Preamble: This is a hymn of sixteen verses in Sanskrit on Guru. The first fifteen among those are in Bhujangaprayātam, of the Jagati metre, and the last one is in the Upajati, a mixture of Tristup and Jagati. The poem chiefly describes the origin, features, greatness, and functions of Guru, and closes with a note of prayer in the last three verses. The mainstay of the content consists of Vedanta literature, life and message of Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Saradadevi, and Swami Vivekananda (Swamiji) as also the insights received from the venerable monks of the holy Ramakrishna Order.
1. Origin of Guru
तदोंसत्पदैर्यत् समुद्गीयमानं परं ब्रह्म तत्त्वं विभु ज्ञानमीशम् ।
दयामेत्य गम्यात्मना सम्बुभूषु प्रणम्यं प्रणीयात्म पूज्यं ह्यनीशम् ॥१॥
Translation: That which is eminently and eloquently described by the words 'om' 'tat' 'sat', the Brahman, supreme principle, all-pervading, constituted of knowledge, sovereign, verily without an overlord, being imbued with mercy, and wanting to manifest perceivably, assumed a form that could be revered by bowing down, and worshipped by all…
Notes:
1. Compare The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna: … in every age God incarnates Himself as the guru, to teach humanity. Satchidananda alone is the guru."
2. The word atma in the fourth foot means ‘form’. Body or form is one of the meanings of the word atma according to Amarakoṣa. Lead to the next verse: The characteristic features of Guru are given in the following verse.
2. The Traits of Guru
पवित्रं प्रियं पूरुषार्थैकहेतु त्रितापापहं पापहं मोक्षसेतु ।
शुभं शोभनं भाति वात्सल्यकेतु गुरुं मन्वते तद् विदां मान्यमान्याः ||२||
Translation: That shines as the immaculate, loveable, the unconditional means to the ends desirable to men, remedy to the three afflictions, destroyer of sins, bridge to the ultimate liberation, auspicious, beautiful, and marked by affection – that principle, the eminent among those who are venerable to the wise understand as Guru.
Note: Vatsalyaketu ‘marked by affection’: Ketu familiarly means one of the planets mentioned in the Vedic sciences. In the traditional lexicons the word also denotes ‘flag’, ‘sign/ mark/ indicator’, etc.
Lead: How does Guru work in the manifest state when he assumes a comprehensible form? This is said in the following verses.
3. Characteristic Functions of Guru
सदा काममोहादिमायां नुदन्तं मुदा रामकृष्णादिमन्त्रं दिशन्तम् ।
चिदानन्दकन्दं नरं दीप्तिमन्तं हृदा सम्भजेऽहं गुरुं धीप्रदं तम् ॥३॥
Translation: I keenly worship heart and soul that Guru who invariably removes lust and delusion, lovingly initiates with the mantra of Rāma, Kṛṣṇa etc., who is essentially Knowledge and Bliss, and is effulgent, who blesses with understanding, and is human.
Notes:
1. ‘Rāmakṛṣṇādimantram disantam’ initiates with the mantra of Rama, Kṛṣṇa etc.,’: This word ‘Rama- kṛṣṇa’ when compounded differently, may also mean Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna, and in that case ‘ādi-etc. includes all other spiritual luminaries of the modern age.
2. The words cidānandakandam and diptimantam are in apposition to naram, and it shows that the Guru is not to be taken as an ordinary human being. Sri Ramakrishna said: ‘Satchidananda alone is the Guru. If a man in the form of a guru awakens spiritual consciousness in you, then know for certain that it is God the Absolute that has assumed that human form for your sake." Lead: The very smile, words, and deeds of the Guru are uplifting in effect, says the next verse.
4. Guru Is Divine All-Round
स्मितं यस्य नित्यं सुखं सन्तनोति सितं मानसं योग आधाररूपम् ।
कृतं मङ्गलं मञ्जुलं सञ्चिनोति तमीडे गुरुं सत्यमात्मस्वरूपम् ||४||
Translation: I glorify that Guru whose smile spreads the Eternal Bliss, whose pure mind is a support in Yoga, and whose deed brings pleasant, auspicious rewards, who is an incarnation of Truth, and is my soul Self in essence.
Note: sitam mānasam yoga ādhārarūpam ‘whose pure mind is a support in Yoga’: The science of Yoga says that the mind of the struggling soul on the path of illumination can be stabilised by contemplating on a mind that is devoid of desires – ‘vitarāgaviṣayam vā cittam.
Lead: The effects of past karma are a huge burden on the spiritual seeker. Guru alleviates the intensity and facilitates the spiritual ascent. In exceptional cases the Guru wipes out the karma completely. This is said in the next verse.
