The Guru is His Teachings - Shirdi Sai Maha Samadhi day on 15.10.2007

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By the light of the sun, the whole world awakens. By the light of

the sun, darkness is banished, slumber gives place to wakefulness

and sloth gives place to activity. By the light of the sun, all

beings in this world see things, perceive things clearly. In

darkness, one stumbles and falls, loses one's way and is ever in

danger of injury. In the light one is able to proceed, move towards

one's goal; one is safe from danger. All progress, all activity is

temporarily suspended in darkness.

 

Thus the sun is the awakener; the sun is the enlightener; the sun is

the marga darsaka (one who shows the path). It is the sun that

guarantees smooth, unhampered progress towards each one's

destination. When the sun is not there, one is, as it were, blind,

even though having eyes.

 

In the life of a sincere seeking soul, in the life of a jijnasu, a

mumukshu, a sadhaka, a spiritual aspirant, the Guru is, as it were,

the sun. It is the Guru that awakens us from our slumber of

ignorance. It is the Guru who, by his light, banishes the darkness

of ignorance and wrong notions that the jivatma has about life, and

brings in the light of right reasoning, right perception and right

thought. It is the Guru that also makes us see the way, through his

own lofty, sublime personal example, through his own dynamic

philosophy, through his own teachings and personal instructions.

 

It is the Guru that points out the path and makes us see the path

clearly. He points out the pitfalls and dangers upon the path, makes

us alert, vigilant, jagrit. And, even as the sun initiates activity,

so the Guru inspires us to arise, awake, seek knowledge, attain

illumination and become forever blessed. All this and more the Guru

does.

 

And the effulgence of the Guru, the radiance of the Guru, the light

of the Guru, is his teachings, jnana-upadesa. It is his message, his

sandesa, his instruction, his adesa. These constitute the real Guru

and these constitute real guru kripa.