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Good gurus

The greatest Guru ever

The Times of India, May 24 2016

Pulkit Sharma   The Mahabharata narrates the story of Eklavya, a tribal with immense potential who aspired to study archery from Dronacharya, the revered guru of the Kauravas and Pandavas. But, when he approached Dronacharya, his request was turned down as the guru was appointed to teach only royalty . Drona did not wish to accept a tribal boy as his disciple. Heartbroken, Eklavya made a statue of Dronacharya and every day he would seek guidance and support from the statue besides doing rigorous self-taught practice in archery .In due course, Eklavya turned out to be so magnificent an archer that he had the potential to defeat even the students trained personally by Dronacharya.

Who really was Eklavya's guru? Was it just his own aspiration inspired by Drona's skill or was there some kind of Divine intervention? When relating to a guru, people often confuse the physical body or mental intelligence to be the guru. They may even compare different gurus. The truth is, though, that there is only one guru in the universe ­ the Divine.According to Siddheshwar Baba, since time immemorial, the Divine has assumed different names and forms and has manifested in realised persons so that they could guide sincere seekers on the path of transcendence.

Some great spiritual experiences bestowed upon disciples through their guru may not be even known to the guru. This is because Divine Consciousness is utilising the form of the physical guru as an instrument to manifest itself and help genuine seekers in their evolution. Thus, all gurus, avatars and prophets put together represent One Reality . In the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali highlights that `Ishvara' or Divine Consciousness which can manifest in different forms is unbound by time and has the unparalleled seed of omniscience.Ishvara is considered to be the earliest teacher ­ the teacher of all teachers.Success in yoga can be achieved by submitting to, reflecting on and meditating upon Divine Consciousness.When we surrender ourselves before the Divine, this seed of omniscience is positioned in us and in due course of time it sprouts and flourishes, thereby dissolving all falsehoods.

Whenever a seeker has the sincere aspiration to progress, Divine Consciousness graciously appears on the scene either in its original formless state or by assuming a form to guide the person.There are people who spend a lot of time in searching for an ideal `guru' in the external physical realm.They take initiation from several places but rarely show any commitment and quickly shift from one school of thought to another. They also try to compare various schools of thought with the intent of figuring out which is the better one. This is nothing but sheer ignorance and wastage of time.

What one requires to progress is a deep faith. When it is the same force that illuminates all masters, why bother about external attributes and practices?

Why should one waste time in fighting wars over which particular school of spirituality or religion is the superior one when all of them are only instruments for realisation? All paths are equally good because their end goal is the same. One must seek the One in everyone with reverence and gratitude.Therefore, one must never be hopeless but always pray to Divine Consciousness for guidance, support and enlightenment.And when the prayer is sincere and comes from the soul, it will be heard.