Live free yoga

Liberated living through the sadhana of yog; enlivened realisations by the grace of the Guru.

Category Archives: Gurushishya parampara


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the inner essencetial Guru


A Recap

Over the years I notice that I have pondered much on the subject of the Guru/shishya, Master/disciple principle; though not premeditated I see in myself a fascination with this phenomenal bond in the spiritual arena. Of course this bond exists in normal teacher/student relationships too. Even those who are not actively on the path of spiritual discovery might see in themselves an influence by a teacher or professor, a mentor whose guidance has brought them to the present stage of life.

An example of my predisposition with this topic is the title of my book One Master one disciple which chronicles my journey in the Presence of my Guru, a journey that began with a mystical meeting in 1998; four years ago I wrote a blog on Gurus, shishyas and the Satguru and now here I am once again on a topic that is as intricate as it is mystical, fraught with strong opinions, understandings and misunderstandings bordering on the vacuous or intellectual. Yet, I am compelled to continue after my usual reiteration that the realisations here are mine alone and opposing views and realisations are equally valid- for those who have them, as these are for me. As noted earlier, my blogs are a way of light conversation, a time out from sadhana, in fact the topic is often the result of the sadhana- inner introspection.

The Principle Guru

I now realise that as my sadhana takes roots, my understanding of this Guru principle is deepening. It takes me towards a state of clarity unclouded by external factors or inner turmoil, I acknowledge this inner presence that reflects the outer presence of the Guru. This learning is for me, a great step towards true discipleship. Yogiraj in his book Babaji, the lightning Standing Still has included a chart with two headings, World Teacher and World King. In my humorous way I have always imagined a third column in this chart, that of ‘world disciples’ for those who would like to come in every lifetime to accompany these Teachers and Kings and are happy in that role and content to fill that column in every life! Ah a whimsical thought accompanied by a humble pranam ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿฝ.

Very early on I had understood that one of the foremost accomplishment of the external Satguru is to turn the disciple inwards towards the inner guru. In fact, by their very nature Guru’s perform this act of revelation; stopping and reversing the flow of attention from the external to the inner Guru. Of course each disciple makes this journey at their own pace. This process of reversal and inner wisdom is a part of the yogic path, as layers of the koshas, from gross to subtle are purified through the given practice, the inner guide starts to shine forth. As the veil dissolves the disciple realises the externally present and their inner Guru to be of the same essence.

The Flux Motion

As the yogi practitioners apply themselves to the practice given by their Satguru, a process is put into motion similar to the process of the germination of a seed. As the disciple is saturated with the Satgurus grace the dormant and or latent seed of the Vivek Buddhi in the disciple awakens and begins to expresses itself. The practice and the presence of the living master works like the water and sun helping the disciple to realise their full potential. There are of course many permutations and combinations to this development, the fertility of the soil, the receptivity of the seed itself, the surrounding environment and climate of the society in which the disciple interacts. But I have realised that when the seed is ready to sprout the water and the sun- the Satguru will find them to start the process of awakening.

As the seed sprouts it not only germinates and moves up towards the sun but also puts down roots to harness nourishment from the soil. Ditto with the disciple encouraged and nourished by the grace and loving guidance of the master and the rooting into the practice of the given technique of inner understanding, the disciple expresses the spiritual radiance in all their actions, manifested and unmanifested. This is a great learning experience and many years and lifetimes may go in this process, as one lifetime may not be enough to accomplish the required level of inner wisdom to finally let go, the ego of it all.




The Veil of the Panchakoshas

Often I hear people referring to how they listen to their inner guide for all matters spiritual and that they don’t need an external Guru or a practice for guidance. But, according to me, it’s not an easy matter to be able to connect to this inner guide, or to be sure the guidance that is coming is not dictated by one’s own desires or wants.

The body is made up of 5 layers or koshas, the annamaya physical body of food, the pranamaya body of breath/pran, the manomaya the body of mind and emotion, the vignyanamaya body of intellect and the anandamaya body of intuition, each contributing to refraction of information received and executed, all influencing one another and the five senses that collect information. Beyond these is the soul, also covered with its samskars and past karmas. Within this multilayered shell is the hidden spark of the inner guru.

