Guru Purnima memories

2017

বাস্তব আমার সব সময় এ অনুভব হয় যে আমি যতটা বাংলা ভাষার মধ্যে অনুপ্রবিষ্ট হই, আমি ততটাই মহাপ্রভুর কাছে এসে গিয়েছি. জয় গৌর!

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2015

The life of a Luddite living in India. I can live without internet, but if we have the internet, can we have it please? Waiting ten minutes to see an email...

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2014

The rains are coming down monsoon fashion here in Rishikesh. I wish some of this would fall on the plains further south.

2014 Pleased to say that today on Guru Purnima, I have just completed the Yoga Tarangini project and handed it to Swami Veda Bharati to be sent for publication. Jai Guru. (115 comments)

I just arrived in Vrindavan. They apparently had "suspicion" of rain last night so it is not the promised 36 degrees nightly low, but at least 5 below that.

As yet, this commuting back and forth from Vrindavan to RIshikesh is very revealing. And I can tell you, of the two I am definitely a Vrindavan person. There is just a little yogi lurking in there that still cries out for attention.

But finishing the Yoga Tarangini has been a major accomplishment for me, and though some people may not understand, it is most definitely an act of the grace of Guru that this has happened. And that guru in this case takes the form of Swami Veda Bharati.

Swami Veda himself says that Guru is One but he comes in many forms. Coming in many forms is that he comes in forms that are necessary for our spiritual growth. At my age I should no longer have need of a father, but Swami Veda has, I am almost ashamed to say, been a father to me.

One learns in a servant/master relationship. We all find ourselves in such circumstances, wherever we go in life. If we pretend that we are not, then we are usually fairly rudderless.

So pick and choose your masters, my friends. On a gross level we learn gross stuff. Lucky is the disciple who sees the Guru up close.

Or rather "hears" the guru up close. But I should reserve that by saying that a little bit of Guru goes a long way.

So I really had to put some work into first of all editing the Sanskrit, which was fun, comparing manuscripts and stuff. Then translating and doing research where there were difficulties about the meaning and conflicts of opinion in the field of yoga research.

And I will tell you just now that my handing this work in... and I want to point out that Swamiji insisted on getting a CD, a concrete object that I could actually put in his hand. No, there is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that this Yoga Tarangini work was the grace of Guru.

s yet, this commuting back and forth from Vrindavan to RIshikesh is very revealing. And I can tell you, of the two I am definitely a Vrindavan person. There is just a little yogi lurking in there that still cries out for attention.

But finishing the Yoga Tarangini has been a major accomplishment for me, and though some people may not understand, it is most definitely an act of the grace of Guru that this has happened. And that guru in this case takes the form of Swami Veda Bharati.

Swami Veda himself says that Guru is One but he comes in many forms. Coming in many forms is that he comes in forms that are necessary for our spiritual growth. At my age I should no longer have need of a father, but Swami Veda has, I am almost ashamed to say, been a father to me.

One learns in a servant/master relationship. We all find ourselves in such circumstances, wherever we go in life. If we pretend that we are not, then we are usually fairly rudderless.

So pick and choose your masters, my friends. On a gross level we learn gross stuff. Lucky is the disciple who sees the Guru up close.

Or rather "hears" the guru up close.

But I should reserve that by saying that a little bit Guru goes a long way.

Yoga Tarangini was a great project. Swami Veda asked me to do this job, and I took it seriously and I think I did a good job, at least a conscientious one. And the final result looks good to me for someone who is, after all, just a dabbler in yoga.

This was a hatha yoga text, an early work from the Nath sampradaya.

So I really had to put some work into first of all editing the Sanskrit, which was fun, comparing manuscripts and stuff. Then translating and doing research where there were difficulties about the meaning and conflicts of opinion in the field of yoga research.

And I will tell you just now that my handing this work in... and I want to point out that Swamiji insisted on getting a CD, a concrete object that I could actually put in his hand. No there is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that this Yoga Tarangini work was the grace of Guru.

Well, I was just thinking about that Yamarajji. You see, You gotta serve somebody. And the person you serve will ALWAYS be your guru. The person you are dependent on is your guru. Like mother, father, etc.

So your employer is always going to be a guru. And that is the problem. You need to have a good guru, otherwise it is a challenge. In this case, I have two very good "employers" you could say, and I have guru-buddhi for both of them. And this has been tremendously enriching, because once you actually DO have guru-buddhi for the person you are dependent upon, the channels of grace are opened. At the level of necessity.

You become what you associate with, and if you take money from someone, you can be sure that other stuff rubs off also.

That is what is called sparsha dosh. Money carries sparsha dosh. If you serve a criminal or a wicked person and take their money, yo u will be tainted. Like Bhishma and Drona.

And if that person is wicked (for want of a better term) you will take on those qualities through the service. It will form your character in a way that is pleasing to the wicked person.

If your character is very strong, like a Vibhishana or a Vidura, you might be able to survive, but mostly we mere mortals capitulate.

Like a mirror, you take on qualities. Even in opposition, you take on the qualities of the opposite. That is why, for instance, Kamsa by fearing or Chedi by hating, could end up merging with Krishna. They took on Krishna's divine quality.

The purpose of fathers, mothers, gurus... and indeed, since all relationships contain the others to a degree, friends, lovers and even servants and admirers, is to form us in a particular way. When you accept a relationship, you accept that deal.

Love softens you and makes you vulnerable to that influence. And only a higher love acts as a prophylactic against undesirable change.

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2012

Desire always points to something higher.