Sadguru and His Role

 

     In the spiritual journey role of the Guru is of inestimable value to the disciple who gropes about, blinded by ignorance. It is the master who holds his hand and takes him along the unchartered path. The only asset of the disciple is his desire to attain Godhood. Guru not only comes to the disciple and initiates him directly or indirectly into spirituality but assumes complete responsibility for taking one to the supreme goal. Sometimes due to one's imperfections , the desciple does not obey the dictates of the master and tends to go astray. Then Guru immediately comes to one's rescue and prevents downfall. Guru carries with him the assurance of victory and the promised attainment of the Supreme. At the time of initiation ( diksa). one catches hold of the master, but while making offering to the Guru ( Guru dakshiina), it is the Guru who catches hold him. Sometimes due to limitations or ignorance the disciple might loosen his hold on the master, but the master never leaves the disciples. 

   It is very often found that people who have been initiated behave in a way , contrary to the will of the Guru, They forsake the path of righteousness and follow a path which takes them away from the goal. It is noticed that at a certain stage of their life, cataclysmic events happen as a result of which they are awakened to the words of the preceptor and being their God ward journey. One cannot afford to go against the wishes of the Lord. That is because Prakriti who works at the behest of the Lord becomes hostile in order to get the disciple back on the righteous path.

SURRENDER 

   The words of the master are to be followed in letter and spirit. When one seeks the loving shelter of a Guru one should exercise one's rational faculty so that one does not fall into the hands of the unworthy. But after attaining the Sadguru, one must unconditionally surrender at his Lotus feet. There is no room for suspicion or analysis. Guru is verily Brahman. So He is beyond mind. His ways are beyond the realm of finite comprehension. It may so happen that his words are not palatable and his actions incompre-hensible, but the disciple should not question him. The finite intellect can only discern or assess things from a finite perspective in terms of foreseeable consequences. So it is but natural that when the disciple tries to judge the thoughts and actions of the Guru, one is likely to be misled. That is way the disciple should always wish and pray ' Let the time never come, Oh , Lord , when my limited mind hesitates to recognise you as my loving father'. In the Vaesnava scripture it is said Even if my Guru treads the path of evil he is verily my Guru. He is not only the goal (patheya) but also the way (patha) the only way.

   

  The descriptions of the supreme consciousness are also true of Sadgugu. Guru is verily , the creator , sustainer and destroyer. He is not like Brahma, but is Brahma himself. He is the ever pure ( nitya suddham) , ineffable ( niravasam) , without form ( nirakaram), the untainted ( niranjanam ) , the omniscient , or omni-telepathic ( nitya boddham) , of the nature of pure consciousness and bliss ( chidanandam) . He is of the nature of eternal bliss ( nityanandam); imparts the supreme happiness ( parama sukhadam) ; the embodiment of the highest knowledge ( gyanamurtim)beyond the pale of relativities ( vishvatitam), vast and infinite as the sky (gagana sadrisam), the entity indicated in Thou art that ( tattva masyadhilaksyam). He is the eternal ( ekam nityam) , the pure ( vimalam), the permanent ( achalam) , the all-witnessing ( sarvaddhi sakshibhutam), beyond thought ( bhavatitam), non-attributional beyond the bondage of Prakriti ( triguna rahitam) In tantra Guru is Taraka Brahma. As such He combines both Saguna and Nirguna in Him. Only He can be the link between the Finite and the Infinite. He is the subject to birth growth and death subject to the laws of Prakriti. That is likely to mislead lesser mortals , who often get confounded and fail to recognise him. 

DESCENT OF THE LORD & DIFFERENT REALISATIONS

   His birth on a planet is His exclusive will and He comes , when his appearance in human form remains the only way to restore Dharma (righteousness). His appearance, His thought and deeds cause polarisation of good and evil, with Sadguru on the side of the righteous forces. There are those who love the master with all their mind and heart and there are those who become the hardened critics and opponents of His followers and His mission. This obviously precipitates a social crisis but eventually the moralist forces come out victorious, testifying to the triumph of Dharma over Adharma. Wherever there is Ista (Sadguru) there is Dharma, where there is Dharma, victory is sure to be there. One has to observe non-compromising strictness towards Ista and Adarsha (Ideology).Ista is the Brahman, personified in action. He comes only at the most opportune moment and leaves his body as soon as His Samkalpa (mission) is fulfilled.  

EXHAUSTING THE REACTIVE MOMENTA ( SAMSKARA)

 It is only one's action that one can call one's own. Human life consists in living the reactions of the past actions and performing actions which determine the type of life one shall live in the future. Once the action is performed, one cannot escape the consequences of the action (karmaphala). Only the Sadguru can, if He wishes , lessen or destroy the reactive mementa (samskara) of the individual by absorbing them by himself. He can take them through a mere look or touch or through mudras. He used to point out the omissions and commissions of individual devotees, and punish them by way of making atonement for the past karma, thereby turning the Samskaras into Dagdhaviija (burnt seeds that have lost the capacity to germinate). This is an eloquent testimony, how the Sadguru, not only guides but shares the suffering of the devotees. His mere look cleanses the chakras. When He is happy with a devotee, good samskara get exhausted and when he gets angry and scolds one for omissions and commissions, bad samskaras get burnt. Thus Guru , the Lord , creates a variety of situations to exhaust the samskaras ( reactive momenta) faster so that one need not be born again in order to attain final emancipation(moksa)salvation.  

GRACE

Since human vision is finite and limited, one does not know the past. One knows not how far one one has already travelled towards the ultimate and what lies ahead on the spiritual path. One does not , therefore know why , how and when, the divine grace descends upon the individual. It remains a great mystery to the relative mind. One can only seek to invoke his grace in order to be on the path. Grace is non-casual. One cannot get it as one's rigorous intuitional practice or penance. Indeed, to attain His grace, one has to be worthy. But it is not possible to know for certain , when exactly does it come and what merits or degree of elevation, entitle one to be the recipient of His grace. Sometimes inspite of years of sustained intuitional practice and mastery over scriptural knowledge, one does not get Him, but a person , with no learning and little sadhana and even with a sinful background has the grace to find Him. Of course, it is the Prarabdha the nature and quantum of samskaras and above all, the will of the Lord that determine the way, how and when , one is to be blessed with His Grace. Therefore , Grace is an aspect of the divine play ( liila): It is different from the human play (krida) which is guided by rules, comprehensible to the human mind. Since he is beyond mind, His ways elude the comprehension of the finite intellect. All that sadhaka can do is to keep the mind and heart open, so that Guru does not return finding the door closed. Even to keep the mind and heart open , requires  a state of mind which one gets, only when He wishes. That is way one has to keep on invoking His grace so that one becomes worthy to be graced by Him. The grace of Sadguru is the alpha and omega of Spiritual quest.

 

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