Guru-Bhakti YogaHis teaching on the Guru
GREATNESS OF GURU
Guru As Sole Refuge
1. To learn cooking, you need a teacher; to learn science you need a professor; to learn any art you need a master. Is not Guru necessary to learn Atma-Vidya?
2. Guru indeed is the sole refuge to take you across the Samsaric deluge.
3. On the thorny path of Truth to guide you there is none but Guru.
4. Guru’s Grace can work wonders.
5. In all your struggle of daily life, Guru will guide and protect you.
6. Guru is the torch-bearer of wisdom.
7. Guru, Isvara, Brahman, preceptor, teacher, Divine Master, etc., are synonymous terms.
8. Salute your Guru first before you salute God, because he takes you to God.
9. Take Mantra Diksha from your Guru. This will inspire and elevate you.
10. Guru will not do Sadhana for you. You will have to do it yourself.
11. Guru will show you the right path.
12. Guru can select the right Yoga for the disciple.
13. By Guru’s grace, the disciple can overcome obstacles and doubts on the path.
14. Guru will lift the disciple from the pitfalls and snares.
15. Sacrifice your body and life to serve your Guru. Then he will take care of your soul.
16. Don’t expect a miracle from your Guru to lift you up into Samadhi. Do rigorous Sadhana yourself. A hungry man will have to eat himself.
17. If you cannot get a Satguru you cannot progress in the spiritual path.
18. Be patient and wise in selecting your Guru, because you cannot divorce your Guru afterwards. It is the greatest sin.
19. Relation between Guru and Chela is sacred and lifelong. Understand this point very well.
Sacrifice for the Guru
20. Serve the Guru with whole heart and soul. Love your Guru without any expectations. Give one tenth of your income to your preceptor. Meditate on the Lotus-Feet of Guru. You will realise in this very birth. This is the secret of Sadhana.
21. Thursday or Guruvara is the sacred day for a disciple to worship his Guru.
22. He who has knowledge of the Self, he who is well-versed in the scriptures, he who is endowed with all noble virtues is a Satguru.
23. He who gets a Guru who is a realised one is thrice blessed indeed.
24. Don’t look into the defects of your Guru. Look to your own defects and pray to the Lord to overcome it.
25. To test a Guru is difficult. A Jesus can only know another. Superimpose on your Guru the attributes of the Lord. Then only you will be benefited.
26. If you are elevated in one’s presence, if you are inspired by his speeches, if he is able to clear your doubts, if he is free from lust, greed and anger, if he is selfless, loving and I-less take him to be your Guru.
Fitness for Guru Worship
27. To approach a Guru you must be a proper Adhikari. You should possess Vairagya, Viveka, serenity, self-restraint and Yama.
28. If you say, ‘There is no good Guru’, Guru also says, ‘there is no good disciple’. Equip yourself with the qualification of a disciple. You will get a Satguru.
29. Guru is your redeemer and saviour. Adore him and worship him always.
30. Gurudom is a deadly curse.
31. Prostrate daily before your Guru who is Existence, Knowledge, Bliss Absolute.
32. Disciple should always remember the form of Guru, always repeat Guru’s holy name, carry out his orders and should think of nothing else than him. Here underlies the secret of Sadhana.
33. One should adore his Guru as there is no other greater than Guru.
34. The Guru’s Charanamrita dries up the ocean of Samsara and enables one to acquire essential wealth of Self.
35. Guru’s Charanamrita quenches the thirst of a disciple.
36. Remember your Guru and saints of all the times when you sit for meditation. You will get their blessings.
37. Hear the wise words of great souls and follow them.
38. Do those actions that are pronounced to be right by Sastras and Guru.
39. Guru is absolutely necessary to show the path to Peace.
40. Vahe Guru is the Guru Mantra for the followers of Guru Nanak. Read Grantha Sahib. You will come to know the greatness of Guru.
