Namdev sat at a dinner along with his caste men who were all full of Achara. When the leaves had been spread and covered with dishes, a dog ran up to Namdev, grabbed a roti from his leaf and ran away. Every one cried out, “polluted, polluted.” Then, Namdev lifted up a cup of ghee or butter from his leaf and ran after the dog saying “Vittal, Vittal, if you are taking only dried bread, it will choke your throat; take this ghee along with it.” People were laughing at the madness of Namdev who wanted to give extra feeding to a dog that polluted his plate and prevented him frm taking dinner. But the dog suddenly assumed the form of Vittal and told him, ‘Now that you have served under a Guru, you are able to realize Me in a dog and other forms’. This is an excellent way of full realization of God in all forms, which, according to the Gita, is the only knowledge of God. Only a Guru can teach this.

8.8 - Guru Worship

Need for a Guru – Sastraic authority:- “Acharya Devo Bhava” is mentioned in Taittiriya Upanishad.

Acharyavan Purushoveda says, “it is the man who has a Guru that can get knowledge or realization.”

Mundaka Upanishad says, “to get Brahman, Knowledge realization, one should go with his Guru who has realized God.”

Srimad Bhagavata says, “the Sadhaka must resort to a Guru devoted to God, who has realized God and is calm.”

The Katha Upanishad says,”in this matter of realization unless some one else speaks it out, there is no way.”

Guru Gita says, “Studies do not suffice. Without a Guru, there is no Realization.”

This Atman, that is, its realization is not got by study or repeated chanting Vedas nor by keenness of intellect or by much learning. It is he whom Realization desires that gets it. To him it reveals it’s from. Of course this realization, which is personified, comes as a matter of fact because there are methods through the grace or bodies of the Gurus.

Even Vyasa, who taught his son Suka all the Vedas, sent him to Guru Janaka for confirmation. King Janaka acted as his Guru and enabled him to perceive that what his Guru had taught and what the Vedas explained was the same as the actual realization, which Suka had in him. Until and unless such a seal is set on one’s realization, that realization is not complete.

That is a correct description of Baba’s Marga. It has been called Guru Marga in Guru Gita. Guru Marga is a form of Bhakthi Marga in which faith in and devotion to the Guru is the only Sadhana for achieving everything including salvation, Mukti or Brahmaiktya, Satchidananda conquest of samsara, and also all yoga, siddhis and temporal welfare.

Here Baba showed the applicability of the Guru Gita to religious progress. The one who is acquainted with the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of the spiritual field, a forest is a vanjari. The fourth person, Baba who realized that a guide was needed, and mere talk with bookish knowledge was of no use at all to help one to realize God and himself. Above all, the question was not an intellectual one. It was a problem as to how a particular soul was to be raised to realization, and that as essentially a matter of moulding the entire soul of the student or sishya. What is wanted therefore is humility, receptivity, and a powerful desire to reach the goal with the aid of a Guru. Therefore, a readiness to adopt a Guru and surrender everything to the Guru is needed. Everything is Tan, Man, Dhan that is, body, mind and possession. As a result of the intense love he bore to his Guru, Baba sacrificed and surrendered at the feet of his Guru. The solution of the problem as to whether there is need for a Guru is already reached when the sishya get into the proper humility, receptivity, and longing attachment to the Guru, culminating in mutual love. Then realization is reached. Purely by Guru’s grace, Realization flashes upon the sishya. Baba said, “The Guru’s grace is our only sadhana. Jnana comes as experience or in the wake of Guru’s grace. He alone succeeds who feels the Guru is the one thing needed.”

As we roamed aimlessly through forest, we met a man who works in the forest. He asked us “where are you going in this heat into the forest?” We gave no direct reply. He warned us politely not to get lost into the thick woods and that too needlessly. He offered his food to us. We disdained his advice and walked into the forest.

But in that vast and dense wood we lost our way. To our surprise we met the same forester. He said that by relying on our own cleverness, we had got into a wrong way. He said that a guide is a must to show the way. By saying “Do not refuse offers of food. Such offers are auspicious signs of success in one’s endeavour.” he again invited us to take food with him. Again we declined the food and went away. I soon felt hungry and I went and accepted a bit of bread and ate it and drank some water.

