To Kalia, Linda and all - Guru Gita vs 14

[Guest guest]

Namaste Kalia, Linda and all,

 

thank you for your reaction and sharing your thoughts, and I too hope that

others will join us. This is why we are all here, to learn from each other and

share what we have learned, is it not?

 

I reread the pages of Before Becoming This you refer to, Kalia, and it struck me

that even though I had read these lines before, I only now realize that the

author would not have had this experience if he had not given in to the impulse

to bow down, even though he only followed an Indian devotee's lead and had never

done anything like that before. His only motivation seems to have been his

desire to meet Shree Maa and the wish to demonstrate the same respect he had

seen in the devotee in line before him. It is very striking how before he saw

Shree Maa as 'small and slight' and that only after having bowed down She showed

him Her 'greatness'.

'Every time you bow down, you get a blessing' I recall Swamiji saying, and the

experience told by this devotee illustrates this teaching beautifully. No

rigorous searching for 'hidden motives' necessary, just the desire to meet the

Guru and demonstrate the highest respect is enough. I now see thoughts about

'whether or not bowing down is appropriate' are to be surrendered as well in

bowing down:))

The story of the devotee in Before Becoming This continues with him having the

experience that when he looked up into Shree Maa's eyes, he saw that Her eyes

were translucent and that She 'appeared completely empty of a separate

personality'. To me, this says that he looked into his very own Soul and that

Shree Maa is everywhere. We can bow down at Her feet wherever we are, whenever

we have the sincere desire to meet Her and pay our highest respect. And that

brings me to what you said, Linda, about 'being in the moment' and paying

respect to all your actions. That too, I think, is a form of bowing to the Guru.

 

Kalia's second quotation made me realize that the Guru does not judge in the way

ordinary human beings often do. You have helped me to see where my religious

upbringing may colour my understanding even though I am not aware of it. May

this help me remember not to judge and divide, but understand and include.

 

The idea that the 'water from the Guru's feet' are the subtle teachings and

words of wisdom received as blessing is so beautiful and resonates deeply: 'come

to the waters and drink', to drink the Water of Life which makes one never go

thirsty again, the water that will become an inner source etc. I am still

mulling over the question of whether or not we really have a choice to use or

not to use\to imbibe the teachings or not. Mother is very patient, but sooner or

later, will we not all come to this water and drink deeply? She never forces,

but perhaps She does arrange cicumstances so that our choice becomes more

limited and obvious all the time?

 

may our studies be thorough and faithful,

may Mother Sarasvati bless our efforts,

 

with love,

Henny

 

 

 

 

 

, " kaliananda_saraswati "

<kaliananda_saraswati wrote:

>

>

> Dear Henny and all family,

>

>

>

> Thanks for responding and giving us both the opportunity to grow and

> understand. I pray that others will share their thoughts/comments.

>

>

>

> This is one of the many verses of the Guru Gita which I often think on.

> Yours words has brought me to recall two things - in the opening pages

> of the book " Before Becoming This " the author expressed how

> awkard he felt in getting down on his knees and putting his head all the

> way to the ground in pranam to Maa. He later said that when he rose to

> his feet, though he was 6' 3 " tall and Maa was a mere 5' in

> height Maa appeared taller than he. Also in Chap 4 of the Chandi, vs

> 19 when the Gods praised Divine Mother in song they sang – " Why

> is it that your one glance does not reduce all thoughts to ashes? So

> that being purified by the weapons, these thoughts may be raised to the

> higher worlds. You are so benevolent that you think for the welfare of

> even your enemies. "

>

>

>

> Divine Mother has exposed consciousness in the form of the True Guru.

> When one approaches the Guru, the Guru knows the purpose and can turn

> many of us away but because of pure love and compassion, Guru welcomes

> and blesses all of Her/His children and reward us with subtle teachings

> or words of wisdom which we have the choice to use or not to use.

>

>

>

> May we all find refuge at the Beloved Lotus Feet of the True Guru.

>

>

>

>

>

> Love,

>

> Kalia

>

> , " jaisanatanimaa "

> <jaisanatanimaa@> wrote:

> >

> > Namaste all,

> >

> > this verse and Swamiji's commentary made me think about discrimination

> and how to know when this action is appropriate. How do you know? I hope

> you don't mind if I share my musings with you and I hope you will tell

> me what you all think and help me deepen my understanding.

> >

> > In the booklet 'Gems of Wisdom', Shree Maa and Swamiji say: " Actions

> manifest our love. Work is visible love, the expression of love that we

> can see. "

> >

> > This, I think, gives us a good yardstick to measure our actions by: if

> we do something, is it an expression of love of self or love of God?

> Whenever we do something, if we look closely we can see which desire

> prompted the action.

> >

> > If I am honest, I can see that many times my actions make visible all

> my attachments to things and people that are important to 'me'. If we

> look at it this way, even drinking the water from the Guru's feet can be

> an action which demonstrates love of self more than love of God and

> Guru, for instance if this action is an expression of my selfish

> attachment to appear 'holy' or 'humble'. If I were to approach the Guru

> with this attitude, then the action would not be appropriate, I am

> inclined to say. Or it could be an expression of my desire not to look

> ignorant, even though I have no idea of why I am performing the action.

> If that was my motivation, the action would, I think, be inappropriate.

> > At this point, one easily gets discouraged; there can be all sorts of

> selfish reasons and circumstances I can think of why this action would

> not be appropriate. Should we say, then, that to drink the water from

> the Guru's feet is only appropriate as an expression of Pure Love,

> without any selfishness? But then, who of us is without selfishness?

> > Here, I feel, is where Swamiji's advice, to use our discrimination

> when this action is appropriate, proves to be the light which removes

> darkness. Because I find that as soon as I stop and think about what my

> motivation for this action would be, I become aware of both selfish

> attachments AND the desire to move beyond selfishness. And as soon as I

> become aware of the desire to move beyond selfishness, the selfish

> desires lose their power of control and I can make a choice.

> > Then I realize that, in order to move beyond selfishness, I must

> follow in the Guru's footsteps, because I cannot possibly find my own

> way out of this forest of attachments in which I am lost. Thinking thus,

> the drinking of the water from the Guru's feet becomes appropriate, I

> feel, because then it is an expression of my love and trust, of my

> willingness to be guided and the recognition that I don't know all the

> answers. 'If you don't know the answer, surrender', is the teaching. It

> is our faculty of discrimination that makes us aware that we don't know,

> but She does, 'whose lotusfeet destroy the great forest conflagration of

> all the sea of objects and relationships'.

> >

> > I am grateful to Kaliananda who posted the verse, which made me pick

> up again that lovely booklet 'Gems of Wisdom', lovingly prepared by

> Parvati Maa. Having read it again, I can recommend it to anyone; these

> gems don't lose their lustre and their light brightens your day!

> >

> > with love,

> > Henny

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > , " kaliananda_saraswati "

> kaliananda_saraswati@ wrote:

> > >

> > >

> > > Namaste,

> > >

> > > Vs 14 of the Guru Gita says - " Whoever drinks the water from the

> Guru's

> > > feet removes the root of ignorance and purifies the karma

> (activities)

> > > from birth, obtains perfection, wisdom and renunciation. "

> > >

> > > Of this verse Swamiji explains that this verse speaks of faith,

> > > humility, trust, openess, the highest wisdom (lowliness); one must

> > > however use discrimination to know when this action is appropriate.

> > >

> > > Jai Maa Jai Swamiji

> > >

> >

>