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Shri Datta Swami

Posted on: 13 Oct 2003

               

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GURU GURU GURU

Which Knowledge Requires Propagation? Some people desire to become a Guru (preacher) when they fail in every business. They want to succeed in the spiritual business. Some other people have the itch to become a Guru to get disciples around them. But in order to preach and become a real Guru in this world, there are three requirements.

  1. You should discover a truth in the scriptures that is better [than what is currently known].
  2. Due to the lack of the knowledge of your discovery, people must be suffering already.
  3. People should get benefited upon knowing your discovery.

If these three points are satisfied, the preaching is meaningful and such a preacher is a useful Guru (Sadguru)[1].  For example, if you can say, “Here is a new method to get rid of a headache without taking a headache-tablet,” you can be called a Sadguru and your discovery needs propagation. Such real preachers are Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhva, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Mahavir, Vivekananda, Sai Baba etc. The second type of Guru is a useless Guru who preaches, “A headache disappears when you take medicine”. Everyone knows this! He merely preaches what is already present in books. He is wasting his time and energy. He is only a teacher; not a preacher.  The third type of Guru is a harmful Guru who preaches, “If you consume poison, your headache will disappear”.  He harms people. He does not even know bookish knowledge. He spreads his ignorance.

God will punish a harmful Guru. God does not punish a useless Guru, but the useless Guru is wasting his own time and energy just to satisfy his itch to become a Guru. Instead of wasting his lifetime like this, let him join the service of the Lord who comes in human form (Sadguru) to propagate divine knowledge. But jealousy and ego hinder him in doing so. He wants to become Shankaracharya[2] and get His fame. He does not want to become Shankaracharya’s disciple, who is an ordinary human being like himself. He did not discover any theory like Shankaracharya but he wants to get the fame of Shankaracharya. His ego does not allow him to become the disciple of Shankaracharya. He is very jealous of the fame of Shankaracharya. He dresses like Shankaracharya, and shaves his head similarly. He teaches the same theory of Shankaracharya. So he is only a disciple of Shankaracharya and not the original Shankaracharya.

No one is greater than Hanuman[3] in any aspect like knowledge, devotion, power, etc. That Hanuman participated in the service of the Lord in human form [Rama]. He did not start his own new work to uplift the world by killing some other demon. He never wanted to become a hero like Rama. The reason is, He does not have even a trace of jealousy and ego. So He recognized the Lord in human form and became His servant to participate in His work. Rama was Vishnu. Hanuman became the future Brahma[4]. But Vishnu Himself is Brahma according to the Veda “Brahmacha Narayanah”. This means that Hanuman got the same position as Rama. So if you participate in the service of the Sadguru you will get the same position as that of the Sadguru.

So never be a harmful Guru. Do not waste time and energy by becoming a useless Guru. Participate in the service of the useful Guru (Sadguru) as a disciple and attain the same position as that of the Satguru. Let every Guru and everyone, who has the itch to become a Guru, think about My advice and do some self-examination, sitting alone with a peaceful mind.

Then you will understand the truth.

Guru and God

The right half of Datta is Guru and the left half of Datta is God. Rama is God and Hanuman is Guru. The same Datta is split into two halves. Rama is an Incarnation of Vishnu. Hanuman is an Incarnation of Shiva. The Veda says “Shivashcha Narayanah” i.e., Vishnu Himself is Shiva. So Rama is the left half and Hanuman is the right half of Datta. The Guru needs supernatural powers (ashta siddhis) for the sake of the disciples. Sometimes a disciple doubts the divinity of the Guru. To prove His divinity, the Guru has to perform some miracles. Sita[5] doubted Hanuman. So Hanuman grew his body to an enormous size (Vishwarupam) and showed the proof. Similarly, when Ravana set Hanuman’s tail on fire, the tail did not burn. That was a miracle showed to Ravana. Sita believed Hanuman but Ravana did not believe. Hanuman had informed both Sita and Ravana about Rama, the Lord. Thus, He was the Guru for both. But Sita was a good disciple and Ravana was a bad disciple.

