Speech by Shri Swami Vishveshwarananda Saraswati,
President Omkarananda Ashram, on the Occasion of
Guru-Purnima Celebrations, in Omkarananda Ashram
Himalayas, on 12th July 2014
Today
we are celebrating Guru-Purnima.
You see, dear Friends – for Soma – every day she is
celebrating Guru-Purnima. For her, Guru is not a matter of
a just one day success. For her, Guru means every day. For
Somashekhari Guru means Realisation. When Gurudev told
her: "Through dance you will experience the Divine,"
she has completely dedicated her life to Gurudev.
Today we can see very often, that a Guru is being changed.
They say, "this is my Guru, that is my Guru."
Actually, many times, I think, people misunderstand what a
real Guru is.
Friends, your father, your mother, they can give you
everything, they can give you very good education, they
can help you in difficulties, in sickness, in many
problems. As far as matters in daily life are concerned,
your parents are extraordinary. But can they give
Realisation? Can they show the infinite Light? Can they
show the way to your true Self? Impossible!
So, the most important thing in our life, my dear Friends,
is to have a Guru. Without Guru absolutely nothing is
possible; you simply swim into the darkness, into the
ignorance, into a life, which is full of sorrow, problems
and difficulties. It is very very difficult to understand
the reality of a Guru. The Guru is of utmost importance.
He is the Manifestation of the Divine present here on this
earth.
Though we all know that each and everything is God, but
can you touch Him? We know this pillar is God, but can you
speak with the pillar? A Saint can speak with this pillar.
And God will speak out of this pillar.
So, when we do not have this chance, then how important it
is, that you have a link to the Divine, when the Divinity
is incarnating into a human body, so that we have a chance
to speak with Him. Nothing in life is more valuable than a
Guru. A Guru is your protection. In the time of need, in
the time of the greatest difficulty, He can save you. The
Guru can bring you that Light, which brings you further to
the Divine. Guru only wants for you one thing, that you
are realising the Truth.
My dear Friends, our life is full of ignorance. We are
living in a day to day basis, what we think, is real. And
we do not know that we are getting older and older, and
one day, when the time is very late, then we start crying
for the Absolute. Why not we are taking the chance and the
opportunity now! Why not we are looking
now to find a Guru, who is bringing us nearer to the
Truth! Gurudev means Realisation in Action. A Guru can
show you everything. True people, who are Seekers, they
always were in need of a Guru.
Some
people are of the opinion, that "I can do it without a
Guru." Dear Friends, without a Guru absolutely
nothing is possible. You may sit for hours in meditation.
Undoubtedly it will help you. But if you want to realise
the Absolute, it needs an Absolute, realised in a body,
Who can show you, what is the real way to achieve That.
So, we are celebrating today Guru-Purnima. But in fact
every day we should realise Guru-Purnima. Every day we
should realise the wonder that Gurudev is. We should think
of Him. We should follow Him. We should pray to Him.
Praying to the Guru means directly praying to the God. Why
in that great Indian Philosophy, in that Vedic Philosophy,
it is considered that Guru is greater than God?! For a
human individual undoubtedly Guru is greater than God.
Because God you can't see, you can't touch, except if you
are a realised Soul. But the Guru you can see, the Guru
you can even touch. So, He can guide you.
And dear Friends, a real Guru will test you. Why? He wants
to purify you. My dear Friends, without a purified heart
the way to realise the Truth is next to impossible. Purity
in life is very much essential. So, a Guru is slowly
slowly gradually teaching you, teaching you a real life.
He teaches you what kind of food you should take. He
teaches you what you should basically think. He makes you
aware of all the danger, which life is bringing here, so
that you are protected.
But there are moments coming, when you are going to the
biggest height, when Gurudev has given you everything – at
that juncture sometimes people may even divert. And this
diversion from a realised Soul may bring a lot of
difficulty and problems and it may enter into a next life.
And in the next life you don't know, where you are, you
don't know what kind of miseries will be following you.
So, it is always wise, exactly, word by word, to follow
the advice and the footsteps of Gurudev.
This wonderful Temple here would not be, if not word by
word we would have followed the instructions of our
Gurudev Paramahamsa Shri Swami Omkarananda.
From the very beginning we could see how great Swami
Omkarananda was. When we, like ignorant people, were
sitting there, we realised what kind of wonder Gurudev
Swami Omkarananda was. What kind of humbleness Gurudev
Swami Omkarananda has shown to us! He was teaching each
and every one, how to live a life, a life of perfection, a
life of purity. He made us understand that a life without
the experience of the Divinity is as good as a useless
life. And to take birth again and again makes it
difficult. Today you have your wife, you have your
children. But in the next life your wife is maybe your
child or next life your wife is born somewhere else. We
don't know. So, this time, when you have a chance to be
with the Guru, follow His steps, do whatever He says. And
Guru-Purnima is a very good day to remember the marvellous
effect a real Guru can have.
You have seen, when Gurudev told to Somaji: "you come
to the Ashram," she left mother, she left father, she
left everything. It was clear for her: "It is the
Guru, who can bring me to the Light, not my father, not my
sister, not my parents, nothing is there." And today
Soma makes wonders, wonders with the help of a real Guru.
And she will go on and make more and more wonders, and
Guru will enter more and more into her heart and one day
you will see a shining Light, which is presented by
Somashekhari. It is very very essential. You can see even
the effect for all those people, who are attached to Guru,
who are attached to our Paramahamsa Shri Swami
Omkarananda, how their life has changed.
