29 August, Harisar Ashram, Kila Raipur: It was the 74thNirwana anniversary of our beloved Kambli-wale, an epitome of discipleship and a paradigm of the ideal Guru. Taking us through his journey, Sadhvi Ji emphasized on the gravity of surrendering to enlightened Guru. In spite of the fact that Guru has kept it all ready for us, Swami Ji brought our attention towards the day-to-day off-tracks we have been ignorantly choosing to stay at instead. Let’s walk past them!
Glimpse from Sadhvi Ji’s discourse:
Blessed is the one who is brave enough to bend his ego at Guru’s lotus feet. Because for the ultimate goal we aspire to set our eyes on, Guru is the only experienced coach. If pleasures of this world and beyond are the ones those make our eyes go twinkle then Guru’s guidance will do. However, if our goal is to become one with the divine, i.e. get liberated we must surrender unto Guru’s command.
Contemporary so-called well-educated seekers enquire‘why becoming servant to a certain guru is a prerequisite? This restricts the possibility of collecting a variety of a good piece of advice?’ Yet another sophisticated striver adds, ‘if He resides within us, it surely does means that He is self-attainable. Guru is for ignorant seekers who cannot go through the scriptures by themselves.’This is how it goes! We are stuck in the mud. Can we show ourselves outside without any external help? More we jump, deeper we sink into it.So, such inane rationalities are nothing but ploys of egocentric minds. By ‘a good piece of advice’ all we mean is what suits us, what tunes with our philosophical chord. And the day this very chord breaks, i.e. some contradictory thoughts crisscross we seek another Guru; a guru who pumps our ego, with no questions asked.
Once upon a time, someone asked Swami DevPuri Ji (lovingly remembered as Kambli-wale) that since when this concept of idol worshiping is on the go? He replied, ‘since we are not brave enough to face a living Guru scrutinizing our true selves, we have built all these temples and gurudwaras. Idols do not talk. And by kneeling at such institutions, all we are doing is topping-up our prevailing laden pitcher of ego.
Know this, the mind would not stop performing its reckless tricks just by itself. Thence, Guru is the eternal answer. The golden rule here is to seek the truth at Guru’s feet. It is only by Guru’s true sewa (service)acting through his command, participating in satsangas and then putting forth our queries, understanding, and perseverance, one day our ideal goal can be realized.
Glimpse from Swami Ji’s discourse:
What is dharma? We often mistake it with being from either of the religions – Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism. For instance, water’s dharma is to make wet, fire’s dharma is to heat-up; their nature cannot be changed. Likewise, mankind’s dharma is, keh kabeer eh raam ki ans, i.e. we all are nothing but Sat-Chit-Anand (truth-consciousness-bliss). That happiness is not far from us. It cannot be separated from us. We have been overlooking and that’s where we get off-tracked. Lord Krishna in Gita has said, renounce everything and just come to me, under my ministration.
On the contrary, we are busy trying hard to become, you name it, but even our ‘the very best’ will lead each one of us to the mortality, one day. While investing in trying to prove ourselves we forget that He resides in all. When we accuse others we are accusing him, when we hurt somebody it is Him we are hurting. And due to this inertness, we cannot see God just yet. Scriptures proclaim, sarvam khalvidham brahma – God, Guru, and our soul— all are but one. So, let us get under Guru’s command. Let us burn our ego there.
Narada says waste not even half-a-second in expectation of the right time when sense and desire for worldly comforts will get eliminated. We have been shielding ourselves on the name of duty; I am a student, a householder, a blue-collared, or a businessman.Kambli-wale has himself proved to be an ideal example for the same. Coming from a financially sound background, in spite of being married and having a kid, one fine day he decided to quit everything and began the journey to gratify his thirst for the eternal answer.
A student finds it hard to study nevertheless he studies to fulfill his ambitions. A man struggles at the verge of risking his health yet he works for the sake of riches and comforts. But when it is about the real job, the divine treasure for which we have been blessed with this beautiful life, we act super lazy. It is our birthright to have it. Why not fight for this real property, our true heritage. Our Guru has kept it all ready for us. All we need to do is the rigorous and consistent practice of Guru-mantra. If we contemplate, it is not hard to do so. As even harder is to understand that God and Guru are not two separate entities. Only the surrendered, aflame soul will get on board the journey to eternity.
