Guru Gita Discourse- Fifteen

Soshanam Paapa-pankasya Deepanam Jnaana-tejasah
Guroh Paadodakam Samyak Samsaaraarnava-taarakam

The water rendered holy by the contact with the feet of the Guru (paada teertham) eliminates the dirt of sin and kindles the light of knowing. It takes us across the ocean of worldly existence.

Our soul actually is in the nature of pure consciousness without any dirt and inalienably connected to the eternal source of creation - God. However, the pure nature of soul is realized only at the end of a long process of spiritual evolution. The journey of the soul from a microbial state to the highest spiritual expansion involves innumerable births and deaths through a variety of life forms including plant and animal life. Human birth is the coveted fulfillment in such a long chain of evolution. In this journey soul gets tainted succumbing to various temptations of the senses and ego. These karmic imprints, good and bad, thus drag the soul through endless misery in the world. The merciful Guru only is the savior here. Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru while speaking about the greatness of the concept of Guru said the following.

“It is said that Guru is the personification of all Dharma -‘Guru Sakala Dharmatma’. Whichsoever births we have undergone, knowing the vices and virtues (acquired) in those incarnations, one should surrender all that in Guru. Guru gives ‘experience’ and crushes the karma in that experiential truth. Our soul has become dirtied in the passage of several births. Let us so consider that we are indeed good, virtuous. However, if you do not honor anyone, would you become virtuous? Entangled in one or other things, our mind gets stagnated in all that. How can you redeem such a muddled mind? We take birth, live and die like this ceaselessly. Only after millions of years, a soul gets guidance of a Guru. Man has a duty to evolve through the states of celestials (deva or devi), a rishi, sage, a seer and Muktha (liberated one). Guru is the guiding light, the witness of this (process). That is how Guru becomes ‘Sakala Dharmatma’- in whom exists all dharma. All celestials (gods & goddesses), Rishi and Sanyasi merge in the radiance of Guru”

Mukundan

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

Guru Gita Discourse Thirteen

Gurucharanam Saranam

Dehii Brahma Bhavet Yasmaat Tvat-kripaartham Vadaami Tat
Sarva-paapa-visudhaatma Srii-guroh Paada-sevanaat

I shall tell you for the sake of that kindness which makes a soul evolve into godhead. It is through service at the feet of the Guru that the soul frees itself from all sins and becomes purified.

The soul evolves into godhead. It is the fundamental scheme enshrined in the cosmic phenomenon. The soul exists, that we become aware of it through the consciousness of our own being, feelings, thoughts and actions. That the soul desires happiness and detests sorrow, we know. That the soul enjoys pleasures, yet it is dissatisfied, we know. Pleasure is the feelings derived through the five sense organs and ego while happiness is the state of enduring contentment emanating from the observance of dharma. And what is Dharma? Dharma is that very quality of our soul, which makes us aware of truth inherent in every substance, every being, every phenomenon and every situation. It is by this sense of dharma, we become aware of god, truth, love and kindness. It is again due to dharma we become aware of the need to evolve into highest perfection that is Godliness.

Now the question arises why some people become aware of dharma while some not. Here comes the boredom of sin and ignorance. Sin arises out of ignorance of dharma. Those who know dharma also commit sin sometime. That is due to another factor called vasana or the polluted karmic tendency (karmagati) in the soul. Those who have no bad karmagati may also commit sin due to the promptings of the ancestral souls through genetic or zodiacal channels or due to the spiritual debts and binding with the gods, spirits or masters they have worshipped. Therefore, we find that the problem of sin and ignorance is complex and cannot be resolved just by sermons. It cannot be rectified by erudition, knowledge or religious rituals either. The soul becomes conscious of dharma only through contact with the epitome of dharma, the Guru. Fire is born out of friction between two heat producing substance. Similarly when the aspiring soul of disciple comes into contact with Guru, the repository of dharma and spiritual realization, ignorance is dispelled and the flame of dharma and knowledge is kindled in the disciple. Therefore get in contact with Guru and serve him. This is the way of soul purification.

