Yogi Ashwini dwells on the special relationship ahead of Guru Purnima
Yog is your relationship with your guru, that’s it. Yog begins and ends at the feet of the guru, and making a guru is a sadhna. In this article we will delve upon the guru-shishya relationship from the latter’s perspective.
“Dhyan moolam Guru murti, pooja moolam Guru padam;
Mantra moolam Guru vakyam, moksha moolam Guru kripa”
The above shloka is the essence of the life of a shishya. The centre of dhyan for a shishya is the form of his/her guru; all pilgrimages are made by the shishya at the feet of the guru, whose every word is a mantra (codified energy) for the shishya and he/she attains moksha only by the grace of a guru.Guru has been given the highest place in the shastras. He is Brahma though he has not four heads, he is Vishnu though he has not four arms, he is Shiva though he has not three eyes. It is in the experience of guru and guru alone that the shishya experiences parabrahma, or that which is unmanifested.
Such is the importance of guru that in Rudrayamala it is said, “By devotion to guru, a jeeva will attain the state of Indra, lord of celestials, but by devotion to me (ishta devta alone), he might not attain me.”For a shishya, everything associated with the guru is shreshtam, foremost. It is said that the place where the guru lives is Kailash for the shishya, the trees in the house are the kalp vriksha, the water that flows there is Ganga, the herbs that grow are sanjeevani buti, the air is the prana vayu, the food served is prasad of the divine, the water is amrit.
When a shishya sits for dhyan with the guru, that much time does not exist for him, as at that time the shishya experiences the state of the guru and the experiences of years of sadhna done by the guru.It is after lifetimes of sadhna that a being meets his/her guru, and when that happens, there are indications for it. The first indication is that there occur certain changes in your body — it starts looking the way you always desired. Secondly, any imbalance or disease in the body disappears. You cease to fall ill. And the third indicator is that you start experiencing the energies that run this creation.
A guru does not charge you a fee or claim to rid you of your problems, he puts you on the path of attaining the final reality, opening the doorways of subtler dimensions. He is sthir in the five yams of ashtang yog, he exudes the glow and attraction of yog, whatever he says happens, his mantra ucharan is full of force and results in divine experiences and manifestations, something which people at Dhyan ashram experience daily.
One should not be in a hurry to make a guru and should be absolutely sure when he/she does make one basing the faith upon experiences he/she has had. Yogsutras give a period of two years for a sadhak to observe, analyse and understand everything before making a guru. Because once you make a guru, if after that you doubt upon it or change path, it is considered as disrespect of the guru (guru niradar), the sadhna of years comes to point zero. Kabir had said, “Kabira te nar andh hai jo guru kahate aur. Hari ruthe guru thor hai guru ruthe nahi thor.” The next two years are for the guru to accept the sadhak as a shishya.
Just like gurus are rare to find, shishyas too are few in number. There are certain indicators of a shishya too. A shishya has one pointed focus on the guru; there exists nothing but the guru for him/her. The faith and surrender of the shishya is absolute, a single doubt is enough to keep one off the path. A shishya never hides things from the guru and the relationship between the shishya and the guru is barrier-less. A shishya is a reflection of the guru, he/she exudes the glow and radiance of the guru and his/her vritti (activity) is according to the state of the guru.
Once the guru makes a shishya, he/she becomes his 100 per cent responsibility; the guru monitors the shishya not daily or hourly, but every second and literally carries him/her on the path of yog.While the domain of guru is gyan for the shishya, the seva of guru is the domain of shishya. The guru-shishya relationship cannot be undermined by tying it to a physical give and take. If anywhere in the world this relationship is rested upon physical or monetary favours from either side, be rest assured it is a business deal, not guru-shishya relationship.
The present understanding of the term guru is rooted in the physical, with innovative terms like ‘love guru’, ‘business guru’, ‘management guru’ etc becoming popular. Earlier there was just guru. This is indicative of the wrong thought process and desire pattern of people. Even pilgrimages have turned into picnic spots in present times, where people go in the hope of fulfilling material aspirations. If your desires are rested in the physical, then you need not go to a guru. Simple charity and service and following the laws of creation is enough to achieve physical desires. Guru is needed when you want to understand what lies beyond, and there is desire for siddhis of yog to go out of the ambit of life and death.
The problem of kalyug is that our desires are embedded in the physical; physical is what the majority understands, so even when one sets on a search for guru, he/she measures him on physical yardsticks — how big is his ashram, how many factories does he own, etc. Beyond that, one is unable to comprehend, missing out on the essence of what the guru is.
Its fine to be embedded in the physical because for the majority that is the starting point, but if you have found a guru and are walking his path and over a period of time your desires are still as they were, then you need to think whether you are wrong or you are in the wrong place. The night of Guru Purnima — which falls on July 30 this year — is of particular significance to a shishya. Yagya and mantra sadhna performed on this night under the guidance of your guru bestows the practitioner with boons equivalent to many years of sadhna put together in just one night.
The writer is the the guiding light of Dhyan Foundation. You can reach him at dhyan@dhyanfoundation.com
