Welcome to Day 37 of our 40-Day Retreat.
During the last few days we have been dealing with a very beautiful and powerful mantra on Guru.
Dhyaana moolam guror moortih
Pooja moolam guroh padam
Mantra moolam guror vaakyam
These are the three lines that we dealt with in the last three days and I have left the last line for today.
Understanding Guru in all its Aspects
Mukti moolam guroh kripaa
“The root of liberation, of freedom, is the grace of Guru.”
This can easily be misunderstood so it’s extremely important to listen to what I have to say. What I have to say comes from my own experience which has given me great clarity in being able to give meaning to this verse. This verse invites us to look at the Universal Guru, in all its aspects. You will never be able to appreciate the beauty of this verse unless you really understand the concept of Guru in the broadest sense.
When people begin to develop a relationship with me as teacher, a lot of people look at the physical person – “this is my teacher, he is Sri Vasudeva, he lives in Trinidad, he travels across the world, he is the founder of Blue Star, that is my teacher.” You are caught up in the Sri Vasudeva as a human person. There is nothing wrong with this, but its only part of the seeing.
Story – 6 Blind Men and the Elephant
If you remember the story of the 6 blind men and the elephant, each one is holding a certain part of the elephant and thinking that this is the whole elephant. The foot is like a pillar – “oh this is a pillar”; the broad side of the elephant – “oh this is the wall”; the ear of the elephant – “oh this is a fan”. Because they were blind they had to rely only on touch and when they were touching a specific part of the elephant they thought that was the whole elephant.
Only the one who was able to see was able to guide them and say “No, no, there are other parts to this elephant. You are just touching one part of the elephant.” To really appreciate the whole elephant these blind people will have to scan the whole view, even if it is by touching. But the one who can see, see it immediately.
Infinite Guru – Infinite Grace
Today I am trying to take you into the broadest concept of Guru, so that you can understand what Guru krypa (grace of the Guru) means. Now it is extremely important to understand that there is a Guru inside of you. The Guru inside of you is that great power; it is an infinite Source inside of you and its power. The infinite source we say is Consciousness, and the power of that Source is Shakti.
Initially we think that we are just human beings and when we are rooted in the lower chakras we think that we are the doer, we are the source of everything and we make things happen. As you grow in spirituality and the upper chakras are open, you begin to get a different idea of who you are. You think of yourself now as more than a human being. Like the blind person holding one part of the elephant, you begin to change your view when the upper chakras are open.
When the 3rd eye chakra (Guru Chakra) is open then you begin to feel powerful guidance coming from the source within you - through your thoughts, in your ideas, shaping a new identity and giving you powerful energies that are creative. You begin to feel that “I can create things. I can do things much more than physical. My mind is very powerful. My being is very powerful.” So your identity begins to change as you experience more and more of yourself. Then you begin to experience that there is a power inside of you.
Then the entire world responds to help you – when you seek, you can draw, you can pull the forces of the world towards you to help you in your search. It is like when you go into a search engine on the internet, you put in a word and you can get the whole world to help you because so much information is available, all kinds and different points of views. The whole world can respond to your energy of searching. You see a broader Guru; you see the world becoming a Guru.
I am inviting you to change your point of view from thinking that the physical being is the Guru, to seeing that the ‘Source’ acts through the physical being. It is responding to your search for a deeper identity, your search for liberation, it becomes the Guru through that individual. The Source is acting through the energy being of that individual, it is responding to you in your search for liberation. That becomes the Guru.
Recognizing the Inner Guru
Everything in the world that responds to you in your search is another aspect of the Guru. That is the Universal Guru at work. However neither Universal Guru nor human Guru can really help you in the liberation process until you begin to recognize the inner Guru. The inner Guru is going to pull you to that place of liberation. The outer Gurus, they push you inside to feel your inner Guru, and your inner Guru is going to push you inside to that place of liberation.
We need very much to see, how all these things are working together in a marvellous co-creation. The same Source is acting through a human person, the same Source is acting in the whole world and the same Source is pulling you from inside. So there is a push and pull taking you into that space. If you see only one part of it, you miss the panoramic beauty that is Guru.
Desire for Liberation - Shifting from the Outside to the Inside
All of this happens based on your desire for liberation. Your desire for liberation draws from the Universe, from the human Guru, that which will supply your need at the moment. Then the one inside will continue to lead you as your desire becomes greater.
There needs to be a time when you recognize the importance of the inner Guru and take the responsibility to shift from the outside to the inside. This is an extremely important responsibility; otherwise you are going to create great dependency on things outside of you. No kind of slave or subservient mentality can bring freedom.
This doesn’t mean that you should just give up everything around you and say “Well, I need to find it within me”. No. Use everything around you in your search to find the inner Guru. As you begin to find the inner Guru then you will begin to understand the guidance of the outer Guru in a better way.
Finding the Inner Guru Whilst in the Presence of the Outer Guru
A very important exercise here (that I hope you will listen to) is that when you are in the presence of those who carry Guru qualities, begin to say “I want to resonate with that within me, I want to feel that inside my being, I want to feel as that person is feeling, I want that transition, I want that internalization.” Whilst we are listening to the outer Guru, whilst we are in the Guru’s presence, we need to be able to find that inner Guru, using that as an opportunity.