For the inner Guru to shine forth unhindered the external layers have to reach a state of clarity and stillness unhindered by turbulence. To accomplish this, many tools are used by those on this path- various pranayam techniques, mantra frequencies, chakra sadhana etc. For practicing yogis a natural adherence to the 8 limbs of yog sadhana. In some cases sitting in the Presence of a master aids in accomplishing this state, depending upon the stature of the Master and readiness of the disciple this can be speedy or slow. Only conscious effort brings the disciple to this stage of unperturbed equilibrium is my realisation.

The wonder is that as the outer Satguru’s grace and our own effort with the practice builds the bridge from out to in, the already present inner Guru expresses in to out completing the formation of the bridge. On a lighter note my mind conjures up the building of the Eurotunnel, where work began on both ends and the Chunnel then met perfectly in the middle. Of course no spiritual pun intended…about France and UK, about who is Master and who disciple, lets leave it to the football teams to decide that ๐Ÿ˜‚

The Final Turnabout

In the end we return to the seed that has sprouted and grown roots and shoots akin to the disciple fully nurtured with all the inner wisdom, expressing it in all facets of their lives. The final service the Satguru does is to now reverse the process to a withdrawal where the seed pulls back into itself its outer manifestations and the disciple moving inwards rests in the inner Nothingness, knowing that it is of the same essence as the essence of the external Satguru and Master. The disciple during practice may have already become aware of this similarity of essence, of the clear stream of consciousness that connects the innermost core of the Satguru with their own innermost core, devoid of all external paraphernalia. Nay the disciple may have already learnt to ‘listen’ internally to this essence of the Satguru, the true gnosis. But in the final retracing and resting in this state is the purpose of the yog sadhana accomplished.

This seems to be the primary function of the Satguru, to assist in forming the bridge that transports the disciple to the inner guru and rest in THAT.

For this great service a disciple can never repay the SatGuru.

Note* This germinating seed is just one of my analogies, there are and can be many as this whole process of the Guru/disciple phenomena is very fascinating and has as many permutations combinations as there are Gurus and shishyas. My realisation of the Outer & Inner Guru, however remains constant.


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Is Kriya Yog the best path for a seeker?


As a sadhak living the way of the kriya breath and sharing this with others for over 20 years in this life, I am often asked this question in my teaching tours – Is kriya yoga the best and only path? My answer to this question is always the same…Yes it is, for me! Every sadhak has to determine for themselves the path most suited for them.

To clarify, when I speak of Kriya Yoga it is specifically referring to the Kriya Yoga of the lineage of Mahavatar Babaji, with a very unique, codified and specific technique for speedy spiritual evolution and self realisation of the human soul.

Masters come from time to time to enliven and initiate sincere seekers into this evolutionary practice. Yogiraj Siddhanath is one such master who initiated me into this practice in 1998 and authorised me as a teacher to share it with others in 1999. Some other masters of this lineage who preceded him are Lahiri Mahasaya, the foremost to share this technique with householder practitioners, Sri Yukteswar Giri and Paramahamsa Yogananda who made this practice a household name in the east and west with his book Autobiography of a Yogi. All of the above have had their personal experiences and darshan of the Mahavatar, as has my Satguru, who writes about this in his book Babaji, the Lightning Standing Still. In this book he has revealed Babaji to be none other than Gorakhnath a spark of the Divine Cosmic phenomenon of Shiva.

The 3 Margs and the 4 Yogas

The Spiritual path is broadly divided into the Karma, the Bhakti, and the Gnyana marg as the three paths for seekers to walk on as per their predominant individual nature. For me the path of Kriya Yoga includes all three, the path of devotion, the path of right action and the path of realised knowingness. This makes it a universal practice for anyone to explore for final salvation.

The four paths of yog or union to realise moksh– enlightenment are the Bhakti, Karma, Gnyana and the Raja Yoga. Once again for me, Kriya Yoga is inclusive of all four yoga. Kriya Yoga is a kingly offering of the eight fold path of the Patanjali yoga sutra, the Raja Yoga. In the practice of Kriya Yoga is included the means to inculcate the qualities of love and devotion -Bhakti, of executing the right action -Karma and unblemished gnosis- Gnyana. In Kriya Yog all four flower majestically leading the individual spirit of the practitioner to merge into the divine spirit effortlessly.

