Guru-Mahatmya
The notorious dacoit Ratnakar was so sinful that he could not pronounce the name Ram, though he could individually pronounce the syllables ‘Ra’ and ‘ma’. The same sinner Ratnakar, upon surrendering to a Guru and following his instructions had a change of heart and underwent
a complete transformation to become a great saint who we now know as Rishi Valmiki. Rishi Valmiki wrote the Ramayana even before the descension of Shri Ram.
By completely surrendering to her Guru and selflessly serving him, an illiterate tribal woman by the name of Shabari gained the highest spiritual knowledge, deserving of Lord Shri Ram's grace. Through her devotion to her Guru, Shabari attained God realization in that very birth. Such is the glory of a genuine Guru. Life without a Guru is meaningless. It is the Guru who opens the eyes of the Jeev blinded by Maya and makes them understand the divine philosophy such as “who am I”, “who is mine”, and “the nature of the world”. The Guru is also the one, who ultimately bestows divine love on the devotee.
गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुः गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः । गुरुः साक्षात् परब्रह्म तस्मै श्री गुरवे नमः ॥
gururbrahmā gururviṣṇuḥ gururdēvō mahēśvarḥ . guruḥ sākṣāt parabrahma tasmai śrī guravē namḥ .
Guru is called Brahma because he enlightens his disciple with spiritual knowledge. He is called Vishnu because he protects that knowledge as the disciple treads on the path prescribed by him. He is called Shiva because he destroys the ignorance and faults of the disciple. He bestows spiritual knowledge and brings brightness into a disciple's life and liberates him from the cycle of life and death. In fact, Guru is considered to be a living form of God Himself. Hence, there is no entity that can be compared to a Guru in the entire universe.
Guru Poornima is the day of the adoration of the Guru. Not just love but
“adoration” which means very intense love. A Guru is adored incessantly by
his disciples. And those disciples avail this opportunity to express their love
and respect towards their Guru to please Him on this auspicious day of the
year.
So, how can one get to this stage of “adoration” of a Guru?
First, one needs to understand who can be called a Guru. Then they need
to approach the Guru to attain the knowledge of philosophy and finally
follow his instructions. To attain spiritual maturity, one must invest time
and effort in acquiring Tattva Gyan (1) and then putting that into
practice. In the beginning, everyone falters due to the impressions from
their previous lifetimes. Ratnakar and Shabari had already invested that
time and effort in their previous lifetimes and so when they met their
Guru, they developed instantaneous faith and fully surrendered
themselves unto their Guru. For some of us that instantaneous faith may
not happen. We may need to put in a lot more time and effort to get to
their stage.
And what if life ends before we attain complete faith and surrender ourselves?
Even in that case, we must not lose hope. This process will start from here we ended in this lifetime and continue over numerous lifetimes until we get to the stage of complete surrender, which is the true essence of celebrating Guru Poornima. As you progress on the path of spirituality, the adoration for Guru will automatically grow. And one day, you will develop the kind of faith and level of surrender that Valmiki and Shabari had for their Guru.
Let us learn more about this step-by-step process in this article.
First let us ponder upon how to identify a genuine Guru. In this age of Kaliyuga, one can be easily confused, since there are many imposters
claiming to be a Guru. How do we separate the grain from the chaff? To identify a genuine Saint, it would be imperative to know a few things -
- Definition of Guru
- Who qualifies to be a Guru thereby also understand
- Benefits of Worshipping Guru and
- How to obtain knowledge from Guru
Once you understand the above, you need to increase your longing to meet such a Guru. The all-merciful God will certainly bring the right Guru
in your life. Then, as you follow the Guru's instructions and surrender to him, you cannot help but adore him incessantly.
Definition of Guru
In modern times, the word Guru is used to mean “an expert in a field”. However, the meaning of Guru in Sanskrit language is significantly different from the contemporary meaning.
In Sanskrit the word Guru has 2 meanings -
गुं रौतीति गुरु: ।
guṁ rautīti guru: .
“The one who dispels the darkness of ignorance is Guru.”
गुशब्दस्त्वंधकारत्वात्, रुशब्दस्तन्निरोधतः । तस्मादंधकारनिरोधत्वात् गुरूरित्यभिधीयते ॥
guśabdastvandhakāratvāt, ruśabdastannirōdhatḥ . tasmādandhakāranirōdhatvāt gurūrityabhidhīyatē .
“The word Gu means dark and Ru means destroyer. Guru dispels the darkness of ignorance, that’s why he is called Guru.”
The other definition is -
गृणाति ज्ञानं इति गुरु: ।
gr̥ṇāti jñānṁ iti guru: .
“The one who imparts divine wisdom is Guru”.
We can infer from these definitions that a teacher of a particular subject such as music, dance and various sciences cannot be designated as Guru. This is because such a teacher can provide knowledge of only one subject. Also, his own knowledge on that one subject is incomplete. Thus, he does not have the competence to uproot the darkness of ignorance of his disciple. It also denotes any material being cannot be entitled to be called Guru, since they are also subjugated by Maya, the mother of ignorance.
With this it can be deduced that no one under the control of Maya can have the ability to be called Guru.
