Sadhana Karu Pyare is a unique philosophical compilation set in 54 lines and arranged in the form of couplets (dohas). In these lines, Shree Maharajji has summarized the entire philosophy of the knowledge of God and Guru (Philosophy of Divine Love). Swamiji explained the complete set of 54 lines at the Puri Sadhana Shivir in 2008, which we will reproduce in this series.
This is the next line of "Sadhana Karu Pyare" series.
brahma māyā jīv kā karu, jñān
guru soṁ pyāre
sevya soṁ sambañdh apano, jān
guru soṁ pyāre
hari meṁ guru meṁ bhed jani,
lavaleśh mānahu pyāre
In this verse, Jagadguru Shree
Kripaluji Maharaj reveals that from the Guru, we must learn about our
relationship with God.
God is our eternal relative, even
though we may not be able to see Him at present. There is an interesting event
that took place in the state of Kerala during the rise of Marxism and
Communism. Many people spoke against God, and atheism was quite a common
practice. A communist leader was speaking to an audience of a few hundred
listeners. He said "There is no entity called God. It is just superstition
and blind faith. If there is any God, I challenge Him to prove His existence.
Here I am, denying His existence. Let Him appear with a flash of thunder
and lightning and kill me. If He does not appear, then it proves that there is
no entity called God." He waited for two minutes and nothing happened. He
proclaimed, "If there is a God, He is a coward. He did not accept my
challenge and did not attack me. Or, if He is not a coward, then
there is no God at all."
One person stood up from the crowd and said "God is your father. In this
material world, if you ask someone to prove his identity as a father by killing
his son, you will not find anyone willing to do such an act. Why should a
father kill his son just to prove his identity? In the same way, God is
all merciful and all graceful. He is our eternal Father and Mother. He does not
need to go around killing people to prove His own identity."
Our relationship with God is eternal. We do not have this kind of everlasting
and endless relationship in this material world. Our material father, mother
and son will die one day. They are not our real father, mother or relatives.
Our true relationship is only with God. Why is that? This
word sambandh, or relation, is made from the Sanskrit root bandh, with the
prefix sam, and the suffix un. It means eternal and complete bond.
Do you have such a bond with your father? No, he passed away twenty five
years ago. And recently my mother also passed away. One of my
daughters has also died. That means they were not your sambandhis.
That
is why all the scriptures strongly state:
vedaiśhcha sarvairamevavedyo
vedāñtakṛit
vedavidevidevachāham
Shree Krishna says "Arjun!
What do you have to understand from all the Vedas and Vedic scriptures? Only
this much that your relationship is only with Me, and you must love Me
exclusively." Lord Brahma says:
bhagavān brahma kārtsnyen
triranvīkṣhya manīśhayā tadadhyavatsatkuṭastho ratirātman yato bhavet
He says, "I have churned the
Vedas and the other scriptures three times and have come to the conclusion that
they declare only one thing - Your eternal relationship is with Shree Krishna
alone, and you have to love Him." Shree Maharajji says that God keeps on
watching us and eagerly waits in anticipation, "When will this soul come
to me and love me? I shall liberate him from all bondages that very instant,
and bestow upon him the nectar of Divine love." Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
said:
tomār aham yadi kahe ek bār
Dear Soul! Just say it once with all your heart, "O Shree Krishna! Only
you are mine." Not, "You are also mine and this material world is also
mine." Do not divide your affection between your material father at
home and your eternal father, God.
We could ask God, "You are never seen, and my father at home loves me
dearly." God says, "Accept that you are mine." We can question
again, "On what basis should we accept this statement?" God says,
"Accept it on the basis of knowledge. Understand fully and decide firmly
that you are not this material body but the eternal soul. You will then
realize that the soul's eternal relationship is only with God."
You will attain this knowledge of your relationship with God from the Guru.
