Excerpts From Amma's Satsang on Guru Purnima 2002

Amma doesn't like to say that She is a Guru. Her only wish is to become your humble servant, serving and loving you. As my children are insisting, Amma will say something. If a true mother-child relationship is developed, there itself we find the true Guru-disciple relationship.

Children may be adamant but if the mother too becomes as adamant as the child, then the child will perish. The mother has to patiently accept the wilfulness of the child and pacify him or her, that is the way of the mother. But, what if the child were to insist on playing with fire or jumping into water? The mother has to prevent the child from doing so for the child's own welfare. Likewise, the wilfulness of the disciple may be leading him or her towards grave danger. The Guru's nature is to point this out, but it may not necessarily be to the disciple's liking. The Guru is not one who merely receives the reverence of everybody, but one who has the attitude of reverence towards all animate and inanimate things.

One can say that God and I are one, but one cannot say that the Guru and I are one. The Guru is greater than even God. This is because it is only through the Guru that our mind becomes purified, thus paving the way towards becoming one with God. Like the grace marks* awarded to students who are not up to the mark, the Guru's Grace renders even an unfit disciple into a fit one. Only a disciple with a pure mind can attain liberation. It is the Guru who removes our ego. The ego can only be removed by proximity to the Guru.

The Guru and the disciple are not separate. Like Siva and Shakti they are one. The disciple is half disciple and half Guru. When the Guru becomes a part of a disciple's life, he can attain everything.

"The Guru is verily the life breath in me. Without the Guru life itself is not possible. I am just an instrument in the Guru's hands" This is the attitude that a true disciple has to develop. If we keep a seed in our hand, it will never sprout. It is only when it goes underneath the soil, that it can sprout.

God resides in our heart. Every moment, He speaks to us in soft, loving and simple words. We do not have the ears to hear this nor do we have the patience to imbibe those words. So we keep repeating our mistakes and keep experiencing the sorrows resulting from these mistakes. When we approach God with loving trust, devotion and total faith, then the indwelling divinity takes on the role of the Guru and leads us to liberation. This is how it happened with Arjuna. It is only when Arjuna developed an attitude of humility and surrender that Sri Krishna assumed the role of the Guru and advised him. Similarly it is only when the disciple hood in us is awakened, that each and every experience we encounter becomes the Guru, and not otherwise.

Only the disciple who shows the courage to knock on the door of death can reach the realm of immortality. This is what the story of Nachiketas (in the Kathopanishad) teaches us. The courage to face death coupled with compassion towards the world is what leads the disciple towards perfection.

We shed tears getting upset over others words and actions. If we are to cry then it should be for God, because that alone will help us. It will give us the strength to overcome all problems. Nobody in this world is willing to love us setting aside his or her own pleasures, and neither are we ready to do so. This is human nature. Spirituality gives us an understanding of the nature of the world and bestows upon us the mental strength to face all situations of life with a smile on our face. This spiritual knowledge comes from the Guru.

There are lots of books on Vedanta available nowadays. It may seem to us that there is no need for the Guru, as we can easily learn and understand spiritual principles from these books. Scriptures are like a map. When we decide to visit a new place, we first get a road map to know how to get there. But there are many things that are not mentioned in them. For example, the road condition may not be good, there could be unsafe areas which are dacoit prone through which we may have to pass, there could be other short cuts to reach the destination, etc. These details are not available in the route map. Only a person who has travelled before in that route can really guide us in the right way. Similarly, the Guru is one who has traversed the spiritual path before, and through our association with the Guru we can easily overcome all these obstacles.

It is not enough if we just study the scriptures. Even a very good eye surgeon has to depend on another surgeon if his own eye has to be operated upon. Only if he is willing to surrender and submit himself to the other surgeon can the operation be done. Only then will his vision be restored. Even if we have all the requisite intellectual knowledge, only when we are humble will the eye of knowledge (True Knowledge) in us open. To get a Ph.D. we have to accept a qualified person as our guide and work under him obediently following the instructions given. That is why Amma always stresses that a disciple should always have the attitude of a beginner. A beginner has patience, humility, enthusiasm and optimistic faith, which help him to attain knowledge.

To attain desired results, effort alone is not enough. We also need the Guru's grace. To obtain the grace of the Guru we have to please the Guru. That is, invoke the grace of the Guru. In the Hindu religion, freedom is granted to the earnest seeker to ask questions. But the questions should be asked out of earnestness to know. Shraddha (total attentiveness), devotion and faith in the Guru's words are required. Shraddha in the Guru's words is itself devotion and leads to faith. This takes us on the right path, to the goal. Total awareness, even in each and every word we utter, is required.

A disciple should always have a smile on the face, kind words on the lips and a compassionate heart. Such noble qualities will make the heart expansive, thus making one befitting to receive the Guru's grace.

Amma is speaking not as a Guru but as a mother to her children. It is enough if there is a true mother-child relationship. In such love there is no duality; only love exists. What we have to gain is this love and for that humility is necessary. May my children become fit vessels to receive this Grace.

*In India the education board has the option to add a predetermined quota of marks to the score of the candidates who have failed by few marks in their exams, so that they can be declared successful.