Preface
There are many kinds of knowledge available and obtainable in this world. We all have achieved some or the other type of knowledge or many types of knowledge and education to meet our expectations and needs. Out of all these so many kinds about which we are not aware of, is one more education and knowledge. It is veiled somewhere and is existing but not so common and easy to know, discover and achieve. When acquired, that special knowledge leads us to a beautiful life of continuous joy, happiness, harmony, repose and freedom as well as enduring peace of mind.
The knowledge of Sanatan Dharma and the knowledge of Eeshwar Yoga’ or God union in true sense is not a common thing. It has been reserved for the selected very few because of its sacredness and sanctity. The yogis, rishis, munis, bhikshus, gyanis, sadhus and sages as well as the philosophers have kept their secretive knowledge with them unless they found the right candidate. The later was repeatedly tested severely and then given the facts and information slowly with discretion and carefulness over a period of long time. And that also after giving Guru dakshina or fees for the teacher. Out of so many even then, just a few could succeed in their ultimate goal in one life time.
The Sanatan Atma Gyan or Eternal Self ‘s knowledge is the mother of all knowledge. It is acquired with the help of intuition and not by any other formal classroom education or tools.
If ever acquired by someone, the recipient has a source with which all sorts of worldly as well as personal problems can be solved with it. It is because the knowledge of Self or God when acquired makes the recipient a source of infinite information and knowledge of Nature as well as of God and therefore, the recipient becomes free and liberated. That is why Lord Krishna tells Arjuna in Bhagwat Geeta that if even a fraction of this Sanatan Dharma or eternal knowledge is acquired and practiced by you, you shall become free from fear of sickness, death and all other worries and sorrows; you will become fearless – abhay. Knowing Truth liberates the human soul from the suffering of many blunders and incarnations and frees the fetters of bondage of innumerable karmas or deeds.
There are three categories of disciples called shishyas or chelas. They are Uttam, Madhyam, Kanishtha – superior, medium and inferior respectively. They enroll themselves in this mammoth undertaking and endeavour to know the Truth of God’s universal existence. Simultaneously, there are three stages and levels of human accomplishments – inferior, medium and superior.
The best or Uttam disciples – are those who are always in sync with the will of their Masters and do not refuse to comply at all. They bring along with them more harmonious deeds than unscrupulous ones as their baggage. They are in a hurry to discriminate the Truth from untruth, falsehood. They waste no time in acquiring the sacred knowledge to reveal the Truth because they understand that the gems and invaluable treasures securely tucked and carefully guarded by the Master cannot be attained from anywhere else. Such disciples are very scarce in number. They take minimum help from the Guru and work tremendously on themselves for quick progress and spiritual elevation. They come to the Divine Master with the sole purpose of knowing the Truth. The Master is most happy and relieved with this small band of chelas or disciples who later aid their Teachers in dispensing the Truth and the teachings of the great souls.
The medium or Madhyam disciples – are slow to understand the value of the priceless, holy knowledge of Self the sacred Master grasps and holds inside. They take a substantial time to realize the urgency of disclosing the Truth to themselves as they fail to understand the time limit and constraint that we humans have in every birth and we miss this great opportunity most of the time. Or they leave their endeavour somewhere midway and attempt again in following lives because of which they take far longer than the superior ones in getting Self Realizations or Atmabodh. Nevertheless, in some life because of karmic beatings, they are forced into fast learning as circumstantial reasons and are heavily benefited. At last, they begin to walk steadily on God’s path and make it to their destination. It is because the support of the Atma realized Guru is overwhelming and they get a huge push to move forward. It takes far more time for such disciples than the superior ones in revealing the Truth to themselves as the sleep or ignorance is well embedded in the grooves of the mind. They perform better in groups and with continuous encouragement. With outside assistance, they are able to reach the shore of salvation.
The inferior or Kanishtha disciples – are the ones who have a poor backing of their own good deeds from the past. They carry lesser harmonious deeds in comparison to virtuous ones. Their unreleased ego, unweeded shortcomings and heavy darkness does not allow them to walk fast on the sacred path. Although they do begin on God’s path because of some random sacred deeds of their past lives, they are unable to see their own shortcomings and blame some other factors for their delay in not receiving the blessedness and Grace of the Divine Guru. They make many slip ups and mistakes repeatedly and learn slowly from them. They find it hard to admit their mistakes and do not like disapproval and corrections. Their path is restricted as they do not understand that a lot is required to achieve the sacred knowledge of Truth to free oneself. It is attained with the mercy, love and earnest blessings of the sacred Guru. Their awareness is short lived and they are short sighted. They can be compared to a very dim flicker of a lamp which extinguishes with the puff or gust of the slightest breeze.
Part A
What the Guru does?
