Surrender To The Guru (Guru Purnima)

PRITI AGRAWAL outlines the path followed by a few enlightened masters

Yasyadeve para bhaktir-yatha deve tatha
gurau; Tasyaite kathita hy arthah prakashante mahatmanah

Whose devotion to the Lord is great, and who has as much devotion to the guru as to the Lord, unto him that high-souled one, meanings of the sacred texts stand revealed.
—Svetasvatara Upanishad

Why do you need a guru? This is a question that
is often asked of those who seek guidance on
the spiritual path.You might be on a spiritual path and deep into sadhana, but the experienced say that it is only with a realised guru’s blessings that the journey becomes obstacle-free.

Read the biography of any realised guru and you will find that only when the seeker interacted with an enlightened master, was there a life-changing
experience. Prince Rama — despite being an avatar of Vishnu — was guided and taught by Sage Vasishtha, who clarified all his doubts with insight and examples. These interactions with Prince Rama are elaborated in the Yoga Vasishta. Jesus Christ sought John’s advise on the banks of the River Jordan. The devas had Brihaspati as their guru.

The word ‘guru’ is t he core belief in Sikhism, too. The first Sikh guru, Nanak Dev, describes the importance of the guru in the Guru Granth Sahib.
He says, “The guru is the ladder, the guru is the boat,and the guru is the raft to take me to the Lord’s name.”

A disciple follows his guru’s instructions whole-heartedly, to open up his spiritual vision. Guru-seva leads him to perfection and to knowledge. 

Krishna, another incarnation of Vishnu, learnt everything at the holy feet of his guru, Sandipani. Once, Krishna requested Sandipani to manifest
himself, and once he did, Sandipani sat in a carriage that Krishna pulled.

When you embark on a spiritual path, you cannot directly have God as guru. You have to first interact with a realised master before you can make your mind pure and virtuous,and learn
about body-consciousness. Gautama Buddha,as an ordinary person in a previous lifetime had been influenced by an enlightened master, Deepankar Buddha, who had visited him and told him that in a future birth,he would be a realised soul in the Buddha lineage. After
that, Siddhartha did unceasing sadhana for various lifetimes till he finally took birth as a prince in Kapilavastu. Only when the time was appropriate did he start asking questions about life, death and sufferings and finally left everything in search of Truth.

In Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda repeatedly mentions a connection with his guru. One day, Paramhansa felt an excruciating pain piercing his chest. It abruptly
flashed into his mind that his guru, Swami Yukteshwar had left his body despite the fact that Yogananda was hundreds of miles away from his guru, at that point.

Yogananda immediately caught a train to his guru’s ashram. At the station, a voice told him about Swami Yukteshwar’s death. He reached the ashram and saw that the vision he had
experienced was true. On another day, he heard his master tenderly repeating, “Collect yourself and be calm. Why are you so distressed?
I have not gone anywhere. Earlier I was in the
body, now I am everywhere, all pervasive.
Now I am right within you.”Yogananda’s heart was filled with immeasurable bliss and he entered deep into a state of nirvana samadhi.

Bhrigu,one of the Saptarishis,learnt about the Absolute Self from his father, Varuna.Whenever Bhrigu requested his father to teach him about Brahmn, he would give one instruction: Tapasa brahma vijijñasasva: Know Brahmn by yourself
through tapas. Bhrigu did just that.

Once Vivekananda visited Ramakrishna Paramhansa to understand the meaning of trance. Ramakrishna went into a trance and touched Vivekananda accidentally,sending him
into a trance of his own. Later, Vivekananda described the incident, “The touch...gave rise to a unique experience. With my eyes open I saw the walls and everything in the room whirl rapidly and vanish into naught, and the whole universe together with my individuality was about to merge in an all-encompassing void! Unable to control
myself, I cried out for help and Sri Ramakrishna touched me again and restored me back to my senses."