Guru Gita or Song of Guru is one of the oldest Gitas found. It is a conversation between Lord Shiva and Mother Goddess where She asks Him to teach her about the Guru principle and the benefits of having Guru. Sage Vyasa has recorded this conversation in the Skanda Purana.
Parama Pujya Sri Ganapati Sacchidananda Swamiji has been giving countless discourses on Guru Gita and extolling the greatness of Guru. According to Sri Datta Vijayananda Teertha Swamiji, when devotees are asked about the benefit they gained by reading this text, they answered, "Whatever be the physical distance of our Guru, Guru Gita enables us to feel the presence of Guru in our proximity."
Dattatreya is the True Guru to any man.
Dattatreya is the Adi Guru or first Guru in the Universe. Keeping that in mind, according to Guru principle, Guru and Guru's Lineage must be worshipped before starting any deed. In these introductory verses of Guru Gita given by our dear Appaji, Datta Guru's Lineage is worshipped.
gururbrahmā gururviṣṇuḥ gururdēvō mahēśvaraḥ ।
gurussākṣāt paraṁ brahma tasmai śrī guravē namaḥ ll
Guru is Brahma (Lord Creator), Guru is Vishnu (Lord Preserver), Guru is Mahēśwara (Lord of Destruction). Guru is the incarnation of Parabrahma (The Absolute). I salute such of my Guru. Sri Datta Sadguru is the personification of the Trinity who had brought the holy tradition of the Guru to the human world. Thus, He is the True Guru to any man. All the true Gurus who descended in that tradition are also the variations of him and so they are the images of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. In effect Guru is another name of ’Parabrahma’ and l bow down before such Datta Guru.
dattātrēya samārambhāṁ nrsimhādika madhyamām ।
saccidānanda paryantāṁ vandē guruparamparām ll
Beginning with Dattātrēya, several Gurus such as Nrsimha in the middle until Sachchidānanda salutations unto the order of Sadgurus. Here the phrase ’until Sachchidananda' denotes that Sri Ganapathy Sachchidānanda Swamiji is the incarnation of original Sri Datta Sadguru who had taken this birth to uplift the people of the day and to revive this sacred tradition.
Below is a speech given by Pujya Sri Datta Vijayananda Teertha Swamiji on Guru Gita.
Śrī Gańéśāya namaha Śrī Sarasvatyé namaha Śrī Pādavallabha nrsimha Sarasvati Śri Guru Dattātréyāya namaha
Śri Gańapati Sacchidānanda Sadgurubhyō namaha
Sadguru shows us the goal and helps us to achieve it.
Sadguru is essential to all living beings. Being devoted to sadguru and offering Him your service earns you to the eligibility and energy to cross the ocean of samsara. There are many initiations which are named as Gita, like Bhagavad Gita, Devi Gita, Avadhuta Gita. Among all these, Sri Guru Gita holds a very special place. In this difficult time of Corona let us all chant Sri Guru Gita for the wellbeing of the universe. Chanting Sri Guru Gita for love of sadguru blesses us with a blissful experience. It is for the individual to chant and experience the bliss. Words or explanation cannot describe it.
Dhyana Shloka’s and Shloka’s 1-35 were chanted.
Vedas suggest offering of namaskaram to Vedanta (Upanishads), Sadguru, and Ishwara. Namaskara is a prayer offered to Sadguru / Ishwara by folding our hands and bending our head enough to show Sahasrara Chakra to them. This prayer will bless us with the ability to take right decisions.
We must remember Vedanta daily. Vedanta means Upanishads. The questions where did we come from? Where are we going? What is the game? These questions will be answered by Vedanta. We must acquire dispassion to pursue and understand Vedanta.
1. Vedanta : remember the Vedanta daily: Where did we come from? Where are we going? What is the game? We must practice dispassion to understand Vedanta.
2. Sadguru : While we are near Him and having Darshan, we must listen to His upadesha. While we are far from Him, we must ponder and analyse His words and search for the real meaning.
