One has to be acquainted with someone, who already knows about something that one wants to know...
Man never comes to birth and starts introducing himself/herself to the nurses and doctors and his own mother......does he? He has to be taught his own name! his names spelling,his so called mother tongue...everything...from brushing teeth,washing hands,taking bath etc....every single thing when it is totally anew, it has to be taught to you by someone who knows it.....be it a small thing like saying 'mama' or papa for the first time to learning advanced things like nano technology one goes to a specialist to learn it....someone who already knows it...then why is man so hesitant and skeptic about going to a man for knowing GOD?
If small and stupid things need to be taught by someone,then how can one expect to learn self-realisation on his own???
The maker of makers is not so easily accessible especially with our limited and deprived mind....though "he is nearest of the near, and dearest of the dear " as Lord Paramhansa Yogananda says.One is wearied,worried and tired of his own self and his own problems, that his logic and emotions are highly IMPAIRED in order to understand something as high as GOD or god realisation...His logic and emotions keep revolving around the same old wife,car,kids and figures of money and he is never able to calculate the balance sheet of GOD!
The ever expansive cannot be fitted into a small cup of knowledge.A small brain which is so dependent on logics,reasonings and other criteria s. And an additional surplus to that is, a big HOLE in that cup....the hole called DOUBT...so no matter how much knowledge you pour into it,it is sure to flow out of the other end...
One thinks of oneself to be a skeptic a rationalist and a true man of knowledge.Seeing is believing is the latest trend! But what if you cannot see it with bare eyes of intellect.In normal cases what do you do to see something that cannot be seen with naked eyes??? you use some kind of device which helps you to see that thing or something that interpretes and translates the data into some format that we can understand...similarly a saint or GOd realised man is that device, through which we can see the imperceptible realities behind mind and matter.He has direct knowledge of that reality hence he is eligible to teach us.
Of course their are many these days, who claim themselves as the prophets of god or sons of GOD.One is sure to think whether GOd is having a family plan at all!!!
Its a pitiable condition out there,where people have opened their religion businesses and people of low knowledge and low desires go to seek refuge in them.A large part of the communal economy is sucked down to poverty by such people.Then there are great rationalists, who think by saying and showing that all so called saints are wrong only, they will free the community from this so called superstition.What kind of stupidity is this?!Both of them are two extremities.One advocates blind faith and the other advocates BLIND DENIAL!
Why have blind faith or blind denial...why not a balanced view point of testing?
At first one should try and know what is a GURU?
Is he necessarily the one who wears ocher robes and keeps locks of hair? Is he the one who wears coats and ties and moves around in cars teaching sophisticated and learned people only? Is he the one who reads out various paragraphs and verses from his favourite scripture?Is he the one who does humanitarian work? Is he the one who teaches yogasanas and pranayams all the time? is he the one who......and so on.
The point is, all people with the above/Alike description may be frauds and authentic as well!
Guru is not a person or a body. Guru is an element just like GOd is.It is spread through out the universe as GOD is.It is a force,it is an energy,is a massive power which lies beyond atomic realities.It is the form of energy which often catalyses the process of god realization for us and sometimes takes the form god himself.The point is not whether it is god or not god. The point is that, it is a channel between us and GOD...
This GURU element comes in the human form whenever necessary. If you think that it is always in the human form then you are wrong. In many cases the GURU element works without a body or any other kind of embodiment...but because it is simpler for we humans to connect well through a living channel to GOD..sometimes it takes form of a human body...You may say that many saints were normal and even abnormal or criminal humans before they became saints.But the truth is that GURU element is present in all of us...alike just as GOD is.What we need to do is unlock that part in us.But we have degraded ourselves un-conscientiously to an extent that we are on the verge of becoming animals..Hence we need an external agency to justify our efforts and awaken that part in us...which further guides us from inside of us to attain god realisation...Of course just meeting a guru does not solve all the impediments in self -realisation, but it drastically reduces the amount of efforts and it magnifies the results of our efforts.Amount of time taken for god realisation depends on the aptitude of a student,his sincerity,purity,austerity and efforts in the right directon with full faith.But at many places where a common student is student is sure to fall the guru comes to help in re establishing and rescuing the student...Guru or sadguru is nothing but god in the form of a human...and its purpose and works are indescribable.because they are numerous and countless as the amount of mistakes and chances of falling of we humans is also countless!!! Hence actually the amount and importance of a GURU is directly proportional to the amount of mistakes one makes...Mans flaws and mistakes are endless...
