When one’s mind is confused regarding duty and
responsibility one should seek guidance from
higher authority. Prior to Mahabharat war, Arjuna
got confused whether to take up arms against his
enemies (who were also his kith and kin) or take
to begging. Therefore, he fully surrendered unto
the Lord and beseeched Him to instruct what was
in his best interest to engage in.
Two such instances came in the life of
Narendranath, when he met his would-be Guru -
Thakur, but could not accept him as Sadguru. At
one instance, he sang a song prior to the discourse
of Thakur at Ramchandra Datta’s home and also
ate sweets offered by him. Second time, he met
him through Professor William Hastie, but again
he considered Thakur to be an ordinary man.
When the urge for realizing God became intense in
his heart, he sought the help of Thakur; and upon
asking ‘what is God and how to realize Him’, he
got a soul-satisfying answer, he could realize that
Thakur was his Sadguru, that the crazy-looking
man was Paramhans (The enlightened one). It
is an extraordinary event in one’s life to accept
Sadguru as the Lord. Normally, we consider Guru
to be a knowledgeable person, saint, guardian,
social reformer or a miracle man, but don’t
consider him to be Sadguru. The day disciple
surrenders unto him, a metamorphosis happens.
It has been said – ‘Vande bodhmayam nityam gurum
shankarroopinam’ (meaning – Guru is equivalent
to Lord Shiva). If we worship Guru as Lord Shiva
and become one with that Super consciousness,
we become eligible for his blessings. Without this
surrender, we will not get any benefit. Knowing
the meaning of this shloka in this context is very
important because one can achieve everything by
becoming a humble disciple. Arjuna is saying –
Yachchhreyah syannischitam bruhi
tanme shishyasteaham shadhi mam twam
prapannam||(2/7)
Meaning: ‘Please tell me clearly what is best
for me; because I am your disciple and a soul
surrendered unto you. Please instruct me.’
It is easy to recite the Gita, but knowing its essence
and considering it to be milk (sudhirbhokta dugdham
gitamrutam mahat), drinking this nectar, i.e.
imbibing its teachings into one’s life is very difficult.
Having understood the meaning of this shloka, if
we introspect and find that there is no diminution
in our faith and devotion towards Gurudev and his
mission, then even from the subtle-causal realm, we
can receive all that which an ideal disciple should
get. ‘Twenty first century – Advent of bright future’
is the slogan given by Pujya Gurudev. If we believe
in Gurudev, then we should leave no stone unturned
in achieving that goal. Gurudev has assured many
times that the parijans working for the mission
should not worry about their problems; they will be
taken care of by him.
The disciple should develop anguish akin to that of
Arjuna. Such anguish was developed in the hearts of
Narendranath and Moolshankar and it made them
Swami Vivekananda and Maharshi Dayananda
respectively. Pujya Gurudev too surrendered to his Guru. He writes in his autobiography titled
‘My life – Its Legacy and Message’ – “On that
day, I wholeheartedly and completely surrendered
myself to Gurudev and my inmost soul silently
pledged: I hereby surrender to you all that I am
and have. I have not seen God, but you are my God
because you are guiding me towards my highest
good. I will explicitly mould my life in accordance
with the instructions imparted by you.”
Elsewhere Gurudev has written – The disciple
is born to fulfil the responsibility given to him
by his/her Guru in accordance with yugdharma
(the need of the prevailing times). Yugdharma
has its own significance. Considering it to be the
call of the time one should engage in it leaving
aside even very important tasks in hand. This is
similar to getting engaged in extinguishing fire
leaving aside everything else. Lord Shri Krishna
is talking of the same Yugdharma to Arjuna. The
essence of entire Gita is hidden in this context.
[To be continued]