Guru-Bhakti YogaHis teaching on the Guru
WORSHIP OF THE DIVINE
Swami Chidanandaji’s Guru-Purnima speech
We are indeed thrice blessed today. Already we are extremely blessed in that in this life itself we have had the unique and indescribable good fortune of having attained to the Lotus-Feet of our divine master Sadgurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji,–a blessing whose magnitude is hardly realised even by us. Whether we know it or not, we have been so fortunate in having come to be his disciples that I feel that it is a great fortune that even the gods envy.
In this blessed life of ours at his feet, trying to follow in his footsteps today we are even more blessed because we have had a special chance of offering our adorations and worship to him in an intimate and personal way and receiving his blessings upon this most auspicious day of the Guru Purnima.
To be near him, living under his benign guidance, is such a great blessing that it is given only to one in a million among mortals, out of great merit done in countless past lives. Therefore, it is a great responsibility placed upon us to strive to realise the full meaning of this Vara Daana that has been bestowed upon us by the Lord and strive our sincere best to prove ourselves worthy of this divine Grace.
As a part of the Puja and the adoring worship which we offer to his divine feet this day, a few words upon this subject of worship of the Divine are being spoken.
This is a day of Puja. It is called Vyasa Puja or Guru Puja. As it happens to fall on a Purnima day, it is also called Guru Purnima or Vyasa Purnima. It is a day of very solemn, significant and exalted worship.
Worship is conceived of in different ways by people in different states of consciousness, in different stages of evolution. The earliest savage worshipped anything that was awesome, and fearful, that appeared to be terribly strong and something over which he had no control, e.g. thunder, rain, sun, ocean, mountain and fire.
At a later time, man created fanciful objects and endowed them with some qualities and a glorified personality with his own imagination and tried to worship these objects–anything beautiful, even smooth stones.
At a still different stage of evolution the conception of a higher power, a supreme intelligence at the back of all phenomena, came to be slowly grasped. It resulted in Saakara worship, because even though the human mind was able to grasp this conception of a Supreme Power, that stage had not yet been reached when this power in its formless, nameless, attributeless, transcendent aspect was understood. It was the Personal God aspect of this Impersonal Being that was worshipped. The Avataras were there. Images were made of the different deities, and elaborate ritualistic worship of these deities with flowers, sweet smelling sandal paste, waving of lights and offering of delicious Naivedya was undertaken. A vast majority of persons still prefer and feel inclined to this sort of formal worship of the personal deity.
There are still others who conceive of this deity, not as an objectified physical material form; but they regard it as being enshrined in their own hearts, with form, perhaps, but yet as seated in the heart-lotus. They sit in silence and try to do Manasic Puja.
There are yet others who, with their mystic sense opened up, dispense with the elaborate ritual even in their Manasic Puja. Their worship, consists of the mere repetition of the Divine Name. That itself, they feel, is a sufficient and a comprehensive, integral worship. They conceive it to be an even higher form than elaborate worship with different Angas. Japa is a much simpler and more direct form of worship.
The worship of others takes a still higher form where even the Japa is eliminated and they concentrate upon Divinity alone–to think of It continuously in an unbroken stream of remembrance. They find delight in this sort of worship alone.
Still higher up in the ladder of evolution, the sages declare that the best form of worship is direct perception of the Divinity, in Samadhi, to rise beyond the mind (and, therefore, concentration and meditation which are after all mental processes), to go into the supra mental state of intuition, and to be intensely conscious of the Deity while in direct communion with It.
Thus we have numerous conceptions of the selfsame processes of offering our adoration, love, reverence and worship to the Supreme Being from the most externalised one to the highest subtle purely subjective type, culminating in the transcendental worship of direct perception or Samadhi. What is the type of worship that we, as disciples at the feet of a Sat-Guru, should try to offer unto him? How is our worship of the Guru classified? What is the peculiarity of the worship offered by the individual soul to the enlightened soul, so that through this worship the bound individual soul may draw the strength of the enlightened soul, draw the Grace of the Supreme Satchidananda and attain release from birth and death?
