Personal Article 2: A day with the Guru

Personal Article 2: A day with the Guru (and my Parents)

Since recent past days, I have had many questions wandering in my mind with no definite answers. I was longing to meet such person who could remove all my delusion. Finally, today I got a chance to meet my Guru and spend few hours with him, along with my parents. Here, I have tried to reproduce the valuable conversations we had in that short period. I have added my own understandings as well, and tried to beautify them (in the form of story/article), but without affecting the principal lessons.

Conversation 1

I asked the Guru my first question. Right after listening to my words, he smiled a little and started telling me a story. The story goes like this:

Once there was a wise sage. He was very religious. He used to live in a countryside. He had a small hut, and was single. One day, unfortunately his hut caught the fire, and everything he had was gone. So there arose a need for him to migrate to the city for earning. He somehow managed to find a place, comfortable enough for him to spend some years, because he had planned to go back to his own village after some money is saved.

He spent some of his days in search of work, but didn’t find any of his liking or strength. The place he stayed was surrounded by different kinds of people with different cultures and traditions. It was a busy place. He saw different styles of temples and people praying to God in different unique ways which he had never seen in his life before. One day he went to a person right while he was praying. After the praying was over, the sage asked him why he was praying in such a different way, because the sage was in habit of praying God by joining the palms. The man replied, "It is the way of praying God, why are you asking such silly question? What kind of God do you worship? Is there different way of praying Him?". The sage didn’t say anything and went away. He was amazed by the man's reply.

As the days passed, he encountered many other people too who had their own unique name for calling God and different methods of praying Him. The thing that surprised him most was, they all were referring God in their own ways and telling that God has no other name, there is no other God than whom they are worshipping, and worshipping Him in other ways or by other names is wrong and doesn’t make them reach Him. The sage was bewildered by such incidents he encountered in that place.

So, one day he thought of asking God about the truth by himself. Since he was a sage, it would be easy for him to call the God for help. He went to a place far from the city, where no one could see, and started meditating. Listening to his prayer, God appeared to him and asked why he prayed Him such intensely. The sage told every moments he spent with those people. He said, "O God! Till now I have been knowing You by this (specific) name. But people here are so different, they refer You and pray You in their own ways, and even say that there is no other way of reaching God. I am so much bewildered by this. Please tell me Your true nature. Who are You, and by what name are You to be known? Please enlighten me, O God!".

God smiled and thought of a solution very quickly that would make him understand the truth as well as help him to earn. So, He appeared a big irregular ball of gold from nowhere, and gave to the sage, and told, "Take this, divide this into numerous pieces but keep in mind that all should weigh equal. Come back here again with these after two months, and meditate on me again". And the God disappeared.

The sage was even more amazed than before, because instead of telling him the truth, God gave him a work to do. Nevertheless, he went home and started breaking the golden ball into pieces. He weighed equally with finest proportion and made numerous pieces of small size. He molded the smaller scattered pieces to form one piece of equal weight, and so on. He sold some pieces for his living, and saved the remaining ones. The work got completed in few days. But the God had called him after two months, so he thought of how to spend the days till that time. Suddenly, an idea burst into his mind. He planned of transforming the gold into different beautiful shapes than just leaving them in irregular pieces.

So, he took a piece of gold and made a beautiful necklace out of it. Then he took another one, and made a beautiful ring, again armlets, bangles, chains, anklets, and so on. He transformed every gold pieces into beautiful ornaments of different shapes (without affecting the proportion). He spent his two-months' time working with these craftworks only.

The day arrived, and he went to the same place as before with all his crafts, and meditated. God appeared and asked him if he has done as told. The sage said, "Yes", and showed his work. "Give me the most precious one among these!", said the God. The sage hurriedly looked down to pick up the most precious one, turned one after another, but couldn’t find out as all were equally weighed and all were made from the same material. He suddenly realized the lesson God was trying to teach him. He couldn’t speak anything and stood bowing his head down.

Anyway, God wanted to clear his delusion completely. So, He said,

"I am the Gold, the source matter from which every ornaments (things) are created.

