.
Welcome to Day 12 of our 40-Day Retreat.
These days are absolutely joyous, filled with so much grace. And when you are in tune with energy you can feel not just the energy of our own self, but the energy of the collective.
It is Sunday today and I’m thinking of how many people are preparing now for praying, and that beautiful energy is across our country, across our world. This morning as I was chanting I was feeling that beautiful energy that comes from all those people who are praying.
We continue with this very exciting subject, the Guru Principle. We have been using what I may call “the book of secrets” – the Guru Gita, which is a song of the Guru Principle.
The Secret within the Form – (review of yesterdays talk)
Yesterday I mentioned a verse that says “in this body one can attain that Divine Consciousness, that place of Truth, that liberation, if one knows how to tune into the power of Guru – the power of people who are established in that Consciousness”. There was a verse that says:
Pinde pade tathaa rope Muktaaste Naatra samshayah
It was saying that “in this very form we can become liberated, there is no doubt.” And preceding that was a verse that said “we should contemplate on that one who has achieved that state.”
Pinde, pade and roope - explained
Shiva who is the Supreme Teacher speaks to his companion, relating the mystery of “Guru” and she is asks him “What do you mean by this? Please explain to me pindam, padam and roopam.” The meaning of pinde, pade and roope - one is the body, one is the name, and one is the form. Pinde pade tathaa roope – in this body, in this name, in this form.
Pindam - is the Kundalini Shakti
Padam – is the hamsa, that which gives the breath (the jivatma, the breathing creature)
Roopam – is the bindu, this point [brow chakra]
He explains what he means by these words. He went deeper into what is pinde, the form. He is says “inside of this is the Kundalini Shakti”.
Meditation on the Guru
I promised you today that I would read you the next verse. Now the meaning is very deep, and by understanding the meaning of this, we can really pursue what he means when he is says “meditate on the Guru.”
The verse says:
Pinde Muktaah Pade Muktaa Roope Muktaa Varaanane
Roopaateete Tu Ye Muktaas Te Muktaa Natra Samshayah
He says “They are liberated in pinde, they are liberated in pade and they are liberated in roope. And they are truly liberated in roopaateete.” Now what does he mean by that? He says “they are liberated in pinde” and in this case he said “Pinde Muktaah Pade Muktaa Roope Muktaa Varaanane”.
Now what does he mean by “they are liberated in pinde”? What he means is that when Kundalini, the primordial energy inside of us becomes awakened, then spiritual liberation begins. The idea of “I am just a body” begins to change into “I am a Divine energy; there is a Divine energy inside of me.” When Kundalini is awakened within us, he says “there is freedom from body consciousness; we are now coming into what might be called “the energy consciousness.”
Going beyond Name & Form Brings Freedom
He says “pade also brings freedom”. Pade applies to the bindu point. Bindu is the point where all names and forms in the Universe arise from. So he is saying “when you begin to go beyond and don’t associate with that place of name and form, then liberation is there.”
He is taking it another step. When Kundalini awakens, there is freedom. When bindu is pierced there is a freedom, which means going beyond name and form. He says when you go beyond all of these and you are established in that place, roopaateete – “then you are truly liberated.”
He is telling us about Kundalini Shakti, and the importance of this bindu point – this is where the eye brow chakra is (ajna chakra). He is telling us about going deeper, going beyond this chakra, so that we can be established in the Sahasrar Chakra. This is where the Roopaateete is. He is giving us the clues of the Kundalini and the evolution of the soul through the Kundalini to find liberation.
When Kundalini awakens from the base of the spine and she begins to pierce the chakras, liberation begins. When she comes to the bindu, there is a special point there; she begins to become detached from the world and to identify with the inner power. There is another freedom there, and when she becomes established in that state she comes to the top, to the crown chakra. Then there is real freedom.