I shall remind you of two statements: (1) Devo Bhutwaa Devam Aaaraadhayet–having become God one should worship the Deity, having become divine one should worship divinity: (2) Brahmavid Brahmaiva Bhavati–One who realises the Supreme Being himself becomes That. If we are to offer our adoration and worship to the Sat-Guru in the most effective and worthy manner, then we have to consciously, earnestly and determinately strive to the best of our ability to make ourselves into the same nature as he is. It is the great duty of every disciple to do all that he can to try his utmost to develop within himself those divine qualities which shine in all their resplendence through the spiritual personality of the divine master. This is the highest form of Sadhana–the one important and most effective form of Sadhana, which the great monk Thomas A. Kempis of Europe has referred to when he speaks about the imitation of Christ. He was a follower of Jesus the Christ and he has given a memorable work of worshipping and following the teachings of Jesus in the form of the Imitation of Christ.
It is this endeavour to grow into the likeness of the idealistic personality of the Sat-Guru in all its beautiful aspects which is the first and foremost duty of the disciple-Sadhana. To the extent to which we succeed through our sincerity, humility, constant unbroken endeavour in thus gradually transforming ourselves into the master’s divine personality, to that extent will we be worthy of worshipping the master. Sat-Guru Puja can best be done by our trying to image within ourselves the Sat-Guru Swaroopa. All the Divya-Sadgunas that emanate as the fragrance of the Guru’s personality must become a part and parcel of our struggling personality. Then alone will we approach that state when we will be fit to offer our adorations to the Sat-Guru.
We should constantly meditate upon his superhuman personality. We should try to emulate his example by devoutly observing his day-to-day activities and his actions. We should try to grow into his likeness by constantly praying to him to reveal to us more and more the glory of his nature and to bless us with the ability to approach him closer and closer, by practically living the ideals which he holds before us and by actively carrying out the teachings that he gives us.
This is done because of the law that he whom we worship and through such worship realise, that we ourselves become. Even so, one who worships and realises the true glory of an illumined and emancipated personality such as the divine Sat-Guru is, himself in turn becomes illumined and emancipated. We know that the very aim of our discipleship, the very purpose of spiritual life is to attain illumination and attain eternal emancipation from birth and death. Therefore, we must strive our sincere best to live this law. Through making ourselves by devout emulation and imitation fit to worship the divine master, we must worship him. And thus, through that worship we should realise him. And, realising him we shall for ever be free and attain to the glorious state of Jivanmukti which is exemplified in the living personality of the divine master.
This Guru Puja, this worship of the Divine Master, is on a par with the Supreme type of worship with direct perception in Samadhi already referred to. For the Guru is actually God himself in visible manifest form. The Sat-Guru is not merely like God, but HE IS God. “Guruh saakshaat Para Brahma” is the great and deeply significant Truth. The correct grasp of this truth is the key to real discipleship. This correct grasp and understanding comes to the seeker mainly through Guru-Kripa or the Grace of the Divinity that is the Satguru. To draw down this indispensable grace is the central purpose and aim of adoration and worship of the Master. Guru Puja is for Guru-Kripa by which alone it becomes possible for you to realise the Guru as Supreme Akhanda Ekarasa Satchidananda. Guru Puja is, therefore, Para Puja. It is the Highest Worship of the Supreme Being direct and face to face. Such worship is the surest means to Illumination. This is the Truth.
We pray to the great Adi Gurus and the divine feet of Sat-Gurudev that they may give us the necessary strength, the illumination and the inspiration to day by day grow more and more into his divine likeness. We pray that he may bless us to thus make ourselves fit for his worship and through his worship, to attain illumination. May the blessings of Sat Guru be upon you all. And, let us hope that in this very life, we may fulfil the supreme purpose of this rare and precious human birth, and attain Self-realisation. May we make the best use of this unique blessed opportunity that has been given to us in the form of discipleship to Sat Guru Bhagavan Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj and thus may our life soon flower into bliss, illumination and blessedness.