Guru Gita Discourse Fourteen

Sarva-teerthaavagaahasya Sampraapnoti Phalam Narah
Guroh Paadodakam Peethvaa Sesham Sirasi Dhaarayan

The one who drinks the water with which the feet of the Guru is washed (thus made holy) and puts it on his head, earns the merit that accrues from the dip in all the holy waters.

Why the feet of Guru are considered so holy? Feet are the support of a being. That which supports a being or thing, can be considered as feet, its support. The plants have roots as their feet. We are supported by our feet. But what do we have as support for our feet? It indeed is the earth. And what does earth has as its support? The earth is supported by waters of the ocean. What has water as its support? It is fire, for waters are produced by the warmth of the sun. And what is the support of fire? It is air, because without air, there can be no fire. And what is the support of air? It is space, because without space, air cannot have mobility. Then what has space as its support? It is self consciousness. Ego is a product of self consciousness. Only through self consciousness, the elemental world is perceived. This individualized consciousness is known as Jeeva, the soul. What has soul as its support? It is the gross consciousness, because a part cannot exist without a whole. Just like fire has its root in the sun, the individual consciousness has its root in the Supreme Consciousness. That Supreme Consciousness is Guru, the personalized self manifestation of Brahman, the attributeless God, without name and form. So now we know what the concept of Guru is and why his feet are our sacred support and the ‘paadateertham’ ambrosia for the soul.

However, the important question is how to recognize the Supreme Guru when he appears in human form. A Supreme Guru takes birth with the mission for an epochal change according to a scheme of cosmic evolution. Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru revealed that only four such Gurus manifest in a yuga (aeon) consisting of lakhs of years. There will be a fifth Guru in between the end and beginning of a yuga. Sri Krishna was such a Guru, who came at the end of Dwapara Yuga and the beginning of Kaliyuga. We are living in Kaliyuga, which has duration of 4, 32,000 years. It is said that Kaliyuga commenced more than 5200 years back approx. after the death of Sri Krishna. Since the beginning of Kaliyuga, several sages and prophets have prophesied the birth of a Supreme Soul for the epochal change expected of Kaliyuga. We can see that the dharma and karma being observed today, particularly in reference to India, belongs to or is an appendage of an obsolete yuga, i.e. Dwapara Yuga and even dating back to Treta Yuga. When yuga dharma is not observed as willed by God, human civilization stagnates. Let humanity be led to the Supreme Guru, whose exposition of Yuga Dharma is exceedingly enlightening and a panacea for all the ills in the world.

Mukundan