Deivathin Kural # 6 (of Vol 2 )

Om Namah Sivaya.
Deivathin Kural # 6 (of Vol 2 ) of 09 June 2007.
1. These e-mails, are chapter wise translations of the lectures given by, Sri Chandra Sekharendra Swamigal, of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. Every day, after the daily Puja, He used to talk, on various aspects concerning Hinduism. These are published, in Tamil, by Vanady Padippagam, T.Nagar, Chennai, as Deivathin Kural, in seven volumes of a thousand pages each. To-day's talk is titled, 'Guru Bakthi', that is, 'Devotion to Guru', in pages 43 to 50, of Deivathin Kural, Volume 2. (Unless otherwise specified, 'He' herein includes 'She'.)
2. If you ask me as to why it is said that, 'Guru is geater than God himself; devotion to Guru is more important than devotion to God', my answer is as follows. No body has seen God. But, Guru is the one we could directly see, interact with, is also a very clean person having Gnanam, has an unshakeable mind firmly rivetted on the Reality, to whom we can surrender. If we can have the chance to get such a Guru, we can get the peace of mind for which we quest for God. That is why, it is said :- Gurur Brhma Gurur Vishnu Gurur Devo Maheswara : I
3. In this sloka, one speciality is that, it talks of the oneness of Guru and God. The second speciality is that it talks of the oneness of Brhma, Vishnu and Maheswara. So through Guru Vandana, we not only get their blessings, but also attain to 'abheda bhava', that is non-differentiating attitude.
4. God has to do many things. He has to create, sustain and destruct. Guru has no such job. God has an office. Guru does not have one. Instead of troubling someone with too many duties to perform, we can get our job done easily through someone who has no other job. Whatever great qualities are there in God, Guru has them also. He is perfectly clean. He does not bluff. He does not dupe. He has mastered his senses.
Brimming with love and kindness. We see Him directly. We do not see God. So, to be devoted to Guru is considered to be superior to being devoted to God. This does not mean to say that devotion to God is to be forgotten. If to get a Guru is God's blessings, Guru connects us with God. So, neither are to be forgotten or ignored, as long as we think of them as apart. You have no problems whatsoever, when you have started seeing their oneness.
5. Sri Sankara's Viveka Chudamani says, 'By God's blessings, a man gets three big opportunities, namely, one - to be born as a human being; two - to get the urge to know the truth / reality; three - to get a Guru who is a Mahatma' :-
durlabham thriameveithath devanugraha hethukam I
manushyathvam, mumukshutvam mahapurushasya samsraya : II
6. The Guru for all people, for ever is God Himself, in the form of Dakshinamurthy :- 'sarva poorvesham api guru : kalenaanavachedat'.
meaning that, 'as he is not bounden by the factor of time, God is the Guru of all Gurus'. If you go back in time, as to who is your Guru, his Guru, Guru's Guru and so on and so on; we will have to end up with God. That is why I said that, whosoever is your Guru, we are not to forget, God as the Guru.
7. This same thing can be viewed in a different way too. Not thinking Guru and God as two different entities, if we take that God has come in the form of Guru, then we do not have to be devoted seperately to God and Guru. With the idea that Guru and God are one, we can surrender to Him. Then we do not have to assume the responsibility to assess the Guru's worth. Whether that Guru is worth or not, even when He is not very clean or attined to Gnana, our surrender is inclusive of our capabilities of assessment, since after all, through the human Guru, we are surrendering to the ultimate. Then, through that Guru, God sanctions our liberation! That is why, in childhood we are told, :-
gurur brhma gurur vishnu : gurur devo maheswara : I
gurus satchath parabrhma thasmai sri gurave nama : II
8. While talking about Vyasa, as amongst the acharyas for 'Brhma Vidya', the essence of this above sloka, is said in a more interesting way as under :-
achatur vadano brhma, dvi bahur aparo hari : I apala lochano sambu : bagawan badarayana : II
9. Badarayana, is another name for Vyasa. He is, 'achatur vadano brhma', meaning, 'Brhma, though not with four faces, but one'; 'dvi bahur aparo hari :' meaning, 'Vishnu, though not with four hands, but one'; 'apala lochana : sambu :', meaning, 'Sambu, though without the third eye'.
10. There is nobody better than Guru. We should have total devotion to him. It should be true devotion. We should feel that God has come to us in human form. Once we have that feeling, then, we do not even need to have seperate love for God and Guru. Our love for the Guru will do quite sufficiently. For Vaishnavas, the devotion to Guru is more important. If we commit an error of commission or omission against God, we do not have to go to God and ask for a pardon. It is enough to take up with the Guru and he can sort it out. But if we do something wrong in our dealings with the Guru, God is likely to say, 'Sorry. You better go back to your Guru. I can not intervene'. 'If Guru recommends the Sishya's case, God will accept. But if you antogonise your Guru, no one can help you', says a sloka in Guru Gita :-
Sive rushte guruthratha gurow rushte na kaschana II
11. That is why, Guru Bakthi is spoken of highly by Sastras. Even if you get, not so good a Guru, keeping him as friend, guide and philosopher, you should continue to be devoted to him and God. By our devotion we are not doing a favour to Guru or God. It is us who have to benefit from this relationship. What is this benefit? We are full of dirt, inefficient, incapable, unsure and full of doubts. We are not able to stop our minds from its oscillations. Unless we become complete, peaceful, undisturbed; either become or realise our completeness; we will always remain short of the ultimate. But, if we think of the Guru as being full of the qualities, that we find wanting in ourselves and be devoted, that is enough. We will imbibe the needed qualities and benefit. We will become that or the sense of seperateness will drop off. That is, we will know our real, happy state. Our Sastras say that, to know about our reality, we need to have devotion to Guru and devotion to God.