Who qualifies to be a Guru?
Let us delve deeper into the scriptures to know who has this extraordinary power to remove ignorance of others?
The Vedas emanated from the mouth of Supreme God
निःश्वसितमस्य वेदाः ।
niḥśvasitamasya vēdāḥ .
Hence they are the ultimate source of knowledge. They assert -
तद्विज्ञानार्थं स गुरुमेवाभिगच्छेत् समित्पाणि: श्रोत्रियं ब्रह्मनिष्ठम् ।
मुंडकोपनिषद् १.२.१२
tadvijñānārthṁ sa gurumēvābhigacchēt samitpāṇi: śrōtriyṁ brahmaniṣṭham .
muṇḍakōpaniṣad 1.2.12
“It is imperative to be associated with a Spiritual master endowed with 2 requisite qualities -
1. He should be śrotriyaṃ, which means one who is endowed with complete and meticulous knowledge of the scriptures and possesses the power to instill that knowledge in our minds
2. Brahmaniṣṭham which means He should be a God realized soul”.
The most essential of these two attributes is being Brahmaniṣṭha. Because a God-realized soul naturally attains perfect knowledge of everything. Yes, everything! This is so because at the time of God realization God bestows all His powers to such a saint. But if he is only śrotriya (1), neither would he be able to resolve all the doubts of an aspirant, nor can he lead the aspirant to realize God realization.
The Bhagavad Gita and Shrimad Bhagavata Mahapurana affirm the same, “Seek a saint, who possesses the knowledge of the scriptures and is also a God-realized soul. Approach such a saint with a completely surrendered mind. Humbly ask him questions to satisfy your inquisitive mind and serve him selflessly. Then by his grace you would attain the knowledge of the precise direction to reach Me”.
स्माद् गुरुं प्रपद्येत जिज्ञासु: श्रेय उत्तमम् । शाब्दे परे च निष्णातं ब्रह्मण्युपशमाश्रयम् ॥ भागवत ११.३.२१
smād guruṁ prapadyēta jijñāsu: śrēya uttamam . śābdē parē ca niṣṇātṁ brahmaṇyupaśamāśrayam . bhāgavata 11.3.21
Bhagavan-Shri Krishna says, "Submit yourself to a God-realized saint and humbly ask questions to clarify your spiritual doubts.:
śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṃ means, “well versed in scriptural knowledge” and brahmaṇyupaśamāśrayam means, “competent in scriptural knowledge’.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, says -
जेइ कृष्ण तत्त्ववेत्ता, सेइ गुरु हय ।
jēi kr̥ṣṇa tattvavēttā, sēi guru haya .
"The one who has realized God is Guru”.
Benefits of Worshipping Guru
It is well-understood that no one in the world can learn about a single alphabet of any language without a teacher, let alone attaining mastery of that language. Spiritual knowledge is much more abstruse and inconceivable than the knowledge of any language. When worldly knowledge cannot be attained without a teacher, it should be no surprise that it is equally not possible to attain spiritual knowledge without a genuine spiritual master.
That is why scriptures also emphatically assert the importance of a Spiritual Master (Guru).
Tulsidas Ji says,
गुरु बिनु भव निधि तरई न कोई, जो विरन्चि शंकर सम होई ।
guru binu bhava nidhi tarī na kōī, jō viranci śaṅkara sama hōī .
सो विनु संत न काहू पाई ॥
sō vinu santa na kāhū pāī .
"Even the most competent one, endowed with the knowledge equivalent to Lord Brahma (creator) and Lord Shankar (annihilator) cannot traverse the ocean of Maya without the grace of a genuine spiritual master".
All these scriptures are unanimously asserting the same thing that It is impossible to know God without the help of a true Spiritual Master; shrotriya (श्रोत्रियं) - endowed with meticulous knowledge of all the scriptures and brahmanishṭham (ब्रह्मनिष्ठम्) - a God realized soul(3). So, it is established that the Guru knows God.
However, the question is how do we get that knowledge from him?
How to obtain Knowledge from Guru
The Vedas say-
उत्तिष्ठत जाग्रत प्राप्य वरान्निबोधत । कठोपनिषद् १.३.१४
uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prāpya varānnibōdhata . kaṭhōpaniṣad 1.3.14
“Wake up and approach a saint. Be humble and seek knowledge from him”.
The Gita mentions that one can be benefited with the association and guidance of a real saint only when he abides by the following 3 rules –
1. Tadvid'dhi praṇipātēna (तद्विद्धि प्रणिपातेन) Approach a saint humility with a totally surrendered mind and then
2. paripraśnēna (परिप्रश्नेन) humbly and inquisitively ask questions to remove your doubts
3. sēvayā (सेवया) serve him according to his instructions and interests.
Then and only then upadēkṣyanti tē jñānṁ jñāninastattvadarśina: (उपदेक्ष्यन्ति ते ज्ञानं ज्ञानिनस्तत्त्वदर्शिन:) which means such an enlightened Saint can impart knowledge unto you. Otherwise, the saint might keep providing spiritual knowledge, yet the disciple would not grasp anything. Faith in the words of Guru and implementation of his instructions is indispensable.
