the spiritual journey--some pointers

8/3/2019 The Spiritual Journey--Some Pointers

1/15

The Spiritual Journey---Some pointers

N K Srinivasan

This is a deep,loaded subject and could fill several

volumes. Yet, I am writing only a short article.I was

intrigued by the book "The Guru Question" by Camilia

Caplan, with a foreword written by Prof. Robert Thurman.

This book set me thinking on many things about gurus and

spiritual journey which we all begin sometime or other.

.Yes, there is no human being, unless mentally deranged or

having some organic defect of the brain, who does not have

some inkling for spiritual quest and begins it either

directly or indirectly. Oftentimes, a chance remark by

someone close to the person or some book or even pamphlet

or some event in life sets a man in the spiritual

path...Every journey begins with a single step...

While writing this, let me add that I am not your formal

guru or teacher who maintains an ashram here in the USA or

in India, give satsanghs or retreats and I am not one


2/15

having a church or brand name of Yoga trade-marked. I am a

fellow traveler and perhaps, a guide . While many had

approached me for spiritual counseling and asked for

clarifications of knotty problems and some directions, I

have resisted their attempts to make a guru out of me.

I must also add that I am writing this from the

perspective of Hindu spiritualityand training since I

know very little about other systems.

First let us ask this important question: Do you need a

guru?

The answer is a definite 'yes'.Some great ones with

back-log of great karmas may do without a guru. But not

many of the seekers in this circuit.Guru means "One who

dispels darkness or ignorance " ---that is ignorance of

spiritual knowledge.

A guru in the Indian context [Hindu,Buddhist/Tibetan] is

not a mere teacher or preacher or lecturer. He is the one

who understands the disciple or chela and gives specific


3/15

instruction or guidance--- not marketed,packaged learning

kit. Oftentimes a guru makes a careful analysis of the

chela [or cheli,the female disciple] by observation and

with intuitive perception, to provide the instruction. A

guru may make the disciple weep or cry or suffer

indignities as a means of instilling humility and

softness. A guru removes the kink in the mind of the

disciple and irons out behavioral oddities. The process is

a long one and may not be done in a few days or

weeks....It may require months or years.

Above all, a guru takes complete responsibility for the

spiritual growth of a chela and his final attainments.A

guru,if he thinks so, may send a disciple to another guru

for certain training or hand him over for further

attainments. A great guru would know about the future of

the chela and accordingly direct him.A guru may simply

reject a disciple as unworthy for instruction also.If a

chela misbehaves, a guru may curse him and send him out

with disasterous results.


4/15

A question frequently asked is this: How do you find a

guru?

This question is answered in Hindu perspective: A guru

will come to you when you are ready. How does this happen?

If you are sincere and keen, then the cosmic forces will

indicate the Guru for you. You need not seek a guru, but a

guru will search for you and find you. This is illustrated

in the lives of many saints and gurus.! This does not mean

that one should sit and wait for the guru. You may read,

meditate and listen to the great masters, join in rituals

or satsanghs. Prepare yourself for the arrival of the

guru.

In more advanced teachings, there is the aphorism:

Guru,God and Self are the same. This means that in

advaitic sense, the Self itself becomes your guru and

manifests as a human guru...well, if this is not easy to

comprehend or accept, don't worry! You need lot of

training before you can grasp the full meaning of this


5/15

sentence---in advaitc terms.

Spiritual Journey--Main questions

I mentioned at the beginning that almost all of us are on

a spiritual journey whether we know it or not.What we mean

by that?

There are two main questions that haunt us or trigger such

a journey:

1 What is the meaning of life? Is it just eating

,sleeping,earning money and having sexual activity? [We

all know that animals do just these things. Are we to lead

a similar life and nothing beyond?

2 What is meaning of relationships we have within family

or within society or in professional circles?

{ Do our relationships have any significance beyond

transactional or commercial terms? I help another person

because I get help from him or get money for the

service...Is that all to human relationship? Does the


6/15

relationship between say a mother and her child extend

beyond the transactional level or even beyond one's life?

Why should I serve a person whom I don't know at all?]

Spiritual journey begins when we ask these questions and

attempt to find an answer. Firstly ,you must have faith

that you can find the answer using our human

mind/intellect and intuitive perception beyond intellect

also. Secondly ,someone ---a guru or a teacher or a mentor

could guide you to find the answer. If you can find the

answer from a book or scripture or some strange message

[from 'above'] that is alright, if you believe so.

[If you seek a guru or teacher for this purpose, I have

already told you about the role of a guru.If you hope to

find the answer from a scripture [say the Bible or the

Bhagavad Gita or the Talmud or others, you may dig into

them with or without a teacher.]

Some Pointers

Here I give some pointers which you can consider as


7/15

starting blocks for your sprint. We posed two questions.

Read them again.

Surprisingly the answer is the same for both the

questions.

The answer may appear intricate or simple or naive or

shocking.But reflect on this answer.

ANSWER WE all belong to one source, call it God, or

supreme spirit or cosmic intelligence or universal

consciousness or Brahman or whatever.

We did not create our body or mind...It just came ot

us..You may say it is just nature.

A few cells uniting together created our foetus and bodies

and mind...we did not design ,manufacture or assemble our

heart, lungs, kidneys, hand and feet, eyes or ears or the

tongue...this intricate body just GREW, getting a divine

spark from the SOURCE.

Therefore we all belong to the same source---whatever may


8/15

be our particular differences in terms of race,color or

circumstances of our lives [rich or poor, strong or

weak...], nationality or religion.

