Welcome to Day 36 of our 40 Day Retreat 2008.
We have been on a very special mantra. It is such a profound mantra that I am discussing each line on a day. It is a mantra that really tells us how to develop that relationship with Guru.
Outer Guru guides us into our inner Being
I want to continue to stress that Guru is a Principle. It is a power inside of each one of us. When we speak about the physical Guru, we speak about someone who is manifesting that power. When we speak about Guru Bhakti, we speak about learning how to recognize that power in another, how to form a relationship with it, and how to awaken that same power inside of us.
Yesterday one of the members was asking, when he goes within and feels this power inside, is he honouring the Guru power? Yes, when you go inside and feel that greater peace within you, that greater love within you, that greater Self-awareness within you, that is the Guru power and that is what we need to honour. The outer Guru, therefore, is only there as a form and an energy to guide us into our own being. As we develop that relationship more and more, we begin to become like that which we admire in the other. This is extremely important in these verses. The admiration, adoration and respect are all meant to help us and to inspire us to become that which we adore, observe and witness. The idea is becoming.
Analogy of a Boat, Bird and Butterfly
We should not get stuck on the form or person outside. We need to continue to remember that, that is to help us to go inside. If you get stuck with it, it is like a person using a boat to cross the river and after crossing it, he walks with the heavy boat on his head. He does not need the boat anymore as the boat was used only to cross the river. Now he is free. He can come back and use the boat whenever he wishes.
We too need to learn how to go in that space where we will feel that the boat has taken us to that place of freedom. And we need to embrace this new place of freedom. Every little bird has to come out of its nest and fly. Every caterpillar has to grow in a cocoon and come out as a butterfly to fly. The caterpillar can’t stay in the cocoon, saying ‘I love the cocoon, let me stay here.’ No! It is meant to be a butterfly, so it has to break open the cocoon and become the butterfly.
It is therefore extremely important that in all of this relationship we create with the outer, it is really meant to bring us freedom in the inner. That is important to know. Therefore, as you begin to feel your own inner power, know that this is the fulfillment of the relationship with the outer Guru.
Guru’s words are Mantras
We now have the line for today:
Mantra moolam Guror Vaaykam
The root of mantra is the word of the Guru.
Words are very important as they communicate to us. Words that come from our Universe around us are important - the words we offer, the words we receive. But we are saying in this particular case that the word of the Guru is a mantra.
Mantra means that which protects us, that which liberates us. A mantra is a tool of protection and a tool of liberation. Amidst all the voices we hear in our world, why is this voice important? Why are these words from the Guru important? The reason why they are so important is because of where they are coming from.
Holistic concept of Being
This brings us to the holistic concept of being. I don’t ever move away from this concept because it is my reality. So when I speak about it, it is what exists in me, what I am aware of, and from where I operate. So this concept is always alive in me. You might be just hearing my voice or seeing my form, but what is operating inside here is much more than a voice and a form. A consciousness is operating, subtle energies are operating, different ckakras are operating, but you are only seeing the form and hearing the voice and you make all the decisions based on that. However, when you begin to become more aware of energy fields and the inner Source, then the words mean much more to you. They are communicating something which is very deep.
We reflect our subtle energies
When each person speaks, they reveal where they are. So when people speak to me, some speak from the base chakra, some from the sacral chakra, others from the vitality or the heart chakra. Yet others from the vocal chakra, brow chakra or the crown, and some from a combination of all these chakras. Immediately as you speak in my field, I can tell where you are speaking from. And all have that ability. We are all influenced by those energies.
Therefore, when we speak we give voice to subtle energies from our inner world. And to those who are more aware, the voice reveals so much, you cannot imagine. I can tell immediately where this person is coming from, just by hearing the voice. And depending on where the person is, the voice carries the power of that chakra.
Voice carries the power of the chakras
Base chakra - if someone is in the survival chakra that is where the voice expresses survival issues. They are scared, dominant, possessive, all for survival reasons. Little understanding, very selfish.
Sexual chakra - when they come to the sexual chakra, this chakra begins to work and the person is dominant, aggressive, influenced by sexuality and the voice carries it.
Navel chakra – here you feel the power of vitality and you feel that power coming across the voice. When the command comes, it stirs you up with its vitality.
Heart chakra - when emotion expresses through the voice, you get all the subtleties of emotion – different shades of emotions negative and positive.
Throat chakra - has a communication power. It opens you up to the field of listening and speaking with the awareness of power in the voice.
Brow chakra - allows you to communicate very powerful ideas through the voice.
Head chakra – when it comes into the voice, it is beautiful. It has no limit. The voice seems to have a power that draws you into it and expands your being infinitely.
Combination – you can also have a mixture of these energies - vitality and sexuality; vitality and emotion; brow and thought power and emotional power, and any kind of combination of these chakras.
Voice – a powerful medium of expression
Some of you use these unconsciously, and some of you without power, driven by some of these chakras almost helplessly. You can’t help what you say; you can’t help but express fears that you have; ideas that you have. You need to talk with someone to bring it out. You need to be dominant. You are influenced by lower emotions, survival, sexuality. And if you really see what the voice carries, it is a whole range of emotions. And one who is more aware can detect that immediately when they come in your presence. They can pick up all the subtle vibrations.
