Emptying before the Guru

Until I had the divine providence to meet my Guru, for me the term evoked image of a mendicant with matted hair living in a faraway land. Often, this perception would perturb and I would wonder how a Guru detached from the pains of living could supply answers to my mundane queries of everyday existence. I was starving for a Guru. Every day I fervently prayed for my Guru to appear. I had heard that when the disciple is ready the Guru emerges to take him/her in His fold. And, like magic, my merciful Guru touched my life with his Midas touch. For the first time in my life, I felt that I am home. Joy blossomed in the heart and flashes of divine experiences mesmerized me.

Guru is the guiding light in the ignorance induced darkness.  He is the force that pushes the life to the upward trajectory. He is the savior who comes to rescue mortal beings from the downward spiral and charts the ascending progression of the life, in the spiritual and the materialistic realm. When Guru takes us in his fold, the life gets a perspective and a meaning. Joy wells up in our hearts, abundance flows and peace descends. The moment we’re initiated by the Guru, we are at home, the only place where we wish to be and remain. When we sit beneath the master’s lotus feet, we are sitting at the fountain of knowledge that will liberate our soul from the bondage of eons. Our restlessness ends and we are at peace, for no reason and in all seasons. After years, may be centuries of anguish, peace finds us permanently, when the Guru takes us in his fold.

On the day of Guru Purnima the disciple reinforces his commitment to empty himself before the Guru. This is the day when the disciple should review the progress made on the spiritual journey and expresses his unflinching devotion to the Guru. On this day, the disciple takes a vow to remain subservient to the diktats of the Guru. Any pupil, average or extraordinary must endeavor to meet the Guru on the day of Guru Purnima and pay his respects to the Guru, to express his gratitude to the divine, who lights the life of the pupil and helps him transcend the ordinary and seek heights that were beyond his mortal capacity. However, for the disciple it’s mandatory to empty his mind before he sits beneath the master’s lotus feet. In this scenario, think of the mind like a vessel. To fill in water, the vessel needs to be emptied.

Similarly, Guru is keen to ignite our life. However, the vessel should be empty enough to absorb the wisdom of the Guru. The world in which we exist, what meets the eye is real and significant. Yet, what doesn’t meet the eye is profound and vast. The master guides us through the maze of ignorance and enables us to deep dive inside to access the vast reserve of wisdom lying within us.

Guru is Narayan. Think Him any less and it’s a sin. He guides us incessantly towards the righteous path, so that the soul is able to fulfil the objective for which we’ve incarnated on the planet Earth. The merger with the Guru for the disciple can’t happen in the presence of ego. As long as ego is alive and kicking, the Guru will not even touch the disciple with a barge pole and the plight of the disciple will be that of Karna, the great warrior in Mahabharata. Two things don’t coexist: intimacy with the Guru and ego.  

When the great war of Mahabhara was over, in Maharishi Jaralkaru’s hermitage two of his disciples deliberated why Arjuna won and Karna lost. One of the disciples was unable to fathom the reason behind Karna’s defeat, who was a far superior warrior with exceptional generosity. If good karmas return, then how did Karna get defeated?

Both the disciples went to their Guru to seek the answer. The Mahirishi gave a clear cut answer and said," Arjuna was Nar and Krishna was Narayana
It is the pair of Nar - Narayana that always wins against demons.
Karna was superior to Arjuna in all respects, but he made a crucial mistake of not seeking the blessings of Narayana and considered himself invincible due to his inflated ego.
This fundamental mistake in his attitude was the root cause of his defeat" 

Ego: the exaggerated selfie

Shun ego and empty your mind completely and surrender before the Guru. Only then the master can mould you and help you achieve your highest potential. Why is it required to shun ego to perceive Guru? Guru is the infinite source of knowledge and he is keen to channel the wisdom in his disciples, but this becomes possible only when the disciple approaches Guru with a vacant mind, ready to absorb and assimilate the wisdom offered by the Guru. When Guru welcomes you in his fold, you are home and at home, you don’t carry pretensions that are restricted for the outside world. At home, you just enjoy being yourself. Such should be your emotional and mental state if you decide to get closer to the Guru. Whether you like it or not, but Guru will strip away the superficial expressions attached to your personality that ego fancies, flimsy yet critical to provide you depth and substance. However, for most of us the affection with ego is so intense that we go to extraordinary heights to protect it.

There was a man who searched the whole world for a Guru. Somehow, all he found was a bunch of greedy men disguised as Guru. He had lost hope and had reconciled to his existence without the Guru. Then, the fortune decided to smile at him and he found the perfect Guru, just the Guru should be. An acquaintance was eager to know the details. The man divulged, “Oh! The Guru found in me the perfect disciple!”

Whether the pupil accepts with ease, equanimity or with pain, the Guru is not going to pander to the ego. Rather, he will strip away the false pretensions. Guru and ego do not coexist. One of them leaves. Decide what is more precious for you?

The Guru says that surrender is vital for spiritual enlightenment. Many disciples contemplate and decide to surrender wholeheartedly to the master, but the blessed few manage to do that. Rest of us just do it halfheartedly, or create a charade, or are incapable of surrendering.

What exactly comes in the way of surrender? Most importantly, it is ego, the exaggerated self that views itself in the highest regard. Ego is fond of considering itself seriously, whereas no one else does that. Weakening of ego is directly proportional to strengthening of surrender.

The point reiterated here time and again is that the Guru will strip you of pretensions. He will make you childlike, innocent, wide eyed and ready to view the world with amazement; the state in which nature intended us to remain. However, as we grew we learned to stress ourselves. Guru is the balm to the tortured souls. He is the spring in the desert, and on the day of Guru Purnima, we express our reverence to Narayana who has entered in our life in the form of Guru.