Post by Amritha Varshini on Aug 13, 2013 19:10:17 GMT 5.5
Guru is everywhere - Article by Sri V.S. Krishnan (vsk1940@gmail.com)
The devotee knows that he is ignorant. He wants some light by which we would be awakened. He knows that only a Guru can give this light, conduct him, lead him and guide and reach him to his ultimate destination. A devotee may be in different levels of understanding. A devotee may be in different stages of progress. Each devotee should be guided in accordance with his need, his aspiration and his involvement and his perception level and each devotee should be guided to the particular path suited to him. Guru understands this and performs various roles as path finder, mentor, master, friend, guide and philosopher and helps the devotee in attaining the ultimate objective.
The problem the modern generation faces is that the Gurus who fit such description are hard to find. Of course, there are many realized saints, located in different places and eagerly looking forward to such a devotee. Unfortunately, there is no meeting point for the two, the teacher and the student. Guru Sri Ramana Maharshi said that all one should do is to look within, introspect and the Self would reveal itself as the Guru. This may be suitable for an advanced and matured devotee but what an ordinary seeker who is earnest in his pursuit should do in such a situation?
The seeker has to look beyond him, look for the right Guru who can guide. If he has heard about a realized saint residing far away, the devotee can even adopt him mentally as his Guru (Manaseeka Guru).
If the devotee still does not succeed, sage Dattatreya's teachings would give him an easy solution. Sage Dattatreya said that as he looked around he found Gurus in manifold forms and each Guru gave him a valuable lesson or two. The sage said that from the earth, he could learn how to give, from water he could learn how to attain purity, from air he could learn how to detach himself and from fire he could know how to destroy ignorance and from sky he could know how the Atman is all pervading without contact with any object. Sage Dattatreya said that the moon also taught him a lesson. Just as the moon remains undisturbed by the clouds, the Atman remains in perfection and purity for ever despite the mind and body casting shadows over it.
The sage said that the sun also gave him a lesson. When the reflections of the sun fall on the pots of water below, there appears to be many suns. Similarly, the Atman that we find in all of us is the reflection of the Brahman that shines as one.
Saint Dattratreya said that he saw of a pair of pigeons with their young birds. A fowler spread a net around and caught one young bird. Since the mother pigeon was too attached to her children, she voluntarily fell into the net and so too the male pigeon. This gave the message that attachment is the root cause for our bondage.
The python remains where it is. It does not go anywhere seeking. Sometime, some animals or birds come near it and the python grabs it. From this, the sage knew that he should remain contended what he gets and never seek anything or desire anything. Whatever that he needs he would get it at the right time and right place. Many rivers terminate into the ocean but the ocean remains unmoved. Similarly, we should know that we should always remain unmoved in the midst of all worldly attractions and temptations. Just as the moth falls into the fire and die, we fall to the temptation of our senses and ruin ourselves. Bees collect honey with great efforts but suddenly a hunter comes and takes it all away. Similarly, whatever wealth that we have created would never remain with us and would go to someone else who may even not need it. An elephant while fast approaching a female elephant falls into a pit. Similarly, a deer is enticed and trapped by the hunter. These incidents teach us that we should not go after sense gratification. The sage also cited the examples of fish and the dancing girl named Pingala to highlight the futility of going after senses.
Sage Dattatreya adopted many living beings as Guru, like a child, a bird, a serpent, an arrow maker, a spider and said that he attained complete knowledge from all these sources. He said he learnt lessons from wherever it came from. Totally, the lessons came from twenty four different sources; from nature, from men and women and from animals. All the lessons he learned enlightened him and transcended him to the state of Self realization.
The devotee knows that he is ignorant. He wants some light by which we would be awakened. He knows that only a Guru can give this light, conduct him, lead him and guide and reach him to his ultimate destination. A devotee may be in different levels of understanding. A devotee may be in different stages of progress. Each devotee should be guided in accordance with his need, his aspiration and his involvement and his perception level and each devotee should be guided to the particular path suited to him. Guru understands this and performs various roles as path finder, mentor, master, friend, guide and philosopher and helps the devotee in attaining the ultimate objective.
The problem the modern generation faces is that the Gurus who fit such description are hard to find. Of course, there are many realized saints, located in different places and eagerly looking forward to such a devotee. Unfortunately, there is no meeting point for the two, the teacher and the student. Guru Sri Ramana Maharshi said that all one should do is to look within, introspect and the Self would reveal itself as the Guru. This may be suitable for an advanced and matured devotee but what an ordinary seeker who is earnest in his pursuit should do in such a situation?
The seeker has to look beyond him, look for the right Guru who can guide. If he has heard about a realized saint residing far away, the devotee can even adopt him mentally as his Guru (Manaseeka Guru).
If the devotee still does not succeed, sage Dattatreya's teachings would give him an easy solution. Sage Dattatreya said that as he looked around he found Gurus in manifold forms and each Guru gave him a valuable lesson or two. The sage said that from the earth, he could learn how to give, from water he could learn how to attain purity, from air he could learn how to detach himself and from fire he could know how to destroy ignorance and from sky he could know how the Atman is all pervading without contact with any object. Sage Dattatreya said that the moon also taught him a lesson. Just as the moon remains undisturbed by the clouds, the Atman remains in perfection and purity for ever despite the mind and body casting shadows over it.
The sage said that the sun also gave him a lesson. When the reflections of the sun fall on the pots of water below, there appears to be many suns. Similarly, the Atman that we find in all of us is the reflection of the Brahman that shines as one.
Saint Dattratreya said that he saw of a pair of pigeons with their young birds. A fowler spread a net around and caught one young bird. Since the mother pigeon was too attached to her children, she voluntarily fell into the net and so too the male pigeon. This gave the message that attachment is the root cause for our bondage.
The python remains where it is. It does not go anywhere seeking. Sometime, some animals or birds come near it and the python grabs it. From this, the sage knew that he should remain contended what he gets and never seek anything or desire anything. Whatever that he needs he would get it at the right time and right place. Many rivers terminate into the ocean but the ocean remains unmoved. Similarly, we should know that we should always remain unmoved in the midst of all worldly attractions and temptations. Just as the moth falls into the fire and die, we fall to the temptation of our senses and ruin ourselves. Bees collect honey with great efforts but suddenly a hunter comes and takes it all away. Similarly, whatever wealth that we have created would never remain with us and would go to someone else who may even not need it. An elephant while fast approaching a female elephant falls into a pit. Similarly, a deer is enticed and trapped by the hunter. These incidents teach us that we should not go after sense gratification. The sage also cited the examples of fish and the dancing girl named Pingala to highlight the futility of going after senses.
Sage Dattatreya adopted many living beings as Guru, like a child, a bird, a serpent, an arrow maker, a spider and said that he attained complete knowledge from all these sources. He said he learnt lessons from wherever it came from. Totally, the lessons came from twenty four different sources; from nature, from men and women and from animals. All the lessons he learned enlightened him and transcended him to the state of Self realization.