Guru Tattva - Part 2 By Sri.Sri.Muralidhara Swamiji.

[Guest guest]

Valluvar says, Death is akin to sleep and birth is akin to waking up.

 

Sleep is for a night and death is a long sleep in another world for some 10/20

years. The ‘sukshma sariira’ (subtle body that is the ‘mind’) rests for

certain period in another world and takes a body/form, human or otherwise as per

its doings in its past births. Thus, his qualities of earlier births do not

change. The wicked does not turn into virtuous and vice versa. It is only in the

waking state that we can work and not in sleep. We cannot study or work during

the hour of sleep. It is only this time that we have taken birth, which is the

waking state and the period of death is sleep state. Our intelligence lies in

exerting effort, during this waking state, to liberate ourselves from this

‘samsara’.

 

What is the effort that has to be exerted to liberate ourselves from this

samsara? Every jiva takes innumerable births. In every birth he is only

searching for a way to get out of this samsara. He wonders, ‘How and what has

to be done for this?’ He searches for a True Guru for this. When do you attain

a Sadguru? When Bhagavan decides a janma to be the very last one, the man

attains a Sadguru. He might have gone to a guru before this.

 

But, neither the guru nor the disciple would go to Moksha. So, he takes many

more births. Even in our life we find that a man as an Engineer constructs a

building. Continuing in his profession he finds that the building built after

some 20 years is far better than those constructed earlier. This is because they

had been constructed in his initial period of practice. For some consultation in

any field we prefer to go to one who has 30 or 40 years of experience in that

field. This is because we know that such a man of experience knows best.

Similarly, while beginning to search for a Guru, man does not know who is a

Guru. He does not know about the qualities of a Guru. So, he does not go to a

proper Guru. He passes through many associations (Sangha) before reaching the

right one. He then learns to differentiate the genuine from fake. This takes lot

of janmas. Only in his last janma, he comes to the True Guru.

 

Who is a Guru? Is the one who reads your past and foretells your future a Guru?

No! Certainly not. I have seen that in days past there have been astrologers who

have possessed astounding capacity to foretell your future and read your past.

May be these days such great ones are hard to be met with. They can tell that it

is a ‘salagraama’ or a pen or a marble that is held within your closed palm.

If you point out to a tree, they can mark the exact place where its shadow would

fall at a particular time of the day. They can make out that the horoscope shown

to him is that of a calf! But, this does not make Guru of him. Having lots of

followers also does not make Guru of a man. Some persons pose like a yogi for

clicking photographs of him. Posing as a yogi does not make him a Guru. Wearing

beard is not a sign of dispassion (‘virakti’). How is a real Guru? A true

Guru has no pomp and show. A true Guru bears no external sign. It is very

difficult to

know a real Guru. ‘Well! You say that one should go to a Sadguru but it is

difficult to spot him. Then, how can this come about?’ When you see the one

who has been decided by Bhagavaan to be your Guru in this janma, automatically a

deep feeling will rise up in you. Without your knowledge an intense feeling of

affection for him rises up. This feeling is indescribable. There may be many

Mahatmas living at the same time. But, this sort of intense feeling of

attraction does not arise on seeing all of them. This is because they are not

the ones willed by Bhagavaan to be our Guru. Only on seeing the one who has been

ordained by Bhagavaan to be our Guru, a ‘pravaaham’ (gush of love),

‘premai’ (Love), affection, incomprehinble feeling of love, fills up our

hearts. We feel deeply attracted to the Guru. We wonder, “Won’t I see him?

Won’t I speak to him? Won’t I be able to follow Him everywhere?†It is

such feelings that show the permanent

relationship between him and the Guru.

 

!!! Will Continue !!!

 

Regards