In the case of Lord Krishna, He was both Guru and God i.e., a two-in-one system. He preached and also showed the Vishwarupam[6] to both Arjuna and Duryodhana. Arjuna being a good disciple, believed. Duryodhana being a bad disciple, did not believe. Krishna declared that He is God. So He is Gurudeva[7]. This shows that both preaching and showing of miracles is useful only in the case of deserving devotees.

Sita represents an ordinary soul (jeeva). After marriage, she stayed with the Lord for about twelve years in Ayodhya[8]. Due to the continuous long association, negligence towards the Lord developed in her mind. When Rama was going to the forest, He asked her to stay back at Ayodhya. She criticized Rama saying “You are a female in the form of a male”. Such negligence weakens the bond with the Lord. The golden deer attracted her. This is nothing but the bond with money. She was kidnapped by the ten-headed Ravana, who represents the various family bonds and she suffered a lot. Then she cried for Rama, who is the Lord. Hanuman in the form of Guru approached her. Hanuman described to her the form of Rama from top to bottom. This means, that the Guru explains that the real form of God is only the human form. Hanuman killed demons there. This means that the Guru cuts all the worldly bonds, which trouble the soul. Hanuman burnt the Golden Lanka[9]. Sita had reached the golden Lanka through her attachment to the golden deer. This means due to the bond with money, the soul gets a lot of wealth. Sita suffered in Lanka. This means that the soul suffers due to the excess of wealth. Hanuman warned Ravana. This means that the Guru also teaches the family bonds[10] of that soul to get salvation. Hanuman returned back and appealed to Rama to save Sita immediately. Similarly, a Guru recommends to God to protect the devotee. Rama immediately killed Ravana and saved Sita. This means the Lord will cut all the family bonds and uplift you. Even after reaching Rama, Sita suffered due to her sins. She had earlier blamed Lakshmana in the forest[11]. She had to suffer because of that sin. This means that even after achieving the Lord, the devotee has to suffer for his own sins. When Rama left Sita and sent her to the forest, Sita said “Kalyanabuddheh…” i.e., “O Rama you are kind. I have to be separated from You only due to my sins.” She never blamed Rama and suffered for her sins silently. Similarly, one should not blame the Lord while suffering for one’s own sins. He should suffer for his sins in silence. Rama also suffered after leaving Sita. Similarly, the Lord also suffers for your sins. At last, Rama gave Sita a permanent place with Him in the upper world. This means that if you are prepared to suffer for your sins and still love the Lord, you will get a permanent place in the heart of the Lord.

In the case of Krishna too, the Yadavas[12] neglected the advice of Krishna due to their long association with Him. Finally, they consumed wine and in that drunken state, they killed each other. Arjuna also criticized Krishna when he was fighting for the sake of Gaya. Arjuna gave more importance to Dharma (wordly justice) than Swami (Lord) in protecting Gaya[13]. But the Gopikas gave more importance to Swami than Dharma and danced with Lord Krishna in Vrindavanam[14]. The Gopikas got salvation right after that birth but Arjuna had to be born again as a hunter[15]. When the hunter proved the climax of his love for God by offering his own eyes to God, he got salvation. Similarly, Hanuman also fought with Rama to protect Yayati, since Yayati had been given protection by the mother of Hanuman. Hanuman gave more importance to His mother than Swami. He realized His mistake and rectified it in His next Incarnation i.e., Shankaracharya. Both Hanuman and Shankaracharya are the Incarnations of Lord Shiva. Shankaracharya left his mother for the sake of Swami and thus rectified His previous mistake.