Meditation on the Guru - continued
In the next verse he reestablishes the fact of how important meditation on the Guru is. He says:
Guror Dhyaanenaiva Nityam Dehee Brahma Mayo Bhavet
“By constant meditation on the Guru, the embodied soul becomes disembodied – brahma, becomes liberated.”
Sthitash Ca Yatra Kutraapi Mukto Sau Natra Samshayah
“Wherever he may stay, he is free, of this there is no doubt.”
This brings me back to the important point of being able to understand what mediation on the Guru is, and he gave the clue - the Guru is not just a body. If we are meditating on Guru, then we need to understand the idea of energy because the Guru is free, in Kundalini the Guru is free, in bindu the Guru is established in Roopaateete – beyond all forms.
In meditating upon Guru, there is the invitation to go deeper and understand what Guru is. This is to go beyond the form of the Guru, to become established in the Consciousness of the Guru. Now what is exciting about this is that not only does the Guru have Kundalini energy in him, not only does the Guru have the bindu, and not only does the Guru have the sahasrar (crown chakra) - we all have it. The marvellous thing is that when we come into the presence of such a one with such a huge amount of energy, our own centers are stimulated. So what we need to do is to become more aware, when we are in the presence of such Beings.
Having Awareness in the Presence of Guru
In the human experience we are not aware of what we experience when we are in front of others; how we think about people or how people’s energies influence our energies. So this is an invitation, when we come in front of people, when we experience their presence, when we come into the presence of pure souls and especially liberated souls, we need to become more aware of what we are experiencing. We need to open ourselves as much as we can to the holistic experience of that presence.
The Importance of the Guru Gita
This is the path that I followed and experienced, and these words in the Guru Gita are for me, completely true. One of the joys I had when I began reading this, was that it was at a time when I was experiencing that power inside. There was no teacher at the Center when I went, but I could feel energy in this place, I’d been to all the places in India and I didn’t feel that. When I came to that place the energy just seemed to be so different, so I was happy, for the first time in my life I began to become aware that I could feel something in a space. Initially I didn’t even know that I could do that, but after a few days, I began to feel this special energy awaken inside of me - during chanting, during working, this was an amazing experience.
Then reading the Guru Gita I began to understand the impact of a Guru and what “Guru” really means. I began to realize that this inner awakening was happening, because of the energy of someone who had awakened the energies of people in a place. So every time I chanted the Guru Gita, I became more interested in what it had to say and I felt a tremendous power in just repeating it. In the Guru Gita, you’ll read at the end, how just by chanting these mantras, these words of power, you can be transformed.
I have also been telling you that sacred scripture, sacred sounds, sacred mantras, carry a kind of energy, the energy that has been invested in these words and sounds for thousands of years. We tap into that energy when we repeat it, I felt completely blessed.
Personal Experience
It took me two years to meet the physical Master, but by that time I was already established in the awareness of this energy, and energy fields. When I met him, I had conflict in trying to think of him as a physical person, it just didn’t work. But when I closed my eyes and went inside, I had more contact with him, which made me more aware that the Guru is not just a man.
Ultimately during the 40 days, I had the tremendous experience of really understanding what meditation on the Guru was. The physical Guru was thousands of miles away. I was in Trinidad and he was in India. I didn’t have any kind of deep outer relationship with him, but I learned how to tap into the energy of Guru. I learned to tap into the energy of Guru Tattwa.
I learned very well from that experience what meditation on the Guru is. It is not meditation on a physical form; the physical form is only what I call the template, a form invested with energy. The Cosmic teacher, Shiva is saying “Inside of that form is energy, seven centers of energy, and there is an infinite power that is beyond all attributes”. That was the beginning of my real meditation on Guru.
Through the entire 40 days that was my meditation. The physical Guru seemed to be a channel to go into a space - that is at the heart of the Guru Gita, and that is what Guru Tattwa means. It means “the (Guru) Principle operating in a human person, if we can go into that, we can touch that inner space. We too can touch that inner space; we are no different than all the great teachers. They model for us, how to go in there and how to become established in there.
