Need for a Guru - Namadeva

“Dhyana Moolam Guru Murti, Puja Moolam Gurur Padam,

Mantra Moolam Gurur Vakyam, Moksha Moolam Guru Kripa” – Guru Gita

Do meditation by observing the Master’s form. Learn worship by surrendering at the lotus feet of the Guru. Every word spoken by the Guru is a mantra and enlightenment is but the ultimate grace of the Guru‘

These lines from the Guru Gita are an all out proclamation of love and praise for the Guru. The Guru  teaches the disciple about the Supreme and helps him to realise the Supreme within himself and in all creation.  The story of Namadeva, a saint from Maharashtra illustrates the importance of Guru.

Namadeva had unusual grace in his life. Lord Vitthala (Krishna) of Pandharpur used to appear in physical form before Namadeva  to eat the food served by him. Namadeva spoke to the Lord like we speak to each other. The Lord would dance to the songs sung by him. He was considered as a great saint of his time. Once there was a meeting at the home of Gora – the potter saint. All the famous saints of that time were present – Jnaneshwar, Nivritti, Sopan, Muktabai and many others. Jnaneshwar asked Gora the potter to check if all the pots were baked well. Gora understood and took his stick and hit on the head of all the saints sitting there in the same manner that he did when he checked to see if the clay of the pot was baked. No one said a word. But Namadeva protested with angry words. He did not like being hit on the head with a stick. Muktabai remarked: this pot is not baked!  Namadeva was angry and left the group in a huff and went straight to the temple of Vitthala. When he called out, the Lord appeared and he complained to the Lord. Instead of comforting him the Lord said: He who has not bowed to a Guru and not learnt from the Guru is incomplete. As Rama, I bowed to Sage Vashista and received from him spiritual knowledge. As Krishna, I went to ashram of Sage Sandipani and learnt from him. Go to Guru Visoba. You will find him in the Shiva temple of Mallikarjuna. Please him and learn from him. This will make you complete. There is no other way to be complete other than seeking refuge at the feet of the Guru!

Since he had no choice, Namadeva went to Mallikarjuna temple and located the Guru. Visoba was sleeping with his feet on the Shivalinga. Namadeva was shocked and said: I heard you are a great saint and you behave in this way? Visoba replied: I am an old man. I don’t have the energy to move my feet from the Shivalinga. Please place it elsewhere and get the reward for performing a good deed!  Namadeva dragged the feet of Visoba and placed them in another spot. And suddenly a Shivalinga sprung from underground and supported the old man’s feet. Angry and frightened, Namadeva lifted the feet of the old saint and kept them in other places. And in each place a Shivalinga sprung up to support the feet of Visoba. Namadeva realised that Visoba was a great Guru and fell at his feet and sought to be his disciple. He understood that the miracle of the Shivalinga took place as Visoba had become one with Shiva and where Visoba was present – Shiva was present.

Namadeva stayed with Visoba and learnt spiritual practices from the Guru. He realised the Truth within him and around him. He saw himself as Vitthala and the world around him as the same Lord. When he went back to Pandharpur, there was a feast going on. Namadeva also sat down to eat. Bhakri – a bread made out of jowar cereal was served along with some ghee which was kept in a cup made of leaves. A dog came and grabbed the bhakri from Namadeva's leaf plate and ran. Namadeva grabbed the cup of ghee and ran after the dog. He cried out: O Vitthala, don’t eat the bhakri just like that. It is far too tough and dry. Let me soak it in ghee and give you. Then it will taste better!

Namadeva had realised the truth that all creation was the form of his Lord Vitthala. So he ran after the dog as he saw his Lord in him to feed him  bhakri soaked in ghee. Later on when he met Lord Vitthala and embraced him, the Lord complained: after getting your Guru, you don’t have time for me! Namadeva replied: I have overcome the sense of duality and I don’t see you different from the Guru! You are both One. And Lord Vitthala remarked: the pot is now baked!

Though Namadeva spoke to the Lord and even fed him with his own hands, his realisation was incomplete as he did not have a Guru to teach him how to overcome the duality and see all Creation as One. That is why a Guru is needed!

Need for a Guru

‘The Guru is within. Why search for a Guru outside?' This is a common statement found nowadays all over the internet, printed media and other forms of media. Those who make these statements want their statements to be accepted implicitly by all people.  They also want to be accepted as the Guru by their students. But they teach that the Guru is within!

The statement ‘Guru is within' is indeed true. Certainly the Guru is within! After a certain stage, the internal Guru guides the student. But to reach this internal Guru, we need the external Guru’s guidance and help. Else it proves to be very difficult to reach the internal Guru. God is the Primordial Guru. Only God knows God. Hence God assumes the form of Guru and is born amongst men to teach and guide them about The Supreme Power.

God is within. We  have read this and  have been told about it.  Why is it that we are not able to realise the God who is within us? This is because hearing or reading about a truth is rather different from realizing the truth within us. When we realise the truth that God is within and experience it in ways which are totally convincing to us, then we will be able to feel the presence of God within us and around us. Consider this example:

A man needed butter desperately. He asked his neighbours to give him some. No one gave him any butter. Then someone told him: you have a cow in your home. Why don’t you make your own butter? I will show you how to do it. The man did not know that butter came from the milk of the cow. He learnt from the other person, the process of  how to make butter from milk and got the required amount of butter!

We are like the man in the above example. He had a cow, he had milk. But he did not know how to separate the cream from the milk and churn it. He had to learn the technique from a person who knew it. We need to get the knowledge of how to separate the reality from lies. We need to learn the Truth from the Guru. We need the Guru’s touch and knowledge to go within us and still the mind. We need to learn and practise the spiritual techniques from the Guru to churn ourselves from within and get the butter in form of self realisation. We all carry the butter   - the presence of God /Guru within us but don’t know how to churn and get the butter i.e. manifest the presence of God/Guru from within us. Hence we need the external Guru to show us the Internal Guru.

With time and effort any type of knowledge can be acquired. It can be worldly knowledge or spiritual. But it takes a lot of time and effort to do so by ourselves. We have to try many techniques and methods before we learn to do things in the right way. It is far easier to learn from a teacher who has the knowledge and experience. The teacher has learnt from his teacher and this knowledge,  handed  through the ages, has been time tested to give similar and correct results. By learning from a competent teacher, we get sufficient knowledge and learn the right techniques in a short time.  Learning by self takes far too long and by the time we have tried and tested different techniques, especially in path of spirituality and found a method which gives us satisfactory results, we  would have lost a huge amount of time and energy and will find it difficult to reach our goals before the end of our time.

Even Avatars like Rama and Krishna and great saints had gurus. Rama gave credit for all his knowledge and spiritual goodness to his Gurus. Being an Avatar he could have come in this world with all knowledge or learnt by himself. But he went to Guru Vashista to show the world the need and importance of Guru. Later on he acquired knowledge from Guru Vishwamitra and Sage Agastya.  Krishna went to Guru Sandipani and acquired knowledge. The role of a Guru and his greatness are explained in the Guru Gita. The Guru Gita is a dialogue between Lord Shiva and his Shakti - Parvati Devi. In this the Lord explains the need of Guru, his powers and how to follow the Guru. 

Very few people have the ability to tap into the Guru within by themselves. The Guru within remains a mystery until the intuitive eye is opened. We need a Guru to help us open our intuitive eye. Choose a Guru with great care. Then follow his teachings unconditionally.  Your life will be transformed and you will live in this world with peace and joy and finally merge with the Supreme Bliss.