In The Clutches Of An Incompetent Teacher

By Staff

Monday, June 29, 2009, 14:20

It is indeed a great fortune to be gifted with a Sadguru. Rare it is to be blessed with a Sadguru. When one's bakti in God ripens, God in the form of the Guru shows Himself before the devotee to lead him out of the endless succession of birth and death. Though we may sometimes think that we have chosen the ideal Guru with regards to the teachings that may have appealed to us, it is in truth the Sadguru who has chosen us. However sometimes, Prarabda could land one with a Guru who is incompetent himself which puts the Guru and the follower in trouble. Sri Ramakrishna illustrates the fact in a simple happening.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa on His way to the pine grove, heard the croaking of a bull frog. He thought that the frog would have fallen a prey to a snake and resumed his way. On His return, Sri Ramakrishna again heard the croaking of the frog. Upon peeping to see what the matter was, the master found a water snake that had seized the frog. The snake could neither swallow it nor let it go. The frog's suffering was thus inexplicable. Had it been a victim of a cobra, death would have embraced it just one gulp, silencing it forever.

Since it was a water snake, the frog was at the utmost torture. Such is the case of an incompetent teacher and the follower. The sufferings are severe at both the ends. The disciple can neither get himself free from the shackles of the world nor can he get rid of the ego and attain liberation.

Blessed are the ones who are guided by a Sadguru, who bestows the greatest blessing of His blissful state to the disciple.