Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Guru

Where can I find a good guru in this Kali yuga? What are the qualities I should look for in a Guru? How do I select my guru?

First and foremost – we don’t select a Guru. Guru selects and accepts us as a disciple.

Next most important question is Guru’s qualities is the last thing that I need to look into if I am a true student /shishya. It’s the student whose attitude should be of a disciple and a seeker. Now what does that mean? It means a disciple should have the essential qualities of :
1. The never-die attitude of wanting to learn and unlearn all that he knows at every stage of his growth.
2. He should for the start drop the ego’s “But I already know this/heard it /red it, but just not able to apply…..” attitude. This is the most biggest tumbling block in the learning possibility of a student.
3. Surrender. Should be able to surrender to the Guru’s word and Command totally without a blink of an eye. Most difficult because of ‘I don’t want to lose my identity to get anything in return’ attitude.
4. Believe in guru’s word and intention without an inch of doubt. Belief that says Guru can do only good for me.
5. Do as the Guru asks you to do and not do as the Guru does – the most important one to follow.
6. Listen to Guru from emptiness and then imbibe all that is received from guru into one’s system.

Once having selected a Guru, who benefits the most from him? What is the best that can be had from a Guru?
It’s undoubtedly his Grace. Once, that is received then there is no looking back for that person. But, the grace necessarily need not benefit a seeker in physical, emotional or in financial betterment at all.

They may come as a by-product of Guru’s Sanidhyam – that is proximity. Here, proximity need not again mean physical proximity. The nearer you are the more you are thinking of your Guru, the more you are connected to him. So, thoughts connect you more to your Guru than sitting near him or for that matter any other thing in the world. So, always stay connected.

You receive what you seek from the Guru. If it’s physical and tangible benefits that you seek, that you’ll receive. If it’s intangible then that’s what you would receive. But, seek the best and the most treasured – His love and grace which is so rarely asked for itself. It takes you to Moksha and liberates you from the ignorance that binds you to the cycle of Karma.

Sometimes, because of past Karmas we may come across a Guru in our life, but our present attitudes and actions may take us away from his grace and proximity. The qualities that do this job effortlessly are complaining about Guru, asking and telling Guru how to be and by being jealous of you master /Guru.

Most cheapest of all characters certainly would be being jealous of a person who’s shown you the way to come out of all of your problems. But, instead of feeling and wishing good for him, if one is jealous of his Guru – then well, what do I say of such a person? Even devils would disown him.

The Most easiest to stop would be not being jealous of your Guru and next stop finding fault of your master. A student and his master are completely at two totally different platform which a student with his limitations can’t see or understand. Why a master does what he does or does not do what he doesn’t do can’t be understood by a student whose perception is always “I” driven. It’s not just difficult but impossible to gauge the Guru’s intention and purpose of doing or not doing something. So, just Do as the Master asks you to, don’t do as the Master does.

The student who is innocent is always nearer and receives the grace of his Master with no effort on his side. His mere innocence bestows Master’s grace onto his life. So, Drop the pseudo-logic and pseudo-intelligence if you wish to benefit from your Master’s presence in your life.

May the grace of the Master be ever on you……….

2 comments:

padmaja said...

Guru describes a spiritual teacher or master. A Guru has the power and wisdom to dissolve spiritual ignorance in a disciple. A true Guru has attained a extreme high degree of spiritual development before acting as a Guru. A traditional Guru has achieved God-realization before starting to teach. Exceptions are, when a Guru starts to teach while his Guru has still a physical body and spiritually supervises and guides him. In this case he often refers to his Guru when teaching to his disciples. A fully realized Guru having attained God-Union during the present incarnation has no need to refer to anyone else but God, as God is his true Guru and supervisor during his activities while teaching. He acts on behalf of God, never on behave of his personality.

Supriya said...

So true! Becoming a true student and staying that way is a journey in itself. Dropping the ego and taming our mind is just the start. I am trying to become a proper student, and looks like I have a long way to go.

Also, I could not help but think of the word ‘jealousy’. I have been thinking of it for the past few months. Was thinking of how it precedes every feelings of dislike and hatred. Of how this feeling exists even between the best of friends or between close relatives and family members even though we call each other close and go around flaunting our love for/bond with each other. How this word lives within us!

It is a feeling encouraged by our ego. Most of the times we admit to disliking someone, but hardly ever acknowledge our jealousy towards them. And we never acknowledge our jealousy towards our near and dear ones - it only shows up in our acts (ex: trying to outdo them in certain tasks that they have shown skills in).

This jealousy blocks us from living any relationship completely, including that of a student to a guru.

I am thinking of certain examples when I am writing this, but I am sure there is more to it than I understand.