The following is a humble translation of Sri Guruji's teachings which is in Telugu. I am only an instrument in this process.
Gam Ganapathaye Namaha.
Sree Gurubhyo Namaha Parama Gurubhyo Namaha Parameshti Gurubhyo Namaha
Sree Hanuma Jaya Hanuma Sivananda Hanuma
FOREWORD
At first I pray and bow to the feet of Lord Yoga Ganapathi, remover of obstacles and to the holy feet of my Guru Sri Sri Sri Pratha Venkata Sastry garu. I am so very fortunate to get his grace and affection and who got me to this stage and initiated into GuruBhakti and blessed me to know a miniscule part of the Lord Siva Sri Sri Sri Sadguru Kandukuru Sivanandamurthy garu. My pada namaskarams to the holy feet of Lord Siva. I pray and bow to my parents who taught and instilled in me the divine consciousness right from my childhood, and finally to Ammamagaru who takes care of me like her own. I am very fortunate that my gurus chose an ignorant person like to me to work on the translation of this book. There is no place for words like “my effort”, “mine” etc but for guru’s acts, writings and blessings.
Guru is beyond all description and comprehension. Only a guru can know in complete about a guru. It is impossible to understand the true nature or philosophy of guru with out his mercy.
Guru is neither a person who can be classified or categorized nor a rule which can be defined. In this infinite cosmos, guru is the utmost astonishing puzzle, most difficult question and its answer. Guru is the all pervading, present in one and all but he is none of all. It is impossible for you (one) to get hold of guru. You (one) are so very fortunate if you can come under the grip of the guru. Guru’s grip is so strong that you cannot escape from it and he would never let you (one under his grip fall again into this worldly illusion.
Guru has no avocation of his own and his only duty and in this universe are you. He is concerned about your hardships (miseries) and your salvation (moksha) is his work. Guru has no work if there is no one interested in attaining salvation (moksha)
Immeasurable is the height of guru’s compassion and determination in coming close and living like the ordinary mortal men to direct them towards immortality. This duty of GOD which he adopts in emergency is the daily routine of the guru.
GOD will answer only if you pray but a guru by himself will grace all your unanswered prayers. This incomparable act is always performed by a guru that GOD never does.
Guru will wait patiently until you put forth your efforts to know the ultimate truth and become eligible to reach him. No one can serve the guru as he has no needs of his own.
In fact guru is ceaselessly serving you by voluntarily submitting himself to your needs, occupying a place in your inner consciousness, through his vigilant sight, messages and in refining your inner consciousness.
Guru never takes away his hand from your head and easily knows outer and inner disposition. His wish is that you should know and understand him someday.
Your happiness is guru’s happiness. Guru’s happiness at your efforts in inner progress can be observed in his smile or gesture. The influence of guru can be felt in innumerable ways. The work of guru continues from start of the creation to the end of the world
Guru is omnipresent but does not identify with any one. This is his philosophy. Guru takes care of both the process of creation of the world and your intimate moments of life. He has his existence like the sky.
Guru is the zenith for completeness. The coordination between the divinity and humanity can only be established through a guru.
You are not separate from guru but there is a difference between you and guru. Let us all bow with highest reverence to the holy feet of Guru, the embodiment of mercy and whose very existence is for us.
NIJA GURU TATTVAM
Guru is not an individual but a force that dispels the darkness of ignorance. One has to understand that force is entity. GOD only possesses the power to drive away the ignorance from man. Immediately, a question arises that why we pray to guru with greatest devotion? How this method is established? The fore mentioned force or power is not just only in GOD but incarnates continuously for the spiritual benefit of mankind and all living beings in all the worlds. This force which incarnates in the human form as sages or philosophers will teach this knowledge (force) to others. For example, all information related to medicine is treasured up in science, research laboratories and in the inventions of great scientists. A doctor practices medicine to treat patients and advice regarding health related matters but not a scientist. A doctor gets all the information related to the medicine from the research treasures of laboratories and gives medicines based on the guidelines established by the scientists. In a similar fashion, professors teach in medical colleges but not scientists. GOD only possesses the wisdom or philosophy just like laboratories possess all the scientific knowledge. A person who gained this wisdom through experience and who knows what is necessary for a person, what is in one’s good or bad interest, can dispel his ignorance, teach the wisdom and show the path to gain this wisdom is necessary for all the mankind striving for salvation. As I have said earlier, only wisdom can dispel the darkness and GOD is the only one having this wisdom. We can know the real or true state of this entity through GOD’s grace. Now is the real question.
How to obtain GOD’s mercy? What should and shouldn’t be done to acquire this? What way would lead to reach this? By not doing what will our heart be at peace and can be with out jealousy? It is necessary to have a person who can teach us this entire subject. He should have complete knowledge of the Almighty’s philosophy and also about the ignorance of the mankind.
14 A doctor is said to be knowledgeable only if he knows the root cause of the disease along with the medication. A doctor will know the cause even if a patient tries his best to hide the cause. Similarly GOD is praised and revered as the first doctor. In Rudram it is said that” Prathamo Daivobhishak” The Supreme Being can even cure the gods. Gods are happily living forever in their worlds by acquiring a miniscule part from the Supreme Being’s limitless wisdom. Human beings are obtaining their desires and a little knowledge by praying to these gods. Elder people, respected people and people in the position of mentor can explain clearly and teach this subject to the mankind. These people will show the path to mankind to obtain GOD’s mercy and ways to satisfy desires in daily life. A person will discriminate between righteousness and unrighteousness in these desires. He will explain the losses and gains in this process. In this world, no happiness is complete happiness and no sorrow is extreme sorrow. A person who explains and teaches this information is called a GURU (spiritual guide or mentor).
16 What is Guru? Every one of you has some goal in life. That goal may or may be not the right one. First, it is important to choose and set a right goal. Even though you choose the right goal, you do not know how to achieve and the manner in which to attain your goal. You might know a few different paths to get there and might commit some mistakes in following those paths or there is a possibility of them being incorrect. Every one of you must follow a righteous path and not commit unrighteous acts to satisfy your desires. One (you) should be able to live in peace if you are unable to satisfy your desires. Hence there is the need of a person who can tell us what is good or bad and what is in our best welfare. This is not an insignificant issue.