41. Ever remember Guru by worshipping him; thou shalt find happiness.
42. Sraddha is faith in the scriptures, in the words of Guru, in Isvara and in one’s own self.
43. The highest Sadhana is to serve Guru without expectation of any fruit.
44. Sravana is hearing of the Srutis by sitting at the Lotus-Feet of Sat Guru.
45. Service of Guru is a great purifier.
46. Guru’s Grace is necessary for Self-realisation.
47. Have devotion to Guru as much as you have to the Lord. Then only Truth will be revealed to you.
48. Stick to one Guru at all times.
49. Isvara is Adi-Guru who is not conditioned by space and time. From Eternity to Eternity He is the Guru of mankind.
50. Guru is absolutely necessary to awaken the Kundalini Sakti from its dormant state.
Abide by the Light of Guru
51. Crores of prostrations unto the Lotus-Feet of the Satguru who is dispeller of ignorance and the bestower of wisdom.
52. Miss not an opportunity to have Satsanga of Mahatmas, saints and Guru.
53. Do not act according to the dictates of your lower mind. Act according to the words of your Guru.
54. Mere remembrance of high souls, Guru, destroys atheistic tendencies of materialistic people, inspires and goads them to strive for the final emancipation. What to say of the glory of Guru Seva!
55. Just as a man who runs after two rabbits will not catch either of them, so also a disciple who runs after two Gurus will not get success in his spiritual path.
56. The beginning of discipleship is killing of egoism.
57. The key to discipleship is Brahmacharya and service to Guru.
58. The garb of discipleship is devotion to Guru.
59. The mark of discipleship is dedication of life to the Lotus-Feet of Guru.
60. The royal road to discipleship is regular meditation on the form of Gurudev.
61. The foundation of discipleship is utter obedience to Guru Maharaj.
62. Mumukshutva is burning longing for, to meet, the Guru and serving him.
63. Worship of Gods, the twice-born, the spiritual teachers and the wise, purity, straightforwardness, celibacy and non-injury are called the austerity of the body.
64. Prostrations to Brahmins, holy preceptors and the wise, celibacy, non-injury, constitute physical Tapas.
65. Service of parents and preceptor, the poor and sick, is also bodily austerity.
Knowledge of Brahman Through Guru
66. The knowledge about the Brahman is very subtle and very terse. Doubts occur and to clear them and pave the way, a spiritual teacher who knows the Brahman is necessary.
67. The Guru plays an important role in helping the true seeker of truth.
68. Spiritual preceptor takes a Sadhaka under an intelligent and loving care and gradually carries him through the various spiritual evolution.
69. Real Gurus are always engaged in removing the ignorance of the disciple and imparting him the knowledge of the Upanishads.
70. Even Vedas will fail to sing the glory of Guru who is the torch-bearer of wisdom.
71. However intelligent the seeker may be, it is not possible for him to grasp the depth of Vedanta and to practise it without the aid of the Guru or spiritual preceptor.
72. A Guru awakens the divine potentialities of the disciple.
73. First find your Guru or spiritual preceptor who can tune you into the infinite, or the perennial life-stream.
74. An aspirant can receive his instructions to tread the path safely and securely only through his Guru.
75. Resign or surrender yourself to your Guru. You will be saved.
Guru As God
76. God alone appears as a Guru.
77. Real Gurus and real aspirants are rare.
78. Deserving disciples get a glorious Guru.
79. Grace of Lord takes the form of a Guru.
80. Guru makes his disciple like himself and so the Guru is greater than the philosopher’s stone.
81. There is no safe boat like Guru to cross the ocean of Samsara.
82. O Ram! Sacrifice thy body, mind and wealth at the feet of your Satguru who has shown you the way to the final beatitude or emancipation.
83. Admit your faults daily before your preceptor or teacher. Then alone you will find the strength to rise above any worldly weakness.
84. The Guru can transform the disciple by a look, a touch or a thought or a word.
85. God and Guru are in truth one and the same.
86. A Guru is a true representative of the Lord in the world.
87. Guru is your electric lift. He lifts you to the peak of perfection.
88. Every act of unselfish, devoted service to the Guru is an act of worship, devotion, prayer and meditation.
89. O Ram! That which quickens Self-realisation, that which bestows awareness, is initiation from Guru.
90. If you cannot see God in Guru, in whom else will you see God?
91. I can help you only when you open your heart freely to me.
92. Be sincere, and loyal to your friends and ideals and Guru or spiritual preceptor.