Mukundan

Guru Gita Discourse Twelve

Gurucharanam Saranam

Yadamghri-kamala-dwandwam Dwandwa-taapa-nivaarakam
Taarakam Bhava-sindhoscha Tam Gurum Pranamaamyaham

I salute that Guru, the pair of whose lotus feet remove the suffering owing to the consciousness of binaries and take us across the ocean of worldly life.

Suffering is the mental agony and agitation arising out of the dualities in life. Absence of food is the cause of suffering for a hungry man. When food is availed, the suffering ends but only to reappear. This is the truth of all sensory joys and pleasures. Like night follows day, sorrow follows all pleasures derived out of the mind body mechanism. So long as we are unable to transcend the contradictory experiences arising out from the interplay of sensory perceptions, human relations and aspirations in life, we would not savor peace of mind and experience tranquility of the Self. The way to tranquility is to fix our mind on the neutral point between sorrow and pleasure. What is that neutral point in us? It is the ever lasting consciousness in us concentrating on which one attains peace. Spirituality is this knowing of the self and nurturing it.

Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru affirmed that every soul is born subject to the cosmic rules and regulations. Life takes birth under 12 constellations, 27 stars and 9 planets in the solar system carrying unique spiritual rays that affect human life and character. This cosmic regulation is not a random arrangement but is decided by the karmic qualities and evolutionary status of the soul. Then there are the strong karmic, spiritual and ancestral bonds and debts the soul is tied with from previous lives. A Guru of transcendental experience knows the soul of the disciple. By the sword of his grace, he cuts these bonds and lifts the disciple to transcendental bliss. Through the service to Guru, the soul gets gradually purified of all impurities and inimical influences. Only then, the disciple can hope to reach the realm of spiritual experience. Therefore, in the three worlds, only the lotus feet of Guru, who is knowledge manifest, can remove the pangs of suffering and limitation of the soul.

Worldly life is compared to an ocean because of its impenetrable depth, unpredictable currents, and dangerous threats. It is perennial, riddle-some and difficult for one to swim over to the other end of this ocean called life. But the Guru of transcendental vision enables the inquisitive and enthusiastic disciple to cross over this difficult ocean. The peace and tranquility of the spirit definitely lies beyond the turbulent waters of life.

Guru Gita Discourse Eleven

Gurucharanam Saranam

Goodda-avidya Jagan-maayaa Dehamajnaana-sambhavam
Vijnaanam Yat Prasaadena Guru-sabdena Kathyate

Ignorance is not easily perceivable. The world is illusory. The physical body is caused to be born from this ignorance. That benevolence which results in knowledge (that cuts asunder this ignorance) is expressed by the word Guru.

Here ‘Avidya’ – the ignorance causing delusory perception of the material world is said to be a riddle. The argument is in line with Vedantic perception of God and the Universe. Vedanta advocates that only God exists in reality, the world phenomenon being a mirage, a delusory perception. It could be so for a realized soul. But for all other practical purposes and for unrealized souls the physical world is very much a reality and is the very medium by which the highest Truth is known. Though it has been mentioned that the world is ‘maaya’ – an illusion, it only means that it is a phenomenon to be transcended. However, one should not deny its existence as merely illusion. Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru did not agree with the popular interpretation of ‘maaya’. The world phenomenon is for real and has a scientific basis of its own based on the karmic and evolutionary principles of the soul, the jeeva. Only on transcending the karmic bonds and evolutionary spiritual layers, by understanding and observing right dharma and karma according to the wheel of cosmic time, the individual soul would get rid of delusion and realize its imperishable nature.

