Welcome to Day 24 of our 40-Day Retreat 2008. Yesterday we spoke about the Parama Guru. We also spoke about the quality of being independent, firm in outlook and thinking, immersed in inner bliss, contented. Today I want to look at another aspect of Parama Guru from the Guru Gita. The verse says:
Dwaitaadvaita vinir muktah
Swaanu bhooti prakaashavaan
Agyaanaandha tamash chetta
Sarvagyah paramo guruh
One who is free from dvaita and advaita, who shines by the light of his Self-realization, who is able to destroy the deep darkness of ignorance, and who is an all-knower – he is a Parama Guru. He who is free from dvaita and advaita.
Differentiating between Dvaita and Advaita:
What is dvaita and advaita? Dvaita is the belief in dualism and advaita is the belief in monism. The dualistic school of thought postulates that the soul and God are different, that atma and Brahma are different, they are separate. Though consciousness is inherent, they are separate in individuality. There is another dualistic school of thought that says consciousness and matter, Purusha and Prakriti, are eternally separate. So this is dualistic thinking.
Monistic thinking is that all is one Reality; all is Brahman. The idea of separation is an illusion that is called Maya. This is the Vedantic postulate of monism - advaita, the opposite of dvaita. So these are varying schools of thought. One is that the soul will always be separate and different from the Supreme One. The other is that there are not two; there is one – All is Brahman.
Beyond belief to direct Perception
But what this verse is saying is that the one who is the Parama Guru has no posture according to belief. He is not operating from a belief system. His authority is not from a belief system; his authority comes from direct perception. He has gone beyond all belief systems so he is not functioning from beliefs. He is not trying to teach from belief: I believe in this school of duality or I believe in the school of monism, or I believe in any other school.
His direct perception gives him knowledge and wisdom. And you can see a distinct difference between the one who is immersed in belief – who wants to convince you with their very great arguments, and the one who is immersed in wisdom - who does not want to convince you. But by their very presence, by the power of their direct realization, they are very impactful. Their words carry so much more power.
Belief - bondage of ignorance
The verse is therefore saying that the Parama Guru operates not from any belief but from direct perception, from direct Self-realization. And that is important to know because every form of belief still holds you in the bondage of ignorance, though subtle it may be. But it still holds you in the bondage of ignorance because ultimately when you hold on to a belief you are not sure. Somewhere deep inside you are not completely sure.
Of course, you feel intuitively very strong about what you believe in. And some have what may seem to be absolute faith, but they are not completely sure. It is like you can have great ideas about afterlife and you have very strong beliefs, but you are not completely sure because you have not been there consciously, that you can remember.
Belief Vs Direct Perception
But once you have made the journey there is an absolute surety about it. This is because you have made the journey. You have walked the talk. It is like tasting honey and then having the knowledge of what honey really is, compared to all the chemical information you have about honey and every other information you may have, and you become an expert in honey but never tasted it. You may have all the knowledge about honey that you can possibly think of, but you have not tasted it. You are very knowledgeable about it but you don’t fully know, and that is the subtle ignorance.
There may be some who can convince us with the power of their belief, because belief can be so powerful, but there is still a trace of ignorance there because of the lack of direct perception. And this verse says that the Parama Guru is beyond all belief systems. It says that he has gone completely beyond ignorance, and is able to destroy the deep darkness of ignorance.
Deep darkness tells you that ignorance can be even at subtle levels. Even the ones with very strong beliefs, somewhere deep inside in their silent moments will know that it is not complete, because it is based on conviction and belief. So this verse says that the Parama Guru has gone beyond the darkness of ignorance, and it continues to say, and he is an All-knower.
All-knower of the essence of Reality
What does “All-knower” mean? If you know the essence of life, then you know everything. If you know what the cause of life is, then you know what the effect is as well. If you know what gold is, then you know what all ornaments of gold are. No matter what shape they are in, how intricate or how beautiful the shape may be, it is essentially gold. If you know what clay is, then you know what every form of pottery is. It is essentially clay.
If you understand or know That within you from where everything out of creation emerged, and where it is going to be emerged into eventually, if you have the knowledge of that essential Truth or Reality, then you know everything. That is the “All-knower” that this verse speaks about. He knows the cause and the effect. He knows all.
So this verse says that we need to follow such a one. If we really want complete freedom we need to follow such a one who is not standing merely on belief. One who has no trace of ignorance inside, even subtly based on ignorance, and one who knows the essence of reality. That is what this verse says. And that is the Parama Guru.
Seeking Direct Experience
This has been my search. I did not want to believe anything. I never liked believing anything because I thought the label or the name or form is not the full reality. I wanted to experience, not just know; I wanted to experience the essential reality of life. And I never stopped in that seeking for the essential reality. No belief. I did not want just to believe. I wanted to know, to experience.
For me, God, the Universe, Truth, must be an experience, not knowledge from the book, not the descriptions from the book, not the picture. It must become my direct experience.
So the gift of the Parama Guru to the world has been a great gift for me, because in my search for such a one, I found. I found one who operated from that essence. And that had the greatest impact on me.
Look out for…
How does one who operates from this essence create impact? What is their impact? Why is their impact so great? This we will study another day, from another verse of Guru Gita. But suffice is to say today, such beings do not operate from belief systems. They operate from direct perception.
