Sri Guru Gita – 26 May 2014 – Episode 155

Jaya Guru Datta. Episode summary:

Jaya Guru Datta

Sloka:
Yasya prasadadahameva vishnuh mayyeva sarvam parikalpitam ca |
Ittham vijanami sadatma tattvam tasyanghri padmam pranatosmi nityam ||
Obeisance to the lotus feet of Sachchidananda Sadguru whose grace has enabled me to grasp the principle of Supreme Truth and attain knowledge that I am Vishnu, that I am the all-pervasive soul and that the whole universe is conceived in me.

Sloka:
Iti sri skanda purane uttara khande umamahesvara samvade sri guru gita samapta ||
Everybody should remember that the Sadguru is as essential as one’s own breath. We may say, “We read the Guru Gita, we all heard the Guru Gita, we discussed it in the form of short stories, I read it 10 times, I studied it 20 times, I did 7 Saptahas” (1 Saptaha = reading for 7 days), but we need the Guru every step of our lives, not just during the study of Guru Gita or during the Saptaha. It is only when we study the Guru Gita, undertake Saptaha or 7 Saptahas, chant the Guru’s name, study the Guru Gita, understand the Guru Principle, follow the Guru, stay in the presence of the Guru as much as possible in one’s life, with a view to strengthening our desire for a Guru that we attain liberation. Guru is like our breath. Giving up your Guru is like giving up your breath. It will not matter then whether we breathe or not at that point. A Guru is must in one’s life. Everybody should know that the Sadguru is as essential as one’s own breath.

Only a person who is desirous of learning more and more about the fame of the Guru and about the Guru principle regardless of how much he’s already learned, will actually realize the Guru Principle. One who thinks, “I have understood, that is enough, I read the Guru Gita several times, I learned the Guru Principle many times, that’s good enough” will never attain the Guru Principle, or anything else.
A lot of people have described the Guru Principle in several different ways. Sri Sankara Bhagavatpada (Sri Adi Sankaracharya) was the first to expound on it. Swamiji is giving you only as much as you need from this hymn composed by Sri Adi Sankaracharya

Sloka (from Sankaracharya’s Guru Ashtakam):
Sareeram suroopam thatha va kalathram,
Yasascharu chithram dhanam meru thulyam,
Guroranghri padme manaschenna lagnam,
Thathah kim Thatha kim, Thatha kim Thatha kim

Right in the beginning of this hymn, we are being cautioned, “You have a beautiful body, but what is the use?” The sculptor sculpts according to the Agama scriptures (these scriptures talk about the architectural principles for temple construction, creation of idols and much more), yet the sculpture doesn’t look like it has life in it. There is a procedure called “Drishti Pradhanam” (giving the power of vision or conscious awareness to the image). Only when this is applied does the sculpture look like it has life in it. “Drishti Pradhanam” is a process applied to sculptures after the yantra is installed and the sculpture is put in place.

Jaya Guru Datta.