Satya Bajjuri, Plymouth, MN

Satya Bajjuri, Plymouth, MN
I bow to the lotus feet of our Sadguru Shri Sainath Maharaj. One of the stories of Sai Satcharitra, talks about the importance and necessity of Guru. Why does one need a guru? This is the question posed by Hemadpant on the very first day of his arrival in Shirdi. Hemadpant involved in this hot discussion with Balasaheb Bhate. And the sweet-leela of Sai goes on… Next day Kakasaheb Dixit went to Sri Sai Baba to take his permission to leave. In this conversation, Baba tells Kaka Saheb that there are many ways to go “High Up” and one of the way starts from Shiridi. “If he could take guide, which is meant Guru here, he will take you straight to your destination, avoiding wolves, tigers and ditches etc., on the way. If there be no guide, there is the danger your being lost in jungles or fall into ditches.” Hemadpant was present on this occasion and thought that this is the answer Baba has given to him. He noted that “Paramathma is possible only as the teaching of Guru, for getting self-realization and that the only virtues necessary for such progress are faith and patience”.
With Baba’s blessings, I am sharing here one of my experiences (this one and few other leelas in future.), how Baba is helping me in my temporal and spiritual affairs. Let me share one of the sweet-leelas of Baba in my life which exactly suits to the above Baba’s teaching, “Guru will take you straight to your destination”. This happened in August 2003. His Holiness Sri Ganapathi Satchinanda Swami ji visited Minneapolis, MN for the first time. And as part of his holy trip, there was a Music Nada Prasara program conducted by Sri Swami ji, organized on August 9, 2003 at Ted Mann’s Concert Hall in Minneapolis Downtown. I was very much interested to go to this program and I prayed to Baba, to bless me to attend this event without fail. The long-waiting day arrived and as I am not familiar with University campus/downtown roads etc, I thought, we should leave early enough (at least 1 hour early), so that I should not get confused with directions. However, as usual, I could not leave early as planned, and started 30minutes before the program. There was lot of traffic on Hwy 35N, and as I was afraid, I might get late, I was forced to take next exit. Now, I cannot afford to go back to highway and take the correct exit, because that was full of traffic. And the direction I was going on the downtown roads is opposite to where the hall is. I realized this and wanted to turn back. So I took a right onto another small road but that happened to be one-way and I cannot turn back. My frustration started! After few minutes of taking various lanes which ever came up on my way and somehow I got back to the main road. Again, I missed the next inter-section, which I am supposed to take as per the Internet directions. I was scolding myself in my mind, and took next exit with intention to turn back but which happened to be one-way again and took another road and then another… All the while, as I am driving, I was praying to Baba to take me to the event, as I wanted to be there right from the beginning. And I see my watch, only 2 minutes left to the program schedule and I was getting disturbed…
Then this miracle happened. I was thinking that I have taken all wrong intersections, and to my surprise, the lane that I entered has board at the entry of the road, and it mentioned Ted Mann Concert Hall. I didn’t even notice that in my frustration, but my wife looked at it and said the Hall is in the same lane pointing to the board. All this time I was thinking that I am ending up someplace where I don’t even know how to get back, taking turns on turns, and the miracle happened, What a wonderful leela of our merciful Sadguru, the destination is right in front of me. Look at the sweet leela here.. I have taken 4 to 5 turns without any knowledge and it happened to be my destination! Oh! I salute you “Sai”. Many times this is what I experienced; when we pray with “Total Saranagathi” the wonders take place. Generally, we think, that we have a perfect plan for our destinations or goals, put lot of effort, and think that we are taking wise steps and nothing could go wrong! But the fact is, things can go wrong! Sometimes it can be other way, when things are going bad, we pray to Baba and still doubt that it cannot be fixed, but miracles do happen if we have Sadguru’s krupa.
The goals that need lot of efforts from you can be achieved with no-hassle if we have Sadguru Shri Sai’s Blessings as explained in the above Satcharitha story and from the sweet leela that I experienced. The Sai Sandesh I learned from this my experience is “Pray with Faith”, and does Sampoorna Saranagathi and just keep watching, miracles will happen.

