THE ATTRIBUTES OF THE GURU

DASBODH
THE SECOND SAMAS – GURULAKSHAN

THE ATTRIBUTES OF THE GURU

There are some people who do a lot of things a common man thinks impossible to be done like hypnotism, using mantras for getting the desired things etc. These are mere masters of illusion creation who use their so called art to meet their ends and are if anything harmful to the mankind. Some people get into their trap and think that they are the Gurus. It goes without saying that they aren’t. The Guru is the one who is capable of taking the disciple on the path of Moksha.

Shree Samarth says that all those people who teach us about innumerable things including our teachers of various disciplines and our parents are thought to be The Gurus but again they are incapable of leading us to the Moksha. The Guru is the one who preaches about the knowledge of the Parbrahma, removes the darkness of the lack of this knowledge and helps in unifying our soul with the Parbrahma. After birth the life in the body seems to be detached from its creator, the Parbrahma. Maya is responsible for distancing the soul from the Parbrahma by putting innumerable obstacles of the visible. The Guru bridges this gap. One is totally engulfed by the feelings of the body and mind which constantly yield grief. The Guru shows the way to overcome this attachment with the body and the mind. One by himself is unable to get detached from it because of the lack of the knowledge of the correct path.

All of us, the rich and the paupers are running after the desires and lust which are unending but we can’t stop running after them by ourselves as we are unaware of the means to stop their powerful flow, the Guru knows it and bares it all for us. Lust and desire originate from lack of knowledge and lead to devious deeds which become a reason for another birth, the Guru imparts knowledge which breaks the further sequence of events. Guru goes step by step, he first tells you the knowledge in words then tells the hidden meaning of them i.e. the Parbrahma which is all pervading in us, which is in fact your own self, so the Guru finally makes you realize that It is in You! You are bound by form, mind, space, time etc. whereas the Parbrahma is boundless. The Guru turns you into the Parbrahma just by his preaching, puts an end to all your grief which only he can do as his powers are backed by his Herculean worship through which he can get anything done by his mere words which are so mightily powerful that they can enter your microform and even change everything inside you that requires modification in order to reach out to the desired goal.

Can any modern science do it? The answer is quite evident and emphatic, No! Such are the profound powers of the Guru’s words. The knowledge about the Parbrahma which is hidden inside the Upanishads is fed to the disciples by the Guru in quanta which are digestible according to their capacity as is done by the mother while feeding her infant. The knowledge of the Parbrahma may it be derived from the Vedas, religious scriptures or the Sages, Saints or Rishis is the same and so is that of the Guru. The Guru removes all the doubts, behaves as he preaches and always talks the truth i.e. the Parbrahma and nothing else. He is not the person who will talk anything which comes to the mind without giving it a second thought; in fact he does talk through his mind where only the Parbrahma resides. When we say that he is not bound by anything it doesn’t mean that he lets go his mind rather contrary to it he has by immense efforts learnt to control his mind and directed it towards the Parbrahma forever. Those who don’t teach the disciple how to remain in Sadhana and how to control the organs should be immediately shown the door.

He is the Guru who explains the real knowledge, imparts the ultimate knowledge and tells the ways to control the organs. In reality there are many people who call themselves as Guru but use their position to get money from the disciple, behave in the way the disciple would like for meeting their ends, keep their disciples happy for providing everything to satisfy their desires and lust. These people aren’t just the Gurus but are scoundrels in the Guru’s garb. Shree Samarth is so candid that he has used choicest expletives for these people. These people can even extract money for treating seriously ill patients without the knowledge of medicine which results in the loss of life and money. They should be abhorred and despised. Because of these types of people we rather go away from the path of spiritualism and to that of the selfishness. Therefore while choosing the Guru the disciple should indeed be very careful and submit to only the real one who is Parbrahma personified from deep inside and in day to day behavior is like the staunchest Sadhak. Lack of either of these qualities isn’t helpful to the disciple to pursue the chosen goal.

Shree Samarth ruefully asks us to abandon those so called Gurus who involve the disciples in the experience of the distorted abstract because their knowledge is limited to that only. The person who is nothing but the religious science, ultimate knowledge about the self and all the attributes of the Atman himself personified is the real Guru and those aspiring for Moksha should submit to him. Some people have the oratory to describe the hypothesis of non duality exquisitely but are terribly attracted towards the organic pleasures; such ones aren’t the type we should be looking for. Here Shree Samarth implies that oratory is the expression of the intellect whereas living according to the preaching of the Vedas doesn’t stop at the intellect only but requires total submission and dislike for the body mind intellect conglomerate, if one doesn’t have the first it doesn’t matter but one must have the second for the chosen goal. On the other hand some people have the art of making their subject highly interesting with apt examples which the audience likes to hear but without the knowledge of the Atman this art is rendered hopeless.