In a nutshell, if someone obtains shelter of a real Guru (who is endowed with scriptural knowledge, divine love and also an ability to infuse the true knowledge in the mind of an inquisitive soul), then there will be no delay in realization of God. He will then get absolute liberation from the miseries and attain unlimited divine bliss.
Narad Ji gave the same message to Prahlad, when he was in the womb of his mother saying,
गुरुशुश्रूषया भक्त्या सर्वलब्धार्पणेन च ।
संगेन साधुभक्तानामीश्वराराधनेन च ॥
भा. ७.७.३०
guruśuśrūṣayā bhaktyā sarvalabdhārpaṇēna ca .
saṅgēna sādhubhaktānāmīśvarārādhanēna ca .
bhā. 7.7.30
“Although, there are many ways to realize God, yet the best and easiest way is the selfless service to your Spiritual Master with pure devotion and self-sacrifice ”.
This is why Aditi said to Lord Krishna,
भक्तिर्यथा हरौ मेऽस्ति, तद्वरिष्ठा गुरौ यदि ।
ममास्ति तेन सत्येन, संदर्शयतु मे हरि: ॥ पद्म पुराण
bhaktiryathā harau mē’sti, tadvariṣṭhā gurau yadi .
mamāsti tēna satyēna, sandarśayatu mē hari: . padma purāṇa
“If it is true that my devotion to my Guru is superior than my devotion to you, please show me your beautiful divine form right now.” And Shri Krishna had to appear.
The Bhagwat asserts emphatically -
आचार्यं मां विजानीयान्नावमन्येत कर्हिचित् । न मर्त्य बुद्ध्याऽ सूयेत सर्व देवमयो गुरु: ॥भा. १.१७.२७
ācāryṁ māṁ vijānīyānnāvamanyēta karhicit . na martya buddhyā’ sūyēta sarva dēvamayō guru: .bhā. 1.17.27
Shri Krishna said “Uddhava! A true aspirant must see Me in Guru. Neither should he insult Guru at any cost nor consider him as an ordinary being. Guru is the embodiment of all forms of God.”
Out of all the most serious spiritual transgressions, disrespecting a saint (Namaparadh) (2) is the most severe one.
भावोऽप्यभावमायाति कृष्णप्रेष्ठापराध्तः
bhāvō’pyabhāvamāyāti kr̥ṣṇaprēṣṭhāparādhtḥ
"God cannot tolerate offense to His beloved devotees". Envision the history of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, where he summoned the Sudarshan chakra against Jagai Madhai since they disrespected Nityanand Ji. Similarly Shri Krishna sent Sudarshan Chakra after Durvasa when Durvasa insulted His exclusive devotee king Ambarish. So, be very careful that you never perform Namaparadh (2) against a saint. Or else you will lose the keys to all of your spiritual wealth (4).
It is important to practically implement this knowledge. By their unconditional surrender, unflinching faith in such a Guru, Ratnakar and Shabari attained spiritual wealth in the same lifetime. If you have found a true Spiritual Master and wish to attain similar spiritual benefit then the next step would be to surrender to him fully.
Mentioned below are the answers to the question "how to worship such my Guru" to further deepen our surrender and faith in Him. While doing all physical activities, always remember that it is the mind that has to surrender.
Let us now learn how to worship the Guru.
Worshipping my Guru
Our Guru leads us on the path of ultimate bliss. That is why a true devotee adores Guru every moment of our life and even more so on the day of Guru Poornima.
Now, let us pay our homage to our venerable Spiritual Master with these verses:
प्रथमं सद्गुरुं वन्दे, श्रीकृष्णं तदनन्तरम् ।
गुरु: पापात्मनां त्राता, श्रीकृष्णस्त्वमलात्मनाम् ॥
prathamṁ sadguruṁ vandē, śrīkr̥ṣṇṁ tadanantaram .
guru: pāpātmanāṁ trātā, śrīkr̥ṣṇastvamalātmanām .
"Let us adore our revered Guru first, and then pay our respects to Lord Krishna. Because, the Guru delivers the fallen souls like us whereas Lord Krishna delivers only the pure in heart."
गुरुः कृपालुर्म शरणम्। वन्देऽहं सद्गुरु चरणम्॥
guruḥ kr̥pālurma śaraṇam. vandē’hṁ sadguru caraṇam.
“I surrender at the Lotus feet of my merciful master. I pay obeisance to my Sadguru’s feet.”
औरन को गुरु हो य न हो गुरु मेरो कृपालु सुभाग हमारो
aurana kō guru hō ya na hō guru mērō kr̥pālu subhāga hamārō
“I don’t care if others have a Guru or not, but I feel highly blessed having Shri Kripalu Mahaprabhu as my revered Guru.”So, the authentic way of celebrating Guru Poornima is to wake up early, and offering your gratitude towards Him by offering flowers and worship His lotus feet with applying chandan (sandalwood paste) to His lotus feet with immense love and respect. Then engage your mind in His loving remembrance while chanting God’s and Guru’s glories the whole day. Make a firm resolution to completely surrender unto Him and follow all His teachings and instructions.