The Eternal Guru

On July 29th 2007 falls Guru Poornima, the festival celebrating the birth of revered Sage Vyasa and the occasion to express our love, reverence and gratitude to our teachers and preceptors. Swami, most often, gives a revealing discourse on this occasion every year, and let us recapitulate now one such His discourse delivered two decades ago in 1987.

By being endowed with the human form, men do not become really human. The evolution from animal to the human being has taken millennia. The world is peopled today by billions of human beings. But how many of them display genuine human qualities? Man is still going through birth-pangs of real humanness. Only when human qualities are manifest can man claim to be truly human. In that humanness there is Divinity. It will wear the mantle of Truth. It will be the embodiment of Dharma (Righteousness), Prema (Love) and Santhi (Peace). It is only when men display these qualities that they can be regarded as human. If mankind is able to achieve at least this level of humanness, it would be sufficient.

Swami often gives to devotees Vibhuti or Bhasma (the sacred ash). Many people smear their foreheads with this ash. What is the inner significance of this ash? When any object that has a name and form is completely burnt, it is reduced to ashes. The name and form are gone. All things are one and the same in the final state as ashes. When Vibhuti is given, Swami wants the recipient to understand this Advaitam (basic oneness). The devotee should get rid of Ahamkara (ego arising from the feeling of separateness) and sense of Mamakara (“mine” and “thine”). These two are based on name and form and when they are destroyed, the underlying unity of the Divine can be realised.

People constantly talk of Advaita (non-dualism), but hardly live up to their professions in practice. One must practice what one preaches or professes. Today there are not many gurus who live up to their beliefs or teachings. Their actions belie their words. No purpose is served by going in search of gurus. There is a guru in each of us. It is the Atma (spirit) principle. It is the Eternal Witness functioning as Conscience in everyone. With this Conscience as guide, let all actions be done…

In the Tretha Yuga (the time of Lord Rama), the Divine elements were on one side and the demonical elements on the other… In the Dwapara Yuga (the time of Lord Krishna), the divine and the demonic elements – namely, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, were in the same kingdom… But today, these divine and demonic forces are battling in each human being. This is the mark of the Kali age.