17 This entire creation with its innumerable living creatures will merge in the Supreme Being at the time of destruction of the world at the end of an epoch. This is the law of creation. No living being exists with out merging in the Supreme Being. The demons have so much strength that the Supreme Being has to incarnate to slay and bestow salvation to them. In this way the demons are responsible for several incarnations of the Supreme Being. There will be no rebirth to those killed by the Supreme Being and is a kind of attaining salvation. In spite of being in unrighteous path, the demons are not ordinary beings to be killed by men or kings or warriors. The need for Supreme Being’s incarnation to kill the demons indicates the height of their unrighteousness. Hence if one wants to reach the God in an unrighteous manner then he has to be in severe unrighteousness. It is very difficult to reach the God by following the path of righteousness. Even a small unrighteous act performed by a man in his journey to reach God will make him fall behind and the time will be wasted in succession of rebirths.
18 We all know that this entire creation will merge in the Supreme Being at the time of destruction of the world at the end of an epoch. What is the reason that few people are reaching the Supreme Being earlier in their journey?
This is happening because of their traits of character lingering from previous births. Man is a mixture of literacy and illiteracy, wisdom and ignorance. When a man’s ignorance attains the highest point, that ignorance merges with the darkness and then he immediately reaches the Supreme Being. In a similar way, a man will reach HIM when he acquires the complete knowledge. When a man is in a state of mixture of wisdom and ignorance, his time is ceaselessly wasted in the cycle of births. He acquires a little happiness and unhappiness in this succession of rebirths. It is a matter of sorrow to continuously take rebirths and live on this earth. Misery will be remembered even when you are happy and the present happiness will not be there after a period of time. The fruit of meritorious deeds will be lost after some time.
19 What is happiness? There is happiness related to extrasensory organs. There is happiness related to the mind. There is some thing called spiritual happiness. There is happiness in our close ones happiness. There is happiness in our loved ones happiness. There are three types of distress. Distress related to the body, mental distress and concomitant distress. Bodily distress, mental distress and distress of your loved ones are all related to your distress. There is none in this world that can do enough meritorious acts that would remove all your distress. Every one has desire, pride, virtue and sin. Hence human beings can never acquire complete happiness. Hence there is a need of an assistant for us to reach the Supreme Being, embodiment of eternal happiness. If you don’t have the guidance of such a responsible and prudential person in this world, you would repeatedly commit the same mistake in your life.
20/21 The next question is why do you commit a mistake? All of you know what is justice and injustice. Every one of you has this least wisdom to know what virtue is and that one should not lie and should give charity. In spite of having this wisdom, the reasons for human beings to commit mistakes are desire and passion. A thief knows that what he is doing is wrong. Even a thief who gives the earnings from stealing to his son will not appreciate and tolerate if his son does the same mistake. This is because he knows that it is wrong to steal. The thief will say to his son, “It is true that I earned by wrong means, you enjoy this property but do not get into trouble by committing the same mistake” in spite of amassing wealth by wrong means. He has a fear that his son might be put in prison. The thief’s opinion is that he escaped all the time because of his intelligence and ability and his son might not have the same ability. The reasons for him to think in above manner are his egoism and affection towards his son. Out of ignorance driven by lust as the thief desired for the welfare and happiness of his son, human beings commit many similar mistakes. In spite of being in poverty, a person of righteous conduct shall advice his son to earn money by righteous means. In order to say so, he must be a person of excellent wisdom and discretion. No one can acquire these qualities through one’s own effort. Wise men say that no matter how strong a person is, he can never stand on his own shoulders. Because of innumerable setbacks and weaknesses, a man can never reform himself even by practice. He cannot restrain himself and will commit errors while taking decisions and in justifying lawful acts.
On some occasions, he supposes the Guru to be an impostor or vice-versa. There is nothing wrong in considering an impostor to be a guru but it is a very grave sin to think Guru (Master) as an impostor. The Supreme Being will accept your respectful salutations done to an impostor considering him to be a Guru. The Supreme Being accepts your salutations even when you bow to a tree or serpent or a stone considering them to be gods. An impostor might run away taking a thousand rupees when you bow to him considering as a Guru. There is no loss to you except that you will not again offer your respects to him but, your devotion, faithfulness, modesty, respect will definitely reach the Supreme Being. You are pure at heart and did not cheat and show disregard to him. If you stand in front of a statue, and pray to it as a form of the Supreme Being, it blesses you with the boons. Similarly, you benefit from your salutations to an impostor thinking him to be the Supreme Being. You will not lose anything from this but the impostor’s fate will forever be in hell. In this way, a man is losing on a great opportunity by thinking about non existence of an existing entity.
23/24 Persons with Godly traits might appear like lunatics. They might be wandering nakedly, shouting loudly and blabbering. Lunatic people like above are seen on the banks of river Ganga and are great souls. Meditation on the Supreme Being in their heart, complete knowledge about the Supreme Being and wisdom about the illusion of this world are the traits of these holy people. They also know about the ignorance and want of education in this world. They seem to be insane to the world. They do not have any inclination to treat this world as truth, yearning to pay regards to the opposite person or distinguish fellow beings as male or female or recognize an animal to be an animal. All are equal to their vision. There is no difference in their outlook towards a temple or a graveyard. Everything is one and devoid of attributes. They appear insane to this world, being inward looking persons and in ultimate happiness and people throw stones at them. The same people offer their prayers to person who wears valuable clothes, and does incantation wearing necklace of rudraksha seeds considering him to be a form of the God. Who knows, in reality he can be an impostor. Hence such illusions and dangers are always present. It is not sufficient to have a good motive, but should have enough discretion to accomplish the same. How can you reach your destination in a journey full of dangers and illusions with out the help of a bosom friend or a well wisher? There are deities, different methods of worship, hymns, ways to attain realization, Upanishads (sacred philosophical treatise attached to the Vedas, forming part of the Hindu scriptures), and powers to attain contemplation. How do you know what is suitable from the above and what do you want? You only need one thing; your ignorance should be destroyed. You must attain salvation and should come out of this cycle of innumerable births.
