gurupaddangre paadodakam

ganga: All holy waters, including Mother Ganga, live in the Guru’s

feet. " This is what you should think in your heart when worshipping

the Guru. All holy waters, all Devatas, or angels, and all sacred

hills abide in the Guru's feet. One should have firm sankalpa

(intention, determination) to behold all gods in guru's feet. ...

 

For the sake of His disciples, the formless Guru takes the form in

Padukas. Guru lives in Padukas. A devotee should pray " O my Guru,

wherever my mind goes, may your form be there. Wherever my head bows

in salutation, may your feet be there. "

 

The Guru continuously tests the devotees. It is very dangerous for

the devotees to look on the Guru as an ordinary man. The devotee must

think that the Guru is higher than Shiva, Vishnu or Brahma. If one

thinks that the Guru is the physical form and activities, then it

becomes very easy for doubts to infiltrate the citadel of devotion,

and after a while, to completely overcome it. Nothing the Guru says

or does is ordinary, there is always a higher reason.

 

Manduka Upanishad says: " The Guru's feet are like the foundation on

which a building stands.... The Guru's feet are the two elements in

the mantra So'Ham which means 'I am that.' The statement 'I am that'

(SoHam) is packed with richness and significant meaning. The two

syllables, Ham and Sa, have a number of esoteric meanings.

 

Ham is Shiva, the all pervading supreme reality, the absolute Being.

He is the Lord or God, the support and the foundation of all things,

sentient and insentient. In the form of pure concisiousness, He

permeates all creatures and dwells in them as their own innermost

self. The Scriptures calls this experience as Purusha, the eternal

witness.

 

Sa is Shakti. She is the divine Cosmic power that creates and

maintains the countless galaxies and worlds, the active aspect of the

formless, the attributeless Absolute. She is the joyous divine energy

that unfolds the universe, assuming the billions of shapes and forms

that we see around. Shiva is the experiencer and Shakti is the

experienced †" objective universe. She is referred also as Prakriti or

the force of nature. She is the energy that powers our mind and that

enables us to walk, talk, eat meals, and perform our work.

 

While experiencing the primordial sound SoHam in meditation, a seeker

can also experience the sound or vibrations of the different seed

letters and their surrounding mantras. The sounds of these Bija

mantras lead us to the Bindu, which is the ultimate goal. Sound is

the path that takes us to the final destination. Just as a bee

gathers honey from blossoming flowers, in the same way, the seeker

savors the honey of various lotuses, or chakras. The ultimate goal of

every sadhaka is to attain the liberation in the thousand†" petaled

lotus of the Sahasrara at the crown of the head.

 

The Guru Geeta also says that the Guru's feet have two different

lusters †" one is white and other is red †" representing Shiva and

Shakti. Shiva is associated with the white color, and Shakti, the

divine energy with the red color.

 

In these feet of Guru, Shiva and Shakti live as one and through them

the disciple realizes the unity. He sees Shiva and Shakti as red and

white lights shining through the Guru’s feet. The Guru's feet should

be worshiped everyday, for by their means one easily realizes the

immanent and transcendent aspect of Shiva (form and formlessness

aspects). Their luster radiates in the upper spaces of Sahasrara

Chakra. ...

 

.... The Lalita Sahasranama says: " Salutations to Her (Shakti) who

sends stream of nectar from the transcendent moon in the Sahasrara. "

The Shiva Samhita says: " The Sahasrara is the thousand-petaled lotus

in the Brahmananda. In its center is the region of the moon and a

triangle which continuously showers nectar. This moon nectar, which

grants immortality, flows in continuous stream ... "

 

The Paduka Panchaka mentions that the Guru's feet are cool like the

nectar of the moon. In other words, just as the moonbeams cool us of

after the heat of the day, in the same way devotion to the feet of

the Guru extinguishes the fire of sorrow and suffering and

gives us peace.

 

Verse 6 of the Paduka Panchaka says: " I adore the two lotus feet of

the Guru in my head. The jeweled foot stool on which they rest

removes all sin. The Guru's feet are pinkish-red like young leaves.

The toenails resemble the full moon shining in all its glory. The

Guru's feet are radiant with the beautiful luster of lotuses in a

lake of nectar. "

 

When the Guru Gita speaks of the water of the Guru's feet, it is

referring to this lake of nectar. There are number of verses that

explore this image. For example, verse 13 of the Guru Gita says: " the

water of the Guru’s feet has the power to dry up the mire of one’s

sins, to ignite the light of knowledge, and to take one smoothly

across the ocean of this world. "

 

Verse 14: " To obtain knowledge and detachment, sip the water of

Guru's feet, which destroys ignorance and ends karmas, the cause of

rebirth. Muktananda says it is not the water of Guru’s physical feet

that will make you immortal; it is only the nectar flowing in the

Guru's abode situated in the Sahasrara that will make you immortal,

and that nectar can be received by the grace of the Guru. "

 

In the course of meditation, when the mind becomes stabilized in the

Sahasrara, this nectar begins to flow. Only after drinking this

nectar can you be said to have drunk the water of the Guru's feet.

 

It is not the water of the Guru's physical feet that matters. The

true feet of the Guru lie in the sahasrara; it is the nectar flowing

from them that gives immortality. In the words of the Maharashtrian

poet-saint, Eknath. " By the dust of my Guru’s feet all the work was

accomplished. Eknath has emerged his mind in Shri Guru's feet ... By

holding the feet of the Guru, all ignorance disappeared. I have not

performed cruel austerities, offered sacrifices, or wandered to

sacred places. The means of all means is the feet of the Sadguru. "

 

For the full text of the speech, visit: http://tinyurl.com/2jzmlw