The Shastras are the ocean of knowledge and the Upanishads have tried to explain the essence of the Shastras. There are 108 Upanishads in total of which Guru Upanishad and Shishyopanisad are two most important Upanishads.
Shishyopanishad explains the definition of a true disciple, what are the signs of a disciple, what are his duties etc. Guru Upanishad clearly states that it is the duty of the Guru to help his disciple to get rid of all his worries. This is a very tough job assigned for the Guru, they have also not spared the Guru. It mentions that a Guru can’t live in peace if his disciple is going through tough times.
It is clearly mentioned in Guru Upanishad that Guru should help his disciple to get free from all his troubles, he should resolve all his problems and the disciple can progress quickly only if he is free of all the troubles. Till this time, whatever that is mentioned is in the favor of the disciples and he is correct. Who so ever Rishi mentioned it, he must be a very straight forward Guru, a Guru of very high dignity, but the same Guru has also written Shishyopanishad.
Shishyopanishad mentions the duties of a disciple. I am not going to tell you the things mention in this text that the disciple should serve his Guru, he should press his legs, he should wash his clothes, serve him sweets, fruit or offer money. I don’t want to get involved in these discussions; I am leaving it for those Gurus who themselves don’t have anything and due to which they preach these things to their disciples.
You can find a lot of such preachers in Haridwar, Mathura. I have to leave something for those preachers and I am leaving these stuffs for them. They will preach you, “Son, I need to construct a temple. Please donate Rs 500/- or offer me clothes or fruits or sweets.
There are several other points also which a disciple should understand. This Upanishad mentions the Guru-Disciple relationship as that of lovers. Kabir has mentioned in his saying- “Main To Ram Ki Bahuriya, Ram Hi Mera Pati Hoyi” which means that I am wife of Lord Ram. The current generation may find it very strange as how can a man be wife of someone and such thought perplex us because we see the Guru as per His physical form, we don’t see how great a person He is.
We observe everything by two ways or rather a disciple observes by two ways – a disciple doesn’t become a disciple in the beginning. In the beginning he is just a curious man. He has lots of curiosities in his mind. Even though he proclaims himself to be a disciple, however he is just a curious man at that time. Disciple is a common word. Whosoever comes to Guru and touches his feet, proclaims himself to be a disciple. He says, “I am your disciple and I am visiting you since last five years.”
The Guru replies, “Fine Son! Sit down.” Now by doing so, neither the man becomes disciple nor is the Guru a true Guru. Actually both of them are fraud. This is just a tradition. He said, “Gurudev, Gurudev.” And the Guru reciprocates saying “Shishyadev, Shishyadev.”
This relation is just like getting engaged. Both of them know that one day they will get married. However, the man can’t introduce the girl to someone saying she is my wife, rather he introduces her as his fiancee. Similar to this the relationship between Guru and the disciple in the initial stage. Due to this reason, the first Diksha he takes is known as “Praarambhik Diksha” or the initial Diksha.
Initially the disciples are just like herons. Their only intention is to catch hold of Guru the moment they see Him, just like a heron concentrates on catching a fish. He thinks that I have touched the feet of Guru and now I should be blessed with a child. Guruji, my business is not running successfully, you need to take care of it, I wish to become a millionaire and you have to work for it, there is some quarrel in between husband and wife and you need to resolve it, all this needs to be fixed by you only Guruji. I will not do anything because I have become a disciple now. I have offered Rs 300/- to you and that’s all what was needed to be done from my end.
Now you can think of the situation of a Guru. A man leaves his house with lots of expectations while going to meet his Guru. It would be even impossible for even Lord Krishna to fulfill your desires. He might have to take 10,000 births to fulfill your desires. Initially you didn’t have any issues and now you don’t have anything else from issues.
Due to this reason when that disciple comes initially, he is a mere curious man. He is curious about what is a Guru, he is curious about what is a disciple, whether He is a Guru or not or whether he would be able to help me out or not….fine let me test Him.
Gurudev I am facing lots of issues in my business, please flourish my business. Now Guru won’t say to you that your deeds are all wrong, He will just bless you and say things will get better because you have touched His feet and offered Him some money. Guru will say like this only. If you seek your parent’s blessings, even they will say that everything will get fine. Now one month after this meeting, the disciple will come again and will complain, “Guru Ji! You told me that my business would grow double but it hasn’t happened so…..yes I told you that it will become double, I would not have abused you.
However the fact is that there is no bonding in between the two of us. If you will touch my feet, I will definitely bless you. This is a fact and I don’t want to misguide you because I wish that you all should reach your actual destination. What is the reason that the Guru and disciples are called lovers?
The reason for that is initially the disciple is an anxious man, he has lots of questions in his mind, whether this Mantra is correct or not, whether the Sadhanas mentioned in the magazine are correct or not, I have chanted hundred rounds of the Sahastra Lakshmi Mantra yet Lakshmi has not appeared before me Guru Ji! For them, it is like the moment they complete their chanting, Goddess Lakshmi should appear before them with a plate full of diamonds. She should plead that shut chanting the mantra now and please accept my grants.
