The full moon of Guru

Guru as the remover of darkness

When I set out on my journey towards self discovery, I had already been acquainted with many personalities who occupied the seat and function of instructing and initiating others on the path of self-realisation and devotion. I had the rare fortune to be sheltered by my father, from those who were more or less impostors and taught the means of identifying who could be trusted, based on their behaviour and instructions.  However, the one who really removed the dark lens of ignorance from my eyes was in fact an Avadhuta, a heretical mystic with knowledge of every school of philosophy and religion. His instructions to study, practice, deliberate, and meditate deeply changed my life forever, without his instructions I would be stuck in the dogmatic prism of institutional bias, reading the scriptures as if they were upside down, scrambled, and incoherent. The true Guru thus, is the one who removes the darkness of ignorance by shining the torchlight of transcendental knowledge.

It is said in the tantra and Vedas that the Guru is "Saksad Bhagavan" or the living manifestation of God himself. Now, my guru NEVER allowed me to treat him as such, refer to him as such, nor even consider him all that special. I later understood that it simply meant that he had made himself completely transparent, so that I would not focus on him at all, but only the divine knowledge of the super soul and its relationship with the individual soul. He removed himself from the equation and explained the Super-soul to be the true guru.  He bowed to Guru, and taught me to do so as well. Thus although I have been separated from him for a long time now, we are never apart. 

On this day, Guru purnima, I bask in the protection, instruction, and forgiveness my Guru has bestowed upon me. I give unlimited praise, obeisance, and respect to that personality who has realised and embodied the complete truth of reality, Sat-Cit-Ananda. I see all those personalities who have instructed, initiated, and challenged me to be manifestations of that one supreme Guru. In the Vaishnava system this Guru is Called Balarama, Nityananda, or Sankarshana. In shaiva systems, he is called Mahakala, Shiva, Shambo, or Bolenath. In Buddhism, he is Vajradhara and Mahakaruna. In shakta tantra, he is none other than Tara devi. 

'Gu' means darkness and 'Ru' means light. Thus, Guru is the one who removes darkness by the power of his light. Or, we can see that Life is a combination of both living, and dying. Life and death, the black and white of truth, thus Guru is the highest acceptance the good and bad of truth, the equipoise of being. We meditate on Guru, by finding the middle point of his feet in our skull, breathing the swan in and out, and finding the pulsation of his instructions emanating from the Ajna chakra.  

I have not been granted his service and thus I remain on the outside of love, waiting for him to call me to his side, so that I may assist him as he serves the divine couple of REALITY and LOVE, Sri Sri Radha-Krsna.

May this meditation, this tantra of Guru, allow you to see beyond the form and then return to simplicity of the Gurus humanity to fall in love with that personality who truly loved you enough to tell you the truth. JAI GURU!

#Jainitai