God and Guru

by Smt. Mandira Lahiri

 

School education instilled the significance of prayers in me and my brother. Our teachers taught us the importance of following the right path, staying away from committing sins, owning up to and making amends for wrongdoings, helping the poor etc.  A lot of stress was laid on righteousness and for it to be embraced under all circumstances.  Being born to devout parents the environment at home was also very spiritual.  My paternal grandmother used to attend Satsangs and Sai Bhajans regularly.  I accompanied her on several occasions. I learnt quite a few of them and loved to sing along with the rest of the devotees.  I would observe her every morning and evening, sitting in the puja room and praying.  Often, she would call me to the puja room and make me sit beside her, tell me to close my eyes and feel the peace that was all around us in the puja room.  After doing as directed for a little while, a happy feeling would surround me….so much so that I would not like to open my eyes.  Many a times I would go on my own and repeat the practice.  Most of the evenings I would find my parents immersed in deep meditation.  Often, I would catch them talking animatedly about their Guru.  Later I got married into a family where all of them were ardent devotees of Sri Sri Anandmayee Maa.  Visitors who were fellow devotees would come home for Bhajan sessions and Satsangs.  All conversations in the house were centered around Sri Sri Maa.  The vibrations of all the Maa-talk and Guru-talk not only helped to maintain a healthy, happy and peaceful atmosphere at home, but also illuminated our lives at every step.

After Sri Sri Maa left her mortal coil, there was a period of lull.  But very soon we had the good fortune of coming in contact with Prajnanpurush Sri Sri Babathakur.  His teachings and His words have been a blessing for all of us, and shall remain so forever.

In the book ‘Science of Oneness’ Sri Sri Babathakur says, ’Guru is the Truth of Being and becoming both. So, he is your life’s essence.  That is, he is your Being and He is your becoming. It has already been said in the Guru Mantra that Guru is Brahma, Guru is Vishnu, Guru is Maheshwara and Guru is verily Para-Brahman.  Salutations to that Supreme Guru.

Guru Brahma means gross Cosmic Being; Guru Vishnu is subtle Cosmic Being; Guru Maheshwara is causal Cosmic Being; and Guru Para-Brahman is the Transcendental One, the Absolute, of which the individual is an inseparable part and not a separate one.  So, you cannot be separated from the Divine Laws and Principles, though you have forgotten that.  Bubbles arising in the ocean cannot be separated from the ocean.  It is impossible for the bubbles to exist without the water itself as their substance.  Water is the substratum of bubbles, ripples, foams, waves of the ocean.  So also, you have the consciousness as the Eternal Substratum.  Even the little child has the same Divine essence as its soul.  To saintly people, there is no difference among things, between one another.  But it is you who has forgotten your True Nature and make the difference.  Why?  Because you are not aware of that ‘Oneness’, the underlying Essence of life.  From the outer view or outer appearance of a garland or a necklace, the inner string which makes the garland cannot be seen.  But if you want to know and see it, you should remove some beads and some gems set in the garland and then you can see the underlying string.  So is your Self which is the underlying Essence of life.  Guru makes you conscious of this and Himself merges in that Self.’

In another excerpt from the same book, He elaborates on the functions of a Guru---- ‘He takes away your ignorance, your sufferings, your mistakes, wrongs and sense of duality, and imparts instead of all these, the ‘Science of Oneness’, the ‘Knowledge of Oneness’, the Realization of Truth, Self, God as One. Oneness is Eternal.  It is not created by anybody. God is not an object of creation nor is a creator Himself.  He is the essence of all.’

In ‘Nectar of Wisdom’ he reiterates---- ‘It is Divine Grace which is the essence of all power, Essence of all understanding, all knowledge and the essence of all blissful and peaceful awareness of Truth.  You shall know that you are in the Divine, you were in the Divine and you will always remain in the Divine.’

Sri Raman Maharshi in his book “Talks” says, “---- Isvaro gururatmeti (God is the same as Guru and Self…).  A person begins with dissatisfaction.  Not content with the world, he seeks satisfaction of desires by prayers to God; his mind is purified; he longs to know God more than to satisfy his casual desires.  Then, God’s Grace begins to manifest.  God takes the form of a Guru and appears to the devotee; teaches him the Truth; purifies the mind by His teachings and contact; the mind gains strength, is able to turn inwards; with meditation it is purified yet further, and eventually remains still without the least ripple.  That stillness is the Self.  The Guru is both the exterior and interior.  From the exterior he gives a push to the mind to turn inwards; from the interior he pulls the mind towards the Self and helps the mind to achieve quietness.  That is Grace.

Hence there is no difference between God, Guru and Self.

The essence of mind is only awareness or consciousness.  When the ego, however, dominates it, it functions as the reasoning, thinking or sensing faculty.  The cosmic mind being not limited by the ego, has nothing separate from itself and is therefore only aware. This is what the Bible means by---- I am that I am.

The ego ridden mind has its strength sapped and is too weak to resist the torturing thoughts.  The egoless mind is happy in deep, dreamless sleep.  Clearly therefore Bliss and misery are only modes of mind; but the weak mode is not easily interchangeable with the strong mode. Activity is weakness and consequently miserable; passivity is strength and therefore blissful.  The dormant strength is apparent and therefore not availed of.

The cosmic mind, manifesting in some rare being, is able to affect the linkage in others of the individual (weak) mind with the universal (strong) mind of the inner recess.  Such a rare being is called the GURU or God in manifestation.”

Presenting an excerpt from the book “Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swamiji” written by Swami Tathagatananda----“Sri Ramakrishna, the Avatara of the modern age, is the incarnation of Love. He is the living God Satchidananda. According to Sri Ramakrishna, ‘It is God alone who incarnates Himself as man to teach people the ways of love and knowledge’ (The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, pg. 359).

The Master says, ‘And we see God himself if we but see His Incarnation. …. If you seek God, then seek Him in man; He manifests Himself more in man than in any other thing.  If you see a man endowed with ecstatic love, overflowing with Prema, mad after God, intoxicated with His love, then know for certain that God has incarnated Himself through that man.

There is no doubt that God exists in all things; but the manifestations of His power are different in different beings.  The greatest manifestation of His Power is through an incarnation.  Again, in some incarnations there is a complete manifestation of God’s power.  It is the Shakti, the Power of God, that is born as an incarnation.’ …. Swami Vivekananda said, “Feel like Christ and you will be a Christ; feel like Buddha and you will be a Buddha.  It is feeling that is the life, the strength, the vitality, without which no amount of intellectual activity can reach God.”

During my school days I came across the following couplet of Kabirdasji that wonderfully and succinctly expresses the greatness of a Guru:

“Guru Govind dou khare, kakey lagun paye,

balihari Guru apne, Govind diyo bataye.”

 Undoubtedly, the Guru holding your hand is a magical experience.  He takes you through all the crests and troughs of life in a smooth and balanced way. In other words, he helps us to complete the journey of life in a joyful and sane manner.  He is there with us forever – and even if no longer physically present, is ever alive for His devotees through His words and teachings.

I shall sign off with the following lines from Guru Gita:

‘Blinded by the darkness of the world I was.

He who opened my eyes

With a stick of collyrium of Knowledge.

To him I bow down, my Guru, the adorable.’