The forester then said, “What was your dispute?” and I told him all our talk. The others left him and did not care for him. But I reverently bowed to him. Then he took me to a well tied up my legs with a rope, and suspended me, head downwards, from a tree by the side of the well. My head was about three feet off the water, which I could not reach. And the forester left me there and went away. I do not know, where he has gone. He returned after 4 or 5 hours and asked me how I felt. I answered, “My time was passed in great bliss”. The forester might be pleased with me. He drew me near him, passed his palm over my head and body and spoke to me tender words dripping with love. He put me into his school where I entirely forgot my father and mother and all attachments and desires. I loved to gaze at him. If he were not there to see, I would not like to have eyes at all. I did not wish to go back. I forgot all other things but the forester, the Guru. My life was concentrated in my sight in him. That was the object of my meditation. In silence, I bowed. Meaning, Realisation flashed upon me, of itself without effort or study purely by his grace.

Guru’s grace is our only sadhana. Jnana comes as experience or in its wake.

There are so many souls, which has been immersed deep into the forest of Samsara and lost all knowledge of even the cardinal directions and got confused. Salutation to the Guru is a must that shows the path to get out of this. The Guru alone can help one to enter the spiritual field. On one occasion this point was raised by Baba. Baba was referring to the fact that he himself was a Guru who could guide those who came to Shirdi or to his feet to make spiritual progress. About the necessity for a Guru, Baba mentions the discussion between himself and three other fellow disciples.

Baba himself described how he met his Guru. Once myself and three others were studying our pothi, parayana puran, and other works and discussed how we were to get realization.

One said we should depend on ourselves and not on a Guru. For Gita says, Raise your self by the Self (uddharet-Atmana).

The first sadhaka here is like the Devil quoting scripture. In quoting Gita, he wrests a verse out of its context and misapplies it. The Gita emphasizes the need for a Guru to get realization, and these are ignored and the wrested verse is treated as cancelling the other express reference to the need for a Guru. The Sadhaka ignores the all-important fact that the Gita upadesa is given to Arjuna only after he got disgusted with his life situation and he made Prapatti and Saranagati.

The second and third sadhakas quote the need of qualifications or requisites for Brahmajnana as per Vivekachudamani. But this is mere reproduction by bookworms.

How to get self-control and release from doubts?

How to feel the animal nature and overcome them?

How to overcome our desires?

There lies the hurdle. Books do not solve. Surrender to a loving Guru and love towards that Guru alone can solve these problems.

Baba the fourth sadhaka was practical and noted that Surrender and Love to Guru were the only solutions.

Second one said, ‘the main thing is to make the mind self-controlled, free from thoughts and doubts. It is we who are in every thing everywhere.’

Third one said, ‘the form that is in phenomena is ever changing. The formless is unchanging. So we must always be making Vichara that is distinguishing between Nitya, unchanging and Anithya changing.’

Then Baba said, ‘I dislike bookish knowledge. Let us do our prescribed duty, and surrender our body, speech and life to a Guru, who is all pervading. Faith in him is the thing needed.’

Diksha is a special process for removing evil taints and initiating pupil with powers and siddhis.

Kinds of Dikshas are:

Chakshusi by mere glance

Sparsa by touching the head.

Vacha by words blessing.

Manasi mentally blessing.

Sastri by teaching sastras.

Yoga is Guru entering into the pupil’s mind inwardly.

Howtri Kriyavati performing homas with fire.

Howtri Jnanavati doing the homa mentally, to bless the pupil.

Need for a Guru.

The question is whether Guru is needed or not? Even now people conduct heated arguments. Some arguing that there is need and others arguing that there is no need. These debates are usually fruitless and they excite and result in loss of peace. A good example is Heamdpant alias Anna Saheb Dabolkar’s case. On his first visit to Shirdi, he hotly contested for one hour or so that a Guru was an unnecessary fetter and quoted the Gita, in his support. Bala Saheb Bhate took the opposite view and maintained that destiny was supreme and that all had a Guru. The discussion made Anna Dabolkar less fit to approach the great Guru Sai Baba by reason of restlessness. But Baba by graciously revealed his Antarjnana. All that passed during the discussion made Anna Dabolkar feel humble and contrite. He felt that Baba was a wondrous Supreme Power before whom he and his weak powers should bend and given up his “reason” and supposed independence. And thus he became the sishya of Baba. By Baba’s grace he found that destiny had fixed him up.

The Sastras, for example, Srimad Bhagavata, Bhagavata Gita, Guru Gita, Katham Mundadam Taittiriya, Maha Narayanopanishad say clearly that without a Guru Brahmanjnana and Moksha cannot be attained.

