GURU
MAHIMA
' hymns in praise of guru
'
Rahuganaitat Tapasana yati
Na
cejyaya nirvapanad grhad va
Na
chandasa naiva jalagni suryair
Vina mahat-pada –rajo abhi sekan
Bagavatham 5.12.12
Meaning:
My dear Rahugna no one can attain
the perfected stage of devotional service without being favored by a great
soul or a pure devotee. No one can attain the perfected stage simply by
following regulative principles of scriptures or by accepting the
renounced order of life or by prosecuting the prescribed duty of house
holder or by becoming a great student of spiritual science or by
accepting sever austerity and penances for realization.
No work we can do by
our self. We have to depend for even smallest of job on others. E.g. the
food we eat has to be first sown by some one, harvested by some one,
transported by some one, cooed by some one then only we can eat it. If we
go to a new place we need some one to guide us, we are ignorant about so
many things.
When this is the case for material things
how could we assume that without a backing of a supreme soul (Sathguru) we
would attain a perfect stage in devotion. This is clearly stated in above
verse, any amount of practice in respect of accepting renounced order of
life or following regulative principles would be futile sans Sathguru’s
grace.
Practicing rites, rituals meditation
without the backing of Sathguru is like being able to read and write a
foreign language without understanding the meaning of it. Our mind is like
magnet always attracted to the worldly things which is nothing but rust.
We need a strong power who is Guru to demagnetize our mind so that
unwanted things don’t disturb us.
Swami Ramanuja was a great Sathguru our
Hindu Dharma has witnessed. He was determined to uplift even the smallest
of the creature. Embaar Govindar was one of his renowned shisyaa
(disciple). He was the disciple who proudly said “illai enaku edhir illai
enaku edhir illai enaku edhire” which means “Ramanuja’s image being always
in my mind I don’t have a comparison.”
People in the ‘Madam’ (place of dwelling of
holy saints) stared talking ill about Embaar Govindar. These talks reached
the ears of swami Ramanuja. One day he called one of his disciples and
told him to bring the needle which was lying in the next room, the
disciples went to room and to his surprise he found the room was pitch
dark and to find the needle in the darkness seemed to be impossible. He
started wondering why Guru was giving such a task; he returned and told
Swami Ramanujar that he couldn’t find the needle because the room was
dark.
Swami Ramanujar called few other disciples
one by one and gave the same task. Everyone returned without the needle
and gave the same reason. The shisyaas started discussing amongst
themselves about the task and some concluded that Guru has gone mad giving
such baseless tasks. At last Swami Ramanujar called Embaar Govindar and
gave the same task. Without a second thought he went to next room and
immediately returned with the needle. Seeing this everyone was astonished.
It was the light of the Atmaa (soul) of Embaar Govindar which helped him
find the needle.
Everyone realized the real power of Embaar
Govindar. It was Guru’s grace which made Embaar Govindar’s Atmaa shine.
The Atmaa which is suppressed under thick dense of dirt can be cleaned
only by a Sathguru. The practice of penance rites, rituals fail to do
this. Every one of us follow spiritual practice in some way or other like
going to temple, performing puja etc. But still there is a vacuum inside
us. This indicates we are in want of spiritual favors which can de granted
only by Guru.
The attainment of Guru will fill the vacuum
inside with happiness which will over flow for janmas (births) to come.
jay sathguru maharaj ki
jay
All Jeevathmas have permanent relationship with Bhagwan.
Bagawan too has no discrimination among the jeevas. The differentiation
based on caste, creed,
sex, age, looks, position, money etc are only for the body. But the
Aathma is same in everybody. The body is derived so only according to its
praarabdha (deeds of previous birth). It may be a bird or an animal, or a
tree, or an insect, or a
human, or a devan, and so on. If the jeeva, in whatever form has bhakthi
then it is supreme. Even human being is low if bhakthi is absent in its
life. Bagawan appreciates the bhakthi of Narada, Prahlada, Dhruva and the
like.