To wish away the world of karma and evolution as maaya is a self deluding philosophical discourse. The soul is bound to the physical body so long as the karmic seed is present. The release from the physical limitations is possible only by transcending certain spiritual planes. Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru speaks of ten such spiritual skies such as the plane of human beings, of Pitrus (ancestors), of Devas, of Rishis etc. From the third to sixth stages of soul transformation, it is the plane of celestial beings and Trimurthis, the trinity in Hinduism. It is said that there are billions of souls in these spiritual skies, several times more the population of the human world. Once the spiritual plane of Trimurthis (devi-devas), is transcended the soul assumes the form of light, losing its characteristics of name and form. This happens at the seventh stage of spiritual transformation.

According to Guru, after the seventh stage also, there are some more spiritual planes before the soul succeeds to merge with the Brahman, the Supreme Universal Support. No soul can transcend these spiritual planes without the help of a Guru, who has himself transcended these spiritual planes. And at every step of spiritual transformation, there are unimaginable impediments and resistance from the souls already inhabiting these spiritual skies. Only through the grace of Guru, this spiritual wisdom could be realized by an aspirant. This is the truth and significance of Guru.

Mukundan

Gurugita Discouse Ten

Gurucharanam Saranam

Guru-budhyaatmano Naanyat Satyam Satyam Varaanane!
Tallaabhaarttham Prayatnastu Karthavyascha Maneeshibhih

According to the wisdom of Guru, there is nothing separate from the Soul. This verily is the truth, O beautiful one! Intelligent men should strive for its attainment as it is their duty.

Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru said, ‘What is it called as God? It is an actualization (karma) that evolves out of the interplay of five sheaths (panchakosa) and five senses in synchronization with the solitary Consciousness (jeevatma) and Supreme Consciousnesses (paramatma)’.

Everything is perceived or experienced through our consciousness, the ‘soul’. If there were no consciousness (soul), there would be only blankness. We cannot even know that we exist. That is why it is said that there is nothing separate from the soul. Only in the soul, in that consciousness screen we perceive and experience life and the universe. This existential awareness is the truth and veracity behind spirituality. By knowing our nature as pure consciousness we come to know of its eternal imperishable support, the Supreme Consciousness or God. Our physical bodies are like houses in which inhabits the blissful soul encased in astral layers or zones viz. the Intelligence zone (vijnanamaya kosa), Mind zone (Manomaya kosa), the zone of functional energies (pranamaya kosa) and finally the karmic body made of food (annamayakosa). The microbial soul is constantly throbbing to expand by transcending the limitations of astral encasements in order to find its peace in the unconditioned blissful Consciousness.

Though the Supreme Truth is without name and form, we can have its meaningful cognition through the medium of the Universal Soul, which acts as its qualitative empirical experience (Saguna Brahman). This Universal Soul is verily the Guru Consciousness. Being the first born of the formless Truth, it is known as Aadi Guru – the Primal Guru from whom have emerged both the blue print and the building blocks of the universe. This is the wisdom of the seers of Sanatana Dharma.

According to the astral plan of Adi Guru the Creation is ordained. First the Saptarshis (the seven primary Rishis) were born and through their contemplation 12 constellations, 27 stars and 9 planets also get created. From the interpenetration and interplay of these divine energies, a replica of the soul is created in the waters of the earth with the warmth of the sun and the cool rays of the moon. In the Upanishads the Sun is compared to the soul of man and the moon his mind. We may know that the soul qualities of man are thus reflective of and related to the constellations, stars and planets. Along with the cosmos, creation of other astral substances such as time, space and locations also took place.

The soul requires space around it to breath and to expand, hence the creation of the planetary system, revolving under which through many births, through many life forms, learning and self-evolving, the soul attains dissolution in the Absolute Truth transcending all spiritual planes. This happens under the auspices of Manus (primal human ancestors or spiritual authorities) according to an astral calendar. Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru taught us that the guru-disciple bond is the elucidation of this cosmic truth. In his discourse to Parvati, Lord Siva informs that all intelligent people should be orienting life to this divine truth as it is the very meaning of life.

