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| AHYMSIN Newsletter, Issue - August 2012 | |||||
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Guru Purnima Message 2012by Swami Veda Bharati This is a transcription of the lecture part of the Guru Purnima evening address by Swamiji on 3rd July 2012 at St. Maron’s Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. When we go over to the Meditation Center for silent meditation at 9:00 pm, many people throughout North and South America will join us; at 10:00 pm in the New York area, 9:00 pm in this area and so on – so there is a Guru-field. Many people know of this Full Moon Meditation, but . . . “I fell asleep.” “I forgot.” But you didn’t forget the movie on the TV. Is this how much you care for the source of knowledge, source of wisdom, source of that grace which can guide us, which can purify us, which can sanctify us? The word “guru,” in etymological history, is connected to the word “great” and “gravity.” From the moment we are born we are looking for a guru, someone to teach us, to guide us. We are constantly asking: What is that? Who is that? The ancient rishis sang out in wonder:
People ask:
We ask these questions and we want intellectual answers, but intellectual answers are no answers. Intellectual answers raise more questions, and each answer raises more questions. Only when the questions are resolved and the answer is a personal experience, a personal experience that we call in the ancient Upanishads, in the texts of the yoga tradition, ātma jñāna,aatma-jnaana, knowing the Self. Ātma-sākṣāt-kāra, aatma-saakShaatkaara, coming face-to-face and realizing this ātman, aatman, the being to whom no adjectives, no nouns, no verbs are attached, no names, no conditions, no spaces, no times, no histories, no futures – eternity alone, infinity alone. Knowing that Infinite Self is the path of yoga that Guru grants us, shows us if you’d only listen, if you’d only follow, if you’d only practice. And when we truly aspire, truly – not as an occasional interest: “Oh, that was an interesting book. Oh, that was a nice one. I’ll read it for you.” No! Does it stop there? Hmmm? When you truly aspire, a prayer rises in you. Many of you know the Mahā-mṛtyuñjaya prayer: Om tryambakaṃ yajāmahe sugandhiṃ puṣṭi-vardhanam. The key word in that prayer I’ve never explained before. The key word in that prayer is mukṣīya [pronounced muksheeya]: “May I be freed.” “May I be liberated.” Waking up, wake with the prayer: “Mukṣīya! May I be liberated today!” Go to sleep at night, thinking “Mukṣīya! May I be liberated in a divine dream! May I be liberated in my sleep. May I wake up a liberated being. This morsel of food I eat, may I thereby, mukṣīya, be liberated, be freed from bondages, false concepts, names, conditions, pasts and futures, habituations, imprints that bind us, that tie us down. May you be enlightened. May I be enlightened. When we truly thus aspire – truly! Not an occasional desire: every now and take interest, drop into the church once a week, come to The Meditation Center . . . Ummm! . . . sometimes. Remember your mantra . . . Ummm! . . . every now and then. When you truly aspire, when your hair roots cry out,
Go aspiring tonight. Go to bed. Forget what in the morning? Yes? No, wake up remembering. Go for your shopping. Come back laden with your groceries. Put the groceries down, sit down on the sofa, take a sigh and say, “Mukṣīya! May I be liberated.” How about that? No need to memorize the whole 32-syllable mantra, just mukṣīya. And how? How can that aspiration be fulfilled? All of you know the Gāyatrī mantra: OM bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ (in the Earth, Sky and Heaven) Just like the key word in Mahā-mṛtyuñjaya mantra is mukṣīya, the key word in Gāyatrī Mantra is dhīmahi Pronounced dheemahi): “May we meditate,” and thereby may I be liberated. Dhīmahiand mukṣīya. You want your prayer of mukṣīya answered? Okay, then dhīmahi. What more do you want to know? But it is a path in which, if your aspiration is a true one, self-purification will happen. The great Shaṅkarāchārya, who revived our Saṁnyāsī (sanyasi – monastic order of Swamis) 1200 years ago, wrote voluminous works, and one of his books is, Upadeśa-sāhasrī, upadesha-saahasree, the Book of A Thousand Homilies. He says the guru’s task is to impart knowledge. But then he has to assess why the knowledge is not taking root. Why is not the disciple grasping, understanding, following the path? He has to figure out what are the causes, what are the reasons that the child who is his disciple is not rising. So in that particular passage, the great Shaṅkarāchārya explains what you have to look for (paraphrase):