26/27 If some one says, give up food and water and go to the forest and do penance in an unmovable posture and be unaffected by climatic extremities just because you are striving for salvation. Is that possible? It is not and hence there should be a person to show a different path. He should not say that you are not eligible for salvation. Irrespective of being inquired by any person, he should know the strong and weak aspects of person, which methods the person must follow and decide on a path depending upon his eligibility. He should be able to give equal result to all the beings and protect them form the dangers and illusions. How he should not be with you is, he must not ordain you to follow his regulations with out questioning, not to discuss with him, not to steal and tell lies and suffer for your difficulties but if the other person says that it is not possible to be truthful all the life, unable to getaway from stealing, cannot control himself and asks for an advice, he must be able to solve his difficulty and strive for his welfare. What is the difference between him and a policeman if he says “Didn’t I tell you not to do those acts? Why did you do then? ” and sends away the other person. Police would behave in a similar manner and even the government and law would do the same. He must not say”I asked you not to lie. You did not listen to me. What should I do now?” but he should try to understand and share the other person’s problem. For instance, if you take parents with two children, one is very studious and the other is least bothered about his studies. Does this mean that the parents would just give the latter money and leave him to his fate? No, they not only give money but they are feel bad for his indifference towards studies and plead him to put more effort in his studies. Your guru also has similar concern towards you. The guru must have such love and affection. If you find such a person, then he is your bosom friend and relation. He should love you beyond all restrictions. He should show true love but not love you for your wealth, presentation of clothes, offering of food and worship to his feet. He is not said to be a guru if he loves you for the above mentioned luxuries. If he loves you based on your social status and wealth, he would not do so the minute you stop giving them. Guru is the one who cares utmost about your money, wealth, welfare, behavior, character, gains and losses. He shares your feelings like your parents and plays all possible roles in your life. He would not only complete the work like a servant which you would not do for the fear of committing a mistake but he would do many more things for your welfare, for the welfare of the society and for the welfare of this universe. He takes upon the responsibility to put you in a safe and prosperous position even after he leaves this world. Guru wishes to see your next birth to be the best than the present. You always need his cooperation. I told you all these particulars as I know that you would ask me what the need of a guru is after knowing exactly who he is.
27/28 Guru means who knows about the essence of the Supreme Being. That essence won’t talk and will not respond to your call. You don’t know how to address that. Should a telegram or a letter be sent to that? You do not know the means to make it talk.
It will not clear your doubts, correct your personality and will not interfere in your wellbeing. In spite of praying to the Supreme Being to destroy your ignorance, you will still be committing wrong doings from the very next day. However, the Supreme Being remains as a witness and will neither give an advice nor intervene to caution you in your acts. He will not accept any liability and hence said to be an embodiment of knowledge. A man of wisdom will always be silent. If this sage is in the position of a guru, he will not remain silent. A man of wisdom will be in a state of unconcernedness even though he witnesses a murder as he sees the victim and the person committing the murder experiencing the results of their respective acts. A drunkard and a non vegetarian who behaves in an uncivilized manner and a pious man who does his daily prayers are equal before a sage.
All persons of wisdom are impartial and have a balanced outlook. According to them, they are persons whose actions are directed or manipulated by the Supreme Being and human beings are categorized as ignorant or knowledgeable depending on the result of their meritorious deeds.29 The Supreme Being is an embodiment of grace. He will not prove himself to an atheist or theist and hence there is no proof of his existence to a theist. He is so detached or indifferent that he will neither be seen nor heard. Some atheists spread the message of his non existence to the people and put forth extreme efforts for innumerable years. He lets them live in peace and takes care to see that they does not even think of him in their dreams and provides an opportunity to reinforce their beliefs. He remains only as a person of witness because of his indifference and detachment.
You can question him, “You are the cause of this creation. Don’t you have any compassion towards your creation? ” He replies “The results for meritorious and non meritorious deeds were predetermined and explained what specific acts would result in happiness or grief. I made sure that the human beings understood the sacred writings through the teachings of great rishis (saints) and gave freedom for all beings to do act according to their wishes. The outcome will be based on your respective actions (karma) and you have to correct yourself. That is all my responsibility.” Hence he is beyond the reach of our expression and language and detached. No one can really understand his true state. He created this universe with some convictions and conditions and is a spectator for his creation. It is up to you to go to heaven by doing great sacrifices (yagnas) and good deeds or go to hell by doing bad deeds. One would learn from his mistakes and this is the reason that he put a great responsibility on the human beings. In this universe, the human beings are not immediately seeing the consequences for their good or bad acts.
30 A person says he is neither able to see any outcome nor had any luck even though he has been continuously praying to the God for the past 36 years. There is no evidence that he would get the fruit for his prayer but he would surely obtain that in his next birth and is the norm of the creation. This is an order only in God’s creation and is not visible to the naked eye. This can only be understood by those people who can look at this from that angle (means understanding the God’s order and system).
32 A righteous person’s living conditions or his family conditions may be not be good. Contrast to that an unrighteous person might be happy and enjoying all the comforts. A person who knows about the fate and the fruit of good and evil actions in previous lives would be able to understand this in a proper manner. He believes that “I am in a righteous path and my virtue shall protect me”. But it is not possible for an ordinary person to believe, respect and show gratitude towards the unseen God and to follow his teachings in spite of being in troubles. He will not be able to live at peace if he is unable to see quick results for his meritorious deeds. No person can cultivate these habits on his own with out Guru’s blessings. Your respectful salutations to the Guru will be received by the Supreme Being in him. You get the fruit of bowing to the Supreme Being if you bow to an idol in the temple. Man sculptured and invoked the god in the idol and constructed the temple. In spite of invoking the god in the idol, he would never look down that. When he offers prayers in the temple, he will never get the feeling that the idol, temple and all related surroundings are created by him and why he should pray to that idol. A priest will worship the idol with utmost devotion with out even touching it. He will enter the temple premises only after taking a bath and wearing ceremonially pure clothes. He will not decorate the idol with out washing his feet and never gets a feeling that the idol was installed by ordinary beings because of his belief and faith in the Supreme Being. In this way, mortals are able to fulfill their wishes by having belief and offering prayers to the God.
33 The people visiting say that their trip was of great significance in the sense that, they got a good darshan of Lord Sri Venkateswara. In reality they saw the idol of Lord Balaji, anointing (abhishekam), ornamentation and prayer to the idol everything made and offered by man. They never think of these as man made offerings to an idol but believe to have seen Lord Sri Venkateswara and return with an immense satisfaction of getting a good darshan (sight) of the Lord. Irrespective of seeing the God in any form, the satisfaction of seeing the Lord as formulated in one’s heart is in fact the sight of the Supreme Being and only this will give the fruit related to such an action. This might appear as foolishness to those who do not believe in the God. People who fast and happily spend their fortune in godly acts look like fools to these atheists. They believe something to be true only if it is visible to the naked eye, contrary to that we believe that there is a force invisible to the naked eye and is the ultimate truth. People who don’t have such a belief are unable to realize and understand the nature and law of karma (actions). Freedom to act according to will has been given to people of both kinds (theists and atheists) and God will not interrupt in any of their acts.