Mukundan

Gurugita Discourse Nine

Gurucharanam saranam

Japastapo Vritam Teertham Yajno Daanam Tathaiva Cha
Guru-tatwam-avijnaaya Sarvam Vyartham Bhavet Priye!

O Dear One! Japa (the recitation of mantra) Tapa (spiritual austerities) Vritam (Vows), Teertham (Visiting of Holy Places) and also the path of Jnaana (Knowledge) and Daana (Charities) come to naught if one does not know the truth of Guru.


Majority of us are engaged in one or other form of spiritual practices. In fact atheists are an insignificant minority in the world. Even atheists have god, their conscience. What is our concept of God? No one could claim to have a clue about god for god is incomprehensible to human intelligence and sensory perception. However all of us still keep an image or idea about god and do certain practices, observe rituals and follow some ideologies, gurus or prophets which give us varying degrees of moral and mental satisfaction. But stil we feell some emptiness, of having not fully realized life. We know that we are bound and caged in a limited space. We have not yet reached that shore beyond, that of unshackled Freedom, Light and Knowledge.

‘It is true that what really exists is the formless Truth, beyond all conceptions, like the limitless sky’. Navajyoti Sri Karunkara Guru said.

The actual spiritual truth exists well beyond the mind boggling multiplicities of forms and ideologies that trouble human mind perpetually. The spiritual truth is an experience beyond, in the quietened state of the soul. We experience different states of consciousness, sometime tied to the physical, mental, intellectual or the soul. There is a painful gravitational struggle in life when the soul tries to traverse these consciousness borders, lifting us to the subtler and subtler existential truth. Similarly, a struggle of grave nature awaits a truth seeker while passing through the strata of spiritual evolution before realizing the Ultimate Reality – God. But the seekers of truth get stuck at various borderlines of spirituality, unable to raise themselves beyond. Here our attachment to symbols and rituals or spiritual and cultural conditionings would not help. What helps us in this dilemma is the supreme grace of Guru, who can lift us up from there.

‘If there is a formless nature to Truth, in what all (consciousness) states they exist? This should be shown by guru. There are many who have seen (experienced) the Truth. But Guru is not who has seen it, but who imparts it (this experience) to others’ (Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru).

Many are the ideologies and practices, one or the other of which we fanatically or ignorantly follow, while disputing and disliking the others. Surely we are in a domain of ignorance. Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru never denied the truth in others. What He said was that we should evolve to the formless nature of Truth, which is possible only by getting rid of soul’s karmic and spiritual liabilities accrued during the course of many births and deaths. In this effort, only the grace of Guru helps. The Guru meant here is not a Guru in lower spiritual zones, but a Guru who takes us across the borderless spiritual experience as expected of this age by godly Will. Alas, today the spiritual fraternity is groping in the dark in search of that Light.



Mukundan

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

Guru Gita Discourse Seven

Gurucharanam Saranam

Durlabham Trishu-lokeshu Tacchrunushwa Vadaamyaham
Gurum Brahma Vinaa Naanyat Satyam Satyam Varaanane

O beautiful one! I will tell you that which is very rare in the three worlds. Please listen. Guru is none other than the Absolute Brahman – God Himself. This verily is the truth.

Comments:

The lore of Siva and Parvati belonged to a time segment when the tradition of Trimurthi worship (worship of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva) was in vogue. The concept of Guru-disciple though existed and Gurus were treated in high esteem, they were however not given a status above the gods by Vaidikas (the Vedic ritualists). Worship of gods was promoted and given prominence by the Vedic priests.