Thus we are all ONE only...If you keep this in mind, you

will understand the answer to the questions.There is only

one answer---that we are all ONE and life is indeed sacred

because of this oneness which connects us to the Universe.

Note that this is true of all animals and birds and

insects derived from One Source. It is true of inanimate

matter too, though there is a qualitative difference with

inanimate objects.]

How do we proceed in this journey?

What I have written here as the answer is only the ticket

for your journey.You have to use it for getting into your

aircraft or train to travel far. The modes of this journey

are ,of course, abstract. These are the means in spiritual

practice. Pick any one of these modes or several of them.

Afterall when we make a physical journey, we may take


9/15

several modes: we reach the airport with a taxi ,then

climb with escalator, then aircraft, then subway or tube

and then walk and so on.

The modes here for the spiritual journey are : chanting

[japa] , meditation[dhyana],formal worship [pooja],

fasting , scriptural study[ shravana], yoga and breath

control,dancing and music and so on. Don't be dogmatic by

any of the modes..all have their efficacy and special

values for any of us...some are more suited to you than

others. Constant and diligent practice will take you far

rather than polemical or sectarian discussion of their

values.

Going back 'Home'

A time comes when everyone of us , prince or pauper,strong

or weak should shed this body and return to the original

state and merge with the Source, which made this body in

the first place. What happens to our mind? It is

essentially wiped out like a computer hard disk or memory


10/15

device, except for some 'impressions' or 'vasanas"

[residual smells from a pot used for a long time] which

would be carried to the next birth---with a cryptic

'akashic' record of good/bad deeds stored somewhere and

the ascribed karmic effects on them....the cycle starts

again. The Source, like the Sun,carries on unperturbed by

what happens here.

The Path and the Goal

In our normal experience, the path and the goal are

distinct. In fact the path ,we would say without any

doubt, leads us to the goal.We follow a path and that path

may takes us to the goal. In advaitic terms, the path, the

goal and the process of going towards the goal ,say

walking, are one and the same--- because there is no

distance between you and the goal...there is no distance

at all.

[You are the goal;the goal is within you.!As Rumi said

: "God is the nearest of the near; He is at your


11/15

shoulders!."]

In Hindu terms, Brahman pervades everything and is part of

everything...then where is the goal,where is the path

,where is the notion of distance.? The normal concepts

break down ,because we have been conditioned to think in

terms of space and time; yes, sometime must elapse before

we reach the goal because we have to travel along the path

and reach the goal.What if instant reach is obtainable?

Where is the path? The path is not there.

Yet, in mundane terms, there is space and time for

everything. The seeker has to do his or her home work.This

homework consists of efforts to clean up our minds---of

impure thoughts in the first place.

Yoga is considered as the path and the goal---the word

means that.For a yogi the path is clear,say, to follow the

eight steps of Patanjali's yoga sutras or 'Ashtanga yoga'.

Yogi has to work hard, with a guru to help him on the way.

But remember--- the steps are meant to clean up your mind,


12/15

purify the thoughts, make you focus on the Supreme with

concentration and devotion,switching of noisy sense

telephones.To take you within, to the inner chambers or

Guha of the heart.

More on Gurus

I return to this topic to clear some misconceptions. By

the nature of training imparted as I have outlined, a guru

can be a guru only for a small number of persons , say a

dozen of chela/cheli at a time. Even great masters like

Sri Ramakrishna had only about twenty disciples.THis

group forms the inner circle .[This inner-circle

disciples would consider the master or guru as an

incarnation of God, or avatars or prophets or messiahs and

worship them as such. This we have seen in all guru

ashrams, including that of recent ones like Ammachi or

Mata Amritanandamayi ashrams.]

A guru may have hundreds of devotees or followers over


13/15

many years.They consider the gurus only as

teachers,preachers or guides .They may meet the master on

a few occasions,read their books ,listen to their tapes or

view their videos and take part in formal poojas and

festivals. This middle circle followers do fund raising

and build the ashram faciilties and speak glowingly about

the masters. They may be often misguided or even

manipulated for commercial purposes. Some may join

the middle circle because they don't have regular jobs, or

have lot of time [middle-aged or elderly], they wish to

socialise in a safe environment, or learn a few methods of

spiritual practice or get some solace. In Indian context

many come for solving their family and financial problems

with the grace of their masters---anything from getting a

job for their sons or getting their daughters married or

for special healing processes. This crowd of seekers join

and leave or hop from one guru to another, as it suits

them.Some sincere ones may move from middle circle to

inner circle.[One problem with this crowd is that they


14/15

shield the masters and the inner circle from bad behavior

or scandals [financial or sexual or other kinds]so that

the ture facts are not revealed to the public at large.]

Then there is the outer circle which consists of media

persons---writers, journalists, interviwers ---and

go-betweens who are close to money bags [industrialists or

politicians]; this circle is the potentially powerful

ones---they can let the guru grow to great heights in

popularity and power, and then pull them down also.Many

great gurus have been ruined by them because the gurus

were useful for these persons for some time.This has been

the case for many great gurus since the last century,

mainly because of media power.!

Spiritual journey is not all walking over a bed of roses.

One should careful tread this path which is sharp and

narrow like a razor's edge.But the rewards are great

whatever may be your initial religious orientation.You

life's purpose may be revealed like a gooseberry held in


15/15

your palm!

------------------xxx------------------

xxx---------------------

the spiritual journey--some pointers

Documents