Om Sai Ram - Swami's Guru Poornima Divine Discourse - Excerpts

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"It is the power of Love that makes everything possible. All the names are God's names. But the Truth is Aham Brahmasmi. The universe derives from and dissolves into the Truth. There is no place without Truth and God is the cause for everything in the universe.

Shivraj Patil here has written this Gita text after poring over various texts and grasping this essence. There are many who write books but this one is very special for it has been written from the heart.. Whenever, I visited him, he used to get it corrected and verified by me. And since it has arisen of his heart, the essence of the Gita is present in it.

 

Guru Poornima is not just a day when you pay respects to the elders by giving them some money. "Gurur Brahma, gurur Vishnu, gurur devo maheshwara; Guru sakshath parabrahma tasmai sri gurave namaha". In that sense, God is the only Guru. Poornima is the moon that is full without any defects or black spots. With a pure heart, whatever is said, comes true. And whatever comes from the heart is the true word of the Guru.

 

Once in their childhood, when the Pandavas and Kauravas were engaged in a ball game, the ball fell into a well and the children began to weep. Drona, his wife and son Ashwattama were passing by that way. Drona, the master, shot an arrow to the ball. Then successively, he shot arrows one behind the other and made a rope out of the arrows and pulled out the ball for them. Such was his greatness. Ekalavya wanted to become his disciple too but Drona refused to take him as one stating that he would not teach hunters. So the lad made a clay idol of Drona and mastered the art of archery. Once when Drona and all the princes were in the forest, a dog started barking and disturbing. Very soon, its mouth had been rendered shut by hundreds of arrows shot with great precision! All wondered who had done so and it was discovered that Ekalavya was the one responsible. At this time, Arjuna grew very jealous. How can there be anyone else who is so skilled?

On inquiry, when Ekalavya said that his guru was Drona, Arjuna was angry too! The art of shooting by mere hearing was something his Guru had promised to teach him alone. He wanted his guru Drona to ask as a Gurudakshina( gift of gratitude to the Guru), the shooting thumb of Ekalavya! This stemmed from his ego that he was the best archer in the world. Drona did so to please Arjuna and Ekalavya lost his thumb and thus his career too.

 

The guru may ask anything, but the true Guru is one who resides in the heart and gives instructions from there. The Bhagwad Gita is the teaching of the heart. Though Shivraj Patil read a lot, he had a lot of doubts. Finally he wrote what his heart felt. He did not follow any other text or teaching. It was Swadhyaya (the delving into the soul or Atma) that gave joy and clarity. Just remove the feelings of I and mine, ego and possessiveness, and the Atma Tatwa stands revealed. Many make attempts to know the Self. To do that first drop the I. That is also symbolised by the Christian Cross. The Cross stands for the fact that when 'I' is crossed, Jesus is liberated. Also, one must give up possessiveness.

 

Shivraj Patil has been coming to me for 30 years now. Chavan and Patil came together to Swami. Patil was first made a minister in Mumbai and then He moved to Delhi. He became the speaker. But he never asked Swami for anything. He has achieved a good name in the government too. They have full confidence in him. One must always have three things- Self confidence, Self-sacrifice and Self-satisfaction. And for all these 3, faith is absolutely essential. And Love of course! Demons have faith in God, but they hat God! Just reading and speaking is not enough. What you do practiocally counts. See first and develop faith and then follow. That will finally lead to Self-realization and that is Poornima- being spotless in thought, word and deed.

 

Share with all whatever you know. This applies to the teachers and students alike. Teachers and students are like the positive and negative respectively. Whatever you experience, tell your parents. Have a close relationship with your mother and father. One who pleases parents will have progress on all fronts. God will be with them always. The last shloka of Gita states that where there is Arjuna(devotee) with Krishna (God), there will be ultimate victory and fulfillment.

 

Today Shivraj Patil has given you a book with beautiful ideas and sentiments. That is why he has satisfaction and the book is respected. But you see boys reading all sorts of novels these days. They will hold a big spiritual book and concealed in it will be a novel! Such bad books must not be kept in our libraries. Even if they are kept, our boys will not even glance at them. Have sacred hearts and that will lead you to The secret place. Boys are all very good, but due to the age some thoughts do come. Be resistant at such times. All of you too must write books. We have one student.....whats his name? (after conferring a while with some people around), Ah yes! Hungary government has called him....He is Gowrishankar. He is going to Hungary for the paper that he has published. Every Tom, Dick and Harry doesn't get called like that.

 

Then Swami blessed the lecturer Sri.Gowrishankar on stage and told him to earn a good name for his parents and the Institute.

 

Whatever you learn, you must spread it to some people. You should go everywhere and tell everyone about what you have learnt here in our Institute.There are two girls in the Anantapur campus to. Having excelled in English and Physics, they are being financed for a trip to USA. All of you should earn such a good name."

 

Om Sai Ram

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