 |
||
|
||
| Advertise with us! |
|
|
"I consider the Brahman or Lord Krishna or Lord Shiva as wish you to call
it, my guru."
The following is Shrii Shankaraacaarya's commentary on Bhagavad-giitaa
4.34:
tad viddhi iti // tat viddhi vijaaniihi yena vidhinaa praapyate iti /
aacaaryaan aabhigasya, praNiipaatena prakarshheNa niicaiH patanaM
praNipaataH diirghanamaskaaraH tena, "kathaM bandhaH? kathaM mokshhaH? kaa
vigyaa? kaa ca avighyaa?" iti pariprashnena, sevayaa gurushushruushhayaa
evamaadinaa / prashreyaNa aavarjitaaH aacaaryaaH upadekshhyanti
kathayishhyanti te JNaanaM yathoktavishoshhanaM JNaaninaH / JNaanavinto
.api kecit yathaavat taktvadarshanashiilaaH, apare na; ataH vishinashhti
taktvadarshinaH iti / ye samyagdarshinaH taiH upadishhtaM JNaanaM
kaaryakshhamaM bhavati, na itarat iti bhagavataH matam //
translation by A.G. Warrier:
Know it -- the procedure by which knowledge is won. Approaching teachers,
lowly prostrating the whole body before them -- this is obesiance -- and
exhaustively questioning them, learn it. Learn it by putting questions such
as these. 'How comes bondage? How, liberation? What is knowledge? And what,
nescience?' The teachers, the knowers of Brahman, thus won over through
humility, will instruct or impart the knowledge described above. Some among
them alone are well-established in truth as it is; others are not. Hence
the qualification 'who have realised the truth'. Only the knowledge
imparted by those who have realised the truth is effective, not aught else.
Such is the Lord's doctrine.
(any errors in transliteration are my own)
This seems to make it pretty clear that, even for the advaitist, acceptance
of a real guru is necessary. That is, the guru must be a person who has the
choice of whether or not to accept the disciple. The disciple can't simply
claim that Brahman is his guru and thus evade the responsibility of taking
initiation from a guru who can actually interact with the disciple. If such
were the case, then Shrii Shankaraacaarya would not have bothered to make
the distinction here between those who are well-established in truth vs
those who are not.
It's easy for someone to claim that God is his guru; this way, he need
answer to no one except God, and then he can simply invent God according to
his own desires. In this way, no real guru-disciple relationship can be
said to be present. A real guru actively interacts with the disciple, not
only giving him lessons but also keeping him humble. To accept such a guru
takes a great deal of humility as indicated here in Shankaraacaarya's
commentary.
|
||
|
||
| Advertise with us! |
|
|