The need is questioned as a rule by persons not yet fit to be sishyas that is those without humility, reverence, patience, receptivity and other virtues, or the proper attitude towards great saints. They must be advised to have Satsang. That is they must move with bhaktas and fit themselves for further progress. When they are fairly fit, they will get their Guru. It is not the truth that sishyas always go out to find the Guru. The reverse is often true. There are many noble souls waiting to be approached by persons who want to become sishyas and have the proper attitude and training.

“Let students come.”

There are great souls who have attained perfect peace and who are working to benefit and bless the world like the spring season. Though they have themselves crossed the terrible ocean of samsara, they are ferrying others across without any reward or recompense or motive. Sai Baba himself sent for N.G. Chandorkar expressly and drew hundreds or thousands to him inwardly and unnoticed by them. Baba says, ‘No one comes to me except by my drawing. I draw people to me under various pretexts such as the worldly objects they want. When a boy ties a bird’s foot with one end of a string and pulls the other end, can the bird refuse to come?’ This drawing is mostly due to rinanubandha. That is prenatal ties and obligations. This is termed by Baba Saheb Bhate, the irresistible pull of destiny. The need for a Guru is patent especially in worldly affairs. People do not expect the children to learn the three ‘R’s, drawing, etc., without a teacher. If this is so in the material world, how much more essential is the need in the subtle spiritual field? Generally one’s spiritual progress and the stages one has to go through, and the way of mastering problems that arise there are often dealt with in books on religion. These books will not suffice to enable one to tackle this subject effectively. Religious literature is a vast forest, through which one cannot pick one’s way.

The Kula Moolavatara Kalpa Sutra Teeka Gata Kulagama mentions six classes of Gurus in regular gradation. They are;
Preraka One who just starts the pupil Suchaka One who indicates and carries further Vachaka One who regularly teaches and coaches Darscaka One who points out the way and goal to the pupil. Sikshaka One who regularly teaches and guides the pupil fully. These five are preparations to go to the 6th. Bodhaka one who is also called the Karana Guru, who thoroughly illumines the pupil and prepares him for Brahma Jnana and Moksha.

There are Gurus who are seen and others unseen; and there are Gurus who merely impart teachings and do not care for results. That is, they do not undertake any responsibility for the disciples.

There are others who give definite undertakings and carry out the same at all costs and if necessary life after life proceeding to seek the disciple in subsequent lives for the purpose. The best instance of such a Guru is Sri Sai Baba who undertook liability for H.S.Dixit, N.G.Chandorkar, Bandara Master and M.B. Rege and others.

Another classification is based on the powers and methods of the Guru. The Guru who teaches something secular or religious is merely called Guru. He who teaches about God or Sath is called SathGuru. He who uses all his siddhis and superior powers to carry the disciple right up to the goal is called Samartha SathGuru. Ramdas, Guru of Shivaji, and Sai Baba belong to the class of Samartha SathGurus.

ParamaGuru is a Samartha SathGuru who looks after the entire welfare secular and spiritual of his disciple.

Diksha Guru who formally initiates the pupil and invests him with mantra, power.
Siksha Gurus, that is the usual Guru who teaches or trains a pupil.
Male Gurus usually prescribed in all Sastras for pupils to attain Moksha.
Female Gurus specially referred to in Tantra works to give mantra and training to pupils who aim at siddhis. The Sastras generally dissuade persons anxious to attain Moksha resort to female Gurus. In the case of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the Bhairavi Lady Guru trained him in tantras. After that came the Nanga Avadhuta Guru who initiated him into concentration on Nirguna Brahman. Similarly in the case of Sri. P.R. Avaste, a lady Guru initiated him into Mantra that is Siva Panchakshari permutations and combinations Japa, which would result in seeing various gods and produce various powers. Later he came to Baba.
Kula Gurus – hereditary

Other Gurus

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Deciples prefer the Kula Guru to begin with. When there is no benefit, then go to a competent Guru. Baba was not the Kula Guru of Nana Chandorkar, but his rinanubanda Guru and in a sense the Guru of his Destiny.

Baba was a siksha Guru to N.G.Chandorkar and Balakram Manker.
Gurus for all round training and teaching for example, Venkusa.

Gurus for some push or help (for example Sai Baba to Narayan Asram)

Gurus for some mantra, tantra, special vidya, yogabhyasa, and asana.

Gurus for Vydeeki profession and Vedic study.

Gurus for secular purposes only.

Gurus for inward working Dakshinamurthi method and Baba’s.

Gurus for Oral teaching mainly.

Gurus for Both.