I’m a litigator in the federal court of Canada. Sometimes it can get pretty tense. One day, they brought in a spiritual leader from a community to smudge the courtroom. You have to imagine, we’re in a state of the art courtroom in downtown Toronto, and they bring a spiritual leader. He lit some sage and smudged the room and made everyone go through a ceremony, and asked for us all to do things the good way, together. This created an atmosphere where everybody felt peaceful, centered and that they belonged to each other. It made everyone realize that we were here to do justice, and not to fight. It was funny because this had happened in the middle of the day. In the morning, we had the usual bickering and fighting, and stress. And in the afternoon everyone was calm and everything went smoothly. It was just amazing and we said we have to keep doing this.
See, the Native people had this. The king was also the judge, but there was also a guru in every community who would give them the judgment.
In India, there is also the Panchayats system, where five people who are administrators of the village resolve disputes.
Why five people? If you take a society, there are 5 type of people there,
1. Those who are fun-loving and full of enthusiasm. They don’t mind any obstacles. They dare obstacles and they get things done. This is the first type.
2. People who just maintain things. They’re not go getters, they’re not innovators, they’re not risk takers, but they just maintain the thing as they are. They take measured steps and move very carefully. They are usually conventional and traditional.
3. People who want to bring transformation, who are drastic, rebellious and want to completely change things. They’re good at demolishing things.
4. People who are very brilliant. They are sharp, they have brilliant ideas and they are very creative.
5. People who brings everyone together. They have a lot of compassion. Wherever there is problem they go and cement the gaps, solve the problems and bring people together creating a sense of belongingness. They are sort of peacemakers.
These are the five different types of people are there in the world in every society. The last type who would bring everyone together are usually women; who are compassionate and who have deeper understanding. Whenever something erupts she goes and calms them down and brings them together. Working towards prosperity and education in a woman’s role.
Among the Devas also, these are the five devas called panchayatam. Panchayat is what we have in the villages and panchayatam refers to the five different forms of Gods. There is only one God, but in that one God, it refers to the five different forms (or attributes).
1. Ganesha (first deva or attribute) - fun loving, remover of obstacles and full of enthusiasm. So there are people who have these attributes. Everywhere in every society you’ll find at least one such person.
2. Vishnu (second deva or attribute) - just maintaining things, not very creative.
3. Shiva (third deva or attribute) - one who just like a bull in a China shop, they just charge in and do drastic things. Bringing transformation is their job. Whatever state of affairs are there, demolish that and leave space for new things.
4. Surya (forth deva or attribute) - very sharp, intelligent, creative type off people.
5. Devi (fifth deva or attribute)- the feminine energy. Women create, they come up and solve things and bring everyone together.
In an individual's life also, you can see these five different tendencies come at different times of life. Usually when you’re young you’re very enthusiastic, and then as you grow a little older you have rebellious tendencies. You want to change things and all that. When you get older, you just want to lie down and rest. You come into the Vishnu mode. So these three modes people anyways have.
The ancient people knew this, so they put the village administration as panchayats. They chose 5 people, together all of them should be impartial. All of them have to hear any case of injustice or any grievances, and give the judgment.
A Master (Guru) has all these five qualities at once, that’s why we say, "Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheshwara...".