Kriya Yoga the spiritual expressway

Humorously, to me spirituality and pop yoga today often feels like the Indian traffic, there’s a lot of noise and honking, blowing the trumpet of their own schools of thought; jostling for space by ‘gurus’ of all hues; unexpected roadblocks on the path set up by fear of sharing authentic information; bullying by bigger vehicles read mightier well heeled organisations; and the fear of meandering into narrower and narrower bylanes of spiritually arid and bigoted mindsets with no possibilities of u-turns; add to this a complete disregard for traffic lights signalling no discipline and you get the picture of the chaos. Of course some would love to immerse in this scenario and may even benefit from it to glean some nugget of spiritual spark. My hats off to them and the best of wishes.

But for others bent on a more direct path discovering the practice of authentic yog sadhana comes as a relief and a means to rise above this melee onto a highway for a smoother less hindered flow. The practice is relatively individual and requires less props.

Now taking this to another level imagine being suddenly released from all restraints of traffic and moving into a fast lane bullet expressway with extremely few regulations, what a relief that would be for some! For me the practice of Kriya Yoga is that super expressway, the autobahn of spiritual path, where ensconced alone in my body temple I am free to move unhindered, propelled by the technique and grace of my satguru towards the goal of self-realisation. Never a fan of intellectual dissemination minus spiritual experience I am happy to stay well above the traffic snarl of the textually intelligent.

Why I practice Kriya Yoga

(The following is an excerpt from my book One Master one disciple- peeling of an onion, Chapter 10, Kriya Yoga The Antidote)

The essential appeal

There are some core fundamentals of Kriya Yoga that attract me personally and which as a teacher helps me to guide students into a practice that is so universal.

One, the simplicity of the initiation took my breath away at my first introduction to this practice by Gurunath. Coming from a brahminical background where much ado is made of secretly giving the gayatri at the overlong upanayanam ceremony, mind you only to the boys, I found the simple introduction by the master into such a powerful path refreshing. Kriya yoga does not discriminate; itโ€™s given freely to all who want to invest their time in pursuing this yogic path. This simplicity in fact flows into all the other aspects that follow.

Two, I see Kriya Yoga as an inner discipline where the yogi practitioner contained in the physical body temple realises themselves to be the immaculate spark of divinity. External forms of worship are redundant and Kriya Yoga does not demand any external ritual to be effective. Practicing the technique is most supreme and keeps the disciple truly attuned with the master.

Three, Kriya Yoga stands alone needing no other supportive practice to take the disciple to the highest states of enlightenment.

Four, the energy of Kriya Yoga is love, its practice supports ones becoming love and radiating love. Gurunath leads us into this state by connecting us with our inner fountainhead of love. The advanced seeker knows the quality of this love is not conditional, regional or limited and transcends human frailties.

Five, by dedicated sadhana, the disciples increase their gravity and move gracefully through life. As the disciple becomes more constant life under any circumstances becomes more full of ease for them. Ishwar pranidhan the surrender to the guru comes naturally to them. Mind you this surrender is not the mindless abject surrender of the piteous rather a surrender in full realisation.

Six, by steadfastness in practice and utter connection with the master the disciple becomes self-reliant and connects with the core of their inner knowingness as Gurunath calls it. The external physical master introduces the disciple to their inner essential master. This is an advanced stage that I know comes to all disciples eventually. As disciples we just need to keep the connection with the satguru as this process can go on for a while as layers upon layers of ignorance are peeled away, hence the peeling of an onion.โ€

End of quote.


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Am I a Hindu if I practice Yog(a)?

This blog was inspired by an online post on social media by a western yoga teacher who was postulating how yoga was not religious and could be practiced by anyone from any other faith whilst adhering to their own religion without fear of conversion, a sort of free for all to adopt and adapt.

Does practicing yoga make one a Hindu? As a yog teacher who teaches westerners I come across this oft asked query to which I have a counter question. Do they think of Hinduism as a religion and Hindus as a class of people practicing a set discipline? My reply is based upon their response to this question.

If Hindusim is a religion, yog cannot be divested from it just because people from ‘other’ religions want to practice and reap the benefits of this time tested ancient technique without getting out of the comfort zone of their belief sysytem. They have to understand that yog is part of a great spiritual philosophy now known as Hinduism. It is a culmination of rigourous self-study, self-imposed austerities, deep reflection on the nature of the self and is based on a solid foundation of sustained practice of thousands of years.