34 When we see a blind man or a beggar, we think what sins he might have committed in his previous birth and similarly when we see a rich man, we think what meritorious deeds he might have done in his previous birth. We come to such conclusions based on our belief but in fact we know nothing in regard to the past of these two persons. What are the grounds of such belief? If we analyze and observe based on this belief, we get to understand that there is some ultimate truth beyond this outward appearance of the world. Ordinary beings will not be able to understand this subject matter.
Only a Guru can explain about that ultimate truth and teaches the ways to reach that ultimate truth. He takes upon this responsibility out of love and affection towards you. Hence the Guru’s position is at a very high level. He is your mother, father, teacher, God, friend and the soul representing the holy trinity, and also your servant. He is the most capable person for all matters. He wants to do service to you if required but never expects you to serve him. All of you serve him with love and respect but the true love is only with the Guru. The ultimate truth not seen to your naked eye is in the heart of the Guru. You might not understand his teachings and can have some doubts but you must not hesitate to get answers from him. Every one has got this right to know answers to his questions. A guru should not get angered when confronted with questions. Guru is the only person who can explain about the unseen Supreme Being and the seen world and is the embodiment of godliness. He is the bridge between the man and the God. We treat him as our savior, near and dear person and offer our prayers to him. This feeling towards him is called worship but offering flowers to his feet, or valuables or clothes in his honor is not treated as worship. All these afore mentioned are of no use to him and he accepts all these for your satisfaction but will not benefit him in any manner. If he is of the kind interested in this entire honor, then
he can satisfy himself by offering flowers to his feet and taking his pictures. He need not wait for some one to come and worship him and he does not desire all these things. He looks for affection, faith, belief, pure and clean heart in you and is satisfied by these qualities. You are said to be in his service if you follow him with steadfast loyalty and the more you follow him, more is his happiness. He is satisfied if you achieve high position in life by righteous means and do meritorious deeds by following him. This is not the happiness experienced by your parents on your success in all walks of life but happiness to that soul who always experiences the ultimate truth. Hence this happy experience of the elevated soul is the best blessings and will give strength to you. Nothing but your righteous conduct is the cause of his happiness. He will not give any boons against the laws of nature and is unrighteousness to give so. The happiness experienced in the heart of Guru from your righteous conduct is his blessings to you. You cannot expect his blessings for all your actions and is against the laws of the nature to bless any act. Any boons bestowed through super natural powers and penance will not help us. He will be immensely satisfied if you worship him and follow his teachings. What do all of us ask for from Guru? We ask for petty and little wishes and blessings for some worldly desires. Guru assures us of fulfilling our wishes there by providing a feeling of security. This leads us to the following question: How come Guru’s utterances are so powerful? The words spoken by him who has the understanding of the Supreme Being and the eternal truth in his heart are always the words of truth. Truth only comes out as his utterances. The thing which is eternal, beneficent and happiness to this world is only truth. This thing cannot be understood by all and those who know this are called philosopher of truth.
These sages of wisdom will be satisfied if you follow their words and accept you as their disciple. They not only provide refuge to you but also treat you as an inseparable part of them. Hence any blessings from them will act as the order of the Supreme Being and even the nature follows this order of the Supreme Being. If the Guru orders you to travel in heavy rain and provides assurance for your safety, then that heavy rain will not come in your way and nothing will happen to you. Guru will protect you under all circumstances by treating your difficulty as his difficulty. You have to ask the Guru to clear any doubts concerning rectitude while following the guru with utmost devotion, love and belief. In spite of not being satisfied with his explanation regarding your doubt, if you still follow his words and serve him with same devotion, love and belief, Guru will be immensely pleased and sanction boons.
38-40 You all go to Tirupati and ask boons from Sri Venkateswara. Depending upon one’s faith one is receiving what he asked for but Lord Venkateswara neither discusses nor advice you about your good or bad actions. If you steal some money and offer it to him, even though Lord Venkateswara knows that it is the stolen money one is offering, he never says “It is a sin and you should not do like that ”. A guru never does so. He is the very form of the Supreme Being visible to the naked eye and advises one not to do so (steal money and offer it to God) as he will not benefit from such actions. It would be so good if Lord Venkateswara also advise us on our actions. For example, it is wrong on behalf a poor person out of ignorance to think that get all his wishes will be satisfied if he fulfilled his vow by offering stolen money to God. In fact he will be punished for his deeds instead of being rewarded. He says, “I though you to be my final hope but you still gave me difficulties”. God is always silent irrespective of our offerings. Hence it is very difficult to understand the fine point of the law and the effects of results of our actions. Instead of that, you will know the absolute necessity of a guru who teaches, explains about good and bad and grants all your wishes
Your prayer, worship and devotion to your Guru will finally reach the inner consciousness of the Supreme Being through his mortal appearance. This mortal appearance is not just a combination and composition of the five primordial elements but has wisdom, knowledge, heart, judgment and senses of perception and has power to express the same qualities. Only a person with all these divine qualities can guide you in a right path. You will benefit a lot in your life by treating him as your Guru and following his teachings and worshipping and expressing love and respect to him. Never think that a guru cannot see you if you are in America.
Nothing can escape from his vision. Guru can even read the secret letter written by you in America. This is very natural and easy for Guru. Does it mean that you always peep into your neighbor’s door? You will not do such things even though it is possible because your consciousness will not let you to do so. Your conscience will not agree to pick any thing lost by some one on the way and you see that it is returned to the rightful owner. You refrain yourself from doing many things through the power of your intellect (reason). You are writing a letter at night so that no can see your letter. Guru forgives you in doing so but no walls or distance or darkness can obstruct his vision. What is the difference between you and Guru if his vision is limited too? He can hear anything and nothing can hide from his vision and is up to him what he wants to see and hear. His organs of perception are spread in the entire universe. Does this mean that he will listen to everything? What is the need for him to listen? He will listen to know only that are in the best interest of his kith and kin. If a person prays ardently to get a plane ticket, his prayer will reach Guru. He need not phone to convey his needs. His prayer will be answered and he will get his ticket in half an hour.
