July 10, 2024
At the time of Guru Purnima, our minds and even more so our hearts turn to the Divine Guru in love and adoration, for it is a day of renewal. In these days when everything is moving fast, the shadows of spiritual ignorance move in very fast too, overshadowing the light of truth that forever shines in our hearts. And it is a day of re-dedication. Surely, it is enough if we dedicate ourselves to the Guru once. But in our ignorance we often 'think' we do all this, while deep within us we deny the Guru.
Not everyone can be a Guru. Not everyone is a disciple. When you think of Guru, it is impossible not to think of Sri Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. In him the Guru is resplendent. He is the shining light of God. In him, the divine is radiant. Through him the divine is radiant. Through him the divine radiates across time and space. People in distant parts of the world are inspired and spiritually awakened by him. He lives in millions of hearts and he shall continue to live in the hearts of disciples for all time to come.
Only he is a disciple whose heart is filled with the Guru; there is no room in it for the ego. This happens when the true seeker 'sees' in his Guru the light of God, nay God Himself. In that light the ugly shadow that terrorized the seeker's life till then vanishes. The 'I' is absorbed in the Light of God — Guru. There is the indescribable realization that the self, God and Guru are three words that indicate a single truth.
isvarogururatmeti murtibhedavibhagine
vyomavatvyaptadehaya sri daksinamurtaye namah
Salutations to the Guru Dakshinamurty who, like indivisible
space, pervades the three forms known as 'God', 'Guru' and 'Self'. May the blessings of all the great gurus of the world be showered upon all the blessed disciples of the world.
You, I, he, she, and it are like the beads of a necklace, and the thread interpenetrating the whole thing is God.