The different shapes you have made will now have different names. This denotes different religions.

Even if it is a necklace which is to be worn around the neck, people of different region and culture will call it by different names in their own language. This denotes the different titles (names) by which people refer to Me.

No ornament is greater or more precious than none as they are all made from the same gold and weigh same, and are created with equal effort.

But, one who is in need of a necklace may find it more precious, others may not be of value to him. Another, who is in need of armlet may find it more precious. But in reality, none is greater than none. Same is the religion. The necessity only depends upon the temperament and need of the person.

If someone thinks, "that ornament is precious than this", and so on, then it is just a delusion. He thinks so only if he is unknown to the truth that the source matter and proportion is same; only its shape is different. So is the religion. If someone thinks one religion is greater than another, then either that person is devoid of true knowledge, or he is attracted to the flowery speech of someone of his own or next religion (just as one is attracted to the shape that is more beautiful than others).

The beautiful shape is just a temporary state; if it is melted the truth becomes visible. To be called a wise, one should understand this truth before melting the material. The same way it is, one should understand the religion and every Scriptures belonging to that religion (in this very life) as the essence of Me only, as they are just created to demonstrate My glories in beautiful unique ways from the others. All Scriptures were written with great effort (or came to know, as Srutis) by the ancient enlightened sages/philosophers, and are the words & attributes of Mine only, just in different ways.

A wise person accepts whatever is given to him, either necklace or armlet, because he doesn’t care of beauty, but value, and he doesn’t put his demand since he sees every ornament equally valuable. In the same way, a person should accept whatever religion he born upon, because religion is not the goal, but understanding the truth is (or My nature).

Take any name, you are referring the same gold (base matter) only; Call Me by any name, you are referring the great God (Me) only, but accept what has been given to you (by the nature) as it is ordained by Me only."

"You might have understood the truth, haven’t you?", asked the God. The sage moved his head up and down to say yes. Then God told him to take all the ornaments with himself and advised him to live a life in truth (true knowledge), and disappeared. Then after, the sage joined his palms as a respect to God, and went back. He sold all his ornaments, and returned back to his village with his earnings.

Not only of the sage, but also my delusion was completely eradicated, because the question that the sage had asked to the God was actually the question I had asked to my Guru.

Conversation 2

I asked, "Is everything that happens in our life already written (by God), or does it just happen by chance?"

My Guru replied, "Everything will be written at the time of birth, and were used to be predicted by observing the birth chart (in ancient times by great sages), but the 'Leela' of God is so vast and complex that no present age human is capable of decoding them exactly by looking the chart. Also, the chart that is made in present time by normal priest is not very accurate, that’s why, nothing can be predicted so truly for anyone. But it doesn’t mean that it is not certain. Only God knows."

I said, "Okay, but if everything is written to happen by any means (no matter if we don’t know), then why can't I fold my hands and sit still? Everything is on its way to occur!"

My Dad replied this question with very beautiful poetic verse (which my Guru also supported):

लेखेको जति भाग्यमा छ, उति ता मिल्नै छ निश्चै भनी,
उद्योगै सब छोडिदिने पुरुषको, नाशिन्छ भाग्यै पनि ।
तोरीमा तिलमा छ तेल, तर त्यो आफैँ कहाँ झर्छ र ?
पेल्नै पर्छ, विना प्रयत्न मुखमै आएर के पर्छ र ? ।।

Whatever is written in the fate, that will surely happen; Thinking so, if one stops all his works (actions), then that good fate is also destroyed or annihilated.
There is oil in the mustard and sesame seeds, everyone knows it. But, without collecting them and applying pressure on those seeds, how can the oil itself be extracted? Similarly, without doing any effort, how does the food come to the mouth itself?

उद्योग गर्नु अनि कार्य पुरा बनिन्छ,
खाली मनोरथ गरी फल मिल्नु के छ ?
पाऊँ म खान भनि सुस्त सुती रहेर,
पस्तैन आइ मुखमा मृग बाघ नेर ।।

Do action, then fruits (results) can be collected. But just by thinking of the fruits (without working), how can anything be gained?
"Let me get food to eat", by thinking this and spending time on sleeping only, the food can't be obtained, just as a deer doesn't enter the mouth of tiger unless the tiger hunts it.