He can listen to the prayer done by from farther places. The person who denied the ticket shall be the one to issue you a ticket. The inner consciousness of the Guru will listen and accept your prayer. This is more than required to know that a Guru knows the language and the means to listen to your prayer. This is not like purchasing a ticket to see a magician performing his tricks in a circus or a blind folded person driving a motor cycle in a busy street.
Guru will use his powers only in the best interest of his followers. If not for the welfare of his followers, there is no limit to what a Guru can see or listen.
We cannot hear a sound coming from a more than distance of furlong. One will go mad if he has the capacity to hear all sounds in a city. Hence in the best interest of the man kind, God has put a limitation to the senses of perception. A person will become insane if he can see the other side of the sea. A person can hear sound coming from not more than a certain distance. It is not advisable to hear something with out a valid reason. A guru can listen to any sound when he intends to do so. He will answer your prayer and grant your wishes. In spite of you being 12,000 miles away, you guru knows about your heart, silence, changes in your attitude, forth coming changes, minor mistakes and negative aspects in personal life. In case if you pray, “Please leave me and let me be free as I do not wish to have any kind of contact with you then your guru will definitely leave you”. But, a guru will not leave you under any circumstance, if you pray, “Please do not leave me and forget me under any circumstances in spite of committing any mistakes”. He will not be a silent spectator to your wrong acts as you are more like in an agreement with him. You will be completely dependent on him once you put utmost faith in your guru. You cannot do as you wish and you no longer are a free soul. Hence you will not do any mistakes. He will be able to listen to your whispers at a distant place. You will not have a personal life and freedom. It can be hard for you to live in this manner but you will correct and improve your self because of some fear.
You will not be able to do any wrong doings because of the fear that guru will know about your mistakes in even though you cannot correct your self in spite of knowing true Dharma (righteousness). This fear will protect you and guide in a path of righteousness. All this is possible only when a guru is obtained (Supreme Being) in a human form. We might question what if we don’t obtain a guru or do not have faith in an obtained guru. Offer obeisance to idol of Lord Krishna and accept him as your guru by praying
“Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum” (Lord Krishna is the Supreme Teacher),”Promise Lord Krishna that I will do nothing but chant his name and think of his divine form in my heart and incessantly recite his holy name ”. Pray to him in this manner, “Correct me by punishment and guide me in righteous path if I commit any wrong doings out of my ignorance. Please clarify my doubt or mistake in any way either in a dream or through some other form. You are my only friend, God, guru, relation and protector. You only can protect and guide me in a correct path”. The Supreme Being not visible to the naked eye will appear in the form of a guru or friend will correct and guide in a right direction out of love, provided it was a whole hearted prayer. He will be always with you and will later subject to his tests. He will make you suffer, undergo pain, punish and scold subjected to his tests. You might have heard about life of many devotees. All will not be subjected to his tests in this manner and only you will be tested as you are his closest associate and in agreement with him. Hence he will test you by making you undergo many difficulties. He might teach a lesson by making a daughter-in –law punish his mother-in-law or vice versa. He will make you do things against your wishes as you have promised that you will be his devotee offering prayers seeking his protection as “You are my only protector. I am your responsibility from today and will not bother what you do to me. I will not complain even if you drown me in an ocean” and surrendered your self at his holy feet. Hence, a guru need not always be a person in human form. We all pray to Lord Krishna as “Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum” (Lord Krishna is the Supreme Teacher). Lord Krishna, the Supreme Teacher is always there for us in name, form possessing attributes and qualities. Lord Krishna is an incarnation of all embracing philosophy beyond the sensory organs, mind, heart, thought and ego. What did you obtain from this incarnation? We pray by attributing qualities to a form either from a photo or an idol. We cannot pray to the formless or nameless Supreme Being. If we pray to an entity with no qualities then this prayer cannot reach a formless Supreme Being. Brahma Samaj advocates prayers to form less Supreme Being. Hence a follower of Brahma Samaj has no evidence if the Supreme Being has listened to his prayer. If the follower says that he got an evidence of his prayer reaching the Supreme Being in his dream, he will become an outlaw of Brahma Samaj. The reason being the evidence of an imaginary form of the Supreme Being in his dream and such prayer to Supreme Being with a form is against the rules of Brahma Samaj. In reality all attributes are the qualities of men and all forms are a part of this material world. The true nature of the Supreme Being which is beyond the scope of the attributes is the reason for these different forms (Rupam) as a part of this materialistic world. It is not possible for a man to believe in the existence of a form devoid of attributes with out any proof of existence of a form (Rupam). Many difficulties arise in the worship of a form that is devoid of attributes.
If you can respect a person who is the embodiment of true nature of the Supreme Being as a Guru, he will live by our side and appear to be doing right and wrong acts like us and will treat the prayer and censure as equal and will protect like a close friend those who believe and surrender to him. He will never go to the people who do not believe him. If it is hard for you to trust a person as a form of the Supreme Being, you can pray to the incarnations of god in human forms like Sri Rama, Sri Krishna or Hanuman to be your Guru. They shall surely protect you. God can never commit a mistake! You will not have a chance to think that God has either cheated or has done a wrong thing. By treating these incarnations of God like forms as Guru, one will be saved from the sin of thinking of a Guru as an impostor. It is but natural for the common man to doubt and insult the God out of ignorance. In spite of having a strong wish to benefit by praying to the Guru in human form, because of our bad traits of character we will suspect him to be an ordinary person and fall of the path. He will take responsibility and correct your mistakes in spite of you treating every act of his as wrong and criticizing him. In spite of being a spiritual aspirant, he will again have doubts regarding the Guru and criticizes in the following words; “You are an ordinary person and your behavior is inappropriate and partial “. It is very difficult to restore such a person’s faith. Why should we have such unnecessary misapprehensions? We can treat the incarnations beyond our vision (not visible to the naked eye) as a Guru. This is the whole purpose of incarnations such as Lord Rama, Krishna, Siva and Hanuman. Different forms of incarnation are very easy to worship. Hence, worshipping the form possessing attributes as Guru shall accept your prayer and be your Guru. Belief in the Guru as the Supreme Being shall make him the Supreme Being. If all your wishes are fulfilled by thinking of the idol as the Supreme Being then it is absolutely possible for the Supreme Being to take a form of the human awareness. We shall then not care about his habits and traits related to this human body. Once few Brahmins had some doubts regarding Sri Sai Baba that how to bow to such a person in rags who never neither takes a bath nor observes any prescribed rituals (Sandhyavandanam). Had he at least performed the Sandhyavandanam, we would have offered our respects treating him to be a Brahmin instead of the Supreme Being. They never got an idea to think or realize about Sai Baba either as a seer or an essence of the Supreme Being, who never does any act (karma) and appears contrary to human nature. A Brahmin who is a devotee of Lord Siva thought that there is no need for him to ask for any thing from Sri Sai Baba as he daily offers prayers to the lord. One day he wanted to test Sri Sai Baba and asked him “Baba, Where is the Supreme Being (Where can I find him?)”. Baba asked him” Where is that you cannot find the Supreme Being?” Later Baba replied to him in the following words” Are you able to identify the milk as the source present in butter and curd and ghee which in turn comes from butter?” In spite of all these being present in milk, you are seeing them in four different forms of milk, curd butter and ghee. How can you think of seeing the Supreme Being who is (omnipresent, omniscient) present in all animal and bird forms, all beings in the nature, deities, rivers, oceans, trees, snakes and in the five elements if you cannot see the four forms coming out of one thing (milk)as one thing. You are unable to see the Supreme Being because of difference in your views and thoughts (vision). The Brahmin’s prayers to Lord Siva have caused a refinement in his behavior and bowed to Lord Sai Baba treating him to be the Supreme Being.
