In the past, aspirants were asked to reside with the Guru
for a period in order for the Guru to properly research the students. The Guru
would consider and assess the food consumed during practice, when to practice
and how to practice, whether the students are prepared for the direction of
Yoga, as well as the aspirants' disposition and other essential factors.
The Guru should determine if the aspirants are of the
Uttamai, Madhyama, or Adhama form and prescribe various exercises. Sadhana
varies depending on the aspirants' personality, ability, and qualifications.
You'll need to learn the art from a seasoned Yogic Guru until you've grasped
the philosophy of Yoga. If there is a planet, there will be Yoga books and
instructors. You must look for them with Sraddha, confidence, loyalty, and
sincerity.
In the early stages of practice, you will get simple lessons
from the Guru and practice them at home. When you've progressed a little,
you'll need to stick with the Guru for more complex and challenging workouts.
The benefits of having a close relationship with the Guru are many. The
mystical gravitational aura of your Guru can be extremely beneficial to you.
The teaching of Bhakti Yoga and Vedanta does not necessitate the presence of a
Guru. You will have to think and meditate privately, in complete seclusion,
after practicing the Srutis from a Guru for some time, while in Kundalini Yoga
you will have to split up the Granthis and take the Kundalini from Chakra to
Chakra.
Both are difficult procedures. The process of combining the
Apana and Prana, sending it along the Sushumna, and breaking the Granthis
requires the assistance of a Guru. For a long time, you would have to lie at the
Guru's feet. You'll need a good understanding of the Nadis, Chakras, and the
detailed methodology of the various Yogic Kriyas. Lay your heart's secrets bare
to your Guru, and the more you do so, the more sympathy and support you can get
from your Guru. This compassion ensures that you will gain support in the fight
against sin and temptation. “By discipleship, investigation, and service, learn
this.
The wise, the seers of the Essence of Things, will teach
thee wisdom.” (Gita-IV-34; Gita-IV-35; Gita-IV- Some people meditate for years
on their own. Later, they realize the importance of having a Guru. They run
into a few roadblocks in the way. They are unsure how to go on and avoid these
roadblocks or stumbling blocks. Then they start looking for a master. And after
he has been down the street half a dozen times, a stranger in a big city finds
it impossible to return to his apartment on a narrow road. How much more
daunting can it be in the direction of faith as one walks alone with closed
eyes than it is in the case of navigating one's way through streets and roads?
On the spiritual route, the aspirant encounters impediments,
threats, snares, and traps. He can also make mistakes in Sadhana. It is
important that he be guided by a Guru who has already walked the journey and
achieved the target.
WHAT Really IS A GURU?
Guru is one who has complete Self-illumination and can lift
the curtain of blindness from the eyes of deluded Jivas. All are one: Guru,
Reality, Brahman, Ishvara, Atman, God, and Om. While there are less realised
souls in this Kali Yuga than in the Satya Yuga, they are still present to
assist aspirants. They're still on the lookout for the right Adhikarins. Guru
is the embodiment of Brahman. Guru is none other than Ishvara Himself. Guru is
the Supreme Being. A word spoken by him is a word spoken by God. He doesn't
have to teach someone. And just being in his company is uplifting, inspiring,
and soul-stirring. The business is self-illuminating in and of itself. It is
spiritual education to be in his business. All he says is based on the Vedas or
gospel-truth.
His life is a living embodiment of the Vedas. Guru is your divine preceptor or mentor, as well as your real father, mother, sibling, relative, and close friend. He is the personification of mercy and devotion. His gentle smile exudes light, happiness, laughter, wisdom, and harmony. He is a gift of humanity's misery. Anything he says is based on Upanishadic teachings. He is spiritually conscious. He is well-versed in the traps and snares that await him along the way. He issues a note to the candidates. He clears the way of all impediments. He gives the students spiritual strength. On their hearts, he showers his grace. He also wears their Prarabdha on his head. He is a puddle of mercy. In his presence, all agonies, miseries, tribulations, taints of worldliness, and so on disappear. He is the one who transforms Jivahood into great Brahmanhood.
