Sri Guru Gita – 23 June 2014 – Episode 183

Jaya Guru Datta Shiva Swarupa Sadgurudeva

Jaya Guru Datta. Episode summary:

Jaya Guru Datta.
You must listen when someone is talking about good things. Turning a deaf ear to it is not right. You don’t know which snake resides in which ant hill (Telugu proverb which means that you don’t know what good stuff someone is capable of). Similarly, we don’t know from where good fortune will come our way. We acquire a better sense of discrimination from gaining knowledge. We struggle when we do not have a sense of discrimination between good and bad. A greedy person accumulates things, but loses because he cannot make the right decision at the right time. He accumulates money earned in many different ways. One day, a burglar will happily take away that money. That is why, one must have the right attitude and practice along with accumulation of objects. One must do charity and donations appropriate with his wealth. A seeker must learn the practices appropriate for him and put them into practice. That is when he will be able to overcome obstacles and roadblocks.

Avadhoota Swamy who was talking about the 24 Gurus was describing the honey bee. The honey bee does not discriminate between big and small flowers. The bee goes from flower to flower and draws nectar. The seeker too should collect good things. He must not discriminate thinking, “This is a poor household, this is a rich household”. He must live on accepting just a morsel of food from each household. Similarly, if the scriptures spoke greatly of a particular quality in one context, but did not speak greatly of that same quality in another context, you should not critique and criticize the scriptures, but should analyze the quality. Absorbing good qualities is very useful. It teaches us great lessons in the journey of life. It enables us to always tread carefully, with full awareness, every step of the way. Hence, the seeker must listen to whatever anyone says, analyze the matter and choose what’s right. You should not think, “I know this, why should someone tell me this?” Even if you know, you must listen to it one more time. When you listen, you must absorb the good stuff in it. You should not think, “He is younger than me, who is he to tell me?” or say “I already know this, why should I listen to this?” When you hear about something you already know, you can absorb something good from it each time. Even if someone we don’t know is talking about it, we may find something we didn’t know. A real seeker should distill the good lessons when he hears the matter over and over again. That is when knowledge increases and the path to the goal becomes easy. A lot of people dismiss everything saying, “I already know this.” They are not even interested in finding out.

A lot of people feel insulted thinking, “I already know this, hearing from him is an insult”. Some may think, “Why should I be told by someone younger than me?”. That is very wrong. You never know where good advice comes from. Avadhoota Swamy taught King Yadu about what he learned from the seekers who are like the honey bees drawing nectar from big flowers and small. Listening to the wise teachings of noble souls increases knowledge. Jaya Guru Datta.