What comes first - Sadhana or Surrender to the Guru?

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

A question for you - as it applies in your life. All answers are

correct because this is each person's experience.

 

What came first in your life - Surrender to the Guru ... and then

following his/her instructions to do sadhana ?

 

or

 

Doing sadhana in the hopes of getting a Guru or finding your Guru ?

And then surrender and seva to them ?

 

What has been your experience ? Can you share with the group?

 

Thank you JAI MAA

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Latha

[Guest guest]

more like this ...

 

being aware of awareness ... one's existence in this world ... the

natural questions arise ... why am i here? what is this? where is god?

 

then the word comes, the guru can help, he can either bring god, or

guide one to better fix one's attention on THAT.

 

then, the guru says to do this or that, and one says, alright, and

does it the best one can.

 

that is the sequence i see.

 

om shalom!

 

, "Latha Nanda" <lathananda>

wrote:

>

>

> Dear All,

>

> A question for you - as it applies in your life. All answers are

> correct because this is each person's experience.

>

> What came first in your life - Surrender to the Guru ... and then

> following his/her instructions to do sadhana ?

>

> or

>

> Doing sadhana in the hopes of getting a Guru or finding your Guru ?

> And then surrender and seva to them ?

>

> What has been your experience ? Can you share with the group?

>

> Thank you JAI MAA

>

> MERRY CHRISTMAS

> Latha

[Guest guest]

, "Latha Nanda" <lathananda>

wrote:

>

>

> Dear All,

>

> A question for you - as it applies in your life. All answers are

> correct because this is each person's experience.

>

> What came first in your life - Surrender to the Guru ... and then

> following his/her instructions to do sadhana ?

>

> or

>

> Doing sadhana in the hopes of getting a Guru or finding your

Guru ?

> And then surrender and seva to them ?

>

> What has been your experience ? Can you share with the group?

>

> Thank you JAI MAA

>

> MERRY CHRISTMAS

> Latha

 

Sadhana first (in the form of reading books, discussions with like-

minded people, and trying out various exercises on my own, guru-

shopping etc) ..... then the Guru arrived ..... surrender is yet to

come.

 

Jai Ma!

[Guest guest]

Love to all,

 

In the words of Yogaswami, "There is one thing God cannot do, seperate Himself from you"

 

Om Namah Sivaya

 

Kanda

[Guest guest]

I've been doing sadanna or eons, then last October I got an email

from

a friend telling me to attend a evening talk. Reluctantly I went to

the

event fearing that it might aversely impact my puja practices. I was

offered initiation. Over the next several days I took the initiation

and

have since embarked on a new line of practices. Today is my 60th day

of a 144 day sankalpa.

 

For me it has been sadanna, initiation, then more sadanna.

 

, "Latha Nanda"

<lathananda> wrote:

>

>

> Dear All,

>

> A question for you - as it applies in your life. All answers are

> correct because this is each person's experience.

>

> What came first in your life - Surrender to the Guru ... and then

> following his/her instructions to do sadhana ?

>

> or

>

> Doing sadhana in the hopes of getting a Guru or finding your Guru ?

> And then surrender and seva to them ?

>

> What has been your experience ? Can you share with the group?

>

> Thank you JAI MAA

>

> MERRY CHRISTMAS

> Latha

[Guest guest]

OM NAMAH SIVAYA

 

Dear Latha,

 

I have wanted to respond to your thoughtful question, but have not

been able to formulate an answer. I guess for me there is no real

answer, as the meanings of sadhana and Guru constantly change. And

surrendering, to me, is letting the ego go, not just aligning it. As

a friend said, "knowing its not really my life but the life." When

aligning our Selves with The Infinite the job is never complete.

Sometimes not doing sadhana is sadhana, and not having a Guru is The

Guru. They all take us to the same place. I would like to offer a

couple of quotes I came across recently.

 

First thanks to Gina's posts I found these enlightening quotes from

Ramana Maharishi;

 

"There is no greater mystery than this -

that being the Reality ourselves, we seek to

gain Reality. We think that there is something

binding our reality and that it must be destroyed

before the reality is gained.

 

It is ridiculous!

 

A day will dawn when you will

yourself laugh at your effort.

That which is on the day of laughter

is also now."

 

 

"The good Masters message can only be:

there is no teaching -

there is no Teacher -

there is no Student."

 

 

And from Swami Satyananda Saraswati of the Bihar School of Yoga;

 

"The entire universe is pervaded by one power. We call Him God,

Hari, Rama, Allah, Khuda, OM, Amin, Siva, Kali, etc. the name of

God doesn't matter; it is the essence that is important. The

scientists have said that there is energy within matter. We say

that beyond energy there is consciousness, beyond consciousness

there is the soul, and beyond the soul there is divinity. In the

Bhagavad Gita it is also said that behind the body are the senses,

behind the senses is the mind, behind the mind is the intellect,

behind the intellect is the soul and behind the soul is divinity.

By behind, I mean its essence. In the same way God is the essence

of everything. The essence of milk is butter. The essence of

butter is ghee. The essence of ghee is fat. The essence of fat is

calories and the essence of calories is energy and heat, which is

the basis of life. When the heat diminishes, we die. Similarly,

the ultimate essence of matter is God, and matter is the

manifestation of divinity. We are all the manifestation of

divinity. The panchatattwas, five elements, are manifestations of

divinity.

 

Therefore, just as sugar becomes one with milk, let the mind melt in

God. There is no use controlling the mind, because there is no mind

as such. Just sing His name until you get out! Just sing and sing

the name of God until your mind melts. This was the path of

chaitanya Mahaaprabhu and Merrabai. Narada continuously chanted

Narayana, Narayana, twenty-four hours a day. If you sing the name

of God with proper tune and pitch, rhythm and beat, you will enjoy

it. Good food, sweets, tea, coffee, even brandy do not generate as

much heat as singing of God's name."

 

To me everything is a teaching, everyone is a teacher, and everyone

is a student. To be more specific just limits my opportunity for

growth. The name of God and God are the same. The vibration of The

Name will take from me all that is not Me and all that is not free.

 

JAI MA

 

, "Latha Nanda" <lathananda>

wrote:

>

>

> Dear All,

>

> A question for you - as it applies in your life. All answers are

> correct because this is each person's experience.

>

> What came first in your life - Surrender to the Guru ... and then

> following his/her instructions to do sadhana ?

>

> or

>

> Doing sadhana in the hopes of getting a Guru or finding your

Guru ?

> And then surrender and seva to them ?

>

> What has been your experience ? Can you share with the group?

>

> Thank you JAI MAA

>

> MERRY CHRISTMAS

> Latha