Therefore, nothing can happen without action. No matter how lucky a person is, if he does nothing, then all his good luck goes in vain and he gains nothing. There are opportunities everywhere in our life (whether we see them or not), but unless we step our foot forward, we cannot embrace those opportunities.

Also, good action reserves good result and evil action reserves evil result. Therefore, action must be performed (it’s a universal rule and necessity) but in such a way that the result should harm no one.

Conversation 3

I asked, "Will something happen just because we desire it a lot (even if that fate is not written for us)?"

My Guru replied,
"No. A person gets either less or equal to what is written (according to the action he does), but never beyond his fate. The only thing that matters is 'how much is the fate', and determining that fate exactly is nearly impossible for human, no matter how intelligent that human is. One may feel that he does something by himself, but the reason behind this will always be the result of his past deeds (Karma) and current fate. Nothing happens by chance, and we never do anything by ourselves. The force of nature will be acting upon us everytime.

Human life is very complex. His character, intellect, feelings, thoughts, opportunities, and everything including fate and future are already preplanned (by God) before his birth, and these factors greatly depend upon the past Karma as well as the position of different stars and planets (in the sky) exactly at the time of his birth. These things are all shown in the birth chart of a person. If the birth time, date, and geographical coordinates are exact, then the birth chart that is made out of these values becomes exact. But still, no one of present age will be able to decode it so perfectly. That’s why, one can never know for sure what fate is written for him and to what extent (although he can know other major and minor qualities of himself). The efficiency of prediction depends upon the intelligence of the astrologer. So, one should not completely depend upon what prediction the astrologer has made for him, because we can get less benefit if we do less effort and if the astrologer is wrong, then our remaining fate goes waste; we cannot be the one we are destined to be.

Again, since the planetary positions affect our lives, the changes of their position in the sky may open or block the gate to new opportunities for us. It also may change the way we look at things (our perspective), our feelings, and so on. So, the degree of certain thought or feeling that come to a person at certain time doesn’t mean that he will have same thought forever. It may change from time to time. In the same way, the desire one has at this present time may start to change tomorrow (or some day).

Unless we are ready for acquiring something, we don’t get it. Everything happens at the right moment. Even if we don’t desire to do something, if it is to be done, then nature will force us to do it by creating a compelling situation for us. Our every desires and actions are always going hand-in-hand with the force of the nature, whether we know it or not. We are never independent from the Universe."

Conversation 4

I asked, "Do I have to pray every demi-gods? For example, sun, moon, and so on! Or, can I pray some great God only (Ex: Lord Krishna) thinking that His name suffices every other names of God?"

My Guru replied,
"Do you have to keep different spices in the curry? For example, salt, oil, and so on! Or, can you use only main ingredient (Ex: potato) thinking that other minor ingredients doesn’t matter if main ingredient is present?"

I didn’t say anything, and he continued,

"If you want good taste, you need to put everything (in right amount) besides main ingredient. In the same way, you need to pray every demi-gods separately in order to be blessed from them, or in order for your life to be in tune with their blessings.

Yes, you are right that the name of great Lord suffices every other names (because everything in this Universe is His own nature or Himself, nothing is distinct from Him), but only if you renunciate yourself completely from the household life and live the life of sage. If you take something from the nature to satisfy your senses, you in turn need to give the respect or offering back to it. If you only take but never give, then you will be doing sin. That's why, people of high intellect (like King Janaka) also used to perform different sacrifices (offerings to the demi-gods) in the past, or otherwise they would have kept on singing 'Hari Om' all the time. But they didn’t do it, because they knew that a person living in a family, and expecting fortune to shower in his family, needs to perform sacrifices following the Vedic rules properly. No matter however you worship the demi-gods (by whatever names), you are worshiping that great God only, but by the specific rules prescribed in the Scriptures.