Gurus can make wonders. Very often, my dear Friends,
people are thinking, once Gurudev left the body: "He
has gone." The Guru, whether in body or not in
body, He is absolutely there! He sees you more real than
even you, when you saw Him in reality. Guru is always
there. Because, Guru is God, God personified in a human
individual, to save you, to take you out of that misery.
Otherwise, my dear Friends, tell me what the life can
bring you? A little bit happiness, in the evening to see
TV, a little bit happiness, to see that political success
is there, tomorrow another political success is there; to
see a little bit football in Brazil. Tomorrow Brazil has
gone out, Argentina or Germany will win. Everything
changes, nothing remains. The only thing which will remain
is the absolute Divinity, the Truth, the Guru.
So, why not we hold ourselves on Him? If we hold ourselves
on Him, everything changes. The misery in today's life,
which we are having, is the misery, that we lost
completely the touch of the Divine. There are Gurus, there
are greatest Saints, but are we following their steps?
There are wonderful people, who are doing marvellous work,
and India is definitely one of the finest places, which we
have. India brought us the greatest personalities,
personalities like Adishankaracharya. You can endlessly
name there. Greatest Gurus have come over here.
But when the human individual is starting diverting
himself, then misery straightaway takes place here. Then
people are entering into darkness, and when people are
entering into darkness, they forget the Divine, they no
more think of It, they not even think of the Guru, or they
may just take It as an external matter. But that can never
help.
Dear Friends, is not India a wonderful place, where in
every nook and corner there is a Temple! Everything is
here. India is a place of Saints and Sages. But we must
hold on to them and we should not divert ourselves.
Today
this multimedia and all these things have completely
spoilt our mind. We are living full of problems, desires,
attachment and all these things. And desires, attachment,
greediness, are exactly the way, which are resulting in
troublesome things. We want more, we are never satisfied.
So, then in the end what we will do, what we will do in
the end, when Yama stands in front of the door here, where
we are leaving all the property, each and everything? Not
an inch we can take with us! So, why not in this
life we are trying a little bit not to be so greedy, a
little bit avoid desire, a little bit avoid attachment, to
be detached. The biggest problem is, that we are attached
to everything. We are attached to father, mother, to our
mobile phone, to our car, to everything we are attached,
except to the Divine. So, why not we are a little bit
attached to the Divine? Why not we are attached to the
Guru? Then, if that is the case, our life will change and
you will realise that true Happiness will enter into your
heart, you feel yourself to be a changed man. Try it! I
assure you it will come! And you may even have the chance,
that Guru, the Divinity, may at any moment speak to you
directly.
Dear Friends, we must make spiritual progress. If we can't
do it in this life, we may progress in another life. Has
not the Vedic Science, has not the Bhagavad Gita, has not
Ramayana, have not all these great teachings shown us so
many things here. But what is the use of all these
teachings, when we are not moving along with it?! We have
to do it. Life is very very precious.
Life is not made to entertain the pleasures of the day to
day things here. That entertainment of the pleasures
simply brings us, sooner or later, misery. Life is only
made to realise the Divinity and nothing else. For that is
life here. All other things are a manifestation of
illusion. Maya is the most terrific hurdle. If anyone can
break Maya, he will realise the Absolute and he will no
more appear on this planet and no Maya ever can challenge
him. Dear Friends, and who can open the door to
Liberation, who can take the veil of Maya aside from us?
The Guru.
So, Guru Purnima is a very wonderful day, where we should
take the opportunity, starting to think a little bit, how
important the spiritual life is.
See, realise yourself, you may have now everything. Today
your mobile phone is A1, after two years – today the
technology is in such a way – it has become old. So,
everything is "rusted". The moment it is born, it is
already "rusted". We are holding ourselves on rusted
items, on things which are perishing. Even your body is a
perishing item, it cannot remain. But what is unperishing
in you, is your true Self. You are the Absolute, that's
what you are in reality. Nobody can harm the true Self,
that you are, and if you experience that true Self, and
you have to experience It in this body, then you are a
changed personality, then you are that shining Light, then
people are running to touch your feet, people want to be
with you; then, where you put your hand, life starts;
where you put your hand, a sick person gets healed; when
you look at him, he changes. You have to realise this.
Try! And you will see.
Everybody of us wants to have true happiness. How can we
find true happiness in something which is perishing? So
that means, an item which makes you happy now, is
practically dead tomorrow. Our happiness is short-lived.
Should we not search for something which is eternal and
not short-lived? And that life, which we are trying, that
is only a spiritual life. And India, a place with such a
marvellous Vedic system, has given each and every one true
knowledge. But if you are diverting away, then only
unfortunate difficulties and trouble will enter into your
heart.
But all of you, who are here, are definitely absolutely
different. You wouldn't sit here, if not in your heart is
your wish to achieve That (true knowledge); and you all
will definitely achieve. You have all the Blessings of our
Paramahamsa Swami Omkarananda, Who is right now here, Who
right now hears me, Who right now sees each and every one
of you, Who right now is in each and every one of you.
Try! Try, tomorrow, if you enter into any sort of
difficulty, think of Him and realise the Wonder, that is
Swami Omkarananda!
Thank you very much.
* Note: The original Video of this speech can be seen
on the Website of Omkarananda Ashram Himalayas under the
subject "Videos".
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