The Guru first takes stock of all the deeds performed by the disciple in all previous lives. Accordingly would be decided the course of actions, the time to be taken to cover the entire journey. Subsequently, a designated mentor, a teacher will be appointed who will constantly monitor, check, guide, help and correct the disciples. So, constant correction, learning, transforming and adapting is a prerequisite for the disciples to maximize the assistance from the sacred Masters and the mentor. Our sacred Guru Maharaj Shri Mahavatar Babaji does not care what kind of disciple you are because his mission on Earth is to help and assist all. It is up to us to decipher where we stand and what we must strive to achieve; support and constant guidance will be given by all the Universal Forces to accomplish that.
What must the disciple do?
-
- Have tremendous and blind faith in the Guru. The Guru will help you in eradication of ego and other deep reserved tendencies called sanskaras which are seeds to new good and bad karmas and new meanderings in next lives.
-
- Have exceptional patience and endurance to know the Truth.
-
- Unending, flawless determination to be able to stay on the sacred path of Truth, the path of knowing God directly with the help of the Divine Masters.
-
- Advance ahead in spite of concurrent hurdles.
-
- Detrimental forces like Maya or ignorance should be uncovered by doing tapasya or ghor tapasya – penance and intense penance respectively. Self-seeking and egotistical goals should be replaced by selfless activities in which flowers of love blossom and we live our lives in God’s pure love.
-
- Give up ego and rear up humility and softness. Modesty and unpretentiousness comes with purging of the sense of small self.
-
- Serve others with love and respect. It is the spiritual duty of the seeker to repay the Holy Master by serving others by encouraging even the atheists to believe and walk on the path of the Truth, non- violence, compassion and enduring peace.
- We need constant energy. The mental energies get scattered by outside noises, pollution, distractions, continuous talking and other worthless activities. So learn to meditate with tremendous sincerity and devotion for your own good, well-being and happiness. Change the fidgety and restless mind to calmness and serenity.
Part B
Dear readers, this post is last in this segment as far as new content is concerned. After this post is delivered on this day, I wish to organize the blog in various groupings. There will be continuous entries of these groupings until 20th September’13 after which I will close.
The last 5 entries at a glance for the viewer’s convenience will be in this sequence –
- All Meditation techniques
- Mantras, shlokas from holy Bhagwad Geeta, prayers and poems
- Question and Answers as conversations between me and Mahavatar Babaji as well as God
- Sermons
- All Photos and video links
In the afternoon when the post was about eighty per cent done, I stopped to rest a while. I was delighting in the thin and sometimes thick raindrops pouring inside the house from my windows. Cool water drops were so gentle and soothing. I put my face a little outside and drew pleasure in feeling the coolness in rains. In retrospection, I quickly went back in the past and reminisced how once I was so thirsty for knowledge of Self many years ago. It was when I happened to read the most memorable stories in my spiritual life of two young boys of Vedic times – of Satyakam and Nachiketa. They are from Upanishads, Chandogya and Kathopnishad respectively. They have had an indelible mark on my sensitive mind since then. I liked Satyakam’s truthfulness and honesty. His extra ordinary ability to see Brahma in everything without the aid of a formal teacher or guru. I used to think as I read his story how can I know Universal Brahma in this way? How to know a method that involves my own Self to know the omnipresent Spirit? I have craved and longed to get a Self-realised, Atmagyani Guru since many years because after reading our holy texts it was clear to me that Brahma cannot be achieved and known personally without a Perfect Master.
Regarding Nachiketa, I have great regards for this personality. No other character is so adamant and persistent than him when quenching the thirst of knowing the Truth is concerned therefore when one reads his story, the fire of one’s own thirst gets ignited and inflamed. I read these two stories in Swami Vivekananda’s book on Vedanta many years ago and they have not faded or lost its sparkle ever since then. The stories are still extremely close to my heart and my two most favourite picks. They are examples of best disciples which I, while we’re on the subject recollected and therefore quoting. Certainly, every Guru would love to have a student like them. Nachiketa, son of sage Vajashravas is cursed by his own father. Nachiketa leaves no stone unturned unless the Teacher Yama answers all his questions in death; he rests only after he is acquainted with what is truth of life, death, Atma.
Then, a pure disciple like Satyakam, son of mother Jabala comes from an impoverished background. His father’s identity is lost in ambiguity. He humbly and obediently follows each and every instruction of his Guru, Gautam Rishi. He is sent in the forests because he is considered a poor boy from a humble background and is being made to go through a test and pre-qualification. Nevertheless, he returns after a year with a thousand cows not only pleasing his Guru but also experiencing, the omnipresent Brahma because of his relentless longing, obedience, purity, sincerity and truthfulness!
With these exquisite thoughts, I would like to finish this post as well as this segment by once more offering everything that I have or have done or will do in future at the sweet altar of our beloved God, His holiness Shri Mahavatar Babaji and all the endearing divine deities, seen and unseen formally yet who are all the time being so supportive, loving, caring and bestowing kindness on me and you all. It is because of their sweet and kind gestures that we have been and will be able to move forward on this sacred path of pure Truth.
With loving gratitude, endless devotion and everlasting sincerity to my beloved God and all the Holy Masters……