Date uploaded in London – 8 July 2024
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In Sloka 8 of Viveka Chudamani (VC), Adi Sankara says everyone must have a Guru- Preceptor.
Swami Vivekananda says Guru is the ‘Bright Mask which God Wears’ in order to come to us.
Verse 8- Viveka Chudamani
अतो विमुक्त्यै प्रयतेत्विद्वान्
संन्यस्तबाह्यार्थसुखस्पृहः सन् ।
सन्तं महान्तं समुपेत्य देशिकं
तेनोपदिष्टार्थसमाहितात्मा ॥ ८ ॥
ato vimuktyai prayatetvidvān
saṃnyastabāhyārthasukhaspṛhaḥ san |
santaṃ mahāntaṃ samupetya deśikaṃ
tenopadiṣṭārthasamāhitātmā || 8 ||
8. Therefore the man of learning should strive his best for Liberation, having renounced his desire for pleasures from external objects, duly approaching a good and generous preceptor, and fixing his mind on the truth inculcated by him.
Notes:
[Duly—i. e. according to the prescribed mode. (Vide Mundaka 1. ii. 12). The characteristics of a qualified Guru are given later on in sloka 33. ]
https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/vivekachudamani/d/doc144456.html
( please support Wisdom library; you will get everything in Sanskrit)
Sankara himself praised the Guru, preceptor, in his Guru Ashtakam; all the 8+1 stanzas hold Guru in high esteem.
There are beautiful quotations about Guru in Bharatiyar poems, Tirumular’s Tamil Tirumanthiram, speeches of Swami Vivekananda and Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (R K P)
शरीरं सुरूपं तथा वा कलत्रं यशश्र्चारु चित्रं धनं मेरुतुल्यं
गुरोरङ्घ्रिपद्मे मनश्र्चेन लग्नं ततः किं ततः किं ततः किं ततः किं ||1
śarīram surūpam tathā vā kalatraḿ
yaśaścāru citram dhanam merutulyam
gurorańghripadme ḿanaścenna lagnaḿ
tataḥ kiḿ tataḥ kiḿ tataḥ kiḿ tataḥ kiḿ
Translation : One’s body may be handsome, wife beautiful, fame, excellent and varied, and wealth like unto Mount Meru; but if one’s mind be not attached to the lotus feet of Guru, what thence, what thence, what thence?
All the eight stanzas of Gurvashtakam are beautiful and they are in the same tone and finish with the same line- what thence, what thence, what thence?
The full hymn is available in websites. Dr T M P Mahadevan’s translation is very good and available in his book The Hymns of Sankara.
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Swami Vivekananda says,
(from The Pearls of Wisdom, Swami Vivekananda book, The Ramakrishna Mission, Kolkata)
“The power that can transform life in a moment can be found only in the living illuminated souls, those shining light who appear among us from time to time”.
My comments
Swami Vivekananda, with an atheist mind, met several Sanyasins/ascetics and asked the question “Have you seen God? Then show Him to me” . Only R K Paramahamsa said “Yes, I show Him now. This transformed his life.”
Manikka vasagar (maanikka vaasagar) Great Saivite saint of the sixth century , met some Guru under the Kuruntha Tree, which transformed his life in a moment.
There are so many stories like this; Paul Brunton, author of famous book The Search in Secret India, met lot of saints and at last met Sri Ramana Maharishi under the instruction of Kanchi Paramacharya (Sankaracharya of Kanchi Mutt, 1894-1994), and received a positive reply.
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Swami Vivekananda continues,
The one who has the power of transmitting this current is called a guru.
The guru is the conveyance in which the spiritual influence is brought to you.
Nothing, I say, can be done without the chain of discipleship, that is, the power that is transmitted from the guru to the disciple, and from him to his disciple, and so on.
My comments
The beautiful Guru- Sishya (Preceptor- Disciple )system existed only in India. In Greece and other places, we see only two or three disciples in sucsession. We see Socrates – his disciple Plato- His disciple – Aristotle- His disciple Alexander the Great.
In India we have a long list of Gurus. The Vamsa Brahmna section of the Brhadaranyaka Upanished explodes the myths created by Max Muller, Caldwell gangs.
It gives names of over fifty Gurus in order, saying he was the disciple of so and so…….