He is the one who overhauls the aspirants' tired, wrong,
malicious Samskaras and awakens them to the attainment of Self-knowledge. He is
the one who frees the Jivas from the shackles of body and Samsara, raises the
curtain of Avidya, eliminates all questions, Moha, and terror, awakens
Kundalini, and opens the inner eye of insight. The Guru must be a Brahma-Nishtha
as well as a Srotriya. A Guru cannot be created solely by the review of books.
Only a Guru may be found who has read the Vedas and has clear knowledge of
Atman through Anubhava. You should accept a Mahatma as your Guru if you can
find comfort in his presence and if his presence removes your reservations.
A Guru will awaken an aspirant's Kundalini by sight, touch,
voice, or simple Sankalpa (thought). He has the ability to transfer
spirituality to the student in the same way as one offers an orange to another.
When the Guru gives Mantra to his followers, he does so with Sattvic Bhava and
his own strength. The Guru puts the students to a variety of examinations. He
is misunderstood by some classmates, who lose confidence in him. As a result,
they do not benefit. Many who bravely face the challenges succeed in the end.
The Adhyatmic University of Sages' periodic exams are extremely difficult.
The evaluations used to be very harsh back in the day.
Gorakhnath once challenged some of his students to ascend a tall tree and fall
headfirst onto a very sharp Trident (Trishul). Many disloyal students remained
silent. One devoted pupil, on the other hand, hurriedly climbed the tree and
flung himself down. Gorakhnath's unseen hand shielded him from harm. He
realized who he was right away. He didn't have any Deha-adhyasa (attachment for
his body). The other disbelievers had strong Moha and Ajnana. Many people are
divided on whether a Guru is needed.
Some of them argue vehemently and forcefully that a
preceptor is not needed for Self-realisation and spiritual development, and
that spiritual growth and self-illumination can be achieved solely by one's own
efforts. They cite numerous biblical verses and assign reasons and reasonings
to back them up. Others confidently declare that no moral advancement will be
made by a man, no matter how wise he is or how hard he tries and struggles on
the spiritual path, until he receives the benevolent grace and direct
instruction of a spiritual preceptor.
Now open your eyes and pay attention to what is going on in
the world in all areas. Even a chef needs instruction. For some years, he works
under the supervision of a senior chef. He is completely obedient to him. He
tries to impress his instructor in every way he can. He knows all of the culinary
methods. He learns by the grace of his senior chef, who also serves as his
coach. A junior lawyer seeks the assistance and advice of a more experienced
lawyer. Mathematics and medicine students need the assistance and instruction
of a professor. A science, music, and astronomy student seeks the advice of a
physicist, guitarist, and astronomer. If this is the case for common, secular
experience, what about the inner spiritual direction, which requires the
student to walk alone and with closed eyes?
When you're walking in a dense forest, you'll come across a
number of cross footpaths. You're in a pickle. You have no idea where you're
going or which route to take. You're perplexed. You need a guide to lead you in
the right direction. It is widely acknowledged that an effective instructor is
required in all branches of knowledge on this physical plane, and that
physical, emotional, spiritual, and cultural development can only occur with
the assistance and guidance of a competent master. This is an inexorable
immutable law of existence.
Why do you refuse to apply this widely recognized rule in
the field of spirituality, friend? Guruparampara is the practice of passing on
spiritual wisdom from one generation to the next. It is passed on to a disciple
from a Guru. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad should be studied. You will have a
thorough understanding of the topic. Govindapadacharya received Self-knowledge
from Gaudapadacharya; Govindapadacharya received Self-knowledge from
Sankaracharya; and Sankaracharya received Self-knowledge from Suresvaracharya.
Jnanadev to Gorakhnath; Gorakhnath to Nivrittinath. Totapuri taught
Ramakrishna, and Ramakrishna taught Vivekananda. Sri Krishnamurthi's career was
shaped by Dr. Annie Besant. Raja Janaka's life was influenced by Ashtavakra.
Raja Bhartrihari's divine fate was shaped by Gorakhnath.