Some have the habit of telling about the impossible things made possible by the Saints, Sages and Rishis and the audience is spellbound by such things and unfortunately their attention is diverted to them thereby forgetting the real power of the Great Men which lies in their knowledge and perception of the Atman; to such an extent that they refuse to accept anyone else who doesn’t indulge in such cheap things like a Saint, Sage or a Rishi. In this business such oratory is ultimately detrimental to the whole cause. The outcome of such teaching is horrendous. The Sadhak thinks that all the Great Men of yore had all these powers without which the knowledge of the self is futile. This leads to further strengthening of the belief that I am the body and the mind which murders the cause of spiritualism and thence the bliss it was to accrue and rather throws the Sadhak into the unending ocean of grief.

Shree Samarth again tells that one can meet the God only after voidance of the path of deriving pleasure from the visible and such highly intelligent people without the knowledge of the Atman only mislead the Sadhak and therefore are deplorable to say the least. Such people despite their knowledge of everything else but the Atman lived and died for themselves which is miserable and pitiable and therefore to avoid such a plight one shouldn’t follow their teaching. It is very rare indeed to find a person who doesn’t have even an iota of desire or lust. He is the real Saint. His thinking is totally different from the common man’s. He always talks about the omnipresent God. If you see him anywhere, anytime, in any circumstance, in any given position you will always find that he will never think or talk about anything else but the God. It is well nigh impossible that he will ask for something. (The nuance of this is, He is in total unification with the God all the time all the while and in all contexts is God himself but poses as a human and this being so we should ask ourselves, “Does the God ask for anything?” ) God is the unending source of happiness but one misses the path towards him because of being enveloped in the body mind intellect conglomerate. A Sadhak may achieve lot of strength and powers through his Sadhana but if he uses those powers for the sake of the body he also misses the path. Shree Samarth says that those who ignore the unending bliss and instead go in for such strengths and powers are fools because there is nothing which yields grief like desire and lust does. Any desire apart from that of unification with the God is a sure invitation for problems and grief leading to the downfall of the persons who are desirous of the other things. When the body dies all these powers and strengths also die. Such a person not only loses them but also the God because he had never wanted him. It then implies that the Guru who is without any desires, lust and is absolutely firm about the real self, the Atman which he has experienced himself is the only one who can take you beyond this illusory visible.

The chief attribute of the Guru is that he should have the purest knowledge of the Parbrahma, eternal bliss, the capacity to remain in the Samadhi all the time although for others he may seem to be doing the daily chores and be in a state of utmost peace with himself without forfeiting his own real self. He is Vairagya personified, is not involved in anything, is highly pure in his behavior which is in strict accordance with his real knowledge and does everything which he preaches. Despite being in possession of all these attributes he always listens to the religious discourses and is highly interested and involved in the spiritual deliberations going on anywhere. Because of this lifestyle of his the doubts of the disciples around him are immediately removed and their intellect turns into unflinching faith in the Guru which is highly helpful not only to the disciples but to the society on the whole. Shree Samarth says that the disciples therefore should recognize the Guru by these attributes and also by the fact that he is there where all the nine types of worships are continuously being followed and highest importance is given to the path of Sadhana. He tells again and again that a worshipper will get bliss wherever there is pure knowledge of the self deep within purported by unhindered worship. Only knowledge won’t help if it is not accompanied by behavior in accordance to that. The spiritualism which is not based on worship and the implied behavior is of no use. If the discipline of the Karma is lost then there is a horrendous, incontrollable expression of all the despicable deeds leading to sins galore. The Guru is required to set these things right and to take care that nothing ever goes wrong in any minute aspects of worship, Vairagya, the correct karmas, and Sadhana so that the disciples don’t lose out on anything. The Guru knows that most of his disciples are common men with meager abilities and hence tells them everything stepwise so that they can digest, understand them and then put them into practice. For the best implementation of this the Guru himself has to show the disciples everything done by him as an example to be followed. When the Guru has to care for so many people he has to have different paths of Sadhana and he does have them. He knows that spiritualism without Sadhana may last for a while but will finally desert you and hence very prudently does Sadhana himself thereby subtly demonstrating to the disciples that they also should never deviate from this path.

Shree Samarth destructively criticizes those so called Gurus who take everything for granted and who don’t do what they preach. In short he says that the Guru has to be more careful than the disciples while treading on the path of spirituality. Corruption is rampant in spirituality also when it is pursued without worship and karma. Shree Samarth says that in view of this one should be most careful while submitting before someone thinking that he deserves to be the Guru. He says that many a times one goes by the outward appearance of a person which so commonly conceals the inward impurity and therefore he is liable to be deceived, thereby the whole cause is lost. When the Guru doesn’t deserve to be a Guru on any count, following him and his ways is like following the demon to the hell.

Shree Samarth says that there are many types of people in this world who pose as Guru just because they teach something but the real and the only Guru is the one who is capable of taking the disciple to the status of Moksha. He is full of all the virtues which he acquires with relentless Sadhana and has immeasurable kindness towards one and all and especially those who live a troubled life.

END OF SECOND SAMAS