The Sadhaka and the Scholar

Every animate being has to attain fulfillment; that is the destiny, however hard, however long, the journey. When and how are determined by the nature of the cumulative effects of many lives. The effects are shaped not only by the actions but even more by motives that induce them. The present condition of each is the consequence of past actions and motives. Present actions and motives mold the future. Each one builds his own fortune or misfortune.

But, can we assert that others are superfluous, that one need not and should not seek help from another? In order to attain fulfillment in the spiritual field, the help of those who have mastered the path is very necessary. The guidance can be transmitted only from one heart to another heart. It can be done only when intimate kinship is established between the seeker and the saint. Texts and commentaries, guidebooks, and maps only breed doubts, discords, and discussions. Reasons can develop only skill and cleverness. Experience achieved through intuition alone is valid in the realm of the spirit. For intuition to be the illumination, the layers of egoism and its evils have to be penetrated and destroyed.

A Guru will be of great help in this adventure. The power has to flow from the reservoir to the receptacle. He who has reached the goal can alone guide the pilgrim to it. Without him, the aspirant can only wander in the wilds. Some Gurus initiate the pupil into a mantra (mystic formula) and advise repetition of the same. But, they do not emphasize the innate Divine reality of the pupil which they cannot ignore even for a moment, nor do they insist on the moral regeneration, so necessary for clarifying his inner faculties.

God is in the Least as well as in the Vast

The _mantra-_granting Guru is the Diksha Guru (initiating preceptor); the personality-recasting Guru is the Siksha Guru (guiding preceptor). It is this latter Guru that is reverentially praised in thousands of ways in the holy texts. He removes the faults in vision and destroys the darkness of ignorance. He reveals the Atma to the individual and makes him free.

The Guru Purnima is dedicated to such Gurus. Purnima (the Full Moon day) celebrates the fulfillment that is the goal of all life. We have the Vedic axiom that ‘this is full, that is full; when fullness is taken from fullness, the remainder is fullness.’ This refers to the fullness of quality (guna) and not of quantity. A block of candy is as sweet as a tiny piece taken from it; a drop of seawater has the same taste as the entire sea. God is present in this fullness in the atom as well as in the cosmos. He is Sat-Chit-Ananda (Being, Awareness, Bliss) in the least as well as in the vast. Both are full of God. He cannot be partly in one and wholly in another. He is indivisible.

This day is dedicated for thanksgiving to the Guru, for, the Moon (the presiding deity of the mind) today is full, clear, cool, and bright! He has no blemish or dullness which diminishes His glow. The Guru too is pictured and praised today as unblemished, bright, and affectionate. He is full of devotion and the sense of surrender to God. He is tolerant and truly peaceful. He is the living example and an embodiment of the virtues he desires us to develop.

God Within is the Guru of Gurus

The study of texts might remove some wrong notions and induce some right resolutions. But it cannot confer the vision of reality. Meditation is the key to the Atmic treasure that is the real wealth of the individual. Meditation can progress and gain victory only when one wins the affection of great souls and obeys their instructions.

In fact, God, the God within, is the Guru of Gurus. His grace can make the blind see, the lame walk, and the dumb speak. By a mere touch, He can demolish the sins of the past and erect the basis for peace and joy. God can be adored, worshipped, and even imagined or pictured by man only in human form, so long as the consciousness as man persists, so long as man cannot escape from this necessity. How can he travel beyond his limits? He can visualize God only as man, with super-human or supra-human power, wisdom, love, and compassion. He can never describe or delineate the formless, the attributeless, the qualityless. It is only by means of form and attributes that one can pray, adore, worship, or feel the presence. And the form has to be human. Little minds with no faith may argue that God cannot come as man but in fact, God can be recognized only as man by humans. This explains the statement, ‘Daivam manushya roopena’ (God through the human form), found in the scriptures.

The sum total of spiritual experience is ‘knowing oneself.’ This does not mean the knowledge of one’s capabilities and skills, wants and wishes, strength, and weakness. It means the knowledge of who one is, what one really is. Shankaracharya has summarized this knowledge in three lines - Brahma Satyam (God is truth), Jagan Mithya (creation is an illusion), Jeevah Brahmaiva Na Para (the Jeeva - the individual - is Brahma only (is God only, not else). Every ‘become’ has its source in ‘being.’ Being is God. God and the individual are the undifferentiated Ones. So human-ness is holy; it is neither mean nor low. It has the status of God, though clouded and contaminated.

Vyasa Helped Mankind to Earn Peace

For this faith to strike deep roots in our minds and to keep us fixed in that belief, a Guru is needed. Vyasa is the first Guru who demarcated the path and the goal. So he is associated with the Purnima day. Vyasa means the person who has elaborated and expanded knowledge of the truth, that is to say, the universal eternal energy. Vyasa composed the Mahabharata, the Ashtadasha Puranas and the Bhagavatam, and helped mankind to earn peace and happiness, and to learn ways of fruitful adoration of God. Vyasa has also narrated stories of the human incarnations of Godhead. The three Gunas_—_Satva, Rajas and Tamas (purity, passionately active, and ignorant) - have differentiated all beings into the Divine, human and demonic persons. Men are intelligent, curious, and full of wonder, full of awe, and the attitude of reverence. They are the only beings who have the longing to know themselves and to succeed in that effort.

There is a legend about the truth. The Gods approached Ishwara and pleaded with Him to keep the knowledge of truth away from men and demons, for it would make them irresistible. So, it was hidden in the unreachable heights of the Akasha (the sky). The demons lost interest in this kind of knowledge but men suffered agony in its absence. So, Ishwara hid it in the ocean and finally, when human yearning became overwhelming, Ishwara planted it in the heart of every human being. But even there, it was not easily available for man. He had to penetrate through the evils of the five elements that comprise the gross body, the sheaths of the subtle body, and the causal body, to have a vision of the indwelling Atma.

The Scholar is Polluted by Ego

To have the vision of God, one should become the master, for he alone can have access to the treasure chest, the master of the senses and all other faculties. He should not be the servant of the senses and of the whims and fancies of the emotions and passions. The servant has access only to the cheap and perishable junk of the household. The treasure chest cannot be viewed by eyes blinded or befogged by egoism, greed, and envy.

Guru Purnima is the day when you decide to become masters of your senses and intellect, emotions and passions, thoughts and feelings, by sadhana (spiritual discipline). Even during dhyana (meditation), the ego will obstruct you. Nivedita asked for advice from Vivekananda to gain one-pointedness during dhyana. Vivekananda said, “Do not allow Margaret Noble to come between you and God,” Margaret Noble was herself. ‘Nivedita’ means ‘Offering.’ So Vivekananda explained, “offer yourself fully to God.” This total dedication cannot emerge from scholarship. The scholar is polluted by ego; he delights in putting pros and cons against each other; he raises doubts and disturbs faith. They mix the secular and the worldly with the spiritual and the other-worldly. They worship God in order to extract worldly gain. But prayers to God have to be for spiritual progress.

Therefore, engage yourselves in sadhana, without delay or dilatoriness. Cultivate virtues; be free from evil habits, thoughts, words, and deeds. Grow in love and greet nature with love. This is the way to Ananda. This is the message of Guru Purnima.

Prasanthi Nilayam, 27-07-1980