~~OM~~

This whole Guru Gita is the king of mantras, because without devotion to the Guru you will never learn any other mantra. This is primary education. We want to fall in love with our teachers so we soak up their knowledge like a sponge.

We want to become worthy of their knowledge. And we want to demonstrate our appreciation by using that knowledge and practicing that knowledge. And take their inspiration and employing it in our lives.

I want to tell you a story, I hope you don't mind. Shankaracharya had four disciples. Three of them were extremely jnani type people: Sureshvarananda, Padmapada, and Hastamalaka).

The fourth disciple Trotakananda was a village boy who had no schooling and no knowledge at all. And one day Shankaracharya was teaching the three wise disciples, and Trotak took all the cloth down to the river. Remember at Joshi Math, how far it was from the cave where Shankara lived down to the river at the bottom of the valley?

And Trotak used to take all the cloth every day from all the disciples. And he said, "Hey, I have nothing to do with wisdom, I don't know Sanskrit, I don't know all this Jnan stuff, let me just have the privilege of serving you all. I want to serve the Guru, and I want to serve my Guru brothers, and I want to let everyone be free to spend the whole day in learning and practicing, and becoming filled with the bhava of our Guru. Just allow me the privilege to serve."

Trotak took all the cloth down to the river and washed all the cloth. And then he was carrying the cloth back, he folded it, he dried it in the sun on the bank of the river, and then he took buckets of water, and all the cloth on his head.

Shankaracharya was explaining to the other three disciples some very, very sophisticated aspect of Sanskrit grammar. And the other disciples said, "Guruji, we cannot understand you, can you please give us an illustration of how this principle is used?" And he said to them in answer, "Please wait for your brother disciple Trotak to come back, he will give us the answer."

And the disciple said, "What, what do you mean, he's the sevak of the organization. All he does is chop wood and carry water and do the seva. He never sits in the class, how would he give us the answer? We studied Sanskrit all these years, some of us are renowned pundits."

Shankaracharya went in to meditation and said, "Wait." And they all waited.

Trotak came marching up the mountain. It's a few miles straight up, and he's carrying the bucket of water, a harness over his shoulder, with two buckets of water and all the clothes on his head. And he's marching up the mountain singing in Sanskrit the answer and illustration to the proposition that the others couldn't understand.

All those extended practices, pranayam, they’re difficult and you can't understand it. But all of that good result can be attained in a moment through the selfless service of ones Guru as an actual expression of love. I love you so much I'm want to show it. And I'm going to demonstrate it by washing your clothes, I'm going carry the water, and I'm going to chop the wood.

Photo of Lakshmi Puja on October 25, 2007

At the end of the puja, Mahalakshmi was showered with flowers by all the devotees present!

Photo of the week - Oct 26 - Nov 1 2007
(Picture taken Oct 20, Devi Mandir, Lakshmi Puja celebration)

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~~OM~~

Let me tell you a story, if you don't mind. Lomash Muni was a great devotee of Shiva. And he had one disciple who was so disrespectful, never did any work, always was laying around. The Guru would say, "Disciple, please, don't act like that." And the disciple said, "Eh! Who cares for you Guru?"

And Lomash Muni said again and again and again, "Disciple, please understand that the best way for you to progress in life is through devotion to the Guru. And do what you say, and say what you're going to do. And be efficient, and move ahead with pure love and pure devotion. This will bring you the highest attainment."

And the disciple didn't listen. No matter how many times the Guru said, "Disciple, please!" The disciple didn't respond. And one day the disciple got very, very insulting to the Guru, even told lies to the Guru. And the Guru said, "Disciple, please, don't behave like that. Tell the truth. I'm your Guru, I only want for you the best that I can possibly offer."

And the disciple didn't respond, and Shiva got mad. And Shiva came there, and He took some water and said, "I curse you worthless disciple, you will take a thousand births in the lowest forms possible. You who disrespect your Guru, you who don't tell truth to your Guru, you who don't act in truth as a member of the ashram family. I curse you!"

And Lomash Muni said, "Shiva, I know my disciple is unworthy, and I know my disciple has committed error, but that’s my disciple. Now I'm going to sing a hymn to you." And he sang the great hymn from the Ramayana. Namah Misha Ishan a Shani Nerbana”. And Shiva said, "I'm very, very pleased with you Lomash Muni, I'm going to give you a boon. What boon do you choose?"

And Lomash Muni said, "Please, forgive my disciple." And Shiva said, "Well, I already gave him the curse, but because of your devotion I'm going to give him a blessing along with the curse. With every birth that he takes, that worthlessness, I pardon. In the lowest forms, whatever birth he takes, or she takes, he will always remember the name of Ram."

Well, that disciple immediately took birth as a crow. And that crow lived off cadavers that he found in the forest. And he had a miserable existence, he use to eat the dead flesh of animals that died in the forest. And he would spend all his time flying from place to place thinking what a miserable life I'm leading. “While I was a disciple to such a great Guru, I was disrespectful and now I have this to look forward to for one thousand births!”

And as he was thinking thus, he flew over Ayodhya. And he looked down and he saw Ram. And he said, "That's the avatar Vishnu, that's the Incarnation of the Supreme Divinity." And he flew down and started to watch the entire history of Ram. And he memorized the Ramayana.

So that when Garud had a doubt, “Hey, How could Ram really be Vishnu's avatar?” Garud went to Narad Muni and said, "Hey, Solve my question. He was a man wandering on the earth crying out for his lost wife. How could that be the Supreme Lord Incarnate? How could he be an avatar?"

Narad said, "I can't answer that question, you go to Shiva." Garud went to Shiva and said, "Shiva, I have a doubt. He who was supposed to be the Lord of the Universe, the Supreme Consciousness made manifest, was bound by snakes and tied up and had to call me to save him? How could he be the Supreme Lord, if he needed me to help him out? I'm just a lowly being on this earth."

And Shiva said, "I can't help you. You better go see Kaka Bhushundi." "Kaka Bhushundi?" "Yes, he's a crow. And he lives on the bank of Manasarovar, the great river at the bottom of Kailash." Garud went to see Kaka Bhushundi. And the King of the eagles bowed down to the lowest form of birds. And said, "You're my Guru, please teach me, how is it that Vishnu could come in the form of Ram?" And Kaka Bhushundi recited the entire Ramayana, and removed all ofGarud's doubts.

And so that's how we got the preservation of the Ramayana. We owe that old crow a great debt of gratitude.

Photo of the week - Oct 19 - Oct 25 2007
(Picture taken October 19, 2007)

On our daily morning walk, we stop by Napeshwar and pay our respects. Later on we pass Him again, but this time from a distance.
We can see Him now as the trees start losing their leaves.

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~~OM~~

The disciple went to the Guru and said, "Guruji, How can I see God?" And the Guru said, "Take a bath."

So the Guru and the disciple went down to the bank of the river, and they went under the water and they started to take a bath. And just as the disciple was coming up, the Guru held his head under the water until he was gasping for air. And his arms were flailing and he thought he would choke, he was gasping for air, he was gonna die.

And then the Guru pulled him up out of the water and the disciple went, "Huhhhhhh!!!" And the Guru said, "How did you feel?" And the disciple said, "I felt like I was gonna die!" And the Guru said, "When you feel that way for God, then you are entitled to darshan. That's when you'll get your darshan."

And that’s Vyakulata.