Guru and his ways:

ॐ नमो ब्रह्मादिभ्यो ब्रह्मविद्यासम्प्रदाय कर्तृभ्यो वंशऋषिभ्यो महद्भ्यो नमो गुरुभ्यः। सर्वोपप्लवरहित: प्रज्ञानघन: प्रत्यगर्थो ब्रह्मैवाह्मस्मि।।

oṃ namo brahmādibhyo brahmavidyāsampradāya kartṛbhyo vaṃśṛṣibhyo mahadbhyo namo gurubhyaḥ |

sarvopaplavarahita: prajñānaghana: pratyagartho brahmaivāhmasmi ||

I start this article by bowing down and offering obeisances to our Kula pravartaka bramharishis Angirasa (Brihaspati), Baarhaspatya(Bharadwaj), Bhaaradwaaj, who are the very descendants of Bramha and of the form of guru to us, radiant with the bramha dnyana, givers of bramhavidya, free from all sins and who are the very form of supreme consciousness (Bramhan).

यथा देवे तथा मन्त्रे यथा मन्त्रे तथा गुरौ।

यथा गुरौ तथा स्वात्मन्यैवं भक्तिक्रमः स्मृतः।।

यथा घटश्र्च कलशः कुम्भश्र्चैकार्थवाचकाः।

तथा मन्त्रो देवता च गुरुश्र्चैकार्थवाचकाः।।

yathā deve tathā mantre yathā mantre tathā gurau |

yathā gurau tathā svātmanyaivaṃ bhaktikramaḥ smṛtaḥ ||

yathā ghaṭaśrca kalaśaḥ kumbhaśrcaikārthavācakāḥ |

tathā mantro devatā ca guruśrcaikārthavācakāḥ ||

The form of God is mantra itself. The mantra inturn is the very essence of the guru. The guru is none other than the paramatma residing within us. Hence one should always have full devotion towards one's guru. Like how ghata, kalasha, kumbha are 3 different names of the same vessel likewise Mantra, devata and the guru are seperate only in their names but totally inseparable in their true essence.

Only supreme lord is Sadguru. Those who are in full union with him are also considered as Sadguru. To whom and when will Sadhguru appear? There is no logical answer to this. Also there is no fruitful purpose in knowing this. Because guru tattva is eternal. It can appear in any number of ways. It can give grace even in formless state too.

But the ability to accept the unconditional grace and love from the formless pure divine consciousness is very less in this world. For this reason, the power of God's compassion is manifested with the support of a perfect human body. Shri Gurudev always remains the same as he was eternally. His apparent relationship with the worthy disciples or followers remains intact till they attain the final enlightenment and liberation. Death or other conditions cannot put a stop to them. To be Frank once sadguru leaves the physical body and attains the spirit form the companionship manifest multiple forms. The secret elements which he had not revealed during his life, he continues to reveal them in subtle ways.

Therefore it's said:

पूर्णे तटाके तृषितः सदैव,

भूतेऽपि गेहे क्षुधितः स मूढः।

कल्पद्रुमे सत्यपि वै दरिद्रः,

गुर्वादियोगेऽपि हि यः प्रमादी॥

pūrṇe taṭāke tṛṣitaḥ sadaiva,

bhūte’pi gehe kṣudhitaḥ sa mūḍhaḥ |

kalpadrume satyapi vai daridraḥ,

gurvādiyoge’pi hi yaḥ pramādī ||

The man who remains careless even after having found his Guru is a fool who is thirsty despite being near a lake full of water, hungry despite having food in his house and poor despite living near a Kalpavriksha.

The relationship with the guru may manifest in multiple forms depending upon one's past life karmic bondages and sanskaras. It may be a very loving caring and compassionate kind of a relationship or it can be full of misery, harshness, ego crushing roller coaster too. The time span of the merry patch or the harsh patch depends upon the amount of karma that has to be burnt in order to get to the liberation. To attain liberation there are multiple paths like doing penance or tapasya, doing selfless service and charity or going through the karmaphala which are the repercussions of the karmas done. One who goes through any of these to an extent to meet the requirements to nullify the previous accounts attain freedom.

Guru's task is to take the disciples to final enlightenment and liberation. His mentorship will definitely be different for different people. One's who are going through the pain by doing extreme penance, selfless service and charity need not be pushed hard as they're already burning their karmas through these hardcore practices. Although for the people who are not into these lifestyles but have taken a guru and have aim of final enlightenment and liberation will be definitely treated with a stick in order to burn their karmik negativity at a faster pace. They will be put through difficult situations where they will have to face humiliation, wealth loss, loss of face, not having success etc.. which may make them feel that they're not being taken care of or they're not treated well, they're unprotected etc...

But these are not the full facts. This is a test of faith and devotion to the guru and paramatma by following and accepting their justice. Having a guru is like always having a silver lining to fall back.. however harsh the situation may look, but if the disciple passes the test of faith in these conditions then he/she will always get back on their feet, reclaim whatever is lost in the journey and also build up more if they have wish before the final attainment.

In reality the pain and suffering which one undergoes when they're in the refuge of a guru are far less as compared to what they have to suffer. The huge boulders of karmas which where supposed to crus one's head and back are reduced to stones and spikes which prick one's feet in the journey. Although the guru/ paramatma are the supreme being, they also cannot break the laws (Ruta) which they themselves have set for running the world smoothly. Hence one has to go through the karmic cycle. But if follow the guru's path the sufferings are reduced to a very large extent and one reaches the final stage of no re birth.

The majore problem that is encountered in today's generation is that they see guru as some random human just like them and logically try to understand his actions hence fail miserably and get trapped into Maya which again binds then in the pashas of disgust, gathered, lust, fear, sloth etc.. The very foundation to enter the realm of spirituality is faith and the custodian of this realm is Shri guru. If one doesn't fully surrender to him and keep the heart open rather than logical mind one cannot enter the spiritual realm. It's the task of the guru to judge and prepare one to get the entry into higher and pure spiritual realms. He will definitely be harsh and chastise one whenever required.

Guru has multiple forms and ways of imparting teachings. He comes in the form of mother and showers compassion, in the form of father he disciplines, in the form of guru he gives you a new birth by making one a dwija with his compassionate shaktipat. Now the guru's also are of different kinds. Guru like Vashishtha will impart dnyaana, Vishwamitra will give siddhis, narada will give devotion, Buddha will teach samasthithi and Durvasa will curse. But all of them will lead to one's final liberation. What you get and how you get to your end goal depends upon your own karmas.

Guru and the parameshwara are not different. Like how the parameshwara performs the five functions of srushti, sthithi, Samhara, nigraha and anugraha on the universal level; the guru also performs these activities in hhs disciple's lives. He creates a new being out of the old one with his knowledge and shakti, he maintains or grows it by doing sanskaras, he destroys the previous karmik baggage to make him free, he does anugraha on the disciple by doing shaktipat which leads to the deliverance and does nigraha of all the negative qualities hindering one's progress.

Out of these, the Samhara and the nigraha are painful activities for the disciple but they should realise that the gold only becomes purer after being put through extreme fires and gets converted into a jewellery after taking continuous and consistent hammering. If one understands and keeps it in his mind and heart that guru and the god are not different and see that the god himself is acting through the guru than one will not feel the negativity that they feel while going through the full process while maintaining distinctive identities of God and the guru.

Om shri gurucharan kamalebhyo namah

🙏🙏

🙏 Namo Narasimha 🙏