Vivekachudamani 33
brahmanyuparatah santo nirindhana ivanalah |
ahetu kadaya sindhur bandhur anamatam satam ||
(Sankaracarya's Vivekachudamani 33)
A guru is one who is well-versed in the scriptures, pure, unafflicted by desires, a perfect knower of the Supreme, who continuously abides in the Supreme, who is as calm as the fire that has burnt up its fuel, who is a spontaneous ocean of mercy that needs no cause for its expression, an intimate friend to all good people who surrender to him.
Everyone has a blazing fire within his heart-a blazing fire of anxiety. That is the nature of material existence. Always, everyone has anxiety; no one is free from it. Even a small bird has anxiety. If you give the small bird some grains to eat, he'll eat them, but he won't eat very peacefully. He'll look this way and that way- "Is somebody coming to kill me?" This is material existence. Everyone, even a president like Mr. Obama, is full of anxieties. What to speak of others. Even Gandhi, in our country-he, was full of anxiety. All politicians are full of anxiety. They may hold a very exalted post, but still the material disease-anxiety-is there. So if you want to be anxiety-less, then you must take shelter of the guru, the spiritual master. And the test of the guru is that by following his instructions you'll be free from anxiety.
This is the test. Don't try to find a cheap guru or a fashionable guru. Just as you sometimes keep a dog as a fashion, if you want to keep a guru as a fashion-"I have a guru" -that will not help. You must accept a guru who can extinguish the blazing fire of anxiety within your heart. That is the first test of the guru. The second test is, mahaprabho kirtana-nrtya-gita- vaditra-madyan-manaso rasena. The second symptom of the guru is that he is always engaged in chanting, glorifying Lord Mahaprabhu - that is his business. Mahaprabhoh kirtana-nrtya-gita. The spiritual master is dancing and chanting the holy name of the Lord because that is the remedy for all calamities within this material world. At the present moment, no one can meditate. The so-called meditation now popular in the West is humbug. It is very difficult to meditate in this disturbing age of Kali [the age of quarrel and hypocrisy). Therefore sastra [scripture] says, krte yad dhyayato visnum.
In today's world guru became a fashion. Many people refused to go to temples. They prefer to go to Guru centers. A guru's duty is to guide his disciples to surrender to the Supreme Lord Kesava. A guru should not accept disciples to worship him on a daily basis. Nowadays people are going crazy by worshiping gurus but they fail to understand the Lord. We have hundreds of bonafide gurus who is coming from great paramparas but in this decade we are busy with a guru who can give material benefits. There is a group of guru followers who have a book. If the follower has material hardship they have to simply open this book randomly then the problem will be solved by showing the instruction on that particular page.
Are we born in this world to solve material problems or try to surrender to the Supreme Lord? In the 13th century, we had great gurus, in the 14th century we had humble gurus and in the 15th century, we had many paramatmas. Why we have forgotten them? Don't you think in every century we had great gurus? Due to time and changes of people mindset we have forgotten so many things. But the real Parama Gurus and Acaryas will remain till eternity. All those fashionable gurus will fade away in a few years time and the future generation will spit at us to make a mockery of our dharma by praying to fake gurus.
30 years ago we had a guru who claimed himself as Lord Krishna and he also makes a lot of magics but today very few glorifying him. Those gurus who taking credits for themselves without directing to Lord Vasudeva. will fade away due to time. So my dear friends let us make temples for Sripad Sankaracarya, Madhvacarya, Ramanucarya, Azhwars, and Nayanmars. Do not waste your time and money with fashion gurus because he is not bonafide and not linked to any parampara
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