Offerings to the Master
So we are back home after attending another Gurupoornima festival! Did I say `home’? No, we are back at school, the school of this mundane world. We went home, like the student who goes home for the weekend to see his father and mother, but this parent whom we went to see is not only the father and mother but the guru as well.
He gave us instructions and sent us back to this wide world to practice them. How fortunate we were to have had this opportunity of being with Him on the auspicious day when the guru is revered! But he often says that the guru is to be revered not only on a particular day but every day.
Do we realize that this guru is Brahma, Vishnu, and Maheshwara [the Hindu trinity], all the three blended into one—the Parabrahmam Himself? How many times have we gone there and listened to Him? I have lost count. Has it made any difference to us, all those lessons we heard with rapt attention? But what a teacher this Baba is! He doesn’t utter even a single harsh word in spite of our refusal to graduate from the first grade of school. What patience He has, to keep on instructing us, although we refuse to learn anything beyond the alphabet. Like little children, we enjoy the stories He tells us but forget the essence of the discourses. He says, “I give mixtures, not lectures, for your mental health and moral invigoration.” Though we act like foolish children, we can only pray to Him to bear with us and continue to instruct us.
A common saying states that the doctor must be paid his fees so that the disease can be cured, and the teacher has to be paid his dues, so that the lessons may be retained in memory. But what fees can we give Him, this strange Master who says, “Come to me with empty hands”! There is one dakshina [dues owed to the guru] we can offer Him. Have you heard of the woman of Samaria who met Jesus at Jacob’s well? After talking to Jesus she ran back to the village shouting, “Come and see, the Messiah has come,” and the people came running to see Him. They knew this woman’s ill reputation, yet they listened to her because they saw the change that had come over her after she met the Messiah.
Like the woman from Samaria, we are full of defects, but our meetings with our Master should produce such a change in us that others see it and go to see the great Master for themselves.
Our transformation is the greatest offering we can give Him. This change is possible only with His continued grace. So let us pray:
“Lord! Grant us the sense to understand Your lessons. You have promised to be with us always in our hearts! Continue to instruct us, unmindful of our shortcomings. We beseech Thee not to give up on us. We promise that we shall prove to be worthy of a promotion to a higher class. We do not know when we will qualify to get a degree from Your University, but we shall strive at least to enter Your high school.”
“Baba! You told us this story of Krishna and Arjuna. When Krishna said the bird in the sky was a dove, Arjuna said it was a dove. When Krishna changed His mind and declared it an eagle, Arjuna promptly agreed. Again when He announced it was a crow, Arjuna assented wholeheartedly. Lord, help us to develop this implicit faith in You, so that we may progress on the road to spiritual success.”
“Swami! We do not know how many times in our previous births we had the opportunity to learn at Your feet. But we do realize our unique privilege to be with You now, and be instructed by You. Grant us Thy grace to enable us to become Your worthy pupils.”
“Lord! You have told us that the nearer we are to You, the more tests we get. Give us courage to face these tests and come out successful.”
“Swami! Every time we come to You, You prescribe the right medicine and the most beneficial diet regime. But we repeatedly default, like the diabetic patient who keeps on coming to the physician with a relapse of the disease. Help us to follow Your advice and come back to You healthy in body and mind.”
“Master! You say education is a slow process like the unfolding of a flower, the fragrance becoming more and more perceptible with the silent blossoming of the entire flower.”
“Grant Thy grace so that the unfolding may start now and the fragrance appear soon. Please do not allow it to wither away while still a bud. Let it, someday, when it is in full bloom adorn Thy holy feet!”
~M. Balasubrahmanyan
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Sept. 1974