However, Goddess Lakshmi won’t come before you like this, only doubts will increase in this way whether the Mantra is correct or not…..the Mantras are correct and so are the Gods, it is your anxieties which are not resolved till now, your mind still has a lot of questions and you are still on the first stage.
The next stage is that of a disciple. This next comes when the anxieties are resolved. In this stage he comes to the Guru and the Guru tries to explain him, however he can’t understand those things. His only aim of life is that these things should happen in my life. He doesn’t have any goal in his life, he doesn’t wish to perform Lakshmi Sadhana, he doesn’t aim to reside the Guru in his heart.
His thought is that when I chant the following mantra, then this should happen. Lakshmi should appear before me the moment I complete the Lakshmi sadhana, I should obtain good health the moment I perform a sadhana related to health. There should be no quarrel in my house, my wife should stand before me with joined hands even if I abuse her.
However, this can’t be true in this century. If you will stand in front of your wife, even she will stand in front of you and will not bow down before you. It used to happen hundred years back that husbands used to drink alcohol and wife would not utter a single word, she used to stand still with her head pointing towards ground. However, this in not true in the current century.
Thus when a person gets to the second stage, his anxieties gets resolved and slowly and steadily when he keeps on getting rubbed against the Guru, when he keeps on getting in contact of the Guru, he starts to think that all these things are worthless, there are something in life, which are worth achieving in life. It should not happen in my life that I get in contact of a sea and all that I can accumulate is shells.
You can obtain at max twenty to twenty five thousand rupees from the Guru if he extremely pleased, he can give you a Sadhana which can help you get fifty thousand Rupees, he can resolve you quarrels and it is just like collecting shells in life. And as far as problems are concerned, I challenge you and give you a period of one month that find a person who has no problem in his life…if you succeed to find a single person who can say that he doesn’t have any problem then I will worship you as a God.
Even your neighbors will not allow you to live without problem; they will try to create some problems before you. If they can’t do anything, they will throw stones at your house. After some day, he will throw water from the top and will create some headache for you. This century is full of troubles only. If you come to Guru to get your issues resolved, then you are reaching Him in the form of an anxious man only, there is no Guru- Disciple relationship in between you two.
However, when the Disciple achieves consciousness, then he can understand what all these things are.
I am not saying that you should leave all these. Many people say that it is necessary to leave home, however nothing will happen by leaving home. This is a cowardly action; it is like you are trying to escape from your responsibilities. You should live your life as a householder yet your bag should be full of precious gems and the most important thing is that how will Guru reside in your heart? How can you witness Goddess Jagadamba? If you desire to see the Goddess just to ask Her for an amount of five Crores then you won’t be able to get Her glimpse even after worshiping Her for five crore years.
It is immaterial whether you accomplish one Sadhana or several thousand Sadhanas, you won’t achieve success in it till the time your intents are not pious, till the time there is no selfishness. You should live a selfless life in this field, being selfless is something different, usage of chapattis is different and so is the usage of clothes. You can’t wear chapattis instead of clothes and neither can you eat clothes in place of chapattis. Similarly the problems of a household life are different and it is different to reach a certain level in the field of Sadhanas. Both have their own significance in life, you can’t mix both of them. If you say to Guru that you will start the Sadhanas once your problems get resolved; for that I have already told you that instead of one month, I am giving you five thousand years to get a man who has no problem in his life.
Problems will ever exist; initially you had the problem that you were not getting married and after marriage your will become unhappy, once she becomes happy your mother would desire to see a grandson, once the grandson is born then the new problem that will arise before you will be his health. You have yourself created problems in life. Then you will say, “Guru Ji, I have this problem, initially I had just one problem and now they have accumulated to four.” I have not given you these problems; you have yourself created these problems for yourself. Now when the son will grow up, you will get tensed for his marriage, after marriage you will complain that the girl is not good, you will be perplexed about the arrangements for dowry, for another son, you will say that I have brought him up and made he well settled in life and now he is just giving me five hundred rupees. What will happen from all these things in life?
You are yourself creating these issues and then you come before me saying, “Guru Ji, what should I do now?” Now what can I do if you are not been able to give birth to a son….please do something Guru Ji…..I can I do? If you are not getting a son, you need to put efforts in that direction, what can I do for it? This is not my job. Still you will say that I need to put some efforts for you to get a son….
Please don’t create such circumstances before me, you need to understand both these situations, stretch forward in your life with the intent that I need to solve my material as well as spiritual desires, I will activate my Kundalini in this life, I will get a glimpse of Goddess Jagadamba in the life, I will reach that greatness where the Guru will reside in my heart, I will achieve totality in this life only and I will get an admission into the Siddhashram in this life only….to be continued….
SadGuruDev Shri Kailash Shrimali
It is mandatory to obtain Guru Diksha from Revered Gurudev before performing any Sadhana or taking any other Diksha. Please contact Kailash Siddhashram, Jodhpur through Email , Whatsapp, Phone or Submit Request to obtain consecrated-energized and mantra-sanctified Sadhana material and further guidance,