Havent we heard about bhakthas like Meera and Sakhubai for whom
Bagawan
was prepared to go even out of the way. Mahans say that it was
Bagawan
who
was chanting Meera, Meera than Meera herself who was chanting Giridhari.
It was Bagawan Himself who cried for Sakhubai than she cried for Him.
Such stories
of Bhakthas from Bhaktha charithram inspire us to do bhakthi like them. It
bestows unflinching faith in Bagawan and His existence. They teach us
that
whatever be the situation we would be facing, we should never lose our
faith in His nama. They show us that Bagawan comes to our help at the
ripe time.
It is only in Bharata Bhoomi that we come across such great bhakthas.
There is no instance in history to show that somebody from here had to go
out in search of
bhakthi. It has been only the other way round always. Even the great
Vivekananda went out of our country just to enlighten those people there
about our culture based on bhakthi only.
Once a Mahatma from our country happened to visit various countries to
spread the bhakthi movement there also. He once happened to go to the Arab
countries. In one of the Arab countries he was welcomed by a rich
merchant who had respect for such
great Mahans. He took the Mahan to his court. He then asked the Mahan his
doubts about Hindu philosophy. The greatness of sathsangam cannot be
revealed in mere
words. It is said that “samsare asmin kshanaarthamapi sathsangaha
sevadhir nrinaam”. Even a part of moment of sathsangam will raise the
humans. Though the merchant belonged to the Muslim community and had no
knowledge of such things he had the luck of getting sathsangam.
He could not fully accept the concept of worship of the God with form.
He was dubious about its integrity. He wanted to know whether we are
limiting the limitless God into a definite form. The Mahan was only happy
to clear his doubts. He said a king too
has a definite form. But that does not limit his powers all over his
country. Like wise God’s power can never be limited in whatever form.
Since the body of God is divine unlike other ordinary earthly bodies, it
never perishes.
The rich merchant had a daughter named Haseena who was also listening
to all these discussions along with her father. In Srimad Bhagavatham
Prahladan tells his father “Sravanam, kirthanam vishno smaranam paada
sevanam archanam vandanam daasyam
sakhyam aathma nivedanam”, are the 9 characteristics of bhakthi. That is
the first step in bhakthi would be sravanam – hearing the stories of
Bagawan and His bhakthas which would inculcate bhakthi in the listener’s
heart automatically. Prahladan asks us to
dedicate the sense organ ear for Bagawan’s and bhaktha’s stories. He has
the first hand experience of hearing from Narada Maharshi these stories
while he was still in the womb of his mother.
Bagawan Krishna’s consort Rukmini developed love for Him only after
hearing His leelas from Brahmins who used to come from Mathura. She
herself tells this to Krishna in her letter to Him. Hearing Bagawan’s
leelas inculcates bhakthi in the listener’s heart.
Here the innocent girl Haseena was hearing from the Mahan the
enchanting leelas of Bagawan Sri Krishna. Unknowingly she too developed
interest in the topic. She asked the Mahan whether the form of God is so
attractive to catch our attention. He replied in
affirmative with a smile and started telling her about the blue hued boy
of Brindavan. She was surprised to hear that a dark skinned boy could pull
everybody’s heart to Him.
Haseena asked him: - Is the boy that handsome?
The Mahan: - yes no doubt about it. He has lotus like feet. His fingers
are lovely like lotus petals, his ankles make you submit to him, his
knees will make you faint, his thighs will make you mad for him, seeing
his naval you will start refusing the world itself, seeing his broad chest
you will leave your life itself, his shoulders will tempt you to hug
him, his lotus lips will invite you to heavens itself, and I can go on
describing his chubby cheeks, prominent nose, wide enchanting eyes,
beautiful curly, stylish hair with jewels adorned over it, the kasturi
tilak over his wide forehead, the grand crown over his head, and a peacock
feather sported over it. If the black boy stands before us we will find
there is nothing in the world to equal his beauty. He is unmatchable.
