LOOKING BEYOND MUNDANE

PART -2

 UNDERSTANDING DIVINITY ON EARTH:

Initiating from guru.

Till now I have talked about a traveler exploring new places, new countries, different states and narrating personal experiences and then how this traveler becomes a seeker, moving from a physical world to a metaphysical level to get a commune with God. Which is regarded as a very important aspect in life. I have also written about the preparation for this journey, as how we have to work upon ourselves and scrutinized  our relationships with others. I talked about pure love. Interestingly, this is all part of spiritual journey and without crossing these hurdles, we can not  even have a glimpse of God. 
To a certain extent all the religions had laid stress on spiritualism to understand divinity. And If the subject is metaphysical and spiritual, then we would be looking for a teacher, who is well versed in these subjects and can impart this most valuable knowledge to us and show the path to reach our destination. Spiritual teacher is called GURU in Hinduism, and now almost everybody is aware of this term thanks to fast growing social media.The gulf between God and a seeker is bridged by GURU.  

Guru imparting spiritual knowledge.

Only he can show us the path to realize GOD, as being a self-realized person himself. A disciple would never be able to achieve right perspective in his life, A Guru is a mentor, as he slowly and progressively takes out ills such as anger, lust, and jealousy from his disciple. A Guru is considered as a very essential module for spiritual knowledge and salvation. With his help a seeker

    learns the very core of spiritual knowledge in these three important steps: First the student listens attentively, and this step is called sravanam, which literally means listening. The next step is now for the student to reflects upon what he/she has heard, ponder on it, and tries to really comprehend the subtle truth that have been taught to him/her, and this step is called mananam, which means reflecting or contemplating. Now the student has reached the stage to meditate upon the Brahman, and this entire practice leads to the intuitive and the direct experience of truth. This important stage is called nididhyasana, or meditation. A Guru is capable of removing ignorance, which is the root cause of our sufferings. Our negative thoughts like anger, jealousy and lust are all because of ignorance. And if these thoughts go unchecked, they can totally ruin a person mentally and physically.

A Guru can bestow worldly joys as well as bliss on his disciples. Only the wise one, (Guru) who has realized the truth, is accomplished to impart the supreme knowledge. 

  According to vedas (religious texts), “Guru” means who has the power to dispel darkness. 

He who hates none, and is friend and merciful to all and has nothing of his own. He, who always works in yoga and has become controlled, and whose will is firm. His mind and intellect are given up unto God. It is true that faithful devotion to Guru’s feet can remove every obstacle in life and establishes wisdom. He also acts as an integral medium for the experience of Consciousness (chetna).                                                  

   A SPIRITUAL GURU is the spiritual guide with all the saintly qualities far above than the mundane world, which otherwise is filled with hypocrisy, envy, lust, and duality. He enlightens the mind of disciples.  A disciple of Guru is called śhiṣhya. It is believed that only Guru can awaken the dormant spiritual knowledge within shishya.

     A Guru guides his disciples to become (jivanmukta), a liberated soul. The comprehensive knowledge of Brahman includes the knowledge of totality- cosmos, universe, consciousness (chetna), rationality, non-duality and wisdom. 

Qualities of Spiritual Guru:

Prostration unto that Guru. 

A Guru should be stable minded and must have restrained actions of body and should stay away from non-virtuous actions of body keeping his actions proper and moral.

A Guru should keep proper morality of speech, not saying harsh words to others.

A Guru should refrain from pretentiousness, and his mental attitude should be pure, and he should possess intelligence and discretion otherwise he cannot lead his disciples to the path of spirituality.

A Guru should be truthful and unbiased and not partial towards anybody. Most importantly a Guru should be compassionate to all living beings. This is for certain that in his presence the knowledge flourishes, joy wells up, abundance dawns, sorrow and lack diminishes.

He should have profound knowledge of scriptures, only then he can remove doubts of his disciple. He should possess the power to reach inference with the help of mantras, which undoubtedly work when chanted properly and with faith.

Only a true disciple (shishya) is capable of pure devotion

pics from web files.