Yesterday we spoke about those Gurus who take us on our first steps on the spiritual journey; the one who initiates us into religious rites or begins to give us some spiritual instruction; the one who begins to open our eyes to seeing the spiritual as being more important than the worldly. We learn that sense of a shift in consciousness and to give our priorities to spiritual thinking even whilst we are in the world.
Those Gurus have been important on our journey, whoever they might have been. They might have been a priestly person or not, whom ever gave us some instructions and helped us on the journey, they are worthy of being honoured.
The Kaarana Guru – Teaches us the Great Truths
Today I want to go to another step on the journey as Guru Gita outlines. Yesterday we spoke about the Bodhaka Guru and the Vihitah Guru. Today we go to another type of Guru on the path.
Let me read the relevant verse from Guru Gita for you:
Tat tvam asyaadi vaakyaanaam,
Upadeshtaa tu Parvati,
Kaaranaakhyo guruh prokto,
Bhava roga niraarakah
He says to Parvati “The teacher who initiates his disciple into the mahavakyas (great truths like Tat-tvam-asi, etc.) is called by the name of ‘Kaarana Guru’. He removes the disease of saamsara in the disciple and the great tendency of worldliness - when you are trapped and caught up in worldly desires, pleasures and power”. Guru Gita calls that the “disease of worldliness”. It says that “this ‘Kaarana Guru’ is the one who can help us to shift completely from that”.
We saw yesterday that the Vihitah Guru begins the initiation of that process, begins to teacher us vairagya which is dispassion to the world. The ‘Kaarana Guru’ takes us a step further; it takes us into the mahavakyas, which are the great truths.
Influencing the Core Level of our Being
The ‘Kaarana Guru’, as described by the Guru Gita, takes us to and influences the core level of our being where our guiding principles are. If you were to observe yourself you will see that your behaviour, your thinking, your feelings and the way you act in the world, are guided by core values that you have learned over time. These core values are deep within you, in a part of you that the ancient teachings of India call the ‘Kaaran level’ or the ‘Kaarana Sharer’. It is the causal level or body within you.
The causal layer stores all of your deep thinking and all of your core values. So day to day as you learn, this learning is reinforced and it goes down to that causal level. You will find at that level there are all kinds of behavioural patterns, some that you like and some that you don’t like. So you are challenged by that core level which you might not be aware of, you may be blind to the power that this level has on you. Things and habits that you have developed from your experiences in the world, they are stored at that deep level, and they influence your behaviour and you may not see that.
Removing the Worldliness from Within You
When worldliness is so deep within you, it is difficult to break. When your core ideas of power and pleasure are so deep they take you into this disease of worldliness and needless to say, this is a world of pleasure and pain.
If any of you have found absolute joy in the material world then that surely would be something great, but I have known of no such person in the history of civilization, I have known of no culture who have found absolute happiness and power in material things. Bodies age and die, kingdoms lose power and become dismantled, and we see continuous change in our world. The duality of the world is so strong that even when things seem to be very nice, somewhere in there, in the cyclical change of life, the negative comes in again.
Guiding us within to See and Change our Core Patterns of Behaviour
At that core level it is extremely important to observe what happens. Those teachers who are able to make us see that core level of our being and who can help us to change those behavioural patterns that are so deeply entrenched or established in us, those teachers become very important teachers. The worldliness that is so deep, that is so difficult for us to change, we can become inspired by those teachers who with their ideas, allow us to see deeply, and they help us to create change inside.
When your desire for truth is great and you meet such people who are established in the firm idea of the truth within them, they inspire us with their ideas, their philosophy, their thinking, to transform our core beliefs and to have these core beliefs more aligned to the truth.
It says that “those teachers teach us about the great statements, which are the great truths and ideas about life, like tat-tvam-asi ‘thou art that’, which says that what is inside of us is indescribable, beyond description and it is infinite in power and being, that is the tat-tvam-asi.” This is one of the great statements of truth in the wisdom of ancient India.
It is saying to us “those teachers who help us to go deep within ourselves and to see our core patterns of behaviour, they are able to help us and guide us through that level, to become firmly established in new patterns and new ideas, those teachers are extremely important to us. They are the ‘Kaarana Guru’.
The Forerunner to the Ultimate Guru
Of course they are still a step below the most powerful teachers. The ‘Kaarana Guru’ can give us a clear idea and turn our attention away from the world, and be more established in the path to truth because of their firm belief, their intellectual power and their discrimination. The ones who can lead us into the light, they are the ones who are truly superior.
The next step is not to just understand the great truths which are very nice, the next step is realizing the great truths that they become part of you, that you don’t have to practice these ideas anymore, you don’t have to be guided by these ideas anymore, these ideas become a part of you. In a very natural, spontaneous and powerful way, you express these ideas in your life, in your being and thinking. So those great truths become integrated in your being when you make the final step.
So the ‘Kaarana Guru’ is the forerunner to what we call the ‘Parama Guru’, of whom we’ll speak in the next talk. But these Gurus are very important, they are the ones who teach you philosophy, they are the ones who open your eyes to the deeper thinking, they are the ones who really help you to make transformations, to look into your core behaviour and to see where you have been trapped into worldliness. They also help you to create new beliefs; new firm beliefs that are more aligned to the truth of your existence, those Gurus ought to be honoured.
Finding the Supreme Teacher
And finally we must move beyond those Gurus. Guru Gita also has a verse that says we should move from teacher to teacher until we find the Supreme Teacher. Let me read that verse for you as I conclude today’s talk. This is important as it tells us that we don’t have to stick to one teacher, if we find that teacher is limited, Guru Gita says “continue on”.
This verse says:
Madhu lubdho yatha brngah,
Pushpat pusphantaran vrajet,
Gyaana lubdhas tatha shishyo,
Guror gurvantaram vrajet
“Just as a bee thirsting for honey goes from one flower to another, so also the disciple in the quest of knowledge should also approach different teachers.”
On the path when you have learned something, you honour that learning and then you keep on searching until your hearts longing, or quest is fulfilled, which is finally going to happen when you meet the “Parama Guru”.