There is the story of Atri Maharshi in the scriptures. Once Indra, the king of gods was cursed by Rishi Gautama, as Indra had spoiled the chastity of Gautama’s wife. (Just think how noble indeed the deeds of gods whom we offer worship!) Due to the curse, the body of Indra became disfigured with suppurating wounds. He approached the trinity gods, Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara and requested them to save him from the curse. But the gods informed him about their inability to save him from the curse of a sage. At this juncture, Narada, advised Indra to go to Atri Maharshi, whose ashram was situated in the vicinity of Mount Mainakam (now believed to have been submerged under the sea near Kanyakumari).


Indra in desperation came down to the ashram of Atri and begged him to cure him of the dreaded curse. The kind hearted Atri asked his wife to help Indra. She brought the ‘paada teertham’ (water made holy by washing the feet of her husband, sage Atri) and sprinkled on Indra. Lo, the king of gods, Indra was free of the disease and thus got a fresh whiff of life. This place is known as ‘Sucheendram’ even today. Sucheendram means the place where Indra got purified of his sins. So who is great and noble in this story? The gods or Atri Maharshi? You may decide yourself.


But the erstwhile religious depredators had decided that they would not grant a sage a position above the gods. So what happened at Sucheendram? Atri Maharshi was buried deep under the sands of Sucheendram only to be remembered in a long forgotten dream. Today Brahma and Indra are worshipped in Sucheendram temple, not Atri, which is supposedly the place of Samadhi of Atri Maharshi. (Similarly is the case of Sri Krishna and Buddha, who were great souls of spiritual transcendence. However, in the subsequent ages, an attempt was made to equate them with the celestial gods by weaving mythical stories).


This is that secret of Guru, which Siva is explaining to Parvati for her proper understanding. The Guru Lord Siva is mentioning about is such a sage, who has transcended the celestial planes of ghosts, goblins, angels, gods and whatever other spirits and beings inhabit there and who going beyond the dualities of heaven and hell, name and form has merged with the Supreme Light to be its reflection, to be its medium. Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru said that in front of such a sage, the gods are insignificant and of no consequence.



Mukundan

Guru Gita Discourse Six

Gurucharanam Saranam

Siva Said:

Mama Ruupaasi Devi Twam Twad-bhaktyartham Vadaamyaham
Lokopakaarakah Prasno Na Kenaapi Kritah Puraa

O divine one! You are my own Being. Owing to your devotion, I am revealing it to you. This question, which is beneficial to the world, has not been asked by anyone before.

Comments:
Siva, the popular god of great asceticism, is pleased by the unblemished devotion of Parvati. He equals her to his own Self. Their identification with each other is total. It is the saga of guru and disciple! Guru pours his grace, his ‘Self’ itself to the disciple, like the downpour that soothes the parched earth, the thirty heart of the disciple. Guru with endless patience waits for the arrival of such a disciple and the disciple for such a Guru. Many are people who go to Guru, but more often than not, they do it for the appeasement of worldly desires. And why not? Guru is verily Kamadhenu, the heavenly cow that grants your wishes.

After the era of Siva and Parvati, have we ever heard about another Parvati, the disciple Parvati? It would be wrong to say no. We have an incomparable example in our times, of Sishya Poojita Janani Amrita Jnana Tapaswini, of total surrender, love and dedication to the Guru. Imagine her devotion which forsook the comfort of home at the playful age of a child; imagine that wisdom, that courage which forsook the parents, dear and near ones for the sake of Guru. Sishya Poojita - she has even excelled Parvati of yore in the matter of devotion to Guru. Here one new epic has begun. With the pure passion of love and devotion to Guru, Sishyapoojita earned what a woman could never even dream about in the spiritual realm.

We do come across people, both in the ancient and modern era, who ask questions like ‘who am I’ or ‘who is God’ etc. But we hardly hear this imploration, ‘what is the secret of Guru concept?’, ‘what is the greatness of Guru?’ or how should one identify a Guru? People talk endlessly about the glory of the god of their faith, about the soul and the universe, questions well beyond human clarity; but the Guru concept is abandoned. There are reasons, however. The Guru concept is a highly secretive knowledge and Guru a rare occurrence, a rare manifestation. It is not our dry intellectual conceptions and blind faith that brings about spiritual progression, but the grace of Supreme Light channeled to us through the medium of Guru.