The way the Mahan described Krishna with confidence provoked her to
ask if it is possible to see such a handsome boy anywhere in the world. He
challenged her to come to Brindavan and see for herself.
Haseena asked: - Can we really see such a boy?
The mahan said: - Yes undoubtedly!
Haseena: - Are you referring to an idol?
Mahan: - If you look at Him as an idol He will seem to be so. If you look
at the divine form then you can really see Him.
We can see this in our day to day life itself. Suppose some guests
come to our house, sees the photo hanging on the wall and points to it and
asks “who is this” we will reply “my son or daughter” we never say it is a
photo. Our feelings and replies depend on our attitude only. ‘Yadh
bhaavam thath bhavathi’. If we consider Bagawan as a
child then He will appear as a child only for us. If we take to be our
lover He becomes the ever green lover for us. Suppose we take Him as our
father, He will turn Himself to be the most loving and caring father. It
is the attitudes that determine the
perception.
Haseena: - Can he understand our language?
Mahan: - He knows all languages.
It is only for us humans the barriers of language etc, for God there
is no such barrier. In which language an infant communicates with its
mother? The mother is able to understand the emotion of her baby and
satisfy its needs. When an ordinary human being
has the capacity to understand the feelings and fulfill the desire in
spite of language contraints, then why not the supreme Lord who is the
creator of this Universe?
Haseena asked: - How old is the boy?
Mahan said: - He is ever young never old. His age can
never be calculated. But He is ever youthful.
Haseena: - How is it possible?
Mahan: - It is possible. He is right there as a proof!
Haseena: - Will He play with us?
Mahan: - He is the master player. His leelas are never ending. There is no
one to match Him in His plays.
After hearing much about Krishna from the Mahan Haseena developed a
strong desire to see Him. Moreoverthe Mahan was telling them about
Brindavan mahima also. How Krishna used to come to the Brindavan forests
daily for grazing cattle. How He played with the Gopar boys there in the
Yamuna river, how He killed Akhasura and Bakasura, how He played flute and
conquered the whole Vraja bhoomi with the tune, how He lifted the
Govardhan mountain and protected the innocent yadavas who knew nothing
except Him, how He played rasa kreeda with the Gopis, how he blessed the
wives of the Brahmins who brought food to satisfy His hunger and many
other leelas of Krishna. All these only fanned the fire of desire to go
to Brindavan in her. After a fewdays the mahan left their country and
continued his travel.
Wait till our next issue to know what this innocent Muslim girl who was
inspired by Krishna do. Till then Radhe Krishna.
'sathsang programmes''
Guruji's
Thuthukudy trip was fabulous. The
sathsangam was about Rama Bhaktha Vijayam. The sathsangam was also
broadcast in local cable TV. Guruji spoke on various Rama bhakthas at the
Vaikuntanathar temple at Melur. The daily sathsangam was being telecast
the next day itself by the local net work. Daily at the place where He
stayed there was sathsangam in the mornings at 7. am and 10-30 am.
Guruji started on March 30th
morning.Guruji’s next Thuthukudy programmes are fixed now itself. The
devotees are waiting for the next arrival of Guruji.
Guruji gave
discourses in Mr. & Mrs. Subramanian's residence. To view the photos
CLICK HERE !
To view how the
devotees enjoyed Guruji and His sathsangam in Thuthukudy
CLICK HERE !
To view the Sita
Kalyanam done by Guruji in Thuthukudy
CLICK HERE!
Guruji went to beach
with many devotees. Blessed are the devotees who could accompany Guruji.
CLICK HERE !
Guruji went to
Thirukkurungudi with some devotees.
CLICK HERE and get
blessed !
The simple, sincere, secret and
humble devotee of Lord Balaji.