A Guru destroys the darkness within the disciple. There is darkness within, much more darkness than on the outside. And everything is hidden in this dark passage within. One needs the light of knowledge to perceive this inner world. This very knowledge is bestowed by the Guru.
The grace of the Guru showers on one who has destroyed the ‘I’ factor and surrendered himself at the lotus feet of his Guru. One who has been able to come out of this difficulty will become a rare, noble and unique among others. The same thing happened with Nandlal Bose. He was one of the great painters of his time in India. Abanindranath Tagore, an eminent painter himself, was the Guru of Nandlal Bose. Abanindranath Tagore was the paternal uncle of Rabindranath Tagore.
One day Nandlal Bose came to meet Abanindranath Tagore. He had brought one of his paintings of Lord Krishna. Rabindranath Tagore couldn’t hold himself from praising the excellence of the painting. He has even accounted this incident in one of his recollection. Rabindranath Tagore himself was a great painter and only a painter can recognize and praise the subtleness of another painter. But when Abanindranath looked at the painting, he threw the painting on the ground and spoke angrily that the painting was worthless and that he need to learn how to paint from meek painters of Bengal who sell their paintings of lord krishna for two paise on Janmashtami days. He ordered him to go and learn from such painters.
Rabindranath Tagore was wonderstruck on hearing such words from Abanindranath Tagore. He couldn’t understand why his uncle threw away such a beautiful painting. At one moment, a thought crossed his mind to stop his uncle from being so cruel and rude which would be heart breaking to the disciple. But Ravindranath couldn’t gather the courage to interfere between the Guru and the disciple.
Nandlal touched his Guru’s feet, picked up the painting and left without uttering a word. For there years, nothing was heard of Nandlal. Neither he came to meet his Guru nor any news of his whereabouts. When a disciple separates from his Guru, the Guru himself gets pretty distressed. Nandlal’s absence troubled Abanindranath Tagore a lot. He even sent out few people to find out Nandlal’s location.
Rabindranath Tagore was quite perplexed at this behaviour of his uncle. On one hand he himself had scolded Nandlal and broken his heart and on the other hand he is distressed by Nandlal’s absence. Rabindranath couldn’t hold himself any longer and told his uncle,”You have committed a great cruelty with Nandlal.”
After three long years Nandlal returned to his Guru’s place. He looked exactly like the same penniless painters whom his Guru had directed him to learn from. His facial appearance, his complexion had changed and he was dressed in torn worn out rags. One couldn’t recognize that he was the same Nandlal who had left there years ago. He bowed at his Guru’s feet.
Abanindranath got up from his seat and embraced Nandlal. This was a great reunion of the Guru and the disciple. It was a moment to be rejoiced, a spectacular vision indeed. Guru’s eyes welled up with tears. Nandlal had brought some of his painting that he had painted in these three years.
He admitted to his Guru that it was very right that he scolded. In these three years he has learnt a lot from those painters. He couldn’t have learnt about the art from well known painters. As established painters are lost in their pride and arrogance. Their egotism could have taught him nothing. Only these meek painters who are devoid of fame and who are free from vanity could teach someone. He thanked his Guru for the compassion and kindness.
Abanindranath Tagore was delighted and pleased to meet his disciple. The paintings of Nandlal in these three years were matchless, more remarkable than his previous paintings. Rabindranath was curious to know the secret behind this. The painting of Lord Krishna was still fresh in eyes of Rabindranath. He still praised on the excellence of the painting.
On insistence of Rabindranath, Abanindranath replied that, “I liked lord Krishna’s painting very much and it was indeed a remarkable painting. But I expected more from Nandlal. Had I given my assertion that the painting was beautiful, Nandlal would have felt contended and satisfied. He wouldn’t have exerted himself more to sharpen his skills, because when a Guru says something as ‘right’ it becomes a dead end. Then it becomes a hindrance for the development of his disciple. His disciples can bloom no more and get restrained. The sharpness of understanding that has now manifested in Nandlal could not have happened. I knew that a lot of potential is hidden in Nandlal.
That is why I scolded him at that time.” There is another fascinating story of a duck and a juggler. The duck used to catch fish at a pond. It threw the fish upwards into the sky and as the fish descended downwards it clenched the fish with its beak. It didn’t miss the fish even once. A juggler would observe the duck catching the fish everyday. He watched in awe how skillfully the duck did this task. He was perplexed and wondered how the duck had acquired such mastery. He began to practice with his sword. He threw the sword upwards in the air and clenched the sword with his teeth as it came down. Within a short span of time the juggler too gained mastery in this skill. Everytime he threw the sword in the air, it came exactly between his teeth and never descended on his throat. He didn’t make any mistake.
In this way, the juggler accepted the duck as his Guru. What a Guru teaches, the disciple learns. What a Guru trains, the disciple gets trained in it. What a Guru shows, the disciple sees. What a Guru instructs, the disciple follows. Where a Guru guides, the disciples heads in that direction. The juggler also learnt what his Guru had taught him. Soon the juggler gained fame and his skill was a hot topic of discussion in the kingdom. The king too heard about the juggler. He summoned the juggler to the royal court. The king said,”The entire kingdom is speaking of your jugglery with the sword. I would like to see your performance.”
The juggler took out his sword, threw upwards in the air and clenched the falling sword with his teeth. The entire audience was astonished by the juggler’s skill. A tiny error would have made the sword fall on his neck and put the juggler’s life at risk. The King asked,”Where did you learn this fine art? Who is your Guru?”
The juggler was confounded by the King’s question. He had learnt this skill from a duck and he had practiced after accepting the duck as his Guru. But he couldn’t utter his Guru’s name. The juggler felt ashamed to mention his Guru’s name. He replied,”Youy Majesty! I have acquired this skill all by myself just by my diligent practice only.”
The King was perplexed to hear such a reply. He thought that knowledge and expertise cannot be acquired without a Guru. A person who fails to acknowledge his Guru and feels ashamed to mention his Guru’s name can never achieve anything. The same happened with the juggler. He failed terribly. The king said, “Alright, I would like to see your performance once again. Get started.”
The juggler once again threw the sword up in the air but when he tried to clench the sword with his teeth, the sword missed the target and was about to fall on his neck. He held the sword in the nick of time. The King asked,” Where lies the fault? You failed this time.”
The juggler’s conscience cursed him for dishonouring his Guru. He had denied the contribution of his Guru. The juggler said,” Your Majesty! I was confused, I have deviated from righteousness. I have learnt this art from a duck. In reality, the duck is my Guru and this fault was the result of the curse of my Guru. Even after accepting him as my Guru I refused to acknowledge him. My Guru punished me in this manner. I now confess that the duck is my Guru.”
When you accept someone as your Guru, you should not doubt him. There should be no room for uncertainty. One should not find faults, shortcomings, imperfections in his Guru. The person who starts judging his Guru meets the same fate as the juggler. He fails like the juggler.
Sages and great personalities have said that even in a Guru’s scolding there lies great joy and sweetness. One who wants to experience this joy and sweetness should destroy the ‘I’ factor, surrender his existence, his being to his Guru and dedicate himself at the lotus feet of his Guru. By doing so, he becomes one with his Guru. Then the Guru resides in the heart of such a person. Then the person doesn’t fail like the juggler, but always remains victorious in all his endeavours like Nandlal.
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