SRI SARVESHWARI TIMES

Vol.VII: No 7.  JULY 1997

Aghoreshwar Baba Bhagwan Ramji

GURU PURNIMA ISSUE

SELF AWAKENING:

It has been said from time immemorial that when the seeker is ready, the Guru appears. As a lens produces fire by focusing sunlight at any point, the divine power that permeates everything lights a flame within the seeker through the medium of the Guru, making the seeker identical to itself. The Guru is the manifestation of that great unknown divine power. It is very difficult to walk on the spiritual path without the grace of the Guru. With the grace of the Guru, we get a glimpse of that Self which lies dormant within us, and all the obstacles that lie in the path of Self awakening are gradually removed.

WHAT IS A GURU?

The word Guru is made of two syllables which are Gu, which means darkness, and Ru, which means light. Thus the true meaning of the word Guru is the one who removing the darkness brings us towards light. The Guru resides within us in the form of our highest ideals, until we come in contact with that Guru within, a Guru in physical form symbolizes the Guru inside. We can say that a Guru is the outer embodiment of the inner. The Guru in physical form becomes like an altar where we rest our love, attention and trust. As love, respect and trust for our Guru arise, we get a taste of these qualities within, and as they begin to flow, we become aware of their presence. This process brings us closer to our own true nature, the Self, the Divine.

The practice of accepting a Guru in life has no restrictions of any kind. We can establish this sacred relationship with any person who is capable of helping us in the process of investigating our soul, provided that love, trust and respect are emerging in the heart towards the Guru. It is easier to establish such a relationship with someone who has walked on this path and understands the responsibility of the sacredness of the relationship. The intensity of these feelings for our Guru turn into the grace of the Guru. That alone is enough to liberate us from bondage.

DIKSHA: (Receiving of a Mantra)

Diksha is a divine act by which a Guru accepts a sincere seeker. The spiritual journey begins when the Guru-kripa (grace of the Guru) is received by the seeker through the act of diksha. When an initiate begins to follow the ideals of the Guru and to bring the teachings of the Guru into his or her life, the shakti (spiritual power) that lies dormant within the student is awakened. When one receives the gift of shiksha (teachings) and diksha, depending on the intensity of his affinity with the Guru, his atma (deep self) is awakened.

The seed of yoga sadhana begins to germinate within the initiate. As this seed germinates, all the boundaries that limit him begin to crumble on their own. In this process, it is necessary to receive the teaching first and then diksha. Teaching and diksha compliment each other, and if one is lacking, the other is incomplete. Initiation into Mantra-Diksha is one of the holiest and most significant of the sacred rituals in spiritual life. To receive the Guru-Mantra from a Guru is the rarest of good fortune and the most precious of the divine blessings that may be bestowed upon the aspirant. The full glory of this Mantra-Diksha, especially when it is received with an eager soul, can hardly be imagined even fractionally by the uninitiated who has not yet a proper idea of what the Mantra and Mantra-Diksha really imply.

When the Guru gives a mantra, he is giving us a friend in the form of a mantra. This friend comes to us in our good times and in our bad times, unconditionally. Mantra is the thread through which the Guru and the disciple are united, a medium through which the Guru's shakti flows. The very moment we remember our mantra, the shakti of our Guru and the shakti of all the enlightened beings of this tradition are with us. With awareness we begin to feel the presence of those protective shadows all around us.

Mantra-Diksha is the grandest jewel in the treasure of the peerless culture of India. Sacred Mantras, directly revealed to Self-realized sages in the innermost depths of their divine communion with the Supreme Divinity, have always been a vital, unfailing key to this treasure; a key which even now gives access to the transcendental realms of Absolute Experience. Such mantras have been carefully handed down to us by a long succession of saints through the system of Guru-Parampara (Guru based tradition), coming from ancient times through generation after generation, right up to the present modern age of materialism. They are potent givers of direct experience of the highest Reality.

A tremendous transformation begins to take place in the innermost core of the consciousness of the initiated, the receiver of the Mantra. The initiated is himself or herself unaware of it because the veil of ignorance or Mula-Agyana still covers him, even as a poor man, sleeping soundly in his humble cottage at night, carried silently and deposited upon a royal couch in the Emperor's palace, remains completely unaware of his transfer, because he is still in deep sleep. Nevertheless, this transformation starts with initiation, and like a seed that is sown in the earth, it ultimately culminates in the grand fruit of realization or Atma-gyana. To reach fruition, just as a seed has to pass through the process of development from seedling, plant, sapling and then full-blown tree, so the Sadhaka (seeker), after receiving initiation, must make earnest and continuous effort through spiritual Sadhana (spiritual practices) if the Diksha is to become blissfully fruitful as Self-realization.