Many who are called Hindus today believe the ‘ism’ and the term Hindu was imposed upon them by the Greeks, Mughal and Colonial marauders to put them in a box they could comprehend, as comprehending the diversity of this land they overcame with brute force was impossible for their small limited minds. The present day hindus themselves believe their roots are deep in the Sanatana Dharma philosophy, an eternal way of life that evolved/is evolving, is alive and is the result of extensive study, introspection and realisation into the nature of humankind and their relation to the divine, with many paths and movements branching out from this study, of which Yoga is one. There was never a need to give this a limiting lable of an ism. This system accepts even atheism as a philosophy and they are free to adopt, refute and challenge belief systems of scholars.

The system of Yog is a branch of an enlightened spiritual tradition. It is not an excuse for marketing Yoga as not a religion by giving examples of those adhering to and being faithful to other religions practicing it, to draw in students and incomes.

Therefore to understand that yog is not a religion you have to yourself be realised to that extent. To frivolously mouth yoga is not a religion and that one can continue being a christian or muslim or jew while practicing yog is insulting the universality of yoga and in extension the religion now called hinduism of which its a part.

So yes if you think Hinduism is a religion, then Yoga and its practitioner is Hindu. But if you have broken the shackles of religion in all its limitations then not only yoga but all the paths that have come out of this deep reflective philosophy is not religion but an invitation to explore and realise the Self within.


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You are what You Eat?

This post, spearheaded by current discussions on social media by friends, is nevertheless a result inspired by my personal experiences. It is not an argument for or against any particular food habits and does not endorse a lifestyle choice on food, which I believe is very personal and depends upon one’s own understanding of ones body and its needs. Finally, a ‘disclaimer’ – all opinions expressed here are mine alone and anyone is free to disagree. With these views  I may disappoint some people, inspire some or pass by others without a ripple and thats fine.

Early learning.

From childhood I have heard there are three types of people, tamasic, rajasic and sattvic. The day I was lazy, didn’t have a bath, comb my hair or was generally lolling about my grandma would say, “what a tamasic child she is today!” Stale food was a no no at home, even refrigerated food was considered tamasic. Meat?! even garlic and onions were used sparingly, for medicinal purposes only lest they evoke rajasic qualities. Forget the fact that being apparently tamasic i was actually immersed in books reading stories from the Bhagavatam, the Panchatantra or stories of Krishn, Prahlad or Ayyapa, a clearly sattvic activity even if done in ones pyjamas.

Then, at age five I got hurt and the Bengali doctor in his wisdom prescribed two half boiled eggs for me as daily diet. The eggs were boiled outside the house and kitchen in a little stove in a rusty tin can which was washed and dried outside.  But what about me? A brahmin child, fed on ‘sattvic’ food from birth? I waited daily for the eggs like a devotee waits for prasad hands in supplication; I loved it, the flavour, the texture, the fragrance of the runny egg, a new experience for all my senses. And that was a guilty secret I finally confessed to my Amma and Appa who, thankfully for my psychological well being, had a hearty laugh at their child’s predilection. ๐Ÿ˜€

As i grew up i went through phases of rajasic and tamasic and sattvic habits in food and way of life. Going through the university of life and picking up information and knowledge and gaining wisdom from personal experiences. In 1998 I met my Satguru, Yogiraj Siddhanath and wisdom started to flower into realizations.

Sustained and disciplined yogic practice added its inputs and one major realization that came was motive trumps everything else when it comes to the effect of an action. The energy behind the act decides the resultant fruit of that action.

Today I eat very little, mostly organic vegetarian food cooked at home but without obsessing, eat what’s available…or not.

Outer Sattvicity

Today’s topic is about food, yet I’d like to begin this section with an anecdote I heard as a kid. Kabir the great mystic saint from Kashi was a weaver. While he weaved the cloth he would be immersed in divine love, people of Kashi came in hordes to buy cloth woven at his loom. Apparently when one wore the cloth woven by Kabir one would spontaneously go into a blissful samadhi like state.

Though this anecdote is self explanatory, it reiterates my point that everything we use becomes sattvic or tamasic by the energy and motive that touches it at every stage. The food we eat is effected by the soil that its grown on, the water thats used for irrigation, the mental state of the farmer who is harvesting it, the emotions of the person processing or cooking it. A happy citizenry produces happy benign products, meat, fruits or vegetables.

