CHENNAI : Those who do guru seva with shraddha (faith) and bhakti (devotion) don’t have room for duality in their life. Lord Shiva imparts a simple exercise or technique we must implement to be able to come out of duality.
In a day we have to make at least ten decisions. It doesn’t matter whether they are right or wrong. When we make a decision, we have to offer that to the lotus feet of the guru. Guru will teach us through various experiences whether the decisions we took were right or wrong.
Lord Shiva says, “Guru’s lotus feet will protect you from all kinds of calamities. It will protect you from going in the wrong direction. Always follow what the guru teaches you. Believe firmly that guru is everything. Live the teachings of your guru practically by adapting them in your daily life. Stay away from negative minded people. Do the sadhana prescribed by the guru diligently. Follow the veda, which is in turn god’s command through the guru. Otherwise, you will end up in a flimsy situation with vaada (argument) and prartivaada (counter argument).”
Sive kruddhe gurustrata gurau kruddhe sivo na hi Tasmat sarva prayatnena srigurum saranam vrajet
If lord Shiva is angry, the guru saves you, but if the guru is angry, even lord Shiva cannot save you. Therefore, with every effort take refuge in the guru.
Lord Shiva in this shloka describes what sort of actions and attitude of a disciple leads to guru nindana or anti-guru principle.
Guru nindana always need not refer to directly going against the guru. A life without responsibility, using our logic even after having obtained prasada or blessing from the guru, taking the guru for granted, taking the words of the guru casually, slipping from the state of awareness and thinking of him as a human are factors that lead to guru nindana, thereby inviting the wrath of negative karma.
Shiva recognises this tendency in a disciple. He says that the power of the guru is such that he can recognise our doshas or deficiencies and forgive us for the same. He will further give us the parihara or remedy to cure the deficiency and get rid of our shortcoming. However, we will never be forgiven by lord Shiva for going against the guru principle or doing guru nindana.
Lord Shiva says “I am in the guru. When you go against the guru, you are not only going against him, but also against me and all the other 33,000 crore forms of divinity present in him. Always remember that the guru is the sole representative of all gods and goddesses of sanatana dharma. He is representing us in the human form in this Kali yuga. He is the consciousness himself.”
He adds, “Don’t bring down the guru with your logic and analysis. The guru is invaluable. Don’t ever play through your emotions and logic with the guru shakti. Maintain your distance when you enter the guru’s holy abode.”
Just as we go to Kashi with bhakti, we must go the guru with devotion. We must not chit-chat at the ashram. We must constantly sing bhajans. Otherwise Shiva will get angry. When you take refuge in a guru, all your sins are pardoned. But there is no mercy for one who goes against a guru. The guru burns all accumulated karmas of many lifetimes. If we have invited the wrath of Shiva in the previous lifetimes, that too will be pardoned if we seek the guru’s refuge, however, if we have sinned in serving the guru or by going against the guru principle, even lord Shiva cannot save us. Rather, he will not save us. This is because we would have knowingly gone against his principle of obeying the Guru Gita.
Remember, all shlokas of the Guru Gita are teachings of lord Shiva. It is he, the great lord who has imparted these teachings to his consort — devi Parvati.
Extract from ‘The Force of Nirvana’