Yoga is coming back to the seer, and that is what meditation is: from the scenery getting back to the seer. So when you sit for meditation what happens? All the old experiences come up; they come up only to go away. So when you sit down to meditate, all the impressions come and then they vanish, and you are left with nothing! And this nothing is very precious. That is called Nirvikalpa - nothing.
This nothing is healing, uplifting, and it is the door to another dimension.
Life has multiple dimensions. And Guru Poornima is the day when you feel grateful that you got entry into the multiple dimensions.
Life had multiple dimensions. And Guru Poornima is the day when you feel grateful that you got entry into the multiple dimensions.
There are many ways to come to the seer; many techniques. All these techniques, Hollow & Empty Meditation, Sudarshan Kriya, Shakti Kriya, that we do is to get back to the seer.
(Sit straight everybody, and keep your spine erect. We are going to have a silent discourse. Keep your eyes open, and if you have any question on your mind, keep it with you and you will get the answer as well. I am going to give you an answer through non-verbal communication.)
Did you get your answers? How many of you got your answers? (Many in the audience raise their hands).
Good!
I will tell you a story of Guru Poornima.
Long time ago, there were four elderly men who were seeking answers. The first one was miserable, so he wanted to know how to get out of his misery. The second one wanted more progress and success, and wanted to know how to get that. The third one wanted to know the meaning of life, and the fourth one had all the knowledge but there was some emptiness in him, so he was still seeking. He had all the wisdom but still he lacked something, and he did not know what that was.
So these four people were wandering for answers and they all landed up in one place where there was a Banyan tree. Under the Banyan tree, a young man was seated with a big smile on his face. Suddenly all of them thought that this person could give us the answer. The same thought came to all of them from within, that this person is going to solve my problems, and so all four of them sat there, and they got their answers.
The young man who was sitting under the Banyan tree with a smile did not say a word, yet all of them got what they wanted.
Seek to see, 'I am the light', and that it what the Guru is. Guru means the one who removes darkness, misery, loneliness & lack, and brings abundance, because lack is only in the mind. So the Guru removes the lack and brings freedom.
This is the first story of Guru Poornima. That was a full moon day, and that is how the Guru Parampara (Lineage of the Guru order) started. All these four elderly people became Gurus. They all got what they wanted. Misery was gone, abundance and happiness arrived, the seeking stopped, and the knowledgeable one got a Guru to express himself to find the link.
That fourth man had everything, he had all the knowledge but he did not have a Guru to connect to. So the inner connection to the Guru happened.
That why Adi Shankaracharya said, 'Mouna Vyakhya prakatitha, para, Brahma thathwam yuvanam'.
(Meaning: I praise and salute that Dakshinamrthy (The first Guru), who explains the true nature of the supreme Brahman through his state of silence)
In the story, the teacher is young because the spirit is young, whereas the students are old. There are so many similes associated with this. Seeking makes you old. Seeking for the world, or for liberation, or for anything makes you old. So the disciples were old, and the master was young.
And what is the meaning of the Banyan tree? A Banyan tree grows on its own. It does not need anybody’s care or protection. If the seed of a Banyan tree gets inside the crack of a stone, where there is not much water, it will grow there also. All it needs is a little mud and very little water. Sometimes it does not need even that. Second, a Banyan tree give oxygen all the time. This is one tree that gives oxygen 24 hours even if the Sun is there or not.
In India, there is an ancient belief that there are five important trees (Panca-vrksa), and people go around these trees. It is believed that everyone has to plant at least one of these five trees in their lifetime.
The Banyan, which only gives, symbolizes the Guru Principle.
Everyone has to play the role of a Guru to somebody at least at some point in life to get the taste of it. Just like how everyone should play the role of a mother at some point of time, everyone should play the role of a Guru. But this does not mean you say, 'I am the Guru'. If someone is ascertains that I am the Guru, then that is no good. Being a Guru means being in that hollow and empty space; being one with the light.
Today, you should look back and see, what life would have been without this knowledge. Where would you have been? Just imagine, 'If I had no knowledge, no meditation, so Sadhana, no Satsang, where I would have been?'
We are not just the body, we are much more than the body. The body is just a tiny stone tied to the big balloon. This is what you should keep in mind, that the body is just one small aspect of me.
You pinch the body, it pains; the body gets hungry, it gets thirsty. These are all the normal functions of the body which happen, but we get so stuck in it, all the time, without realizing the vastness of our self and of life.
We have not found the aim of life because all the time we are stuck in the small shell (i.e. body) and we keep worrying about it. Seek to see, 'I am the light', and that it what the Guru is. Guru means the one who removes darkness, misery, loneliness & lack, and brings abundance, because lack is only in the mind. So the Guru removes the lack and brings freedom.
So, today to celebrate we will do Guru Pooja! Usually we keep a picture of the Guru Tradition, but I find that a picture is too limiting. To feel the presence of the Guru Principle, I feel that we need not have a picture also. Just the Paduka (footprints)to feel a light dawning, is good enough.
Today, you should look back and see, what life would have been without this knowledge. Where would you have been? Just imagine, 'If I had no knowledge, no meditation, no Sadhana, no Satsang, where I would have been?'
One of the saints of the middle ages, a great yogi said, 'Who drinks the nectar? One who has a Guru. One who doesn’t have a Guru in their life, he goes thirsty, he has no juice in his life; he does not know true joy. But one who has a Guru drinks the nectar; again and again he drinks the nectar'.
That is to indicate that the bliss is inside of us and if you have the Guru, the wisdom, the knowledge, you are able to get the access to it. When that is not there, then go thirsty.
If you have the Guru, the wisdom, the knowledge, then you are able to access the bliss inside you again and again. When that is not there, then go thirsty.
I will tell you another story of Shiva and Parvati.
Parvati was very disturbed and she wanted some quietness, so she came to Shiva and asked him, 'Tell me Lord, what do I do?'
Shiva gives her a technique Anahate Patra Karne.
There is a sound that is coming from deep inside your heart (Anahate), through deep meditation listen to that sound (Patrakarne).
If you close all your senses, from deep inside you there is a sound that is coming from your ears, a ringing sound, listen to that.
Or listen to a sound which is unbroken, like the sound of the fan, or a stream. When you go near a waterfall, like the Niagara waterfall, the sound of the water does not stop. It is a continuous sound. So to go to Parabrahman, you just have to bathe yourself in the sound.
Similarly, bathe in the sound of a Bhajan.Do you know why the same one line is repeated again and again? So that your analytical mind becomes quiet. And when you take a bath with that sound, you move towards the Divinity. That is one secret.
(Click Here to continue reading)