Instead of just looking outside, open the inner eye and look from inside as well. If you are the witness, you can also keep the eyes open and look in both places. Your eyes can be open and you are also witnessing your energies and your thoughts.
When your inner Guru is awakened, you begin to have a better relationship with outer Gurus. You begin to understand them more; you begin to appreciate their presence more because they take you deeper within yourself.
The Guru within is Seeking Liberation
Then you need to understand the pull from inside. You need to follow the energy inside and this energy is going to pull you. It will appear like a pushing of Kundalini from the lower chakras to the upper, but there is also a pulling. So there is a push and a pull in this journey.
For those of you who have a deeper understanding of this energy field, you will know that this energy field that we call Kundalini covers the whole spinal area from the base to the top of the head. Top is base and base is top, it is all the same; what is different is how it is expressed and the quality of energies being expressed. The energy fills the whole column completely. The expression is where the limitation is. One needs to be able to use the whole field.
As it begins to push up, recognize that it is the Guru within you seeking to be liberated. The Guru outside will help you in that push - by presence, by advice, by energy. The outer Guru is helping you push for the inner Guru to wake up, and when this wakes up you feel a pull inside that will come. Internalization begins.
A pull is going to come from inside, and it is going to pull you deeper inside. Then you begin to understand that “I have a Guru inside of me” and that is a marvellous moment. When this brow chakra opens up and you begin to feel a pull, something begins to pull you inside and that is a marvellous part of the journey that I wish that every human being could feel. Then you begin to understand the power of inner Guru.
Grace Follows Right Effort
Now what does Grace (krypa) mean? It is when you can feel help coming to you. The world is involved, the outer Guru is involved and the inner Guru is involved in that grace. Every aspect of support in the Universe that comes to you on your journey is Grace. When you see Grace coming you know that you are making the right effort, continue to make the right effort. On this journey the beauty is to be carried through all of it.
My spiritual journey after awakening has been pure joy. Even though there were agonizing moments of separation, there was pure joy in being carried through all of it. I cannot say that my journey of spirituality after energy awakening was burdensome was not an adventure – it was an adventure. No matter how painful the separation, I felt I was being held in all of it and that is a joy.
One needs to observe Grace. Do the right things, make the right effort. When Grace comes you will enjoy the spiritual journey, it will be a tremendous joy. Grace will come; Grace has to come to the right seeker, always.
When Grace Comes
Grace comes in the form of the external Guru coming into your life. Grace comes in the form of the external Guru giving attention to you. Grace comes in the form of the external Guru being patient with you, understanding, showing you what Guru really is.
Grace comes when the whole world supports you, when you feel that everybody has a message for you and you learn from everything. When you stop pointing your fingers at the world saying “they are the cause, he is the cause, she is the cause,” but you begin to say “thank you for the message that you are giving me to look inside of myself.”
Grace comes when you feel the pull from inside and you begin to say “Oh, now I am going into that place”. You don’t need anything outside of you because you have all the messages and you can feel the inner pull to go into that place of peace and love and power inside of you. That is the Grace from inside.
The Beauty of Patience
On this journey it’s extremely important to be patient. In this world everyone wants to get there very quickly and they become frustrated, annoyed, want to give up the path. It is a ‘quick fix’ generation, a ‘get things instantly’ generation. Be patient.
When you look at how nature is patient, when you put a seed in the ground, look at the beauty of patience. The seed sprouts ever so gently, ever so beautifully. If you want the fruit right away, you are going to have real problems because it needs to open according to its genetic power, the blessings of nature.
The sun moves gradually and because the sun moves so precisely we can measure time. If the sun was moving erratically with different speeds, we would have a great problem in creating clocks. But because some motions in the Universe are precise, they allow us to measure time. So it is with the spiritual journey.
Working with the Universe and the Forces of Grace
During those 40-Days of searching that I had, around Day 35 there was so much power inside of me I was saying “When is this going to stop!?” It was so intense; my head held such an intense energy. Then I had an experience of seeing a tower with a clock and I knew that with all my pushing to burst open this third eye, I had to humble myself and wait on time. This period has to be a specific number of days for whatever the reason. Ultimately it was 40 Days. I could not make it anything more or less.
On the journey we need to work with the Universe, we need to work with the Forces of Grace. Working hard but accepting whatever the results are. They are what we deserve. Accept it and continue to work, but do not be impatient. Impatience brings frustration, it may bring anger. Then we become irrational and we may not make the right decisions.
Guiding Powers Working Together
This is the meaning of this verse from my experience and my view. We need to understand this verse in its fullness. When all these forces that we call Guru (guiding power) in our Universe work together - the Universal, the entire world, the human Gurus and most of all the inner Guru we will reach that place of liberation. We need to take responsibility initially until we can feel the inner pull or we can surrender more and more to the inner Guru.
Guru Gita tells us wonderfully that Guru is inside and Guru is outside and Guru is everywhere. Guru Gita is very specific. Guru can act through a person, Guru can act through the Universe, and Guru can act through our own being.
Post Meditation Remarks
May your day be filled with Guru’s awareness and most of your entire inner Guru. When you begin to feel your inner Guru, then you will be able to appreciate all Gurus energies outside of you. It is important to see and understand all. It is always easier to see the one outside and a little more difficult to see the one inside, but if you make the right effort, you will find it, it is there.
Have a divine day everyone. Namaskar. 