12. The fact that, 'we will get Gnanam by Gurus grace', is given in Santokya Upanishad. 'acharyavan purusho veda'-- says the Upanishad, meaning that, 'the man who has Guru, gets to know'. It runs like a small story. There was a man from Gaandhaar. (What is called the Kand-haar, a semi desert area, in Afganistan now.) If he is taken far away to another country, given a tight bandage around his eyes with his hands tied to his back. If he is left in a forest, what will be his condition? That is our condition now. Total confusion. (KTSV Adds - In Tamil, when completely bamboozled, they used to say, "kannai katti kattula vittappola irukku". I am certain, similar expression must be there in other Indian languages too, since the idea has been taken from the Santokya Upanishad, and we Indians are imbibed with such wisdom without knowing the origins) Somebody comes to him, unties him and gives him directions to go to Gaandhaar. He does not cry or fear any more, but goes back to Gaandhaar, where he came from ! Similarly, by Guru's upadesa, we can trace our way back to the starting point -- says Santokya Upanishad.
13. Sri Sankharacharya, who came to be known as 'Jagat Guru', sings the praise of his Guru, everywhere and everytime. "What is the use of whatever name and fame that a man can get, if he has not tied his mind securely to the feet of his Guru? Then what?" He does not ask, "then what", once, but four times in each stanza of the poem, 'Gurvashtakam', -- "tatha : kim? tatha : kim? tatha : kim? tatha : kim?" In that small poem of eight stanzas, four into eight, thirty two times he asks (our minds), 'so then what?'
14 In the end, before dropping this mortal coil too, he advices:-
sad vidvan upasrupyatam
prati dinam tat paduka sevyatam
brhmaikaksharam ardyatam
sruti siro vakyam samakarnyatam, meaning, "find and adopt a 'sat vidvan' (good learned) as the Guru; do daily pooja to his feet; from him take/get pranava and upanishada mahavakya upadesa." (For the Guru who said, 'prati dinam tat paduka sevyatam', His paduka are being venerated with 'pada puja', every day, till date.
15. What he says here is about the 'Sanyasa Guru', who gives Sanyasa. In that asrama only, pranvopasana, maha vakya anusandanam and search for moksha, happens. This is the last asrama. First is the Brhmacharya Asrama, wherein one has to approach a Guru, who is a Gruhasta and learn Veda Adhyayana and Veda Karma Anushtana. In between are the Gruhasta and Vanaprasta. Finally come to the state of Sanyasa, advices the Guru.
16. Why Veda Karma in the beginning ? Only when ones mind has fully subsided, the Pranava and Mahavakya upadesa can be effective. With a scattered mind, these upadesas cannot be of any use whatsoever. If you sow the seeds on ground which has not been tilled and irrigated, will it sprout? We hear many upanyasas, lectures on many spiritual subjects, read the Gita and Upanishads with translations, explanations and commentary in the language we understand. Do we gather any value out of it ? If so, we should have become calm and quiet and peaceful ourselves first. (KTSV adds :- We should get over our proclivity to assess others, unless it was our business to do so. More importantly, if the would be Sishya ventures to assess the Guru's potential, he will never get a Guru. However as a touch stone, one of the tests to know whether sombody is a Gnani or not, and whether he may be one's future Guru, check this out :- 'The one whose proximity and very presence subsides one's mind and creates an atmosphere of peace; know that, such a person is a Realised soul'.)
17. So, such reading and lectures do not give lasting effects, due to lack of preparation on our part. Acharyal says, 'Do Vaidika Karmas as required of you, without awaiting the results. Instead of expecting results, think of those actions as 'Easwara Arpanam', meaning 'offerings in obeisance to God'. Over time, this gives clarity of mind and peace. The mind has to be tilled and irrigated, by Karma and Bakthi respectively. Devotion to God and Guru. In the presence of such noble souls, whether we hear them, or hear someone else saying some thing. it gets deeply into our minds. This is because of the uni-directional-attention that evolves in their 'sannidyam' or presence. This does not happen in the office or club or library. That is why it is said that, Mantras and Upadesas should be got through a Guru. Our lack of awareness is very deep and thick. So if we go to that place where the thickness of our 'agnana', will lessen, 'gnana' can and will enter.
18. Thus having done adyayana and learnt the Vedas from the Guru in Brhmacharya Asrama; having done ones duties as meticulously as possible, without being too concerned about the apparent results of such Karma, in Gruhastha Asrama; and having refined oneself physically, mentally and spiritually in Vanaprastha Asrama; when we hear the Pranava and Mahavakya Upadesa from the Sanyasa Asrama Guru; Jeeva attains to totality of Gnana. For the Jeeva to find his oneness with Paramatma, from the beginning to the end, 'it is Guru, who is the friend, guide and philosopher !' That is why, Guru Bakthi is spoken so highly of, everywhere.
Sambhomahadeva.