Well, from perennial time, humanity has not well pondered over this question, as affirmed by Siva here that this question Parvati asked about Guru had not been asked by anyone before.

Mukundan

Guru Gita Discourse Five

Gurucharanam Saranam

Kena Maargena Bho Swaamin Dehii Brahmamayo Bhavet
Tat-kripaam Kuru Me Swaamin Namaami Charanau Tava

O Lord! Kindly tell me about that path by which soul attains union with God. O Lord! I bow at your feet.

Comments:
The eternal thirst of the jeeva; the essence of life; that is the question Parvati asked Siva. How to discharge one’s soul in Brahman, in God? In the journey of jeeva for this ultimate goal in life, one does not know how many births and deaths, how many lives of transformation and evolution it had undergone, before reaching this door of enlightenment to knock and ask , ‘how do I merge with God’ and find eternal peace. Parvati is that soul, that symbol of a disciple who has reached to this ultimate refinement in life.

Here we are faced with the real meaning of spirituality. What helps one here is not tradition or culture, blind religiosity or philosophies, rituals or riches, name or fame, but only GURU, of Godly experience. Therefore, to find the peace of soul, neutralizing all dualities in life, one ultimately sets out in search of Guru.

‘The Guru disciple bond is the most sublime subject’, Navajyoti Sri Karuakara Guru said. It goes beyond our traditional concept of Guru and Sishya; the treatment of this subject is taken unduly in a personalized context by some, even in a light vein by few others. Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru takes the concept of Guru and Sishya to a most elevated platform of spiritual realization when he said:

‘It is said that Guru is the embodiment of all dharma (Guru Sakala Dharmatma). We realize ourselves the vice and virtue in our soul accrued through many births and deaths that we have undergone and (in the end) submit everything (this karmic imprints of vice and virtue) at the feet of Guru. Guru by imparting spiritual experience breaks (such) karmic bonds in the light of that experience’.

This is the quintessence of Guru, the essentiality of the medium of Guru in God realization. Here we find Parvati, an example of true spiritual seeker surrendering at the feet of her Guru in all earnestness beseeching him to guide her in the science of the soul.

Mukundan

Guru Gita Discourse Four

Gurucharanam Saranam

Suuta Said:
Kailaasa-shikhare Ramye Bhakti-saadhana Hetave
Pranamya Paarvatii Bhaktyaa Sankaram Paripruchhati

At the beautiful mount of Kailas, Paarvati, bowing in devotion submits a question to Sankara (Siva), for the sake of nurturing devotion.

Paarvati said:

Bhagavan Sarva Dharmajna Vrataanaam Vratanaayakam
Bhruuhi Me Kripayaa Sambho Guru-maahaatmya-muthamam

O Lord! Knower of all Dharma! O Shambhu! You are the greatest among ascetics. Kindly disclose to me the supreme greatness of Guru.

Comments:
For a woman, her husband is her Guide, her Guru and therefore her God. This is the dharma as per Sanatana tradition. A husband should be such an elevated soul with the knowledge of dharma, karma and right spiritual knowledge. In the ancient Rishi tradition, a child is therefore sent to the ashram of Guru to get trained and educated in these concepts. When he thus completes his education from the Guru, he is directed to lead a worldly life according to dharma, based on true spiritual wisdom. Such a man becomes qualified to become a proper householder, an ideal husband.

The conjugal bliss and prosperity of home fundamentally rests on this. It is due to this, Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru has given utmost importance to the institution of marriage and family, by bringing to fore this long lost Rishi tradition in the Ashram. It is the revival of Sanatana Dharma and the noble institution of family.

