All posts in this series
- Guru
- Need for a Living Guru
- Bhagavan as Guru
- Atma as Guru
- A Deceased Person as our Guru
- In Seeking A Guru
- Importance of a Guru of Traditional Lineage
- Qualities to Seek in a Guru
- Waiting for Our Guru
- Beware of Fake Gurus
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One of the important qualities to consider as we seek a guru, is that the guru must belong to a sat sampradaya (traditional linage or parampara)
Pujyapad Puri Shankaracharyaji (Maharajaj) explains the concept of sampradaya with the help of rivers –
There is a river called Kshipra in Ujjain where Mahakala is seated. Kshipra does not flow directly into the ocean. Following the direction of Kshipra we can reach the Chambal river. Kshipra merges into the Chambal. Then, taking the course of Chambal we reach the Yamuna river. The Chambal then merges into the Yamuna. Following the course of the Yamunā we reach the Ganga. They meet at Prayag. Thereafter, the flow of the Ganga reaches the ocean directly. The rivers named above, are also supposed to reach the ocean. However, they join one another river to finally merge with the ocean via the Ganga. Similar is the case of sat sampradaya .
Sri Adi Shankaracharyaji has used the word ‘sampradaya ‘ in several places including in his commentary on the 5th chapter of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. When knowledge is obtained according to sanatana tradition – then it is called knowledge from a ‘sampradaya’. It was a very respectful word but materialists have destroyed its meaning.
Jain, Buddhist, etc., all are sampradaya . Ultimately, all these panths or paths have a limited age as explained through the example of the rivers that joined the other rivers and eventually had to join the Ganga to reach the ocean. These sampradaya have been created in a particular time, and region by a particular person.
However, sanatana vedic arya siddhant or principle is not created by a person. It is an eternal principle on the basis of which rests – creation, sustenance and destruction. That vedic principle is the foundation for all paths. The panths are like the distributaries created out of the Ganga, for example. Their origin and root are the vedas.
Explaining how all paths finally lead to the vedas, Maharajaji states that the part of the Gītā which is in the Bible, if removed, leaves nothing worth accepting from the Bible anymore. If there is any divinity or specialty in a path, we must conclude that the source of it is none other but the knowledge of vedas.
To connect us with Govinda or the Supreme Truth, we need the guidance of granthas. However, to gain the proper understanding of the granthas we need to take the guidance of a guru. By understanding the granthas with the help of the guru we must gain the strength to velocity to attain Govinda.
Hence, we naturally require the help of a guru to attain Govinda. This can be done by taking support of the traditional paramparik gurus who are well versed in the granthas. Once again, highlighting the importance of a traditional lineage or parampara.
For example, the knowledge of Srimannarayana is passed on to Brahmaji, then it is passed from him to the gurus and finally reaches us. It is written in Yogadarshana that if one traces back through the guru paramparas, at the origin Bhagavan himself is found as the first guru. Like it is for creation.
A tree is not born from Parmatma himself, it is born out of the earth, earth is not born directly out of Paramatma, it is born out of water, same way water is born out of teja or fire. Similar is the case with guru parampara.
Few have such a blessing by which Bhagavan himself becomes the guru. Hence, it is of great importance to seek a guru of a traditional parampara.
A “guru” not belonging to a sampradaya is to be considered a fool. This has been stated by Sri Adi Shankaracharyaji.
We find many such gurus who commence their Vedanta teachings with the attempt to prove that Ishvara is mithya. They support their claim by citing this from the Upanishads, where it is mentioned in two places. They do not study from a guru and their understanding that leads to such claims is faulty.
We must not have a guru who is self-proclaimed and starts teaching Vedanta just by studying a few texts like vyakarana, sahitya, etc. Such a guru will bring us to our downfall.
Sri Adi Shankaracharyaji has written that he who has studied various shastras, but has not received this knowledge of darshana and shastras through a parampara of a sampradaya, has to be considered a fool. The reason being, that the several difficulties on the path cannot be overcome by oneself and without going through traditional process, one may even become a nastika.
Therefore, we must seek a guru belonging to a traditional lineage.