Hence the importance of caring for our environment, our craftsmen and farmers, people who serve and are served, to live with awareness of our surroundings, not to leave large toxic footprints. Without arguments this is the ideal yogic external life too. A true practicing yogi, according to me, is incapable of polluting the environment, is not a glutton, is judicious in consumption, follows a minimalistic approach towards resources.

In India traditionally, there are mantras specifically formulated and chanted, while planting the seeds, before harvest, while cooking, after cooking, and then before taking the first morsel, these mantras by their vibrations are believed to neutralise all toxins, physical and vibrational contained in the food.

Inner Sattvicity

Now about the yogi who has internalised….Yes this blog is for those already part of the way up this path, those who are engaged in purifying the inner.

For moi, internalising the external, the practicing yogi becomes aware of the physical body as a temple that houses the soul and the spirit of the divine, and treats it as such. Every moment understanding the sacredness and sanctity of this body temple theres a reluctance to pollute it intentionally with gross food or thoughts and emotions.

But often the yogi is not supported in this endeavour by the produce that is available. What happens when such a yogi engaged in the purifying of the inner being eats toxic/tamasic, non sattvic food? I know, by experience, that the body of the practicing yogi processes the food, ingesting the nourishing and expelling the toxic naturally and making it sattvic. There’s no voluntary thought process happening here. It’s happened to me there’s a blip in the body, a pause and then course correction, the toxins are eliminated and the body recovers quickly. This happens with emotional and mental toxic vibrations too external and internal….quick jettisoning of all baggage.

The yogi here is not expending any energy on conscious control of the external circumstance, “oh i got a bunch of toxic bacterias in the last bite, um salmonella, oops i think the vegetable/fish/piece of meat i just ate was very sad, was that an aphid that i just swallowed with my raw organically grown salad leaf? I need to go through a detox programme now.” Nope, the body is fine tuned to take care of this while the yogic mind flows in a constant stream towards the divine. It’s all because of the practice, the pranayama, the bandhas, the kumbhaks, the mudras, the intelligence of the pran…the specialised techniques given by the Guru, by the grace of the Satguru.

Fact is we all have all three qualities of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas in varying degrees in all of us and in all the food available. As Yogiraj Siddhanath points out these three represent the three humours of  Vata, Pitta and Kapha, which in a practicing yogi transforms to prana, tejas and ojas and then further to hamsa, kundalini and nectar and finally livingness, light and love. So wherein is one superior to the other? When by internal alchemy all three flow towards the divine ultimately.

I shall probably be back to add more inputs as the realizations come. In the meantime, if you like to please leave a comment in the box below. Points and counterpoints welcome, but toxic comments will be automatically purged ๐Ÿ˜€


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Of Gurus, shishyas and the Satguru

Let’s begin with this beautiful track of a Kabir song about the Satya guru sung soulfully by one of my favourite singers Channulal Mishra from Kashi. The song expresses much of what I learnt from my own Satguru, who among other qualities awakened in me an awareness of divinity in the daily activities of ordinary life and ignited a joy within not dependent on external circumstances. The song begins with a couplet awaring us of a false guru and goes on to explain the role of the Satguru. You can let the song play as you read the rest of this post ๐Ÿ™‚

That guru is called True (music track)

When I first started this article it was going to be only about the Satguru and the Guru but I then realised that without the shishya who gazes upon them this would be an incomplete effort. So here I am eschewing upon a most difficult topic and wondering why I am even attempting this since I will probably open myself to more flak than appreciation. But when has that ever stopped me from saying what I feel. And as usual I write from my own experiences and inference and anyone is welcome to disagree.

For the purpose of this article I am going to use the word Satguru for true spiritual guru and guru for a teacher or acharya and shishya for student or disciple and seeker. I am purposely not using the word follower here as for me this implies a ‘blind’ faith in the person or path being tread, a pack mentality- sheeple as they are addressed now, lacking what is called, the vivek buddhi or power of discernment.

SATGURU

The coming of the Satguru in a discipleโ€™s life is akin to the meteorite falling on earth that ended the age of the dinosaurs giving the Earth an evolutionary boost. The arrival brings to an end the dinosaurian mindset in the disciple ushering a new beginning. Dinosaurian here refers not only to a conditioned and atrophied mindset but also to the intellectual knowledge collected over years of study. Shams crashed into Rumi’s life reducing all his bookish knowledge to naught. The vibration of the Satguru is such that it transforms the disciple, sometimes at first meeting. There are many such examples, Yukteswar Giri and Yogananada, Ramakrishna and Vivekananda*.