When Arjuna and Uddhava's minds were unsettled, it was Lord
Krishna who helped them find themselves on the spiritual path. Any aspirants
practice meditation of their own for many years. Later on, they realize the
importance of having a Guru. They run into a few roadblocks in the way. They
are unsure of how to continue and how to avoid these roadblocks or stumbling
blocks. Then they start looking for a Guru. The student and the teacher should
live together with extreme honesty and dedication as a father and devoted son
or as a husband and wife. To imbibe the master's lessons, the aspirant must
have a willing, receptive mindset.
Only then would the aspirant benefit spiritually; otherwise,
there is little hope for the aspirant's eternal existence or full rebirth of
his old Asuric essence. It's a shame that India's current educational framework
isn't conducive to Sadhakas' spiritual growth. Materialistic acid has
infiltrated the minds of the students.
Today's aspirants have no understanding of the true
relationship between a Guru and a disciple. It's not like a student's
friendship with a teacher or professor in a school or college. It's a whole
different relationship when it comes to spirituality. It necessitates
commitment. It is very holy. It's absolutely divine. Open the Upanishads and
turn the pages. Brahmacharins used to treat their teachers with deep modesty,
honesty, and Bhava in the past.
SPIRITUAL STRENGTH
And like you can send an orange to a man and then take it
back, divine influence can be passed from one person to another and then
returned. “Shakti Sanchara” is the name given to this form of divine power
transmission. Birds incubate their eggs under their feathers. Heat causes the
eggs to hatch. Fish lay their eggs to watch them hatch. They have been hatched.
The tortoise cares of its eggs as it lays them. They have been hatched.
Nonetheless, the Guru transmits divine influence to the
disciple by touch (Sparsha) as birds do, sight (Darshana) as fish do, and
dreaming or eager (Sankalpa) as the tortoise does. The sender, the Yogi-Guru,
sometimes joins the astral body of the student and, by his strength, elevates
his consciousness. The Yogi (operator) instructs the subject (Chela) to sit in
front of him and close his eyes, after which he transmits his divine power. The
subject perceives divine energy passing from the Muladhara Chakra to the neck
and top of the head.
The disciple performs Hatha Yogic Kriyas, Asanas,
Pranayamas, Bandhas, Mudras, and other Hatha Yogic techniques on his own. The
student must not keep his Iccha-Sakti in check. He has to behave in accordance
with his inner Prerana (inner goading or stirring). The intellect has been
lifted to a new level. Meditation begins as soon as the aspirant shuts his
eyes. The Guru's grace awakens Kundalini in the disciple by Sakti-Sanchara.
Sakti Sanchara arrives via Parampara. It is a mystic science that is kept
secret. It is passed on to the disciple from the Guru. The disciple could not
be content with the Guru's power transmission. For more perfection and
attainments, he would have to work hard in Sadhana. There are two types of
Sakti Sanchara: lower and higher.
When the Guru bestows influence on the pupil, he or she
immediately performs Asanas, Bandhas, and Mudras without any guidance. To
achieve perfection, the student must practice Sravana, Manana, and
Nididhyasana. He can't depend solely on the Kriya. This Kriya is merely a
supplement. It gives the Sadhaka a boost. Only the higher kind of Shakti-Sanchara
is possessed by a completely evolved Yogi. Lord Jesus conveyed his divine
influence to some of his followers by contact (Master's Touch). Samartha Ramdas
made contact with a prostitute. She joined the state of Samadhi.
Swami Vivekananda was touched by Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Swami Vivekananda had extrasensory perceptions. And after the touch, he worked tirelessly for another seven years to achieve perfection. Vilvamangal's blind eyes were touched by Lord Krishna (Surdas). Surdas' inner eye had been unlocked. He was in a state of Bhava Samadhi. Many citizens were converted to Lord Gouranga's side as a result of Divine intoxication caused by his touch. Through his touch, even atheists danced in celebration in the streets and sang Hari songs. Such exalted Yogic Gurus deserve all the glory.
You may also want to read more about Kundalini Yoga and Holistic Healing here.