1.  anilkumarv, on March 20th, 2008 at 1:40 am Said:

It is amazing how just having a guru changes everything. I remember the time when I was a seeker, but did not regard anyone as my personal guru. During those years my sadhana was erratic and even asanajaya seemed a distant mirage. But since the Guru came into my life, the asana stabilized on its own and the Guru took care of my mind, leaving me to just sit back and enjoy the ride! The glory of a personal Guru is indeed indescribable.

Necessity of Guru and how to obtain GuruKripa

Posted on March 3, 2008 by Aparna Hari

Dear All,

Hari Om.

I have uploaded an article entitled “Guru” by Swami Sivananda. This is actually a small chapter taken from his book, “Bliss Divine”.

This article talks about Guru. Guru is glorified from times immemorial, who, having experienced God-realization himself, connects several ardent beings with the Immortal.

“Ajnana Timiraandhasya Jnaanaanjana Salaakaya |
Chakshurunmiilitam yena tasmai Sree Gurave Namaha ||”

“I bow to Guru, who dispels the darkness of ignorance, by Knowledge, and who opens our eyes to the Infinite Lord indwelling all.”

We all have gross ego and subtle ego. We all have pride of learning, prejudices, and also a Fixed Baggage (which we have accumulated over many years) of ideas, concepts, intelligent discussions, arguments etc. To Know the Lord, Saints have proclaimed that we need to “unlearn” these various things that we have accumulated in the mind.

Once a person asked Swami Chinmayananda, “what all you say are there in the books and scriptures, then what is the use of a Guru ?” Swamiji replied humorously, “Why are you asking me that question ? Ask your book-guru only ! ” Books and knowledge are good Swadhyaya, but that is not all. Service to a Guru, devotion to his feet, and surrender to His feet, will lead us to the Lord.

Guru does Ego-dectomy on us. He performs the spiritual-life-saving surgery on us by removing ego in us.

There is also a wonderful article on “Sure ways for Guru Kripa” by Swami Chidananda ji Maharaj. I like this article very much, and sometimes think that I should carry it with me in my purse wherever I go, so it will be a constant reminder to me.

About the Necessity of a Guru

Hemadpant has left no note, no memo about what Baba said regarding this subject, but Kakasaheb Dixit has published his notes regarding this matter. Next day after Hemadpant’s meeting with Sai Baba, Kakasaheb went to Baba and asked whether he should leave Shirdi. Baba Said, "Yes". Then someone asked - "Baba, where to go?" Baba said, "High up." Then the man said, "How is the way?" Baba said, "There are many ways leading there; there is one way also from here (Shirdi). The way is difficult. There are tigers and wolves in the jungles on the way." I (Kakasaheb) asked - "But Baba, what if we take a guide with us?" Baba answered, - "Then there is no difficulty. The guide will take you straight to your destination, avoiding wolves, tigers and ditches etc. on the way. If there be no guide, there is the danger of your being lost in the jungles or falling into ditches." Mr. Dabholkar was present on this occasion and he thought that this was the answer Baba gave to the question whether Guru was a necessity (Vide Sai Leela Vol. I, No.5, Page 47); and he thereupon took the hint that no discussion of the problem, whether man is free or bound, is of any use in spiritual matters, but that on the contrary real Paramartha is possible only as the result of the teachings of the Guru, as is illustrated in this chapter of the original work in the instances of great Avatars like Rama and Krishna, who had to submit themselves to their Gurus, Vasishtha and Sandipani respectively, for getting self- realization and that the only virtues necessary for such progress are faith and patience. (Vide Sai Satcharita, Ch. II, 191-92).

Bow to Shri Sai - Peace be to all

Source:- http://www.saibaba.org/satcharitra/sai2.html

The main teachings of Nanak included faith in one true God, worship and recital of his name and the necessity of Guru in pursuing the path to God. God, according to him, is immanent and transcendent. Nobody knows the limits of God. God alone knows how great he is. Nanak compares God to the beloved and says God is in the heart of every individual. Nanak had belief in a personal and merciful god. Nanak denounced the worship of idols. He put emphasis on the worship of true name.[14] Nanak endeavored to remove the cloud of ignorance and superstitions from the minds of people.