In all these cases, Maya[16] covers the minds of the disciples. Arjuna realized Krishna as God when he heard the Gita and saw the Vishwarupam. But for eighteen days after that incident, Krishna merely behaved like Arjuna’s charioteer. Every evening after the day’s battle, when the chariot would come back to the army camp, Krishna would get down first and open the door of the chariot for Arjuna. Only then would Arjuna, the owner of the chariot, get down. This humbleness of Krishna misled Arjuna into thinking that Krishna was an ordinary man. As it is, the Incarnation is a human being. This itself is enough for one to get caught in Maya. Further, when the Lord shows such submissiveness, the Maya is doubled. On the eighteenth day however, Krishna asked Arjuna to get down first. Arjuna hesitated. But when Krishna shouted at Arjuna, he got down. Then Krishna too got down from the chariot. That instant the chariot burst into flames[17]. So in this incident we can understand the behavior of Arjuna. Even great devotees like Arjuna were affected by the Lord’s Maya. Arjuna was Nara Rishi[18] and was associated with Narayana[19] during the past several births. When even that Arjuna could not come out of the illusion, you cannot expect an ordinary human devotee to come out of the Maya exhibited by the Human Incarnation of God!


[1] Sadguru or Satguru comes from Sat (Truth, God) + Guru (teacher, preacher). Thus Sadguru can mean a true Guru or a Guru who is God Himself.

[2] Shankaracharya (Shankara+acharya), means ‘Preacher Shankara’.

[3] Hanuman was an Incarnation of Lord Shiva, who had taken to role of the ideal servant of Lord Rama in the great historical epic Ramayana.

[4] As a reward for His extraordinary service, Lord Rama granted Hanuman the position of Brahma (Creator) during the next cycle of creation.

[5] Sita is the wife of Lord Rama and an incarnation of Goddess Mahalakshmi, who was kidnapped by the demon-king Ravana and kept as a prisoner in the Ashoka Vatika (garden).

[6] Krishna showed Arjuna a terrifying gigantic form of Himself (God) as the Creator, Maintainer and Destroyer of Creation.

[7] Guru, who is also God.

[8] This paragraph gives a gist of the deep philosophical meaning of the great epic, Ramayana.

[9] The ancient city of Lanka (in the present-day Sri Lanka), the capital of the ten-headed demon-king Ravana, was famed to be made out of gold.

[10] Family members with whom the soul has emotional bonds.

[11] This refers to the incident when a dying demon, Maricha, shouted for help by imitating Rama’s voice. Sita urged Lakshmana to go and rescue her husband (and Lakshmana’s brother) Rama. Lakshmana however, refused to go and insisted on staying back to guard her. Sita spoke harshly to Lakshmana and doubted his intentions in staying by her side instead of helping his brother, Rama, who appeared to be in danger. Lakshmana actually had no impure intentions in his mind. He was confident that Lord Rama could not be in danger and he was merely obeying the orders of Rama who had specifically instructed him to stand guard and protect Sita.

[12] Krishna was a Human Incarnation of God. He belonged to the Yadu dynasty, whose members were called the Yadavas.

[13] Dharma means justice or righteousness. ‘Swami’ means the Lord. In defending Gaya, Arjuna chose to side with righteousness instead of the Lord.

[14] The Gopikas were the milkmaids of Vrindavanam; the village in which Krishna grew up. In spite of being married, they danced with Krishna and violated the code of righteousness.

[15] Kannappa, a hunter chieftain.

[16] The wondrous and deceptive illusory power of the Lord.

[17] The chariot had suffered damage due to the attacks by several dangerous weapons shot by the enemy. It would have burst into flames long ago, but the Lord’s protective power had prevented it from burning. As soon as Lord Krishna stepped down from the chariot and took back the protective power, the chariot was destroyed. Thus, Lord Krishna was only trying to protect Arjuna by asking him to get down from the chariot before him. Arjuna mistakenly thought that it was humiliating for him, the victorious general of the army, to get down before his charioteer (Krishna).

[18] Sage Nara.

[19] Narayana is Lord Vishnu. Nara and Narayana are said to have incarnated together for several generations.

 
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