Understand this from the Guru in various ways, so that you become
convinced. Then on the basis of this knowledge, you must repeated
contemplate about your relationship with God. How and what are you to
contemplate? This will be explained in the subsequent lines of 'Sadhana
Karu Pyare' series.
Kripaluji Maharaj explains in the last line on the Guru within this
bhajan: "There is no difference between God and Guru." He
has repeated this in other bhajans as well:
mere guruvar mere giridhar pyāre
dou ekahiṁ ho na sapanehuṁ nyāre
Not even in your dreams should
you think that God and Guru are different. Why? Because God is not in front of
us and we have not seen Him. But, our Guru is in front of us and we can see
him. Now, if we look on our Guru as a normal human being, we will conclude that
he is in the same category as we are.
Our flawed thinking will naturally comment, "He sits, stands, talks and
eats just like us. How can he be different from us? We commit mistakes and so
the Guru might also commit mistakes. Then why should we obey him? Hence,
we will not follow our Guru's instructions." This kind of thinking is
harmful for our spiritual growth and could even lead to our spiritual downfall.
There is an amazing example from Lord Buddha's time. Gautam Buddha had a cousin
named Anand. He spent 40 years in the company of Lord Buddha. When it was time
for the Buddha to leave his material form, Anand said "I have got so much
association with you, yet I have not progressed spiritually. In
comparison, your other disciples have made great strides." Gautam Buddha
replied "Anand! This is your mistake. You erred when you came to me the
first time, many years ago. Anand asked him "What was my mistake?"
The Buddha then reminded Anand of their dialogue forty years ago.
Anand: I am not your disciple yet but I shall be one tomorrow. I am now
speaking as your elder cousin brother and I have a few conditions. First, I
shall make you my Guru, but if whenever I invite any person to meet you, you
should not avoid him under any pretext.
The Buddha smiled: "Yes, agreed".
Anand: Second, you must take me with you everywhere you go. You should not
depute me on work that requires staying away from you.
The Buddha: Yes, you shall be with me at all times.
Anand: Lastly, you must answer every question of mine and should not deny me an
answer on any pretext.
The Buddha: I am ready to grant all that you wish.
Gautam Buddha recalled this dialogue that took place 40 years ago. The Buddha
said, "Anand, you did not develop the feeling of Divinity towards your
Guru inside your heart and mind. You treated me like your younger brother and
did not look upon your Guru as God. Hence, you did not receive any spiritual
benefit."
How do we develop a feeling of 'Godliness' towards our Guru? We
must always feel and think of our Guru as God Himself.
gururbrahmā gururvishṇu gururdevo
maheśhvaraḥ
gurursākṣhāt parabrahm tasmai śhrī gurave namaḥ
"The Guru is Lord Brahma
(The God of Creation). The Guru is Lord Vishnu (The God of Sustenance).
The Guru is Lord Shiva (The God of Destruction). My salutation to such a Guru,
who is the Supreme God".
The key aspect is to think that
God and Guru are one. God is present amongst us in the form of our Guru and
Graces us with His presence amongst us as our Guru. If we continuously remind
ourselves of this fact, it will slowly give rise to feelings of 'Godliness'
towards our Guru and help us surrender our mind and intellect to him.
What is the difficulty in considering our Guru as God? We Indians are born with
innate devotion in our hearts. In certain faiths, it is believed that God
watches us from seventh heaven. Look at us Indians. We perceive Divine
presence in every animate and inanimate object. Our culture tells us:
atithi devo bhavaḥ, matṛi
devo bhavaḥ, pitṛi devo bhavaḥ
We consider our guests as God, our mother as God, our father as God. We are
able to think of a rock as God and we begin to worship it! We even worship a
tree as though it were God Himself. If we are able to accept inanimate objects
as God, what is the problem in accepting our Guru as God?
So, Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj says, "Do not think of God and Guru
as two separate entities. They are one and the same. There is no difference
between them."
... To be Continued
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