English language has no appropriate word for Satguru. Popularly the word Master is used in its stead, but the word ‘master’ in all its nuances does not come close to explaining Satguru as understood in the spiritual context. Though I have used the word master, for want of a better word in English, for the title of my book One Master one disciple, it does not inspire me. For me the word master immediately brings to mind an autocratic figure wielding control over his slave disciples, which a true spiritual guru definitely does not do.

In earlier times it was common to address spiritual satgurus with the simpler guru. It indicated a person exhibiting the attributes of a Satguru even though not addressed as one, for example Guru Gorakhnath who is at the level of a deity! And Sikh guru’s, Nanak to Gobind, though referred to as Guru many of them exhibited the characteristics of the Satguru, i.e. the ability to transform by their mere presence the disciple, one of the principal quality of the Satguru who does not ‘do’ anything but by merely ‘being’ sparks in the seeker an inner light of divinity. Some of the great gurus did not even use a prefix or a suffix such as Kabir, Lalla, Lahiri, yet they were recognised by the then present as shining in the light of the divine.

One key quality to note in a Satguru is that their goal is the expansion of the awareness of the disciple, to disengage them from the external and move them inwards. A true spiritual guru is not an advisor for daily living…getting a job, having a good relationship, making money, doing well in class etc.

The paradoxes on the spiritual path become suddenly clear to the disciple after contact with the Satguru, arousing a knowingness of the universe by connecting with its blueprint within. The paradox that going with the flow gives control of one’s life, the disciple who drowns in the ocean of divinity is the one who actually gets to the other side rather than the one swimming on the surface. Jo ubhra so doob gaya jo dooba so paar!!

The Satguru awakens the disciple to the inner wellspring of joy enabling the disciple to become love and radiate love. All this the Satguru can do by mere presence. A technique or practice may be given to relax the grip of  the disciples mind and the transformation is initiated.

The external physical Satguru introduces the disciple to the inner essential Satguru. A true spiritual Guru does not become the disciples crutch rather the Satguru guides the disciple to become self reliant. Physical proximity, after a while can reduce as the Satguru can, at will, contact the disciple who is receptive thousands of miles away. I have had this experience, as I am sure, have others.

*(Interestingly, most popular examples i could find or give from the past are of male gurus and their male disciples. Is it patriarchy that effaced the names of the women saints or were they themselves not interested in leaving behind a hierarchy. Not saying there were none, there are many examples of women Rishis but Meera, Lalla, many female ascetics from South India established no organised sect or religions, seemingly satisfied with their own connection to divinity and radiating it.  There are scant mention of their key disciples. Similarly most pictures I found were also rendition of male gurus with male disciples. This trend has changed in recent times since the likes of Anandamoyee Ma. Hmn, this would be a topic of another more in-depth study…or not. )

GURU

Today the word Guru is often used more loosely to mean an expert in any particular field. So  we have the management gurus, IT and tech gurus and even the love guru. They are well read and have “mastered” their subjects. The word guru in the present context for me means a teacher who throws light on the subject under study. In India anyone who teaches us anything, be it music, dance or sports is accorded the status of a guru, starting from our parents who are considered the first guru.

While the satguru is associated only with the spiritual field the guru or teacher can be from any field. But here we are turning the lens on gurus of the spiritual path so will focus on them.

The Satguru, by nature, lets the pure light of the Divine flow through without corruption and transforms the disciple; the Guru, on the other hand, teaches, fine tunes and perfects the technique given for practice by the Satguru to the disciple. The more clarity the Guru has in passing on the teachings sincerely, the more the benefit to the student. Depending on the lineage, the Guru guides the student in mantra or tantra, in yog or its specialised branches. The teacher inspires the student by living and naturally exhibiting the qualities that are the result of the practice, love courage, joy and peace, siddhis if that’s what’s being taught. In short by example and walking the path the teacher shows the way to the student.

Since the Guru is also evolving he/she is vulnerable to the pitfalls of human passions and emotions and can be easily influenced by Ego and Ahamkar. Most gurus fall prey to the adulations of their students, some of whom can and do praise sincerely or sycophantically. Greed for money and fame being another of the hazard the teacher watches out for. Therefore the Guru needs to be constantly in connect with the light of the Satguru. In the path of yoga, be in sync with the yama and niyamas. The swadhyaya -self study, turning the lens inwards, being a very important tenet for teachers on the spiritual path of guiding seekers, keeps the teacher realistic and away from delusions of being a satguru or profess taking on the role of the satguru.

