Guru

("#) --)
For gaining that knowledge, may one properly approach a teacher who is srotriya ( ) and a
brahmani.s.tha ( ). Srotriya ( ) is a scholar and brahmani.s.tha ( ) is the one who is
committed to this knowledge.

(/ "2 )
The guru is Brahma, the guru is Vi.s.nu, the guru is Mahesvara (Siva), the guru is the selfrevealing limitless Brahman. Salutations to that revered guru.

(689 / =)@
I always bow down to the lotus feet of my Teacher (Guru) by whose grace I know that I am
Vis.nu (the all pervading one) and the whole phenomenal world is superimposed on me alone.

: - (ABA))
It is only to him who has supreme unalloyed devotion to Isvara and likewise to the Guru that what is
conveyed by the way of inruction will give rise to enlightenment (truth will shine).

Salutations to Lord Daksinamurti, who is all pervasive like space but who appears (as though)

divided as Lord, teacher, and the self. (One Brahman is in this three-fold form as
Isvara, guru, and atma)

(C D F / )G# H)
Salutation to the lotus feet of my guru Sri Sankarananda whose only work is to deroy the moner
of primal nescience (ignorance) together with its eect, the phenomenal universe.

(/ "2 )
My salutations to that guru by whom the eye (of knowledge) is opened for the one blinded
by
ignorance, by applying the ointment (collyrium) of knowledge.

(/ "2 )
The letter 'gu' () ands for darkness, the letter 'ru' () ands for its removal. The Guru is so
called because he removes the darkness of ignorance.

(D / =)@

 (D / =)@
There is nothing in all the three worlds that can be considered as comparable to the
Sadguru who imparts Self-knowledge (Atmajnana). It may perhaps be thought that the
legendary philosophers one would be a t comparison, because it turns base metal into
gold, ju as the Guru turns an ordinary disciple into a realised soul. But even this
comparison is not apt because, the philosophers one does not make the base metal
turned into gold also a philosophers one like itself, whereas the Guru makes the disciple
another Guru like himself. The Guru is therefore incomparable and mo wonderful
(transcending all the worlds).

(D / =)@
By the fragrance emanating from the sandalwood tree all the other trees around it also
become endowed with fragrance, and those trees also completely remove the torment,
caused by heat, of all human beings who take shelter under them. So also the disciples who
have, by their good fortune, attained Self-knowledge from the Sadguru and who are full of
compassion eradicate completely, by their advice and teachings, the three kinds of
suerings , , ) and the three kinds of omissions (incurred by words,
deeds, or thoughts , ) of those who approach them.


(/ "2 )
My salutations to that guru who showed me the abode of the one who is to be known, whose
form is the entire universe and who pervades all that moves and all that does not move.

(/ "2 )
My prorations to that guru who is the truth, one who gives me happiness, who is of the form
of knowledge, who is beyond the pairs of opposites (like heat and cold), who is like space
(all pervasive), who is the implied meaning of That thou art ( ), who is one without a
second, who is beyond time, who is ever pure, free from likes and dislikes, who is without
movement, who is the witness of the mind and all emotions, who is beyond samsara (),
who is free from the three gu.nas (sattva, rajas, tamas , , ).

()IJ)
O maer, thou has out of sheer grace awakened me from sleep (of ignorance) and
completely saved me, who was wandering in an interminable dream, in a fore (that is
dicult to get through) of birth, decay, and death created by illusion, being tormented day
after day by countless aictions, and sorely troubled by the tiger of egoism,




(=)@
The Supreme Lord, moved by the devout and reverential homage of his disciples in accord with
scriptural prescriptions in countless former births, incarnates out of compassion in the form of a
guru; he thereby comes within the orbit of sight, freely transits to them the wisdom concerning
ultimate reality, and enables them to cross over the ocean of sorrowful samsara, the realm of
conditioned exience.

("2 )
The one who underands the teachings of the guru crosses this ocean of samsara (,
the life of becoming)

,
, (M )
Kabir wrote this verse to sing the glory of Guru, without whose help, one cannot cross this
ocean of worldly life () . He asks, If both, Guru and God in form of Govind were to
appear at the door, whose feet will I worship r? He answers, It has to be the Gurus feet
r, because without him, how would I have recognized (known) God?

,
, (M )
This body is like the vine of poison (sense pleasures), guru is the mine of ambrosia (nectar,

immortality). Even if you have to give up your head (to nd a guru), know it is cheap. (nding
a guru is not easy. Do whatever that needs to be done to nd one)

,
, (M )
Even if I make paper of the entire earth, all the trees my pen, all the oceans my ink, ill
cannot write (is not sucient) all the qualities of the guru. (nothing can really describe the
greatness of a guru)

()
I am devoted to the feet of guru.
I don't like anything else. Everything else is illusory like a dream.
This ocean of samsara has dried up. I don't have to worry about crossing it.
Mirabai says, Oh! Giridhar nagar (Lord Krishna), my eyes have turned inwards.
(Mirabai says she has got a dierent (opposite) vision now. She sees things dierently)

Says Lalleshwari (Lal Ded, 14th Century)

My Guru gave me but one Gurashabad;
He told me to move within from without.
That hit my (Lalla's) Nail, on the head;

I realised myself and shed o the veil;

Self realised, I began to dance
In freedom.

,

,




. (M )
Going through this life (likened to yamaghat i.e. the banks of death) is very dicult. Who else
can show the path but the guru. This delusion is like a mountain in the river (of life) and in
between are the boulders of ego. Passion and anger are the two big mountains and greed
like a thief, is a malignant growth. Pride and jealousy descend like rain from the
overhanging clouds. The winds of illusion tosses one around. Kabir says, Lien Oh! good

men, how can one cross this river (without the guidance / grace of the guru)?

Without the maer, who can show the path? The way is terribly dicult. Doubt crosses the
path like rivers gliding through mountainous regions and there is egotism like big boulders
in the rivers. There are too passion and anger like two huge mountains on either side;
ambition dogs the footeps like a thief. And pride and vanity descend like rain from
overhanging clouds; self-deception violently tosses one like the winds. Kabir says: Lien O
ye good men, how can one traverse the path (without a maer as guide)?