5. Guru Wipes Out the Effects of Karma
चिरं जीवभावं समागम्य यद्यत्तनूवाङ्मनोभिः कृतं कर्म सर्वम् ।
समूलं समुन्मूलयन्तं समुद्यत्सुकारुण्यमीडे गुरुं छिन्नगर्वम् ॥५॥
Translation: I glorify that Guru in whom profound mercy wells up with profuse spontaneity, who destroys arrogance, and thoroughly eradicates all the karma performed through body, speech, and mind, occasioned by phenomenal mode of existence.
Lead: Guru comes down to the level of the disciple and helps him out from wherever he stands – this is expressed in the next verse.
6. Guru Is an Eternal Aid to One and All
मुमुक्षून वरान् मन्दमध्याधिकारान् गुरुः प्राप्य तेषां बलादिं परीक्ष्य ।
समानुद्दिधीर्षुर्विभज्योपदेशान् विधत्ते करालम्बमीहां समीक्ष्य ॥६॥
Translation: The Guru, having accepted the poor, mediocre, and the meritorious pupils, assessing their strengths and weaknesses, and willing to emancipate all, teaches them according to their level, and stretches a helping hand on seeing their efforts.
Lead: Sublimation of the five sense organs is dealt with in the next five verses. First in sequence comes the sense of smell, the grossest of the five.
7. Means to Sublimate the Olfactory Sense
गुरोः पादयोरर्पितं पुष्पमाल्यं पदाधोरजो यः समाघ्राय चित्तम् ।
परावर्तयेद् गोचरं कूटशल्यं वगम्यातिगच्छेत् स गन्धप्रबन्धम् ॥७॥
Translation: He, who smells the flowers and garlands offered at the feet of Guru, inhales the (aroma of) dust beneath his feet, and withdraws the mind by realising that the external sense object is a hidden poison, that disciple transcends the olfactory system. Lead: Next comes the sense of taste, and that is addressed in the following verse.
8. Means to Sublimate the Gustatory Sense
अपामिन्द्रियं स्वादलोलं महाशं यदस्योपदान्तौ बुधा अप्यनीशाः ।
गुरूक्तं व्रतं पादपूजावशेषं ययेवाजुषन्ते विनीतास्तयीशाः ॥८॥
Translation: The learned too (not to speak of others) are incapable of controlling the sense organ which is made up of the water principle, restless due to taste, and of large appetite. They alone are capable of subjugation of the gustatory system, who are disciplined and trained, eagerly abide by the food regimen set forth by the Guru, and partake of the remnants of the worship of the feet of Guru.
Note:
1. ‘vratam’ commonly means a vow, or discipline. Here, however, it means ‘food’.
Lead: The sense of sight comes next in order. Meditation on the sinless form of Guru is presented as the means to sublimate the faculty of vision.
9. Means to Sublimate the Visual Sense
अगम्येऽपि रूपं मिमीते यदक्षं स्वभावात् स्वमर्थं न हातुं समर्थम् ।
गुरो रूपमाराध्य दाध्यायमानो दरीदृश्यते चिन्मयं ज्योतिरान्तम् ॥९॥
Translation: The sense organ which cognises form, even in forbidden things, does so due to its nature: it cannot stop perceiving its object (it is programmed in that way!). But, he who worships the form of Guru, and intensely contemplates on his (holy) form comes to see in fullness, the inner light of Consciousness Absolute.
Lead: The sense of touch is very engaging, and the worship of Guru is put forward in the next verse as one of the means to overcome this weakness.
10. Means to Sublimate the Tactile Sense
बहि: स्पर्शजन्यं मनोज्ञं सुखं यन्न यायाद् वशं तस्य शास्त्रं गृणाति ।
ततो व्यावृतिर्नैव लीला नराणां पदं ते नमन् तत् स्वयं सञ्जहाति ॥१०॥
Translation: The pleasure which is derived from touch is enticing, and you should not come under its sway, says the scripture. Abstinence from tactile pleasure is not a joke. He who offers salutations at your feet (O Guru!) comes to abandon that (pleasure of touch) willingly!
Lead: The next verse deals with the subtlest of the five organs of knowledge, the ear, made up of the ether principle (ākāśa).
11. Means to Sublimate the Auditory Sense
स्वनं मातुमाकांक्षि नादेन्द्रियं यद्गुरोर्वाक्सुधाधारयाऽऽपूर्यतां तद् ।
कथाभिर्यशोभिस्तदीयैरुदन्तैः प्रमोमुद्यते योऽस्य कर्णौ हि कर्णौ ॥११॥
Translation: You engage fully the sense organ which is intent upon perceiving sound with the nectarine flow of words of the Guru. Ears of that disciple are indeed the ears, who very keenly enjoys listening to the stories, tales of fame, and incidents related to Guru.