The jaundice eyed foreigners give that Upanishad a date 850 BCE. If you give 25 years to each Guru, that will take you to 50X 25 years=1250 years+850 BCE=2100 BCE= our age- year 2024= 4124 BCE
So the Upanishad says the first guru existed in 4124 BCE. This is only applicable to that Upanishad.
(I have written an article on it and gave the names of full 50 generations; Puranas also give us 143 generations of kings; see my research article on it)
Foreigners give only 25 years for a king; but in the case of Gurus it must be more than that; because they don’t go to wars; more over they lived in healthy forest environment eating only nutritious fruits and honey and milk. But I gave only 25 years for each Guru following foreigners’ calculation and yet arrived at 4124 BCE!
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Swami Vivekananda continues,
“The father and mother gave me this body; but the guru gives me rebirth in the soul.
Gurubhakti is the foundation of all spiritual development.
Mind you, the Gurubhakta will conquer the world- this is the one evidence of history”.
My comments
What Adi Sankara said in one sloka is seen in so many quotes of Swami Vivekananda.
Vivekananda ruled the spiritual world of his times. He went around the world and changed the image of Hinduism through his beautiful and powerful English speeches (Everyone must read all the seven volumes of Swamiji’s speeches)
Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh also made many disciples who went around the world and taught Yoga. Because of him only the West knew Yoga. Then came Mahesh Yogi and changed the heart of The Beatles.
Now we get ‘The Autobiography of a Yogi’ from Paramahamsa Yogananda giving the stories of many more Gurus and many more disciples.
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Guru is more powerful than God
I don’t know why Gurus choose some people only and give protection or Mantra Upadesa. The Gurus fight with god to change the fate of his devotees.
We know how Kanchi Paramacharya (1894-1994) saved Bharat Ratna M S Subbulakshmi from the Ariyalur Train Tragedy. Honest Railway Minister Lal Bhadur Sastri, gem of a person, resigned his post immediately after accident.
We know how Sri Kanchi Paramacharya (1894-1994) saved the great historian Dr R Nagaswamy. When the powerful politician, Chief Minister M G R asked Sankaracharya , do you want me to do anything else? Sankaracharya said one word, “Reinstate Nagaswamy” who was suspended from the Director Post at that time for some reason.
Now I think the Gurus do it to save Dharma. Through MS Subbulakshmi, we spread Carnatic Music around the world from the UNO in New York. Through Dr Nagaswamy we got hundreds of research articles and scores of research books giving the correct picture of Hindu arts and architecture (late Nagaswamy’s articles are available in his website tamilartsacademy.
Personal Note
I don’t know why Swami Santhananda of Pudukkottai and Swami ji Krishna of Ayakkudi near Tenkasi, gave us Mantra Upadesa. Probably my father V Santanam was the only News Editor who gave front page publicity to all Acharyas/ saints/ Gurus. In those days The Hindu gave three inches spiritual news on the last page (always three inches, always on the last page!!that was the respect they showed to The Hindus!!!). But my father V Santanam, News Editor , Dinamani gave full publicity for anything spiritual. Madurai Aadeenam Chief, a great scholar from Sri Lanka, used to send conversion news every week and my father never missed it. He converted Christians and brough them back to Hinduism. I have written already about Swamiji Krishna saving a wretched person in a petty council ward election. Because my father took him to Achankoil to meet Swamiji just for election victory, Swamiji fought with Lord Ganesh and got him victory.
After some time when we met Swamiji, he said, “I fought with Lord Ganapathy and got his victory, just for your father’s sake”. For your father all that is white is milk! (Tamil Proverb to describe the innocence of a person).
This incident shows Guru is more powerful than God. If you are a staunch follower of any Guru, he will fight your case in the Court of God.
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Stories of the Power of Gurus
In the following article we will see what Tamil Tirumular, Poet Bharati, Valluvar of Tamil Veda Tirukkural and Ramana Maharishi said about Gurus.
Sri R K Paramahamsa and Swami Ramdas give some illustrative stories as well.
To be continued………………………
Tags- Power of Guru, Preceptor, Acharya , Kanchi, Vivekananda, Quotations, anecdotes, Personal note, Swamiji Krishna, Madurai Adeenam, Paul Brunton, Ramana, Guruvashtakam, Vivek Chudamani, Part 7
Tamil and Vedas 