But, if you surrender yourself completely to the God, if you live only for God, if you eat, drink, or do any action for the sake of God alone (i.e. if you identify yourself with the Soul, not with the body), then whatever you may take from the nature, there will be no need to do sacrifices for the demi-gods separately as an offering; the name of great Lord suffices. This will be like the presence of main ingredient (potato) only. Since you identify yourself with the Soul, and eat only to gratify the hunger and preserving the health, you will not care about the taste (or senses). Therefore, this path is difficult to follow (in correct way) by one other than the man of renunciation."

Conversation 5

I asked, "Which is better, the path of sacrifice (Karma Yoga) or the path of renunciation?"

My Guru replied,
"Both paths lead to the same goal (Supreme), but the path of renunciation is very difficult to follow. Imagine in this way:

There is a big river with a bridge which is only 10 cm in width. There are also long ropes for support on both sides of the bridge, but are far away (just enough to catch on one side only at a time). Your goal or main aim of life is to cross the bridge (river). Since the bridge is very narrow, it is very difficult to walk through it even by getting support of the ropes. Now, if you cross the bridge using the ropes, then you are following Karma Yoga. If you cross the bridge without using the ropes, then you are following the path of renunciation.

Both path of Karma Yoga and renunciation are very difficult to follow (so is every other paths) by true heart. In the above example, it is easier (in comparison) to cross the bridge taking support of the ropes, but since the ropes are far away, one needs to walk very slowly catching the rope one after another. Two actions are needed to be done simultaneously. If done carefully, the process would be long and if not done carefully, there is chance of falling (down to the river). The same case is the Karma Yoga. Everyone cannot do it, it needs great care and is a long process since many things are to be considered and also in a perfect way (without ignorance).

Again, if you want to cross the bridge without catching the rope, there is even greater chance of falling. Or you need to practice a lot by taking support of the rope. It needs even more concentration and balance (practice). No matter how much you practice it, there is always higher chance of falling (than in previous way). If you directly jump into the bridge without any knowledge of it, there is maximum chance of falling. So, in order to cross it with success (using no support), you need to be an expert to walk on it (by using the rope). Otherwise, you may fall. So is the path of renunciation. If you try to follow this path without true understanding of it, you will not get success. In order to walk in this Yoga, you first need to first walk in Karma Yoga. Without following the Karma Yoga, the Yoga of renunciation is nearly impossible, and you may fall in such a state from where you could neither go forward nor come backward. And your life could turn into a waste (unworthy/valueless), not being able to reach the goal.

So, it's better to follow the path of Karma Yoga (because in Karma Yoga you will always get chances to improve). But once in the path of renunciation, there is no turning back, so without the mastery of the senses and without one-pointedness of mind, renunciation is impossible. But as mentioned in previous answer (conversation 3), your life may change the mode anytime according to your past deeds and fate you've got in this life."

Conversation 6

I asked, "Who is the greatest in the world?"

My Mom replied, "God is the greatest. But greater is the one who teaches us about that God (for ex: about His nature, His attributes, the way of praying Him, and finally the way of realizing or reaching Him) and liberates us from the cycle of rebirth, and that is our Guru (spiritual teacher). Even more greater is the one who gives us birth in this world and provide us knowledge of manner, discipline, and every basic knowledge making us intelligent enough to find a Guru for gaining higher knowledge, and that is our MOTHER (and father).

Without parents, one can't born (or be free from the bondage of past lives) and find a Guru; without a Guru, one can't learn the truth; and without knowing truth, one can't get liberation."

And my Guru just said "Yes".

These are not the answers which are important to me only, but to everyone who is curious of knowing the truth. This kind of opportunity of talking with highly learned Guru doesn’t come again and again. Although I tried my best to remember and note them down, it is still inferior and dull than hearing from their (both Guru and my Parents) own mouth.

I advise you guys, if you get some leisure time, make a habit of staying and talking with your parents and Guru atleast once in a while, rather than spending more time on get-togethers and parties. You will learn many things related to God and moralities. Learning from internet and learning directly from great persons differ a lot. Although things may seem simple, the knowledge we are gaining by ourselves only, will be getting wrong in different ways which we'll come to realize only after knowing the truth.

Composed On: December 29, 2016