50 All the powers that a Guru has are from his knowledge of the Supreme Being in his heart. He is the embodiment of happiness. His happiness is our blessing. Happiness experienced by a guru who fostered our (disciple’s) devotion and faith will be the biggest boon of our life. Your guru is none other than the Supreme Being. You are the richest and luckiest person in the world provided you have a strong belief in your Guru that he will bestow what ever you ask for. He who has the grace of such a Guru is the meritorious one. It is highly impossible to come near to or get a vision of Guru unless one has an exemplary character. There is a possibility of having some doubts even after the vision of a Guru with the passage of time. Then, one who serves the Guru must believe with purity in thought, word and deed that he has greater knowledge and loves you most and knows what is best for you.
He may not give you everything that you ask for every time. He shall give you at the time he feels so and at an opportune moment. You might be dissatisfied because of this, but it will take you to the highest level of practice provided you adhere to his wish and follow his words with purity in thought, word and deed. He is the Supreme Being that you aspire for his vision. He is spread all over this creation like Lord Sri MahaVishnu in Vaikuntam, Lord Sri Shiva in Kailasam, and Lord Sri Krishna on the earth to the deities. We must always remember that it is our greatest fortune that all-embracing philosophy only visible to persons who have acquired merit by good deeds has taken the human form to be very close to us and converse in our language and eat the same kind of food that we eat and wear similar clothes that we wear and discuss and advice as a true friend on even minute issues in our daily life. You will be the most fortunate one if you can realize the fact that the Supreme Being himself has taken the form of your friend. Pandavas were fortunate to have Lord Krishna as their friend. You can meditate on Lord Krishna or Hanuman, if it is hard to maintain faith and follow the advice of Guru in human form. He will not be angry for that. You need not pray to him as” I am unable to develop faith in you and have many doubts. Please leave me with out being angry”. Guru will never be angry if you think that you are unable to believe him either in his presence or absence. He shall happily advice you to meditate in Lord Krishna or Hanuman. A true Guru will never be angry if you do not worship him rather he is always interested in disciple’s welfare. He will send you to such a place where there is no reason for you to have any doubt. There is a possibility of suspicion if Lord Krishna steals butter from your home in your presence. You will only have the butter after offering to Lord Krishna. In case if Lord Krishna ever eats, you will not doubt but take it as an illustration. Guru will feel happy if his disciple has chosen a profitable path than him.
53 You have the right to clear your doubts regarding your Guru. You will be in distress if you do not clear your doubts. It is enough if you can ask in your heart in case you cannot face him directly. You need not spend your time and energy to talk to him in person and pray” Master, I want to leave you and want to meditate on Lord Rama, and want to believe in Lord Siva in Siva’s temple, meditate on Lord Krishna. Please leave me.” He will understand the situation and will leave you. Guru is the only one who will never be angry or feel bad if you either leave or talk low of him. In case if he ever be angry with you, you must always remember that it is for your welfare. This anger is not borne out of enmity towards you. As parents get angry and correct children when they do any thing wrong, similarly a Guru’s anger is out of affection for you but not hatred. He will pray to the Supreme Being to bless and protect you when you leave him. He will pray to the GOD as” How can I make him believe that I am the true entity and representation of you in human form. He is my child and you alone must show the correct path to him.” Guru will leave you if you want to live a free life with out taking refuge either in GOD or guru. He will pray to the GOD,” Please protect him under any name or form. I was unable to convince him and he has no faith in me and with that in mind he is not even taking refuge in you. Hence, please protect him at any cost”. Even under such circumstances, a Guru will never be angry but has love and compassion and is interested in your progress. He will not be angry but will tolerate if his disciple does any mistakes or steals from his home out of ignorance, ego or due to bad character. Guru will in fact feel happy because if he obstructs the above acts of disciple, he might be in trouble as he might end up in trouble doing the same at some other’s house. This incident shows the incomparable love and compassion of Guru towards his disciple.
55/56 I told you about the true nature of Guru in response to know who is a true Guru. I also explained about the need of the Guru. The responsibilities of a guru, the relation he has with his devotee are thus explained to make you understand the importance of a Guru
Does this mean that Guru is present only in this human form? What happens to Guru when this body no longer exists? Who will protect us? It implies that he is always alive. He is always there and has no end in short eternal. Guru is not just an assembly of the bodily senses. He is the eternal truth that always exists. This eternal truth always stays with us and provides protection. It will act as an umbrella in extreme heat and it will save you from snake in case you walk by closing your eyes. It will move away the scorpion, the minute you were about to put your foot on that. It will satisfy all your desires. Guru is the true embodiment of knowledge and wisdom and can be worshipped with out any doubts as you worship Lord Krishna or Rama. Guru has the knowledge of past, present and future. He knows who you are, what is your next birth and the reason why you went to see him. He will never forget you even if you forget him. You might be sleeping but he never sleeps. Even though Guru appears to be sleeping to you he is always awake. He will know every feeling that arises in your heart. Being invisible, he will clear all your doubts. He will provide many such instances. This inner entity is ever glowing and is free from mistakes and dispels your ignorance and is interested in your welfare and clears your doubts. The Guru that you are worshipping in this birth has been worshipped by you in a different form in the previous birth. All this happens because of the power of the Supreme Being. You must have prayed,” You alone shall come again to protect and teach me wisdom”.
