The guru mantra

[1]

Yogi Ashwini [1]

On a full moon night, the moon’s magnetism is at its peak, and on Guru Purnima, which was on Tuesday, a guru’s glow is at its height. Just being in your guru’s presence on this day can lead to phenomenal experiences for your inner world and have amazing effects on your evolution.

Guru Purnima holds the highest place in yogic philosophy, for this is the day when the guru’s force is in full bloom and is easily accessible.
However, many treading the path of yoga make the mistake of equating the guru with the physical form. Unfortunately, this takes you nowhere. If the physical or sthool is what constitutes a guru, then all the gurus who have existed till now would still be accessible in their physical form. What is not shashvat can never be the guru. The four-letter word “guru” has the phenomenal potential of taking you beyond not just the pains and miseries of life, but beyond yourself. Provided, you view the guru as an energy form. And if you are connected to the energy, its true form will reveal itself to you.
People read books and scriptures all their life, but it remains acquired knowledge for them. They do not imbibe the gyan (knowledge) in them and, hence, fail to apply even the basic principles to practice. Gyan is, in reality, all around you, and it leads you to evolution. A guru imparts gyan, not bookish knowledge. To better understand “guru energy” there is a shloka given by the rishis of yesteryear:
Dhyan mulam guru murti
Pooja mulam guru padam
Mantra mulam guru vakyam
Moksha mulam guru kripa
This means that the state of dhyan is achieved through the murti of the guru. Murti here is not the physical form but the true form of a guru. Till the practitioner is not focused on the energy of the guru (dharana), dhyan is not possible. The feet of the guru are considered sacred. When I first started yoga I was told to simply, unblinkingly look at a certain point on my feet. For gyan actually flows from these centres. Physical touch is not required, it is the drishti (energy which flows from the eyes) of the guru that results in evolution. The third sentence indicates that any utterance from the mouth of the guru is like a mantra for the shishya. This maxim is perhaps the toughest to follow, as it requires doing whatever your guru asks unquestioningly. The last sentence of the shloka says: Moksha (salvation) is only attainable through guru kripa, it is impossible without a guru.
I am often asked by my followers, “How can I be blessed with guru kripa?” My answer is simple, “Just do guru seva — that is, follow the path your guru has shown.
Those aspiring for evolution should stop viewing their guru, whoever, wherever, as a physical entity. For in doing so they go nowhere. Connect to the energy and nothing will be impossible or unattainable for you.