A husband has a sacred responsibility of elevating his wife too, to the pedestal of his attainments- both spiritual and temporal. How glad we would be to come across such blessed couples in our times! Here we find the epitome of that principle in Siva and Parvati. The example of Siva and Parvati has always been extolled in the sacred literature and by poets like Kalidasa. Kalidasa described the union of Siva and Parvati as inseparable as the 'word' is to its 'meaning'.

Parvati herself is well known for her practices of spiritual austerities. She worships Siva as the greatest ascetic and the knower of dharma. In her devotion to Siva, she finds latent in him the principles of sacred Guru-hood, which inspired her to ask him the question about the whole concept of Guru, which is very much hidden knowledge.

Guru Gita Discourse Three

Gurucharanam Saranam

The Rishis Said:

Guhyaat Guhyatamam Saaram Gurugiita Visheshatah
Twat Prasaadaaccha Shrotavyaa Tat Sarvam Bhruuhi Suuta Naha

O Suuta! Guru Gita is very unique, and its contents holding greatest hidden meaning. Therefore may it please you to render all of that, which would be suitable for our ears!

Comments:

Guru Gita is in the form of a dialogue between Siva and his consort Paarvati. Sage Suuta was a disciple of Vyasa and the son of sage Loma. He was approached by a group of rishis who were eager to go into the depths of the law of Guru. Suuta, then contacts through his visionary wisdom the knowledge that was given by Siva to Parvati on the mystery of GURU. And Suuta relates it to the eager rishis.

Guru Gita thus commences here.

One of the qualities of a spiritual seeker is said to be the quality of inquisitiveness or eagerness for knowledge. Where there is no desire for knowledge, it would be futile to sow the seed of wisdom. Once the disciples of Buddha asked the Noble One that why he was unable to liberate the suffering masses through his teachings of Noble Dharma! Upon this Buddha asked his disciples to go and bring any person they could find desiring liberation.

As advised by Buddha, the disciples went down to the nearby village. Door to door they went. They were surprised to find out that all persons wanted something or the other in life, but not liberation. All wanted just solutions to problems which are in abundance in life and are found to recur without an end. The disciples thus returned to Buddha disappointed. They were unable to find a single person desiring salvation!

Most of us are not prepared to look beyond and search for permanent solutions and remedies to the problems and riddles in life. But the ascetics- the rishis are noble souls of wisdom and the opportunity to learn from a great sage is made use of with an urgency of knowing the truth related to Guru.

Mukundan

Guru Gita Discourse Two

Gurucharanam Saranam

Sri Guru Gita
(The Guru Disciple Paradigm)

Achintya-avyaktaruupaaya Nirgunaaya Gunaatmane
Samastha-jagadaadhaara Muurthaye Brahmane Namah

Salutations to Brahman, the Supreme Being, who is incomprehensible and of unmanifest form and who is with and without attributes and who is the support of the whole universe!

Comments: Sant Kabir once said that if God and Guru were to come together before him, he would first bow at the feet of Guru; for it was Guru who made him experience God! Though the Supreme Light of Consciousness (Nirguna Brahman, Brahman without attributes) is the changeless Reality, it can be experienced only through the existential binary - the Jeevatma (Individual Soul) and Paramatma (Saguna Brahman, the Supreme Manifested Self with attributes).

The individual soul is only a relative truth in as much as that it has no independent and permanent existence of its own. Jeevatma is tethered to the Supreme Manifested Self, like the wave is to the ocean, like the child is to its father. The universe comprising of all souls has its support and sustenance in this Supreme Manifested Self, the Saguna Brahman. It is the cosmic projection of Nirguna Brahman and indivisibly cohabitant. That is the reason, Guru, the Saguna Brahman, is realized and worshipped as Brahman itself. Guru Gita tries to project this truth throughout its discourse.

This mantra is both the invocation and definition of God. In beautiful terms, it tries to define God as the Unknowable and Indefinable Support of the Universe, the Eternal Truth, with and without Attributes.

Mukundan