11 July 2006

Prathah smaranam Sree Guru Charanam

Guru Brahma Gurur Vishnuh Gurudevo Maheshwarah Guruh sakshat Para Brahma Tasmai Shree Gurave namah

* meaning, Guru Brahma ... is the creator. What does He create? He creates your interest. He creates motivation. He creates that light, that wisdom within you.

Guru Brahma, Gurur Vishnuh ... is the protector. He protects us from all negative energies. He protects us from all negative powers, from all evil powers. He protects us from bad society, from kusanga. He protects us and leads us to the satsanga.

Gurur Brahma, Gurur Vishnu, Gururdevo Maheshwara ... and He is the protector and the liberator. Some say Shiva is the destroyer. Destroyer means the destroyer of the darkness, destroyer of the ignorance, destroyer of the negative waves in our life, the destroyer of the negative thoughts.


Gurave Sarvalokanam
Bhishaje Bhavaroginam
Nidhaye Sarvavidhyaanaam
Dhakshina Moorthaye Namah!

Guru is nothing but the Supreme Brahman devoid of attributes.
That is the reason why we bow to the Guru.
Shiva is the first Guru,
Who leads us from darkness in to the world of illuminated knowledge.
He is the bank of all sorts of knowledge.
Let me salute him in the form of Dakshina Murty.


Friends, today is being celebrated as 'Guru Purnima': a day to think of all our teachers and thank them.

Sadaashiva samarambhaam
Shankaracharya Madhyamam
Asmadaachaarya paryantaam
Vande Guru paramparaam!

Guru Shishya parampara starts from Shiva and continues through Lord Krishna, Veda Vyasa, and Shankaracharya.....thru to the current Acharya.

Lets celebrate the day with our grateful Naman to these teachers.

* wanted to add some of my personal associations with teachers, but since that would take some more time to get formulated here, I wished to publish this in its current form on this auspecious day.

One more interesting reading is provided here. It raises a question whether the teacher-student relation is in strain.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

An interesting counterpoint is here... by an enlightened person JKrishnamurthy, also known as Jiddu:

In my view, the guru is one who awakens me to truth, to reality. What is wrong in my taking to such a guru?.

His opinions are not easy to digest and its good to read it slowly and carefully and then a reader can decide whether its applicable to oneself or not.

Srik said...

Hi Sanjay, read that answer. Brilliant as just the person who said it.
I liked the following words :
-----------------
Truth is not a thing that can be caught by the mind. The guru can give you words, he can give you an explanation, the symbols of the mind; but the symbol is not the real, and if you are caught in the symbol, you will never find the way. Therefore, that which is important is not the teacher, it is not the symbol, it is not the explanation, but it is you who are seeking truth.
---------------------

Here I'd like to mention a phrase that is most commonly said of the teachers :
'Upadhyayah cha vaidyah Kaaryante Aprayojakah'.
Doesn't it sound real?

Another of the related comments is by Thomas Carruthers. He quotes
"A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary."
Much in-line with Jiddu, right?
Yes, we need to remember those people who went un-necessary at our progress. Remember,
we wouldn't have had a Vivekananda if not for a Ramakrishna. Finally, if a teacher teaches
same thing to 100 people, it ends up being one person teaching 100 different things to the
same number of people at one point of time. So, here Jiddu's explaination holds good.

Anonymous said...

Yes, and its important to note that Jiddu does not really say "don't believe any guru" though it may appear to be so initially. As you've explained in the above quotes - he only warns of the potential pitfall that a student gives more importance to the teacher than the teaching! :-)

Nice post btw, looking forward to a more detailed one wrt "wanted to add some of my personal associations with teachers..."

Srik said...

Thats my music teacher's stand aswell. She says "I just show you how to move your fingers on the instrument, its finally you who have to learn it by heart by practicing it at home. If you practice, you'll progress, if not, you wont. Even I can't help you then!!!"

RK said...

Salutations to all teachers from whom I have learnt. Mother's day, Father's Day or Teacher's day(Guru Poornima) must be celebrated everyday. Celebration in the sense that you need to remember them and thank them for the knowledge and love they have showered upon you!

Good post Srik. And thanks for giving a link to a post of mine.

Srik said...

In earlier times, as I hear from one of my 'Guru's, Guru Purnima was a day like the convocation day in modern days. Once the Guru feels he had given everything that he has to his son-like student, the next Guru Purnima he would be relieved to go out into the world and practice his lessons and learn from his experiences. This day the dtudent would give 'Guru Kanike' to the esteemed Guru and take leave into the wast world out side the confinities of the Gurukul.

Anonymous said...

hey that's nice to know Srik. Anyway thanks a lot for your post I made it a point to spend some time before sleeping remembering all my Gurus in my life so far with deep gratitude wishing them well.

Srik said...

Thats the gist of the celebrating this day. Guru purnima is celebrated with good colours in modern day by the Sai bhakths and Buddists.

Yeah its just a token of respect that a teacher expects from his students.

Thanks for reading and commenting Sanjay. Thanks Bellur for that beautiful post.