When we study in school and college, we have a series of teachers. Each teacher who is with us adds to the sum total of our knowledge and helps us move ahead and higher in the path of education. When we go to new teachers at the higher levels, we do not show disrespect to the other teachers we have left behind. We have the same love, respect and honor for them that we had for them before. It does not lessen just because we are now under the training of a new teacher.
Many roads lead to Rome and many paths lead to the same goal – The Eternal God. We choose the paths that are most suited to our temperament and our past karma In each life, we start from the point we have left from before and continue our journey. Each of us take up practices and move on as per our level of advancement. Each path in itself is complete and right for the person walking on it. Different types of Gurus provide the disciple with the right level and type of knowledge needed by him at that point of time. Just as there is progress and advancement at schools and colleges, there is also progress in the spiritual path.
We are caught up in the material world of desires and are nearly drowning in its murky waters. Desires and urges overwhelm us and we do our best to fulfill them. As it is not humanly possible to fulfil all desires, we get frustrated and seek the help of Divinity in obtaining them. Our contact with God at this stage always is one of barter trading: I will offer these things in your worship or this amount of wealth and O Lord please give me the objects of my desire. And the Lord grants us. We keep asking Him and He keeps giving us. A time comes when we realize that fulfillment of material desires cannot make us happy and we seek further- we seek the Love of God. Along with it we seek knowledge and wisdom and inner transformation. These come to us in stages and there are times when we go from one Guru to another. If and when we do so, we should always be respectful to our previous Guru, the path and to the previous disciples of the path. The story of Upali and Buddha teaches us how to:
Upali was one of the chief followers of the great Jain Guru, Mahavira. He was intelligent, logical and well spoken. He was always sent to appear in public debates on behalf of the Jains. There was a special occasion when Upali faced Buddha in a debate. At the end of the debate, Upali was extremely impressed with the teachings of Buddha. The logic and experiences of Buddha appealed to him and fulfilled something that was missing in his life. He fell at the feet of Buddha and said: O Great Master, please permit me to be your follower.
Buddha refused him. He said: Upali, you have just lost the debate and are very emotional now. Please go home and reconsider what you want in life before you ask me again. Upali was very impressed at the consideration, modesty and foresight of Buddha. He said: If it was any other Guru, he would put up banners and publicize the fact - ‘Mahavir’s chief disciple has become my follower’. But you are a Noble Teacher. You ask me to go home and think over and decide. Now I am all the more eager to be your disciple. I will not stand up from here till you accept me.
Upali’s resolve and determination finally forced Buddha to give his consent. He told Upali: I accept you as my disciple under one condition. As a Jain, you have always given alms to Jain monks. When you become my disciple, you will continue to give alms to all Jain monks. Upali agreed to this condition. Later, he became one of the Buddha's chief disciples. Upali compiled the Book of Vinaya- the rules for monks.
The lessons from this incident are very clear. We must always respect our Gurus. We must respect our fellow disciples. If for some reason, we accept another Guru, we must not disrespect or dishonor the previous Guru and disciples. Disrespect to Guru is not permissible under any conditions for it brings great dishonor to the disciple and the new Guru he follows. We can test and check a Guru as much as we want before we accept him as our Guru. But once we accept, we should not look back. Love, faith, honor, respect, obedience and surrender are the way of the path. Let us follow our path, the teachings and Guru sincerely without slandering or dishonoring any other Guru or path.