Lead: All the organs of action, and the inner organ, the mind, are taken up, at a single stroke, in the next verse.
12. Subjugation of the Organs of Action and the Mind
तथा कर्मणामिन्द्रियं मुख्यमान्तं नियच्छेन्मुनिर्यो गुरुं सेवमानः ।
शमादिं निधिं प्राप्य धर्म्यं नितान्तं क्रमादुन्नमत्येव योगे स धीरः ॥१२॥
Translation: Likewise, the spiritual aspirant who controls the organs of action and the chief inner organ, the mind, for serving the Guru, acquires the treasures imbued with merit, sama (subjugation of mind) and the like, and gradually soars very high in Yoga.
Note: A disciple, in the beginning, per force, eschews the vagaries of his body and mind, for the sake of serving his Guru, but eventually finds himself increasingly acquiring spiritual merit, and scaling the heights of Yoga, despite his initial ignorance about the necessary qualifications of a spiritual aspirant. Thus, mere devoted service to Guru becomes a means for his spiritual illumination.
Lead: In spiritual seekers, there lingers on a very subtle, die hard weakness, the insatiable thirst for fame, which eats into the vitals of the being. That last infirmity too is fixed by Guru in his own way, says the next verse.
13. Guru Removes That Last Weakness for Fame
गुरो ते मुखे नाम यन्मे गृहीतं परप्रेमयुक्तं निशम्यानुशक्तम् ।
जिहासून्मदं मानभोगानुनीतं मनो मन्यते मे तृणं कीर्तिवित्तम् ॥१३॥
Translation: 0 Guru! Since, you called me by name, filling it up with Supreme Love, and my mind, after listening to it, progressively gained strength, therefore, it wants to give up the exaltation induced by joy of being honoured, and thinks that the (coveted) wealth of fame is mere straw.
Notes:
1. This is the idea – ‘In comparison to the Bliss that wells up within, when you call me by name, stuffing it, as it were, with Supreme Love, all joy that comes from wordly name and fame pales into insignificance’.
Lead: An interesting prayer, which many of us may want to make is expressed in the next verse.
14. Prayer for a Life in Harmony with Conscience
प्रभो त्वन्निदेशं ममान्तर्नदन्तं विदित्वाऽपि मायामृगं मार्गयन्तम् ।
अहेतुप्रवृत्तां कृपां वाहयन् मां तवोक्तिं नु चेक्रीयमाणं विधेहि ||१४||
Translation: O Lord! In spite of being cognisant of your guidance ringing within me, I always seek the mirage. Please shower your unconditional compassion and make me follow your words in toto. (Make me capable of living up to the dictates of my conscience – is the gist.)
Notes:
1. The Divine Guru has unthinkable ways to bring the arrogant, the obdurate to their senses. The word antar taken in the sense of proximity includes all this. He however is a blessed soul who picks up the cue at the first instance!
Lead: When Guru comes in human form, he is easily accessible, and the votaries are often immune to the divine influence, and fall prey to torpor. The next verse is a prayer seeking to tide the disciple over this impediment.
15. Prayerful Submission
नृदेहे सुवन्द्यं सुवेद्यं सुसेव्यं प्रमादान्न च त्वां भजे दीनबन्धो ।
त्वयाऽऽदाय नेयोऽवनीयः स्वतोऽयं प्रपन्नार्तिहारिन् सुकारुण्यसिन्धो ॥ १५ ॥
Translation: O! remover of afflictions of those who submit themselves to you! Ocean of deep mercy! Due to inadvertence (and incompetence) I don’t serve you at all, though you are in the human form, and could be easily honoured, known, and worshipped. (Therefore) O friend of the lowly! You please accept this fellow (i.e. myself), train him and protect him out of your own accord.
Lead: The next verse glorifies the inscrutable ways of Gurus.
16. Glorification of the Methods of Gurus
दयाघनानां शरणागतेषु दोषापनोदेन गुणानुवर्धनम् ।
अलोकसामान्यमिदं वरेण्यं संसिद्धिसूत्रं जयति स्वतन्त्रम् ॥ १६ ॥
Translation: Abiding nourishment of the noble qualities (in the disciples) with a view to removing the defects, is an extraordinary, cherishable, independent technique of liberation, that excels (gains glory), of those (illumined souls) who are the embodiment of compassion for the disciples who take refuge in them.
Notes:
1.This verse is in the Upajati vṛtta: the first and the third feet are in the Upendravajra of the Tristup metre, the second is in the Indravamsa of the Jagati, and the fourth in the Indravajra of the Tristup.
Courtesy: The Vedanta Kesari