Gurugita Discourse Eight

Gurucharanam Saranam


Veda-saastra-puraanaani Itihaasaadikaani Cha
Mantra-yantraadi-vidyaascha Mohanocchaatanaadikam
Saiva-saakta-agamaadiini Hyanye Cha Bahavo Mataah
Apabhramshaah Samastaanaam Jeevanaam Bhraanta-chetasaam

Vedas, Sastras (sciences), Puranas (ancient narratives), Itihasas (the epics), Mantra (magical chants) Yantras (amulets), Spells, Exorcism, cults like Saiva, Sakteya, etc. and many other paths together are all digressions born of delusion.

Today religious and spiritual beliefs are innumerably vast; the Vedic tradition, Buddhist tradition, Christian, Jewish and Islamic tradition to mention only a few. Then there are the tantric and yogic tradition of many hues and origin, theist and atheist philosophies, spirit worship and deity worship, alternative spirituality, new age spirituality …. Even God is likely to get confused over the ingenuity of human beings!

While the Truth resides in the eternal silence of the soul in inalienable communion with God, the rattle of our intellect, the frenzy of our mind and the clamor of our actions unseat the inner calm. From a disquiet mind, arises the demon of delusion. And from delusion, blind faith bereft of dharma. It manifests in myriad forms. Its offshoots are many-branched, finally culminating in hatred and violence. Religion-based terrorism we witness today is only one extreme form of this inner digression.

The petals of mutually conflicting ideologies that are strewn under the tree of Hinduism are examples of this intellectual digression consequent upon a fall from the serene summit of Brahmic Truth and Sanatana Dharma. Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru describes this fall in a similar context thus:

‘The Brahma of the trimurthi tradition was misconceived as Brahman (the Supreme Truth). Brahman is all pervading. Brahma is not so. Brahma relates only to the aspect of creation, still it was made to believe that Brahma was above everything. However, Brahma is not everything. Thus we fell into error….’

We can observe that every sect and creed thus competes with each other to hoist the god or prophet of their conception to the ultimate verity of Truth. In this frenzied clamor of beliefs, it is easy for a true seeker to get deluded and thus miss the right direction.

A few people, well learned in religious lore, were going on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Kashi. They came together on a forest route. Suddenly they found that the path branched ahead into many. A quarrel began in the group as to what should be the right path. Even after long time, they could not figure out the right path. Time went by and soon it would be dark. That time a sage came by that way who had been to that city earlier and knew the path. All of them followed him and reached the holy city of Kashi safely. This is how a Guru helps in our life, a Guru who has transcended the limitations of the world.

Therefore, let a seeker of truth be vigilant and be open to ideas which is essentially experiential and transcendental in nature.

Mukundan