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 also even more by motives that induce them. The present condition of each is the consequence of past actions and motives. Present actions and motives mould 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. Reason can develop only skill and cleverness. Experience achieved through intuition alone is valid in the realm of the spirit. For intuition to be 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 or mystic formula and advise repetition of the same. But they do not emphasize the innate Divine reality of the pupil that they cannot ignore even for a moment, nor do they insist on the moral regeneration so necessary for clarifying his inner faculties. The mantra‑granting guru is the deeksha guru; the personality‑recasting guru is the shiksha guru. It is this latter guru that is reverentially praised in thousands of ways in the holy texts. He removes the faults to vision and destroys the darkness of ignorance. He reveals the atma to the individual and makes him free.
Gurupoornima is dedicated to such gurus. Poornima, 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 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 that diminish His glory. 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 embodiment of the virtues he desires us to develop.
The study of texts might remove some wrong notions and induce some right resolutions. But it cannot confer the vision of reality. Meditation is 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 man cannot escape from this necessity. How can he travel beyond his limits? He can visualize God only as man, with superhuman or supra‑human power, wisdom, love, compassion. He can never describe or delineate the formless, the attribute-less, the quality-less. It is only by means of form and attribute 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 humans can recognize God only as man. This explains the statement, “Daivam maanusha roopena” “God through 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. Sankaracharya has summarized this knowledge in three lines—Brahma Satyam (God is truth) Jagat mithya (Creation is an illusion) Jivo Brahmaiya naa paraa (The jiva—the individual—is Brahma only—is God only—nothing else). Every `become’ has its source in `Being’. Being is God. God and the individual are the undifferentiated one. So human‑ness is holy; it is neither mean nor low. It has the status of God, though clouded and contaminated. [KK: some of the above language is strange. But I am assuming it is from the original, so have left it. I also do not know how to correct it. Please make sure the Sanskrit words are accurate.]
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 Poornima day. Vyasa means the person who has elaborated and expanded knowledge of truth, that is to say, the universal eternal energy. Vyasa composed the Mahabharata, the 18 Puranas, and the Bhagavata 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 [qualities]—satwa, rajas, and tamas have differentiated all beings into 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 that have the longing to know themselves and to succeed in that effort.
There is a legend about the truth. The Gods approached Eashwara 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 sky, the aakasa. The demons lost interest in this kind of knowledge, but men suffered agony in its absence. So, Eashwara hid it in the ocean and, finally when human yearning became overwhelming, Eashwara 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 veils 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. To have this vision, one should become the master, the master of the senses and all other faculties, for he alone can have access to the treasure‑chest. 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. Eyes blinded or befogged by egoism, greed, and envy cannot view the treasure chest.
Gurupoornima is the day when you decide to become masters of your senses and intellect, emotions and passions, thoughts and feelings, by sadhana. [spiritual effort]. 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 the given name of Sister Nivedita before she became a disciple of Vivekananda.] “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 otherworldly. 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 [joy]. This is the message for Gurupoornima.
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Sept. 1980