He will come to bless you in the next birth. In spite of leaving this bodily form, Guru shall always be with you and looks after your welfare. Guru is obtained as a result of worshipping the Supreme Being. Until the human being gets an understanding of the eternal truth, he will be committing both pious and non pious acts driven out of ignorance and takes a wrong step and repents at times in a situation similar to a toddler trying to learn walking. Every one is an infant in the quest for spiritual knowledge. A mother will pay utmost attention to her children even when she is cooking. If necessary, she will stop cooking to take care of her children. Such is the love of a Guru towards his children.
“Twameywa maathacha pithaa twameywa
Twameywa bandhuscha sakhaa twameywa
Twameywa vidyaa dhravinam twameywa
Twameywa sarvam mama deva deva”How can you be secure in this journey of life which is full of dangers and illusions if there is no such person who can take care of your responsibilities? Some people still have childish nature in spite reaching an age of 50 or 70. They will learn to walk after a very long time. A Guru will be observing them with lot of patience and take care of their welfare and shall bestow his grace after a deep thought. If an ordinary person can gain a lot of fame by doing charitable acts, a person who has the grace of the Guru, the very form of Supreme Being can gain lots of fame. He will be able to accomplish the hardest of the tasks. There are people who will ask Guru for very ordinary wishes when he can grant you the greatest among the great. For example, people ask for Guru’s blessings in construction of their house. This is a very ordinary wish as any one construct a house. An atheist also can construct a house and be happy. They do not have confidence and belief in the GOD and still earn their degree. Hence, the best among the best must happen with the blessings of the Guru. He will help you accomplish tasks in this very life which will take many births. Guru can grant us a sense of satisfaction beyond the comforts of the universe.
Hence it is very wise to have a connection with the inner consciousness of the Guru who has the best of the qualities. As a son who earns a good name by following the advice of his parents, a person who listens to the words of a Guru will make progress in all the worlds. The affairs of all the births will be fulfilled in this very birth and will help his over all growth. They will be able to many tasks. Others will be happy because of them and the world be benefited. They are the best persons and are the children of the Guru. They will not be ordinary but honorable persons. By knowing these aspects you might have understood the importance and the true nature of the Guru. I have already mentioned that a Guru will never feel bad even if one leaves him.
61 When we went to Shirdi, I taught people to pray to Guru in spite of having doubts and concerns regarding him. One will face a greater loss if he worships guru while doubting his abilities. It is wrong to criticize a Guru. When you go on pilgrimage, ask the residing deity in that holy place to be your guru if you do not have confidence in worshipping your guru. Consider the deity as your guru. No doubts shall arise in those holy places. I taught them that these holy places will help clear their doubts and change their hearts. The prime reason being I am very much concerned regarding their welfare. If you treat as Guru, you must surrender your self to him. Guru has powers beyond these sensory organs. He can listen to what you pray in your heart. He can see all that you do. All this is the power of the Supreme Being. If you ask him to be responsible for your actions, he will listen to you if you ask him to do so. One who has love and affection and who can love the entire life in this world is called a guru. He will never get angry or feel hatred towards any one whom he considers as his disciple or devotee. If ever he shows his anger, that is only out of concern that why his disciple has done such a mistake. A mother shall show her anger on her children only out of love and affection. Such is the love of a Guru towards his disciples. There will be times when you might be hurt by the words of a guru. A guru will never get angry even if you do not talk to him for few days as a way of expressing your anger towards him. A person who is the very embodiment of love can shower his blessings and grant all that you need. You will gain the maximum benefit if you can understand your guru with such a broader concept. There is no one luckier than you, if you do so. You can never do any wrong towards him and he will always pardon your mistakes. You can neither make him angry nor disrespect him. You can never make him to hate you. His true nature is so very different from the ordinary.
62. When ever you read any scripture or philosophy, you will be getting the same gist as I have mentioned earlier. You get a feeling that you have already been told regarding this.
In your daily spiritual practices, any method that you follow or any recital of holy name should be done treating as an order by Guru and should not worry that you are not able to concentrate or do with a steady mind. All this is to keep one’s body under control by controlling his senses, and if ever who can restrain or control his senses or thought process will be considered an ascetic or yogi. A guru very well knows this issue. If you can make him responsible for you and your spiritual practices, he shall bestow the results. If you surrender a guru, you must not leave him under any circumstances. This is the responsibility of a disciple as a Guru will neither reprimand you for approaching nor praying another Guru. A person who approaches two gurus at a same time will be in a confused state with lots of doubts as a student who learns his lessons from two teachers. His doubts and questions will be on rise and he will never be able to find peace. Of the two, he who is not a real Sadguru will tell the disciple not to approach the other Guru. One who is not a sage will show his anger when the disciple visits the other guru. He will degrade the other Guru and considers the other guru inferior to him. Such a person is not a Sadguru. A guru will always have love and compassion towards you which does not mean that he can never be angry with you. Even if he expresses his anger, he still loves you at heart. There is no difference between the God and the guru if you can understand the true nature of the Guru. It is a fact that a Guru can you save you from the anger of the God but not vice-versa. If ever a disciple leaves a Guru out of ignorance and does not consider his protection, He will take care of the disciple by showing the right path. Guru’s approach can be as harsh as a parent’s approach towards his undisciplined child but a disciple must always remember that this is in his best interest.
65 A school principal will issue a TC if a student complains that he did not like the school’s teaching methods and wishes to join another school. The principal will take special interest to call the other school’s principal to let him know that he is sending a bright and intelligent student and ask him to take care of the student. Guru is like the person who really thinks of the best for the student’s future. A Guru will be very happy if his disciples act in a righteous manner wherever they might be. He will not think that his disciples should always bow to his feet. He is not interested in outward display of devotion. This is done only for one’s satisfaction but a real disciple is one who believes in him beyond any doubts. Guru will experience immense happiness if his disciple follows his words and experience sorrow if his disciple does not act according to his teachings. Guru cannot be bound by service done with out faith or name sake display of respect and devotion. He cannot be cheated with one’s intelligence and will not get angry even if one cheats him. It is wrong on our part to assume that he does not know things and cannot listen to our conversations. He is so great a person that he will listen to the prayers in our heart and grant our wishes. Other wise he will not have this power and will use this power only when he wants to be in scheme of things.