Once the guru has identified that, he says, then create in him the opposite virtues: non-anger, non-violence, non-pride, non-ego – cultivate those. The guru is like a mother’s womb, hiraṇya-garbha,HiranYa-garbha, the Golden Womb. When the guru light shines, it is like the whole universe is filled with a brilliant golden light. It is the teaching light of the universe; in the West it is called the Holy Spirit, the teaching spirit. It is that teaching spirit to which, on this full moon day, we pay homage. Our swamis have spoken to you. I have a few other swamis, I have one or two very capable ones in India. I wish it was possible to get visas for them to come and guide you here, but it is not possible. When I enter my vow of silence, they will continue teaching. Five years of silence starting on March 10th next year (2013), and people are asking me, “Who will guide us? All these people have been guided. Swami Ritavan has been with me for the last 42 years. Ma Radha has been under Swami Rama for the last 42 years. And many others: Swami Nitya, and there are others. But let me explain to you that in our tradition, silence is the true teaching. The real teaching is in silence. I invite you to come to the Ashram and be steeped in that silence. We specialize on the art of silence in our ashram. We specialize on many sciences: the teachings of it, the philosophy of yoga, and the texts, and we have a research lab which is testing, recording brain waves and conditions arising out of meditation, and Śrī Vidyā, shree-vidyaa, which is not easily taught. But our core teaching now is the science of silence. People do not realize that there is a science to silence. I invite you for that. We will go over the Meditation Center now, because at 9:00 p.m. We sit in silent meditation for an hour with the rest of the entire North American and South American community. And, what are the two key words that I have given you today? Yes! Mukṣīyaand dhīmahi. Will you absorb these two words and let them become your aspiration, your desire, your longing?
That is your test: continuous self-purification. I wish you that purification, and true entry into the gateway of silence. We have kept today’s guided meditation short, but when you sit for silent meditation, expand on that. Each stage that I led you through, expand on that over time. People ask why we don’t meditate here in this building. Because that space at The Meditation Center is sacred. Sacred means that there is a Guru presence. And our Gurudeva, Swami Rama of the Himalayas, consecrated that place. I am hoping that in eight years’ time, when you celebrate 50 years of The Meditation Center – I will be 88 – that maybe I will come and join you. And you will decide for that space to remain sacred and devoted to the teaching and practicing of meditation for another 50 years after that. And that is for you to decide, to determine, to make possible. God Bless you all. May Gurudeva bless you, grant you grace, mukṣīyaand for that, dhīmahi. With the grace of the Guru: śrīṁ gurave namaḥ. (Shreem gurave namah.) Editor’s Note:A video of the Guru Purnima talk can be found at this link http://dansvideos.s3.amazonaws.com/SVB%20Lectures/GuruPurnima2012.mp4 Thanks to Dan and Tom Prideaux. Dan Prideaux is the webmaster at www.swamiveda.org and Tom Prideaux is the webmaster at www.swamiveda.com The speakers are in order: Swami Nityamuktananda Saraswati, (Swami) Ma Gita Bharati, (Swami) Ma Richa Bharati, (Swami) Ma Radha Bharati, and Swami Veda Bharati. Swami Veda also sent out a written Guru Purnima message which can be read at this link: http://www.ahymsin.org/main/index.php/Swami-Veda-Bharati/guru-purnima-3-july-2012.html “Guru Purnima, 2012” by Divya (Joanne Sullivan) can be read at this link: http://www.ahymsin.org/main/index.php/Swami-Veda-Bharati/guru-purnima-3-july-2012.html For more information about The Meditation Center, please see http://www.themeditationcenter.org/jnana/index.php?
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