One may think of oneself and guru to be alike as both are human...but in reality both are not...as we are humans and compositions of energies similarly a guru is composition of energies much higher than ours...and in the end its a force a flow.When you devote yourself to it and follow it sincerely what you actually do is,you align yourself with that flow/force.And the more perfectly you are aligned to that force the more you become a part of that and finally you become one with it or in other worlds one with god.
How to be with a guru and the vital importance of a guru is a huge topic and one may write thousands of exhaustive volumes and still fall short of explaining it in its complete entirety. And hardly a few come forward to do such great works as it is very difficult to do justice to this vast and unending topic.
A true Guru is the one who can show you the correct path to god realisation.One who himself has direct experience of GOD."One who can enter the state of breathlessness(Nirvikalpa samadhi) at will" according to Paramhansa Yogananda.One who is strict at principles and SADHANA(spiritual efforts).One who is softer than a flower when dealing with his disciples and their genuine problems.One who never thinks selfishly but always thinks of well fair of himself along with humanity. One who wills god realisation at any cost. One who will be strict and soft with his tudent as appropriate and can go any limits to make his student realise GOD.
A small and limited knowledge like that of mine will never be able to explain even the thousandth part of something as vast and humongous as GURU.
A Guru/Sadguru is like a two way switch which can bring god to you and take you to god.A true guru will never take credit to himself.He will always give all his credit to the grace of his own gurus and GOD.He will always ask people to follow his lineage not himself.He will always ask people to follow his DEITY not himself...He will always ask people to stick to there sadhana and service to GOD not himself...he may ask you to serve his work or even him only if it is required and he will tell the reason behind it...A Sadguru is the one who can make his disciple like himself...a Sadguru. Not to mistaken sadguru term as an official term...But to make his disciple attain the state of god realisation and then make him worth making other learn the science of god realisation.
There are numerous ways GOd manifest himself on earth....some of them are Guru,Sadguru,Avatar,Kalavtar,Mahavtar,Purnavatars,Darshavtar,Purushavatar,manvantara avatars,Gunavatars,jeevanmukta yogi etc which further have types
- direct (sakshat)
- indirect (avesa)
A deep study of all these is a must before one arrives at any kind of conclusions on something called GURU or alike. In the end, all one can say is that....When you are on the path of knowing something that is completely new and imperceptible there is always a necessity of the one who has direct knowledge of it so that he can make you learn quickly or at least show the right path... A guru comes in the form as he is required to be in that particular country,state ,area,kind of era,kind of people and so on...He is the key to our locks...and the key and lock meet as per their destiny.Hence no need to go to some guru or search for him...nature will make you meet when the time is ripe and then the spark will occur.
Its of vital importance that once you find and test that one is your guru, you are supposed to be sincere to him and his teachings through out your life as the guru and disciple ties are of several births...and in several forms.Whether living or dead the guru element keeps working and if you devote yourself to that force soon you will start ascending towards god. And finally passing through many channels arranged by it, you will be one with god...in the lap of bliss...BECOMING YOURSELF, NOTHING BUT BLISS!
Prayer:
In the name of god i pray to thee,
Oh my guru preceptor.
In the name of guru i pray to thee ,
oh my lord guru preceptor.
In the name of thee my soul comes to glee,
Oh my soul Guru preceptor.
In the name of thee i truly see the light of GOD,
oh my guru preceptor.
G.A.A
