WHO IS A REAL GURU? A real Guru is one who is born from time to time as a repository of spiritual force which he transmits to future generations through successive links of Guru and Shishya (disciple). The current of this spirit-force changes its course from time to time, just as a mighty stream of water opens up a new channel and leaves the old one for good. Thus it is seen that old sects of religion grow lifeless in the course of time, and new sects arise with the fire of life in them. Men who are truly wise commit themselves to the mercy of that particular sect through which the current of life flows. Old forms of religion are like the skeletons of once mighty animals, preserved in museums. They should be regarded with the due honour. They cannot satisfy the true cravings of the soul for the Highest, just as a dead mango-tree cannot satisfy the cravings of a man for luscious mangoes.
The one thing necessary is to be stripped of our vanities — the sense that we possess any spiritual wisdom — and to surrender ourselves completely to the guidance of our Guru. The Guru only knows what will lead us towards perfection. We are quite blind to it. We do not know anything. This sort of humility will open the door of our heart for spiritual truths. Truth will never come into our minds so long as there will remain the faintest shadow of Ahamkâra (egotism). All of you should try to root out this devil from your heart. Complete self-surrender is the only way to spiritual illumination. Divine grace is needed to get the right guru. If the seeker is earnest, he will get the right guru at the end for sure. A truly realized Jnani can be a pauper like Bhagwan Ramana Maharshi or a king like Janaka Maharaja. Sri Krishna, an absolute total Avatar of God was living amidst worldly pleasures and materialism but nothing touched him. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa lived a poor man’s life; he could not even touch money with his hand. He lived such an exemplary life of renunciation. But think of Swami Vivekananda, his prime disciple, to whom Sri Ramakrishna transferred all his *shakti* before leaving his body and the way he “extracted work” from Vivekananda! Vivekananda roamed all around India as a penniless mendicant; he got the divine prompting to go to USA again as a penniless person. He swept the west like a storm, brought wealth, started Sri Ramakrishna Mission and Math, built Belur Mutt, built a grand temple for Sri Ramakrishna there, set up several branches of the mutt, engaged his brother monks into various social service activities, built educational institutions and other institutions for the welfare of the downtrodden men and women. Like a tempest he worked ceaselessly and built a huge institution and left his body when he was just 40 with total detachment as a true Sanyasin! Think of Swami Sivananda. He was floating in wealth as a popular doctor in Malaysia. He was gripped by thirst for spirituality, came to India, got initiated into Sanyas, did tapas at Rishikesh, lived the life of a begging monk and got enlightened. He served the poor and sick monks of Rishikesh. He started Sivananda Ashram – ‘Divine Life Society’ from a humble hut and built it into a huge Ashram comprising of a temple, a hospital, a photo studio, a Yoga Institute, a Vedanta Institute, a printing press and he had an office manned by some 40 typists with typewriters to handle all his correspondence and writing! Swami Sivananda once said, “If I can serve 100 people unobtrusively or serve thousands of people through advertisement, I would choose the latter”. Same Swami Sivananda, when his ashram was gripped with financial difficulty, said, “I have no qualms if we have to shut down everything and we can always go back to our old simple ways by taking food at Annakshetra”. That is the sign of a mahatma. Likewise, there are indeed Gurus of today that the media may project as billionaires rolling in luxury, materialism and worldliness, but they may be totally untouched by any of them even today. Kali yuga is such that even Ashrams cannot totally escape some pomp, show, commercialization and materialism. If the head of the ashram is a pure realized soul, everything can remain in balance. The institutions may have to be run by ordinary people with ordinary morals (who are yet to be evolved) and some of them may bring bad name to the Mahatma who runs the institutes too! But true Mahatmas accept all sorts of people out of compassion to elevate them spiritually. As I said, it requires divine grace — the grace to know the difference between the right Guru and a fake Guru, to differentiate the wheat and the chaff. Thus so many had wonderful gurus; so many had false gurus also;the best Guru is the books. Because the mukti, GURU cannot give but only individually we have to seek. K Rajaram IRS 4 9 23 On Mon, 4 Sept 2023 at 14:48, 'N Sekar' via iyer123 < iyer...@googlegroups.com> wrote: > Excellent message, thanks > > N Sekar > > Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android > <https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&af_sub1=Acquisition&af_sub2=Global_YMktg&af_sub3=&af_sub4=100000604&af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_> > > On Mon, Sep 4, 2023 at 12:07 PM, ARR > <arranganathan.ba...@gmail.com> wrote: > Why do we need a Master? Once upon a time, a cow went out to graze in the > jungle. Suddenly, she noticed a lion racing towards her. She turned and > fled, fearing that at any moment the lion would sink his claws into her. > The cow desperately looked for someplace to escape and at last, saw a > shallow pond. Barely evading the lion's reach, she jumped into the pond, > and in the heat of the chase, the lion blindly leaped after her. To the > surprise of them both, the pond was extremely shallow yet filled with deep > recesses of mud. After toppling over each other, the cow and the lion found > themselves a short distance apart, stuck in the mud up to their necks. Both > had their heads above water but were unable to free themselves no matter > how much they writhed. The lion repeatedly snarled at the cow and roared, > “I am going to enjoy the sound of crunching your bones between my teeth!” > He thrashed about in fury but soon became fretful as he found no prospect > of escape. The cow thoughtfully laughed as the lion struggled to free > himself and asked him, “Do you have a master?” The lion disdainfully > replied, “I am the king of the jungle. Why do you ask me if I have a > master? I myself am the master!” The cow said, “You may be the king of the > jungle, but here all your power has failed to save your life.” “And what > about you?” Retorted the lion. “You are going to die here in this mud > too!”’ The cow smiled mildly and said, “No, I am not.” “If even I, the king > of the jungle cannot free myself from this mud”, snapped the lion, “Then > how can you, an ordinary cow?” The cow gently replied, “I cannot free > myself from this mud, but my master can. When the sun sets and he finds me > absent at home, he will come looking for me. Once he finds me, he will > raise me up and escort me home sweet home.” The lion fell silent and coldly > glared at the cow. Soon enough, the sunset and the cow’s master arrived. He > immediately recognized the plight she was in and lifted her to safety. As > they walked home, the cow and the master both felt renewed gratitude for > one another and pitied the lion they both would have been happy to save if > only the lion had allowed them. The cow represents a surrendered heart, the > lion represents an egoistic mind, and the master represents the Guru. The > mud represents the world, and the chase represents the struggle for > existence therein. In brief Its good to be independent and not rely on > anyone. But don't take it to an extreme, you always need a > partner/coach/mentor/ friend who will be always on the lookout for you. > Having them does not mean you are weak, it's just that you can be stronger > with their help. Make sure to share this story with your > partner/coach/mentor/ friend and express your gratitude. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "iyer123" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to iyer123+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/iyer123/CABnwRDdTkmNWFOiqK5yhxQv%3DxA0WM0%2BepLiRQeTxFuQUBs6o%2Bw%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/iyer123/CABnwRDdTkmNWFOiqK5yhxQv%3DxA0WM0%2BepLiRQeTxFuQUBs6o%2Bw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "iyer123" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to iyer123+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/iyer123/1729097767.3604626.1693819088139%40mail.yahoo.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/iyer123/1729097767.3604626.1693819088139%40mail.yahoo.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. 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