If You See Your Guru as Human, Your Sadhana Is Lost

Guru is important in sadhana. Guru tattwa is important in sadhana.

Today, when you see some videos on YouTube, where so much importance is given to Guru, you often suspect — aren’t they promoting themselves? Aren’t they putting themselves above everything else?

Serve your Guru, that is enough. Your Guru knows what you need. He will give it to you at the right time. Guru knows everything about you. He will give what is right for you.

All these are correct, provided you are living with the Guru in an ashrama. A Guru who comes to your place once in a year, or whom you get to meet for 2 minutes once in a year or two years, is not the one who would know everything about you or what is right for you.

Even when you are living with him, shastra doesn’t speak about mystical powers of the Guru. The instruction to the Guru by the shastra is to observe the shishya — physical observation. Then decide what is right for him, what is his capacity, what is his eligibility.

The neo Gurus are trying to project that they have the mystical power — one look at you, and they will know which mantra to give you, what sadhana to give you. However, mantra shastra doesn’t speak about any such magical power or mystical power of the Guru. Guru should also follow procedure as laid down in the shastra.

For identifying the mantra, use the Koshata Shodhana technique. Give the mantra at the right time. Follow the procedure of mantra deeksha. They don’t talk about exceptions.

For mantra siddhi, do purascharana. Just because it has come from so-and-so Guruji and it is a shakti paath, it doesn’t mean you don’t have to work hard. But of course, Guru is very, very, very, very important. Guru — right Guru. Guru is the source of all the power.

If mantra is transforming you, giving you something, then your Guru is the power.
श्रीगुरुः सर्वकारणभूता शक्तिः

Shastra also says:
यतोः गुरुः शिवः साक्षात् तं स्तुवन् प्रणमन् भजेत्
Guru is Shiva himself — in sakshat swaroopa, right in front of you. In this bhava you should praise and offer pranamas to him.

यथा देवे तथा मन्त्रे यथा मन्त्रे तथा गुरौ
यथा गुरौ तथ स्वात्मन्येवं भक्तिक्रमः प्रिये

What is the purpose of mantra sadhana? To convert oneself into divinity — the Ishtadevata. This sakshatkara is the ultimate goal of mantra sadhana. When a certain siddhi is achieved, it means you have climbed one step on the ladder. You are able to do what an ordinary human being is not able to do. You become closer to becoming the divinity yourself.

Just as you have faith in your Ishta Devata, you should have faith in the mantra of the Ishta Devata also. Just as you have faith in the mantra, you should have faith in the Guru also. Then the ultimate goal is achieved — sakshatkara is achieved. Not otherwise.

गुरुं न मर्त्यं बुध्येत यदि बुध्येते तस्य तु
न कदाचित् भवेत्सिद्धिः मन्त्रैर्वा देवतार्चनैः

Many people — most people — do this mistake.
My Guru is Shri...
I am the disciple of this Swamiji.
I belong to this parampara.
We are Shivayogis, we are Balayogis.
I am a follower of this mutt, this Swamiji.

The shloka says — nothing you will gain out of it.

The moment you see your Guru as a human being — respectable, far above you — but still, if you see him as a human being with a name and a form, then it is gone. You will not get anything from that Guru. You may go around and say — I got maha deeksha, purna deeksha, I am his favourite disciple, he gave it to me only — but in effect, you will not gain anything out of this.

The name of the person or rupa of that person is immaterial. You are in touch with the Jagadguru through him — you should understand this. The physical body of the Guru is only a channel.

Goswami Tulasidasji has explained very well how this works — the Guru parampara works. Take any Guru parampara, you will find that right at its beginning, there is God — Shiva or Hayagreeva or Narayana. A divinity is at the beginning of every parampara.

Then a sage like Narada or Sanat Kumara. It is the shakti or chaitanya of the divinity that gets into the sage, occupies his body as a result of that very first initiation. Then from him into the next, the next shishya. Like that it proceeds. So it is the divine chaitanya that goes from Guru to shishya — on and on and on.

Now through this chain — unbroken chain — it has come to your Guru. This chaitanya is what you should see in your Guru. Not the body. Not the name. If you are able to do this, then half your job is done.

But, if you start identifying with the name, the sanstha, the dress code, the glow in his eyes, the aura — then you are lost. They don’t have any significance.

This is our problem. We always have this problem of missing the essence — missing the wood for the trees.

Veda also says the same thing —
Yavateervai — offer namaskaras to Vedic scholars because Veda resides in them. Veda is inside them. Their bodies are just carriers.

An important person is passing by in a car. You wave, you wish, you offer pranama. Are you doing this to the car or to the person inside? The person inside. You may not even notice the car — what brand it is, what colour it is, is it old or new — that is all immaterial.

Same here also. The bodies, their names are immaterial. What is inside — the Veda — that is what you should offer namaskara to. You need not even see the bodies. Then it works.

Similar is the case of Guru also.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi