Reverence For Your Guru

Anecdotes

-Staff

By Staff

Wednesday, July 16, 2008, 11:11

When a guru was sitting and teaching his disciples, one day he said: 'Guru Brahma, S'ishya Brahma, Sarvam Brahma'. Thus the guru was implying that everything in the universe was Brahman. Every day, one disciple was accustomed to greet the guru respectfully on his arrival, but after this particular event, he did not do so and he never got up from his seat.

The guru questioned him on this strange behavior and the disciple replied that the previous day, the guru had said that everything was Brahman and therefore there was no difference between them.

Then the teacher felt that what he said came back to him as a boomerang and he wanted to teach the student a good lesson. He went to the board and wrote 'Guru Brahma' as two different words. He also wrote 'S'ishya Brahma', and 'Sarvam Brahma'. When you look at theses three, though Brahma is occurring as the same in all the three, the Guru, S'ishya and Sarvam are different.

Only when these three words also become one, you can say that all are one. Thus, until you are able to experience this oneness of all in practice, the student will remain a student and a teacher will remain a teacher and there is no escape from the need for the student having to respect the teacher. The basis is one but the containers are different.

Wherever his foot was planted, a sturdy lotus bloomed and bore him on its petals. That is why he came to be called, lotus-footed Padmapada! The grace of the guru enabled him to master all knowledge and shine as a brilliant exponent of the ancient wisdom.