Today is the Guru Poornima day, a day observed in India as the day of the Guru. It is the day when students express their thanks to the teachers, But a guru as we know is much more than a teacher. A teacher is at best like a star who points us the way. The student has to put in his own efforts to walk where the teacher is pointing. He must from time to time look up to orient himself that the direction he has undertaken is the correct one. the teacher bears him out, responds to his queries, identifies his mistake and once again sets the student’s foot firmly on the path. This goes on up to the point till the student completes his education under the teacher. The word Guru does not really refer to the teacher who is more correctly referred to as an acharya or a shikshak.
A Guru does not only point the way but shows the light throughout the journey as the disciple is passing through the dark mazes of ignorance. He is the effulgence that lights up the way. He not only shows the way but walks with the disciple, he in the skies above while the disciple on the ground below. This relation is more intimate than that of the teacher and a student which is rather confined to the subject being taught. The work and action of the Guru is not confined to this or that subject. He rather dispels the fundamental ignorance that surrounds the inner being of the disciple. The disciple begins to see each and every aspect of his human existence in this light that is lent by the Guru. This light helps the disciple to cross the sea of ignorance and hence he ever remains grateful to the Master for this compassionate act for without it he may have been easily lost in the night of ignorance and the threats and dangers that surround us in the night.
The work of the Guru is over when there is day break and the disciple reaches a point where all can be seen in a New Light. The Night ends and a new day, a new dawn begins in the disciple’s life. Now he sees not only his path but the whole world differently, the night is slain and light is born. This illumination is what the guru brings about, But the journey does not end. Beyond the human Guru who is a representative of the Divine, there is the rare possibility of having the Divine Himself as the Guru, The Light that the human Guru or the Moon receives is from yet another source. it is the splendour of the Sun, the real Guru within and around us. We cannot see or experience HIM since the Night is upon our souls. But when the sun shines then we discover the wonder of wonders, the Glory of Glories. We discover that we are ourselves part and parcel of the Sun, the Divine within us. we discover that it is not only Light but every other aspect of our life that is due to the Divine Master who is the ruler, the ordainer, the sovereign, of our existence. He is not only Light that guides but the Power too that helps us as we stumble upon the path. He not only lifts up before us the lamp of Wisdom but also leans down to reach into the abysses and bring us out from the darkest states of our being. The Moon lights up the mind and touches our soul and thrills our hearts but the Divine Sun takes all things in each and every detail of our individual and collective existence and pouring his rain of gold transforms them into great and wonderful sowing. He is with us through the change of seasons since His work is never finished. He is with us from birth to death, and He is with us when we depart to other domains. We rest in Him at the end of our life and return after receiving His nourishing touch.
It is easy to have a teacher. It is rare to have a Guru. But to have the Divine Master Himself as our Master, Guide and still more as Father and Mother and Sustainer and Fosterer and Friend and Beloved is a rarest and exceptional privilege and yet if it happens due to the sudden burst of an unexpected Grace then there are no limits to the possibility of our ascension and realisations. Of course, even when the disciple does not recognise it is the Master who is secret within us moves us but one needs an outer Guru when the darkness is dense. But when the night is slain and one recognises the Divine within or in the persona of the human Guru then horizons of endless possibilities open before man. As the great Upanishad reveals to us:
O Fosterer, O sole Seer, O Ordainer, O illumining Sun, O power of the Father of creatures, marshal thy rays, draw together thy light; the Lustre which is thy most blessed form of all, that in Thee I behold. The Purusha there and there, He am I.
[CWSA 17:9-10]
And the Mother reminds us that it is not just for a day but everyday that we must remember and offer our gratitude to this wonderful Divine Presence of whom the sun is the material symbol:
I would like us to make the resolution to raise ourselves each day, in all sincerity and goodwill, in an ardent aspiration towards the Sun of Truth, towards the Supreme Light, the source and intellectual life of the universe, so that it may pervade us entirely and illumine with its great brilliance our minds and hearts, all our thoughts and our actions.
Then we shall acquire the right and the privilege of following the counsel of the great initiate of the past, who tells us:
“With your hearts overflowing with compassion, go forth into this world torn by pain, be instructors, and wherever the darkness of ignorance rules, there light a torch.”
[CWM 2:29]
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To think of someone is to be near him, and wherever two beings may find themselves, even if they are physically separated by thousands of kilometres, if they think of each other they are together in a very real way. If we are able to concentrate our thought sufficiently and to concentrate sufficiently in our thought, we can become integrally conscious of what we are thinking of, and if it is a man, sometimes see or hear him—in any case know his thought.
Thus separation no longer exists, it is an illusory appearance. And in France, in America, in Persia or in China, we are always near the one we love and think of.
But this fact is all the more real in a case such as ours, where we want to come into contact with an especially active and conscious thought, a thought which assumes and manifests an infinite love, a thought which enfolds the whole earth with a loving and fatherly solicitude that is only too glad to come to the help of those who entrust themselves to it.
Experience this mental communion and you will see that there is no room for sorrow.
Each morning when you get up, before you begin your day, with love and admiration and gratefulness hail this great family, these saviours of mankind who, ever the same, have come, come and will come until the end of time, as guides and instructors, as humble and marvellous servants of their brothers, in order to help them to scale the steep slope of perfection. Thus when you wake up, concentrate on them your thought full of trust and gratitude and you will soon experience the beneficial effects of this concentration. You will feel their presence responding to your call, you will be surrounded, imbued with their light and love. Then the daily effort to understand a little better, to love a little more, to serve more, will be more fruitful and easier at the same time. The help you give to others will become more effective and your heart will be filled with an unwavering joy.
[CWM 2:115-116]
