The Need for a Guru
Divine Life
Society Publication: The Chhandogya
Upanishad – Uddalaka’s Teaching by Swami Krishnananda
Someone was living in a
country called Gandhara, and was attacked by robbers on the way. He was tied
up. His eyes were covered and he was taken to a long distance and left in a
thick forest infested with tigers, wild beasts, etc. The person was crying,
"I have lost my way. I do not know where I am. Will anybody come and help
me? Does anybody hear my voice? Is there anyone near me?" That was all he
could do. Then, there was one good Samaritan passing by that way and he untied
all the knots with which the person was bound. He removed the bandages from the
eyes and said to him, "Oh, you have come to this place. Where are you
coming from?" The poor man replied, "I come from Gandhara. Now I do
not know where it is. Which is the way to that place?" Then the kind one
said, "You proceed from this place in that direction and you will see a
big tree there. Then you turn to the right and walk for about two miles. Then
you will see a village. From there you move towards the east and there you will
see a signpost. Now proceed slowly and you can safely reach your place."
This is an analogy to describe
the condition of people in this world. We have been exiled from our 'home' and
cast into the wilderness by the robbers of the senses and we cannot see things
properly as they really are. We do not know from where we have come. We have
lost our way. And the apparatus of our senses are not going to help us. The
mind has been confounded. The only way is to ask for help, and just as a person
with sight can help a person without sight and can point out the way to the
destination which he has to reach, so is the blindfolded soul in this
wilderness of life to take the guidance of a person with spiritual eyesight,
who can visualise the presence of the great Reality which is the destination of
everyone. Such a person with eyes which can see the truth of things as they are
is called an acharya, a spiritual master. He is the preceptor, he is the
Guru. There is no way of escape from this muddle of life except through the
guidance of a preceptor, because a preceptor, a Guru, is one who has undergone
these experiences of life. He has seen the tortures of existence, the
sufferings, the winding path and the dismal ways through which one has to go.
He knows from where one has come and how one can revert to that place again.
Through the indications given by the master, the disciple has to proceed
gradually.
In the analogy, the good Samaritan
told the blindfolded man how he could go back to his house step by step by the
winding path with the help of various objects which served as signposts. Even
so, are the scriptures signposts on the way. The instructions of the Guru are
the indications on the path. We are told that from this predicament in which we
are now, the next step would be like this. Naturally, we cannot reach our
destination at one stroke. It is perhaps several miles away, hundreds of miles
far. This means that we have to put forth much effort. So we go three miles
from here and we find a road that diverts itself to the right. We go along
that. Then we find a huge banyan tree there. From there, we again turn to our
left. Then we go another ten miles along the same path, and find a village
there. Then we take rest and from there we move towards the western direction,
and so on and so forth. These represent the higher and higher levels of
consciousness to which we have to rise up, overcoming the various obstructions
on the spiritual path. Thus are we instructed by the master.
We have fallen from the
ancient, pristine existence by a tortuous process of descent. It is not a
sudden drop, as drops of water from the sky fall on the earth. It is a winding
process through various kinds of curves and turns through which Consciousness
has got itself entangled and has come to this present pitiable condition of
earth-consciousness, body- consciousness, object-consciousness, and a total
absence of universal consciousness. To go back to that orginal state, it is not
possible to take a jet plane and fly straight. It is not a straight movement.
It is also a very winding process. We cannot see beyond a certain distance.
This is the difficulty of the path. For, everywhere, every kind of vehicle will
not be available. Likewise is the method that has to be adopted in the practice
of sadhana. The same method will not work always. After a certain point
or a certain limit is reached, the method of sadhana may have to be
changed, the speed may have to be accelerated and a different type of guidance
may have to be required. There are stages of approach, and you will not be told
everything at one stroke. There is also no use explaining that, because the
mind cannot grasp all the intricacies at once.
Just as the blindfolded man
received instructions from the good Samaritan, so the blindfolded soul has to
receive guidance from a spiritual master. And as the person in the illustration
was intent only on reaching home and was not interested in mere sightseeing,
(otherwise he would go hither and thither and miss the way again), so is the
soul to be intent upon its destination, and should not waste its time in
sightseeing in this world. The master will tell the seeker, "This is the
way." On the way he may see many things. He should not be interested in
those things. They are experiences through which every one has to pass. And as
was the case with the blindfolded man who was intent only on rushing back home
and not seeing places on the way, so should be the interest of a spiritual
seeker to return to the 'source', passing through tentative experiences in
which he should not get engrossed. He should not get lodged in the halting
places on the way. Thus the soul can reach back to its grand goal, its
destination.
What is the way? The way is the
acharya, the Guru, the teacher, the master, the preceptor. There is no
other way. "So only a person who has a proper preceptor can realise the
Truth," says this Upanishad. No one else can reach this Truth by any
effort of the mind, the intellect or the senses. No amount of scientific
analysis, no amount of study of the scriptures alone will be of any use. It
requires direct guidance from one who has personal experience. Such a person is
the acharya, the preceptor who knows what Truth is. He is a blessed
person who has such a guide with him. Then he will have to live in this world
only as long as this body lasts. Afterwards, he will have no bondage. As long
as he is tied up to this bodily individuality, as long as the prarabdha-karma
which he has to experience remains, so long he will have to remain. The sanchita-karmas
are destroyed by knowledge. The agami-karmas do not exist for that
person, but the prarabdha-karma continues. The prarabdha is a
name that we give to those cumulative effects of action which have given rise
to this physical body, this individuality of ours, in which we have to pass our
life here and undergo experiences of various types. When we are in a position
to complete this course of change through this body, then we are about to enter
that borderland of freedom. We have to be bound to this world, to this life,
only as long as this body is there. The moment this body is cast off we are
free, because there is nothing else to bind us. All our karmas have been
destroyed by meditation and by the actions performed in this life. They are not
going to bind us because they are not selfish actions. They are not motivated
by bodily individuality. They are propelled by knowledge of a higher truth, and
therefore, the actions of the present life after the rise of knowledge, the agami-karmas,
will not bind us. Nor are we going to be influenced by the sanchita-karmas,
results of past actions. They too have been burnt up by knowledge. The only
thing that remains is prarabdha. When that is gone, every type of
bondage is gone. Then we attain to the great Being. This Being is the
truth of all things.
Continue to read:
The Chhandogya
Upanishad – Uddalaka’s Teaching by Swami Krishnananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit:
http://www.dlshq.org/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?
http://www.dlshq.org/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?
If you would
like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact
the General Secretary at:
No comments:
Post a Comment