When someone has the Guru chakra open, that is the bindu point, they become very influential and dominant, not in a survival way, but dominant with the power of ideas. They can persuade you to do something. They can inspire you in different ways and they can also mislead you if the chakras are not pure. There are all kinds of combinations. Some people can be selfless and selfish at the same time. They are driven by selfless motives but for selfish reasons. All kinds of combinations can exist. They do good by helping people but they want praise, they have great expectations, they want power.
When leadership chakra comes with power and the voice is used, all kinds of things can happen. You can be mislead, inspired to be better or be manipulated, all in different ways. So voice is such a very powerful medium of expression.
Guru’s speaks with power of upper Chakras
Let us now talk about how Guru’s voice is a mantra. Guru’s words are mantras. When Guru speaks, Guru speaks with the power of the upper chakras. The emotional being of a Parama Guru is filled with unconditional love, so the voice responds from a place of unconditional love. Guru has a power of the throat that allows for silence in communication, becoming a great listener, and using power in the words with respect, understanding and sensitivity. The brow chakra is so open that Guru can open your world with the words that you need, helping to expand your consciousness so you see more and you think, not in a box, but in a very expansive field.
Guru’s every word is like a Sutra
Because Parama Guru is centred in the crown, the words only come as you need them, when you need them, and how you need them. That is how they come. The words are not driven by selfish motives. They are not driven by chakras out of control. But you drive them without your knowing it. You are the one who drives what happens, through the Guru. The Guru is completely your servant, responding to your needs in the perfect way through that voice. And every word the Guru says has importance, and I am speaking about the Parama Guru - the one who lives completely in freedom and in that sacred space.
The Guru is saying it from a huge awareness. However, we the seekers in limited awareness may interpret in all kinds of ways. But it has so much in it. It is like every word and every idea is like a sutra- a brief statement with great truth. So the words of the Guru should not be taken lightly. They are words for contemplation; they are words that can protect you. That is what mantra means. They are words that can liberate you; they can take you deeper into yourself. So it is extremely important to understand what the Guru is saying and the depth of where the Guru is speaking.
Cherish the words of Guru
Guru’s love is unconditional so if you do not understand what the words mean you can enquire, you can converse until you fully understand. Guru will take time to completely explain to you what his words mean. But we need to have respect for those words. We need to cherish those words. Do not think that Guru just tells us things for the sake of hearing them. Even when Guru jokes with you in any light moment, there is always a lesson there. The Guru never does something without great meaning.
Every voice, a Message
How do I see the world of voices? When you become awakened to the Guru consciousness within you, then every voice in the world is the voice of the Guru. In our limited consciousness we make judgments, “What does he know, and he is trying to advise me? That is an impure voice, mixed with all the lower chakras. I don’t want to hear that voice. I just want to hear Parama Guru’s voice.” But when you are in the state of Parama Guru, or growing close to that state, or having more and more Parama Guru awareness, you will see the importance of every voice in the Universe. Every voice brings a message to you from the infinite.
Even if it is a message coming from a limited person, you can find meaning in that message. It helps you to understand the person; it helps you to understand where they are looking from. Sometimes, it may be a word that is important to you, though given by a limited instrument. So for me, every voice is important. Every voice can bring a message to me from my world. So I don’t deny any voice. I listen to every voice, however limited, it is telling me something.
Every voice is the voice of the Universe
I see every voice being the voice of the Universal Guru reaching to me. A very simple-minded person with no great understanding of spirituality can bring me information that I need in a moment, attracted by my being and giving me the message that is important. That is Guru too giving me a relevant message, even though from a limited mind. For me that is excitement!
Because I can see the whole world as being Guru, I don’t have to wait for a pure voice. I love the pure voices because then I can communicate so much more powerfully. I can have great exchanges. But I also love every voice because I am able to fully appreciate my world of duality. I don’t crave only the company of the best. It is beautiful when you can have it. But I can appreciate everything around me.
The World - a play of learning and growing
When nighttime comes we can appreciate it. Likewise when daytime comes, we can appreciate it. When we are having tough times, we can appreciate that too. When the body is suffering we learn, and joy comes in that learning. And when there are happy moments we enjoy them, we bask in their energy. And when you see with the eyes of the wise, you enjoy every human experience for what it is. You accept your world, and you see it is all a play of learning and growing.
Every voice in my world is a beautiful voice. I don’t judge. It reveals something to me and it may bring a message to me that is beautiful. This is because my Universal Guru does not need only a pure voice to speak to me. That Universal Guru can speak to me through every voice. That is how I see my world. I wish that we all can see that, but the more and more you come into Guru Consciousness, this is how you will see your world. Then every voice will become a certain kind of mantra - the mantra of that level.
There are mantras for every chakra. Did you know that? There are seed sounds for every chakra, so when a person is in that chakra, the sounds they are giving have the energy of that chakra.
I will leave you with this. Of course, we can speak so much about it, but I want you to appreciate the importance of the voice, the chakra power that it brings, and those beautiful voices that can lead us to our true Self inside; and to expand our vision to see that every voice is the voice of our Universe.
Concluding Remark:
Let us remember that the words of pure being are words coming to us from the Higher Self from our Universe. Let us hold those words as being precious words, as gifts to us. Contemplate them, and continue to do so until we can realize the meaning of them. Those words protect us, and ultimately help to liberate us.
Have a divine day, everyone
