"Wherever my mind goes, may I see your beautiful form. Wherever I place my head, may I see your lotus feet." Ever since the Guru touched my life, I always remember this verse written by Saint Ramdas. Today, as I write the Foreword to The Guru's Sandals, I feel blissful. One should be addicted to studying the scriptures and savoring the sweetness of the Lord's feet. The book is divided into two parts, the first on the Guru and the second on the hidden meaning of the Guru's sandals. Both sections will be a great feast of knowledge for seekers.
The sadguru and the saints have only one purpose:
to build an ideal character in all people.
The Guru embodies generosity, auspiciousness, purity, greatness, contentment, compassion, and the longing for God. In the Guru there are no negative qualities such as hatred, jealousy, or greed. It is said that compassion and forgiveness are the servants of a saint. These great beings, who are without any selfish motive, are a source of inspiration for the whole world. Without the Guru, all knowledge and arts are not only incomplete but impossible.
This book begins with a discussion of the Guru principle. In the Mahanarayana Upanishad, it is said that all animate beings and inanimate objects are pervaded by the Consciousness of supreme Shiva. The Guru principle is the Consciousness of the primordial Guru, Lord Shankar, and that same Consciousness exists in each and every being. A being goes through many cycles of birth and death, experiencing both pleasant and unpleasant circumstances; then he finally attains a human body. In this birth as a human being, a person can be awakened to true knowledge and a longing for eternal bliss and contentment. Ultimately, one auspicious day, he meets the sadguru, or true Master. Once the Guru awakens divine knowledge in him, the seeker has different experiences of God's presence in sounds, in visions, and even in his own friends. Because this Consciousness is universal and all-perva-sive, one feels an attraction to places, to fire, forests, and stones.
The Guru is the cosmic power of grace-bestowal.
There is a very beautiful analogy to shaktipat in the Upanishads. It is said that when dark clouds gather and lightning flashes, rain begins to shower on the earth. Those drops of rain nourish thirsty plants. The same thing happens when one receives shaktipat. Through shaktipat, a person who has grown tired of worldly experience and yearns for the experience of true bliss obtains showers of joy, and his ignorance is destroyed. Once a seeker receives shaktipat through the Guru's look, touch, thought, or mantra, his life is completely transformed. As a result of shaktipat, a person realizes his own true nature: he understands that he is a drop in the ocean of bliss. The Guru shows a seeker the way to merge with that ocean of bliss by constantly guiding him on the spiritual path. This book describes the work that the Guru's shakti carries out within the seeker's subtle body, removing its past impressions.
The subject of the Guru as the giver of knowledge is very beautiful. While studying the theme of devotion, one comes to know many remarkable things. The Creator of this universe contains within Himself the potential for infinite variety. He gives birth to millions of beings, but no one of them is exactly like any other. People have subtle differences in their voices, in their natures, in their handwriting, and so on. God has given valuable gifts to each human being. He has given one a great voice, another a sharp memory, and yet another inner inspiration. He has freely distributed thousands of arts, skills, and knowledge. But the amazing thing is that none of them are alike. There may be two singers who are equally famous, but they will each have different specialties in the music they sing. When the sadguru bestows his grace, divine knowledge arises within us and we come to know the unique nature of the energy we have been given. Once we find the key in the form of the Guru's shakti, we can experience constant bliss in our lives.
Vedas (1261)
Upanishads (526)
Puranas (643)
Ramayana (783)
Mahabharata (388)
Dharmasastras (174)
Goddess (545)
Bhakti (252)
Saints (1881)
Gods (1324)
Shiva (419)
Journal (181)
Fiction (71)
Vedanta (395)
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