UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF GURU IS DISICIPLE

Lord Ganesha with his guru.

The word devotee is derived from the word Devotion and unless you are a devotee, life should not open for you, because if it opens for you, you will only cause damage to yourself and everyone else. Knowledge in India was never ever handed over to a person who lacked devotion.

I took so long to post this on disciple after my post on Guru- which is divinity personified and devotee is devotion personified. Interestingly they compliment each other.

 The concept of devotee or disciple is too Indian, but my post on GURU is incomplete unless I post next on Devotee or disciple. I will try to put my views in more contemporary manner. A devotee has a deep devotion towards his Guru ( spiritual master). He perceives Him as a friend, as a master and as a beloved. He is totally dedicated to Him, and does not hide anything from Him. There is no trace of duality between him and his GURU, as their consciousness is unified.

    A disciple never questions his Guru, and does not mistrust or doubt him even in adverse conditions.    

     One has to acquire certain qualities to become deserving and dedicated devotee. The  spiritual knowledge cannot be imparted to an unworthy person. A devotee should be an ascetic, altruistic, magnanimous, hardworking, and truthful, furthermore follows celibacy. As there is saying that, “Only the gold utensil can hold tigress milk.

Guru imparting spiritual knowledge through integration of mind.

    There is lots of self –preparation and self -discipline required in becoming a worthy devotee.  Our spiritual text (Advaita Vedanta) gave the fourfold discipline to train a devotee and to help them to attain self relization. It consists of four stages:

No.1 cultivating oneself of the following qualities:

* the capacity to differentiate between real and unreal.

 * dispassion, detachment, indifference to pleasure and pain under all circumstances.

The required six virtues are:

1. Tranquility or control of mind and calmness under any situation.

2. Control of the senses.

3. Renunciation of worldly activities.

4. Adaptability and endurance of changing and opposite circumstances.

A complete faith in the guru, the Atman and the religious scriptures.

 The concentration of the mind and an intense longing for liberation is must for disciple.
Listening and of reflection on the teachings and the stage of meditation on the truth is mandatory.

How hard may it sound but he had to cleanse himself of all the ills e.g. envy, greed, ego and vengeance. He should forever stay away from negativity and worldly desire. He has to overcome his ego – the biggest hurdle in spirituality. The Buddhist and the Jain monks beg for their food, as begging is supposed to out do one’s pride and greed. Whether it is a good or a bad ritual, this could be the subject for discussion and I would be staying away from unnecessary discussions and preaching so only stating the facts.

Guru intiating disciple.

   Guru comes as a representative of the Divine for the benefit of world. He looks out for true shishyas (disciples), test them and then endows them with the spiritual knowledge and supernatural powers for the welfare of society. Guru encourages his disciples to become seeker or bhakt and leads them from religion to spirituality. This journey from a student to seeker is the most significant as they grow spiritually and seeks the knowledge of the Brahman.
 Now let us understand the different types of devotees: Broadly speaking there are four types of devotees or bhakt. First, these people worship GOD in hard times only and then forget about HIM once their grief is over and sadly most of us fall in this category. The second types are those, who have some materialistic desires to fulfill, and does bhakti till their specific desires are unfulfilled. Third types are those, who are averse to the materialistic world, so they take refuge in HIM, and lastly the forth ones are those, who really love GOD, their only desire is to be one with HIM, even too much hardships does not dissuade them, and the spiritual longing for GOD becomes their sole purpose of life, for them GURU is the only salvation.

     The path to spiritualism is full of hurdles and contradictions, and which appears quite opposite to the worldly traditions and sometimes even questions the age -old religious norms.

A guru imparting spiritual knowledge.

A seeker without a Guru would be lost in the oasis of confrontations.  A devotee is actually connected first with Guru then with God, as Guru shows him that God is not some abstract idea or some mighty force residing in heaven, but a friend, a beloved and most importantly a savior.

 A Guru reveals the spiritual knowledge to devotee through the integration of mind and in turn a disciple surrenders totally to Guru and then becomes one with him.  A Guru leads him onto the path of ultimate reality with the help of the Spiritual knowledge.
 It is not an overnight process but a mental state acquired with lots of hardships, and for the outside world he may appear same but there is total revolution inside him. And the most important and difficult task is to retain spirituality, as they say it is like the threshold to a door, which opens on both the sides, and coming out is very quick, and Guru acts as a sentinel or a doorman.

Only Guru can impart the spiritual knowledge- must for self-realization, as being the self -realized person himself.



pics from web.