67
It is a common notion among the people in this world that those who believe in GOD will be always happy and never face any difficulties. This is only half true. A person’s happiness is according to fruits of actions of previous births. The present suffering is the result of bad actions done in previous births. Human beings do not have discretion to think that no one is responsible and not to blame the Supreme Being for their present suffering except for their own non righteous actions committed in previous births and should acquire merit and not repeat the same actions to avoid the suffering in future births. A Guru will protect from danger and show how to live in such circumstances there by making us prudent.68 There are some people who are lost in this storm of daily experiences and who do not have a source to reach the shore safely and who cannot get food to satisfy their hunger and at the same time there are some people who can reach the shore safely in spite of facing several difficulties. The storm is equal for all these people. Perished are those experiencing the results of their actions and protected are those who believed in Guru. Even GOD will observe as a silent witness and will protect only those who have acquired enough merit and are eligible for his protection. A Guru is not like GOD, He shall and will protect under any circumstances. Hence Lord Krishna said “Na May Bhaktaha Pranasyathi” meaning my devotees shall not perish. He did not say that there will be no difficulties but you will not perish because of them.
Human life is a combination of joy and sorrow and happiness and distress. Even the incarnation of Lord Krishna in human form had this combination of joy and sorrow. He was blamed by the world for his actions. Even though people of his generation have criticized and blamed him, we still worship Lord Krishna as GOD as we did not witness his acts. We believe in the words of theists who expounded the glory of Lord Krishna and his acts as acts for the welfare of the world. Had we seen with our own eyes, we might have either believed or criticized him and have doubts regarding him. It is best to ask the Guru and clear any doubts that you have.
69 If the result of human birth is to experience the results of our actions then it is of no big issue that we get ordinary results for ordinary actions. Happiness and sorrow are the same for everyone. Will the children be as cute and delicate as they are now for ever? They will grow and it is a fact that they grow old after 50 years and lose their teeth, hair and agility. Do we think it as a difficulty! It is but natural. Similarly some day one has to die and this is also natural. Difficulties are as natural as death and old age. It is very natural that some wishes are fulfilled and some unfulfilled, commit some mistakes and do some meritorious acts. We should pray to Guru to improve our thought process so that we can understand the life in above manner and should strive to get out of this cycle of birth.
Wise people are those who pay attention to what Guru teaches and remember his words and philosophical teachings and follow the path shown by him. Guru should be used to improve our thoughts of wisdom.
70 It is absolutely necessary to explain these, “What is the need of a Guru? How to benefit from his advice? How best can we follow him? “, while describing about the qualities and nature of a Guru. It is the responsibility of a Guru to answer the above questions when explaining about the Guru. Each one of us might have different thoughts in our minds such as,” Knew what he is but do not why? What happens with out a Guru? What is the benefit of having a Guru? I could not avoid my difficulties in spite of having a Guru.” Hence to answer the above concerns an answer was provided along with the question. A person whom you treat as a Guru might have a family, children and might have difficulties, losses and other problems related to health. Even he could not escape from the clutches of the above difficulties. The other person might be under the impression that the Guru will care only for the family and children in this present life. “I have over 4 lakh children. All those who placed trust in me are my children. That is my view and thought”. A Guru’s thought process will be similar to this. All those who consider me as Guru might think regarding what difficulties have my children avoided? Did the children achieve their goals in education and job and life? Is their next generation long living and successful? Has not my wife left this mortal body earlier to me? Am I with out any difficulties and above want? There will be no difference. It is natural if there is no difference and vice-versa (unnatural if there is a difference)”.
71 Irrespective of whom, either a holy man or a Guru, if he practices some tantric act or some power to see that he does not get difficulties and does not bother if others get such difficulties then such a power is an evil power.” It is a very wrong to think that “Men can avoid natural problems with the help of evil powers and avoid difficulties through meritorious deeds “. True value comes to a person’s life only when all these naturally happen.
72 Then why should a Guru suffer with a stomach ache?
How can he solve our problems when he cannot solve his own? This doubt shall arise in one’s mind. He will take any pain and will not bother about it. He will feel bad when he sees his children (those who believe and follow him) suffering. He will protect as he cannot witness the suffering of his children. As said by Lord Krishna those who believe in Guru will not perish and will be safe and happy. Guru gives prime importance to heart, mind and thoughts and secondary importance to the body of his disciple. He will only take care of the body as required, replenish as needed, care the most for you, not fulfill any unwanted wishes and will pray to the Supreme Being on your behalf. We should never raise a question that how can he solve our problems when he cannot solve his own? He is all powerful and has infinite wisdom. Guru has the power and wisdom to treat all kinds of difficulties as natural but still he will be suffering as an ordinary being. One should believe that”I am unable to bear my difficulties. Guru will protect me from harm out of love and my sincere devotion”. How can a person be called a sage if he can solve his own problems? What can a person like him can do? Hence Guru, a man of wisdom will never do anything for his own interest.
73 Hence difficulties are but natural in this world. Dangers are but natural and might come in different ways. There can be a death of a family member who was very young and had a prospective future and the whole family might be sad and in distress. Death is very natural in the nature (creation). In spite of losing kith and kin, it is very important that one should not lose his/her mental composure, be safe, and believe in the Supreme Being and not question his very existence. One has to be brave and not lose his discretion during difficult times. A Guru will also give the power to strengthen your discretion and belief under such circumstances. He will protect you from the results of your sinful actions. There could be only one reason in case if he has given you such difficulties. His disciple will understand and learn from the difficulties and shall purify his mind and heart. A devotee can be meritorious or sinful but has the discretion, freedom and wisdom. Guru can be a spectator at times and either interfere in all activities or not interfere in any activity at all. He can be like anything. How can a disciple understand all these concepts? Every word, thought and approach of a Guru will create doubt in all matters.
One who has self surrendered to a Guru will act as ordered with out asking any questions and having any doubts in his heart. I promise that all such disciples will benefit the most. Closing statement “Siva Eva Guruhu” (Siva is the only Guru). It is Lord Siva who is put together as all the Gurus of the world.
Subham BhooyaatLabels: Sadguru Sayings