SHISHYA

Now wherein in all this does the shishya or pupil fit in?

In the clear gaze of the shishya the image of the Satguru and the Guru is reflected back giving them an unadulterated view of themselves. The Satguru shines in the sky like the sun radiating life, neither needing nor wanting, but the moment the shishya’s gaze turns upwards an enriching connection is formed, a connection of Love, in that exchange of love, the disciple flowers and the Satguru accomplishes the evolution of another soul.

In the case of the teacher, whats a teacher without the taught. Though the guru may be releasing a fragrance of knowledge and information like a flowering tree but its the sincere student who is drawn to partake of it, completing and complementing the role of that teacher to distribute knowledge.

The shishya, according to me, has the most difficult of roles in this trio – to recognise a satguru from a guru, a charlatan guru from a sincere one. Especially as both the Satguru and the Guru can physically appear the same. In fact the Guru often being still in the ego looks and behaves more pious than the Satguru who is more natural and whose aim is to shake and wake up the disciple. Contrarily a Guru might take on a role like a Satguru might, a zen master, being rude and harsh. Now the shishya has to sift this through the lens of his/her own discretion and recognise the sincere teacher and distinguish him or her from a Satguru!

 A very difficult task indeed sometimes learnt after trial and error by the seeker, over many lives! One cannot base this identification on the number of disciples an existing Satguru has or the popularity of an organisation, here the seeker might just end up being a “follower”, similarly discovering an ascetic hidden in a cave in the Himalayas also does not guarantee a genuine satguru. The seeker to ‘see’ the Satguru needs an unbiased clear sight uncorrupted by conditioning.

Well I wish good luck to all such seekers.

Doodled some early morning musings that i found interesting and you might too.

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Explaining the doodle, at the bottom we have the pool of creation that includes everything that is created- the whole universe. Here we focus on the pool of humanity from which come the seekers of many hues. Those that seek actively for a spiritual true living Guru or just a teacher of philosophies, yoga, spiritual techniques. Seekers who are entrenched in religions of their choice, following customs, traditions, religious functions. Seekers not seeking anything, happy or not in the trammels of daily life and seekers seeking material and external happiness. From this pool come the disciples and students.

Some find a teacher who leads them to a Satguru, others find the Satguru directly or vice versa the Satguru finds them. Some Satguru’s connect with a deity- Shiva and his rays Gorakh, Hanuman; Vishnu and his avatars, Ram, Krishna, Buddha; Shakti, the Mahavidyas, Kaali, Durga. These beings, for me being extra terrestrial and cosmic beings  are in human form only because they are appearing on earth, on another galaxy they will appear like the locals! Some Seekers and Satguru’s might directly connect with the Infinite Ocean of consciousness, but usually even the most advanced and avataric beings have a physical guru/satguru and or diety, the reason for this I still have to figure out.

The infinite Ocean of consciousness is called by my Satguru Yogiraj Siddhanath as the Isness of the zero, not-zero who’s centre is everywhere and circumference nowhere. His poetry says it all:

เคตเคนเคพเค‚ เคงเฅเคฏเคพเคจ เคจ เคธเฅเคฅเคพเคจ เคจ เคจเคพเคฆ เคจ เคฌเคฟเค‚เคฆ, เค†เค•เคพเคถ เคจเคนเฅ€เค‚ เคตเคนเคพเค‚ เค•เคพเคฒ เค•เคนเคพเค
เคธเคฌ เคถเฅ‚เคจเฅเคฏ เค…เคถเฅ‚เคจเฅเคฏ เค•เคพ เคนเฅˆเคชเคจ เคนเฅˆ, เคˆเคถเฅเคตเคฐ เคญเฅ€ เคจเคฟเคฐเค‚เค•เคพเคฐ เคตเคนเคพเค‚ – เคฏเฅ‹เค—เคฟเคฐเคพเคœ เคธเคฟเคฆเฅเคงเคจเคพเคฅ

Between these two pools all drama is being played. And the wonder of this infinite consciousness being within us and discoverable is exquisite. The Satguru leads us back here effortlessly supporting us.