By Nasser Lalljee, *The need for a guru* - Times Of India - IndiaSunday, July 5, 2009
Gurupurnima, the age old tradition between the Guru and the Shishya, is well-displayed across all religions, castes and creeds.
Legend speaks of a Sufi fable about an ideal community, who once lived in a far-off land. The people were known as the El Ar people.
One day their leader discovered that their country was to become uninhabitable for a period of twenty thousand years though their descendants would be able to return successfully, though only after many trials.
They were made to forget the past almost entirely with only a most shadowy recollection of it remained, sufficient to be awakened when the time came. The responsibility of this "evolution" was vested in those individuals (guides) who could sustain it.
These were necessarily only a few, because for most people the effort of keeping both sets of knowledge in their consciousness was virtually impossible. One seemed to conflict with the other. Only the specialists (Guides) guarded the "special science." The people who were in charge of the escape operations' made it clear that certain preparations were necessary before one could learn to swim or even take part in building a ship to carry them across the seas, back home.
According to the Sai Satcharitra, the teachings of Sai Baba of Shirdi, for traversing the path, the help of a good guru is absolutely necessary.
However learned a man may be, or however deep his study of Vedas and Vedangas may be, he cannot go to his destination safely without a guru's guidance. Avatars of Lord Vishnu like Rama and Krishna also had to submit themselves to their gurus, Vasishtha and Sandipani respectively, for getting self-realisation.
The complete, unconditional and perfect surrender of "Tan, Man, Dhan", i.e., mind, body, and possessions by the sishya, is required along with total dedication and complete submission to the will of the lord and a thankful acceptance of the same.
Once you submit, your world will be turned upside down, and almost every thing that you took for granted will be proved wrong and almost all that you termed fantasy will become a reality.
But there is a price to be paid. It is paid in a coin that has Shraddha [faith] on one side and Saburi [patience] on the other.
Compiled from "The Sufis" By Idris Shah, The Sai Satcharitra and the Koran
[Picture from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qur'an]
One day their leader discovered that their country was to become uninhabitable for a period of twenty thousand years though their descendants would be able to return successfully, though only after many trials.
They were made to forget the past almost entirely with only a most shadowy recollection of it remained, sufficient to be awakened when the time came. The responsibility of this "evolution" was vested in those individuals (guides) who could sustain it.
These were necessarily only a few, because for most people the effort of keeping both sets of knowledge in their consciousness was virtually impossible. One seemed to conflict with the other. Only the specialists (Guides) guarded the "special science." The people who were in charge of the escape operations' made it clear that certain preparations were necessary before one could learn to swim or even take part in building a ship to carry them across the seas, back home.
According to the Sai Satcharitra, the teachings of Sai Baba of Shirdi, for traversing the path, the help of a good guru is absolutely necessary.
However learned a man may be, or however deep his study of Vedas and Vedangas may be, he cannot go to his destination safely without a guru's guidance. Avatars of Lord Vishnu like Rama and Krishna also had to submit themselves to their gurus, Vasishtha and Sandipani respectively, for getting self-realisation.
The complete, unconditional and perfect surrender of "Tan, Man, Dhan", i.e., mind, body, and possessions by the sishya, is required along with total dedication and complete submission to the will of the lord and a thankful acceptance of the same.
Once you submit, your world will be turned upside down, and almost every thing that you took for granted will be proved wrong and almost all that you termed fantasy will become a reality.
But there is a price to be paid. It is paid in a coin that has Shraddha [faith] on one side and Saburi [patience] on the other.
Compiled from "The Sufis" By Idris Shah, The Sai Satcharitra and the Koran
[Picture from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qur'an]
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