·  Naam Japna: Chanting the Holy Name and thus remembering God at all times (often meditation).

·  Kirat Karō: Earning livelihood.

·  Vaṇḍ Chakkō: Sharing with others. These were some of basic teachings of Nanak

Nanak put great emphasis on the worship of True Name. Repetition of the True Name Satnam Vāhigurū was to be done with greatest devotion. To quote Nanak "The name is the God, the God of all Gods. Some propitiate durga, some shiv, some ganesh and some other Gods but the Guru's Sikhs worship the True Name and thus remove all obstacles to salvation".[14]Nanak put emphasis on the importance of Guru for the realisation of God. To quote him "Without the Guru, no one can obtain God, however long the matter be debated".[14]With the help of guru, man enjoys divine pleasure, he does not know any sorrow. Guru is the raft or the ladder of the Sikhs. Guru is found through divine grace.[14]

Is there a substitute to Guru?

The concept of Guru is unique. With careful observation, one might appreciate the existence of the concept of Guru in every way of life, in one form or the other. This includes all civilizations and cultures mankind has seen thus far. Could there be a substitute to Guru? If we can say that books can substitute teacher, we could probably say that one needs no Guru. Could exercises such as meditation or just performing rituals compensate the benefits of having a Guru? Experiences can be felt or realized through several sources. However, pursuit of such an experience without the right objective does not constitute a spiritual experience. On the other hand, it may just be a temporary state of well being, without any permanent gains. Exercises such as meditation have been scientifically proven to exert a positive influence on the human mind and body. Several great men have practiced and preached different ways of such activities. However, temporary spurts of feeling good do not lead to any permanent transformations. This is evident from the rate with which such phenomenon have arrived and vanished. One reason for the failure to accomplish any thing major through these exercises may be the fact that enough importance is not placed on the importance of completely understanding the concept of Guru and the true purpose of Guru.

Sri Ganapathi Sachchidananda Swamiji during a discourse challenged, "Is it possible to meditate upon something unseen or unheard?" How many of us can truthfully do this? If this could be possible, then where is the necessity for Guru, for the objective of a meditation is the merger of meditator and the object meditated upon. Human intellect responds to attributes that it can easily relate to. Such an object makes the pursuit of the unknown easier. In fact, it becomes absolutely necessary for some, given the frivolous nature of the mind. Reference to Satan in some religions and Maya in some others probably indicate the same predicament.

The necessity for a Guru is well explained in scriptures. Guru's manifold functions, and the fact that Guru is the closest to God one can experience is also well illustrated. Realization that Guru is none other than God and He is nothing but the all pervading conscious is truly a blissful experience. We find several examples for this phenomenon in Sri Sai Satcharitha including the episode of Madrasi Bhajani Mela and Dr. Pandit. Who might say that there is no need for Guru? The Guru Himself? How could a soul that personifies humility and modesty say such a thing? Baba said always, "Allah Malik, God is great!" and yes, He Himself has referred to His Guru many a times!

The necessity of Guru has been felt in all the ages to realize God. In every day life, we need assistance of a guide to show us the right path. According to Guru Nanak Dev, the Guru deserves the highest and supreme elevation in the Sikh hierarchy.

The word Guru is used in three senses.

1. When we talk of Guru as God then it means that Guru is not a person. Guru is Wonder of wonders. He is Infinite. He is Eternal and Formless One. Guru is God Himself and He dwells in the heart of every one. Those who have realized God are one with Him.
2. Guru is the Word or Shabad. He is Divine Voice within. There is no difference between Guru and God.
   Guru Nanak Dev says,
   “The Word is the Guru and the mind continually is the disciple.”
   Shabad Guru surat dhun chela.
   sbdu gurU suriq Duin cylw ]
   (943)

Verily a true Master unveils the eye, and grants a glimpse of true abode. He who can show us GOD abode in the body; take HIM to be a true Master indeed. To meet the saints and to have their company is the greatest image. To see a saint (Guru) gives one the merit of all the sixty eight places of pilgrimage.