All World
Gayatri Pariwar

The Bond of Faith, Dedication and Trust

Sometimes such moments arrive in our lives that may be called significant, historic or even life-changing. The moment when a relationship between a disciple and a Guru. is established may be counted as such an instant. In fact, nothing special happened externally, when we got associated with Pujya Gurudev and Vandaniya Mataji, but from the subtle point of view that moment became the basis of an unprecedented revolution; it became the turning point of life.

The reason for saying so is that the moment a bond is established between a disciple and a Guru, each and every part of the disciple's being is surrendered to Guru — the greatness, the divinity; and, the disciple, in turn, becomes eligible for manifesting the powers possessed by the Guru. A human being comes into the world with three God-given powers. Whatever we do or accomplish in our lives is based on these powers.

Of these, first one is the physical power. In the primitive years, when a human being took birth on this Earth, the land must have been rugged and barren akin to the surfaces of Moon and Mars. But using the physical power for thousands of years, human beings have made its surface plain and achieved miraculous feats. These bridges, factories, hotels, apartments, roads, malls, etc — are witness to the physical power of a human being. The physical body is certainly strong but it is not the strongest. The power of mind and thoughts is higher than that of the body. If the mind can be focused on a certain thought, then a man can make the way to the sky. Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Arthur Schopenhauer were not physically strong, but their scientific thoughts shook the world of their times. When such brilliant / blazing thoughts are focused, they give rise to a social revolution. Mahatma Gandhi, in spite of not being physically strong, had such powerful thoughts and willpower that the British were compelled to leave India.

America had to abolish the tradition of slavery due to the powerful thoughts of Harriet Stowe. The thoughts of Jean-Jacques Rousseau influenced the enlightenment across Europe and the overall development of modern political and educational system. Karl Marx's political and philosophical thoughts had enormous influence on subsequent intellectual, economic and political history and they established communism in half of the world. Pujya Gurudev's literature has laid the foundation of the new golden era.

The point being stressed here is that the power of thoughts and intellect is much higher than the physical power. The body and mind of a human being are certainly powerful, but there is third entity that is most powerful — and that is spiritual or emotional power. It is this power that makes the personality of a human being. The history of India is replete with strong personalities. Had Lords Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Mahavir, Saptarishis (seven seers), incarnated souls like Pujya Gurudev, the Gurus of Sikhs, the Tirthankars of Jains, etc not born in this land, it would not have become a Jagadguru. The true legacy of this sacred land of India is the angelic personalities born here and their work done for the welfare of the whole world.

The true value of a person is his exalted personality. It is such persons who can change the direction of breeze, and compel even gods to shower blessings. The virtuous traits that make such a personality are — Shraddha (faith), samarpana (dedication, surrender) and viswas (trust). The abovementioned virtues lay the foundation of the sacred bond between Guru and the disciple. It is the Shraddha that rules in the field of spirituality; only Shraddha is valued and only Shraddha gives power. Shraddha means unbreakable, immeasurable and profound faith in ideals and principles. Without Shraddha external rituals remain shallow; and if there is Shraddha, the miracles are seen to happen in the life of sadhaka or the disciple.

For a faith-filled sadhaka like Eklavya, the idol of clay becomes a live Dronacharya to teach him archery, the idol of stone becomes a Girdhar — Gopal (Lord Krishna) and gets ready to drink poison for Meera, and the idol of stone becomes Mother Kali for Ramakrishna Paramhansa. Where there is Shraddha, all the miracles happen there.

The divine grace can be obtained only on the basis of Shraddha. There are three powers that guide our world. They may be called Trideva — Lords Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. Mother is a form of Lord Brahma (the Creator) because she gives birth to the child, feeds and nourishes him; father is akin to Lord Vishnu as he nurtures and protects the child; and Guru (teacher) plays the role of Lord Shiva (Mahesh) as he uproots the evil traits and sows the seeds of virtuous traits in a person, thus paving the way for his upliftment. In this process of spiritual progress, Guru's grace is considered very important; and it can be achieved only through Shraddha (faith) and Samarpan (dedication). We all know that for getting successful in any educational degree, a student needs to register with a guide / expert in that field; then how can it be possible to attain the ultimate aim of life without a proper guide — a Sadguru? Had Amrapali, Angulimal, Ashoka not got the guide like Lord Buddha, the bliss they received would not have been possible.

Top attainments that Chandragupta, Shivaji and Vivekananda achieved in their fields would not have been possible without the guidance of their gurus namely, Chanakya, Samarth Guru Ramdas and Shri Ramakrishna Paramhansa respectively. We, the Gayatri Pariwar parijans, are fortunate to get supremely divine guides in the form of Pujya Gurudev and Vandaniya Mataji. On the auspicious occasion of Guru Pumima, there is need for awakening Shraddha — the very basis of Guru-disciple relationship. We need to recollect that we have surrendered to such a Guru whose life is an epitome of excellence in thought and deed.

On this Guru Purnima, let us rededicate ourselves to the ideals of Pujya Gurudev and faithfully imbibe the essence of upasana, sadhaka and aradhana - the triple elements of Guru-deeksha - in our daily routines. With Prayer-filled Guru Purnima Greetings to our readers, cflif-(Pranav Pandya)

Spendthrifts are prone to disgrace and suffering. Seventy one years ago when the whole nation was celebrating the achievement of independence, a great freedom fighter and patriot Param Pujya Gurudev, Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya, was engrossed in deep thought. Sitting in his `Akhand Jyoti' office at Mathura, he was reflecting on how to fully fructify this newly acquired independence. His eyes were moist with tears of, both, joy and pain. He was happy, certainly happy at the breaking of the shackles of bondage. Mother India had become free. For this freedom, Gurudev too along with numerous other brave sons and daughters of the mother had participated at the frontline of struggle. But his heart at the same time was throbbing with deep pain because this was a truncated happiness.

The great nation which stood the brunt of centuries of foreign invasions, and withstood every attempt to dismember her now stood divided by the actions of her own children. Blinded by their selfish thoughts and ego clashes these children sawed the mother nation into three pieces. Not only this, some such seeds were sown that led to percolation of this division to every nook and corner of the country — in the name of religion, caste, and language.

Everywhere these chauvinistic tendencies began to wreak havoc. At the time of independence itself, Gurudev was able to foresee all this with his divine insight. A dream was taking shape in his mind, the dream of reconstruction of India. To realise this aim he launched Yug Nirman movement. Through this he heralded an intellectual, social and moral revolution.