This part is the Sadhaka's sole responsibility, in which task he will doubtless receive the help, guidance and grace of the Guru in the measure of the Sadhaka's firm faith and loyalty to the Guru. As the pearl-oyster patiently and eagerly awaits the rain when the star Svati is in ascendancy, receiving a drop when the rain comes, and then, within itself, converting it through its own efforts and processes into a very valuable pearl, the Sadhaka eagerly and devoutly awaits Mantra initiation from the Guru. He receives the sacred Mantra from him on a rare, auspicious occasion, cherishes it and nurtures it in himself, and through both his effort and the process of Sadhana it is transformed into a tremendous spiritual power which breaks down the fort of Avidya (ignorance) and opens the door to the blissful Immortal Experience.

How great a transformation and innermost purification take place from the Mantra-Diksha can be gathered from an incident in the story of the Divine Sage Narada. When Narada had departed from Vishnu's presence Vishnu directed Lakshmi to sprinkle water on the spot occupied by Narada during his short stay, in order to clean it. When Lakshmi inquired in astonishment the reason for this strange procedure, the Lord explained that this is because "Narada has not yet been initiated", meaning that the peculiar, mysterious inner purification that is bestowed by Mantra-Diksha had not yet come to him, even though he was known as a divine sage. Such is the glory of initiation. The process of initiation links one directly with the Divine Being. The initiation of Mantra-Diksha has within itself the potentiality for one to reach the highest state. Initiation puts the seeker in possession of the direct means of attaining what he is seeking, attaining which he obtains everything, knowing which he knows everything, and gaining which nothing more remains to be gained!

MANTRA

An Aghor mantra is self-awakened. These mantras have been passed in the lineage orally from time unknown. The great beings of this tradition heard these sounds in deep meditation and experienced their potentiality. These seed mantras are like the seed of a Banyan tree (smaller than a mustard seed) which has enough strength to produce a mighty tree, and countless trees from that tree, provided it grows in the right environment and fertile ground.

At the time of imparting the mantra, the Aghor Guru burns all past association with karmas, and starts us anew on clean ground. Now it is up to us to keep watering the seed of mantra with the water of love, trust and constant practice. The weeds of doubt, laziness, etc. should be kept under control, and the crop should be protected from the harshness of the weather of hate, anger, lust and greed. Then, share the bumper crop with those around you.

KARMA YOGA as I know it !

by: John MacKay

Karma Yoga is a path of liberation from our limitations. It is called the "way of selfless action". The whole idea is to shift one's attitude from mine to Thine.

On a personal level, I know that helping others is nobler than to put myself first, but often I forget. I find myself living in a pain - pleasure duality, forgetting that my true form is compassion, not the needy body-mind. My saving grace that I know that every moment is a new opportunity to practice Karma Yoga - every breath, every movement and every word gives me a new chance to act selflessly. Although my wife and daughters deserve my best, at home I often miss the mark.

This practice can be cultivated at one place until that time when the practitioner takes it into his home, community, workplace etc. Ashram is a place in our community which is particularly created to foster such ideals and facilitate our growth in this direction. It is said, that the Ashram is a form of the Guru, and every act at the Ashram can therefore be truly for the Guru.

For me, the Ashram is where there is no excuse. I go to the Ashram with the intention of practice. As I enter the Ashram gates, I tell myself that I am now walking on the Guru, breathing Guru and every where seeing Guru. I become saturated with my Guru. And each act is the Guru.

As Baba teaches us that Guru is not a person but our own higher ideals. Selfless action does become my Guru and what a joy this is. When it is time to leave the Ashram, a new opportunity arises to take this attitude back home. It is through selfless action that one discovers that all is Guru, God or the Divine and this realization is the awakening that dispels all confusion.

Slowly...slowly, with my Guru's grace my ignorant assumption that I am this body will disappear and I can be purely selfless action.

Ashram News:

Guru purnima Guru purnima is the occasion to honor and express our gratitude to our Guru. This festival is observed all over the world in various Ashrams once a year, usually during the full moon of July. The annual festival of Guru purnima will be celebrated in the Ashram on Saturday, July 19th.