3. Ishwara : We have to earn eligibility to get blessed by Ishwara with knowledge.
The namaskaram we offer to sadguru and Ishwara must be done with purity of thought, word and deed.
1. Purity of thought : would be to always have good and benevolent thoughts in mind.
2. Purity of word : To be of strong belief that all that you speak through your mouth are His divine names. This will help us not to utter bad words.
3. Purity of deed : Doing deeds only that are beneficial to you and society.
Meditation is very important to gain focus. It’s purpose is to keep thoughts at bay. Initially while we are meditating, thoughts may disturb us, but persistence will soon result in good focus. To gain knowledge we need focus. To improve focus of mind, All the scriptures have said in unison, ‘Practice Pranayama’.
A woman living in Malaya mountain ranges uses sandalwood sticks to light fire and cook food. As long as the sticks serve her purpose of cooking food, the preciousness of the sandalwood sticks is not her concern.
We are in close proximity with sadguru. We have His darshan and listen to His upadesha. This close proximity helps us a great deal to understand Sadguru as omniscient. We install such omniscient Sadguru as Trinity in our heart.
He gives us great liberty, but we must be cautious of not misusing the liberty and end up losing His divine presence in our lives.
Trinity means Brahma – One who creates, Vishnu – One who maintains the creation, Shiva – One who merges the creation into Himself. Human life is too small to see cumulative process of creation, maintenance and merging. We humans can relate to terms knowledge and ignorance. Only due to Satsang of Sadguru, an urge to earn knowledge is born within us. Slowly, His sweet words increase our association with Him and then we want to earn more and more knowledge. The birth of urge for knowledge is Sadguru’s blessing in Brahma form. The knowledge so gained must be sustained and put to actions. Sadguru blesses us here in his Vishnu form. Sadguru in Shiva form burns our ignorance. When we perceive Sadguru like this we see Him, the ultimate Brahman.
Sadguru lineage important
It is always good to remember all those people who have taught us things in life. They are in a way our gurus our teachers. We must always remember our Sadguru lineage. Our sadguru is called ‘Sri Guru’. His sadguru is called ‘ Parama Guru’. His ParamaGuru's sadguru is called ‘ Paramesthi Guru’ and His Sadguru is called ‘ Paratpara Guru’ .
Value Time
Anyone who wants to be happy and peaceful, must practice time management skills. We must learn to value time. There is no harm in being 5 mins early to the venue. It prevents many disappointments. After waking up in the morning remembering Sadguru’s smile, gives us a great start for the day. Such smiling face of sadguru brings a smile inside us. This technique will not only stop overthinking of problems, but gives us a plan to solve them.
We must meditate on Sadguru’s padukas firmly placed in Sahasrara chakra. We must mentally perform the ablutions to Sadguru’s feet in Sahasrara. We must believe that this abluted water is flowing inside and outside body making us wet and shed all the impurity – both internal and external. Remembrance of Sadguru words will keep away the evil thoughts. This is the advantage of devotion. Hence we must practice more devotion. Meditation of the entire form of Sadguru starting from padukas to head, along with the robes will removes obstacles.
Seers ask Suta Muni to tell them about Sadguru tattva. Suta Muni obliges and starts to tell about Sri Guru Gita. There are three questions:
1. Who told this upadesha? 2. Where was this upadesha done? 3. To whom was this upadesha given?
The answer multiplies our interest and faith in the upadesha.
This upadesha is given by Shiva himself to Parvathi in Kailasa. The mount Kailasa is located in Sahasrara chakra in our body. Shiva resides in those minds and intellects which are peaceful. Shiva’s consort is Parvati. Parvati is Prakruthi – nature. Analysing our true nature we must try to find and win Shiva. Shiva and Parvati are the first couple and had no inferiority or superiority complex between them. There are times when Parvati initiated Shiva and vice versa. Such incidents are lessons for humans to conduct themselves as individuals, in the family and also in the society.
Parvati : Shiva, please tell me about Sadguru tattva. I have taken this body, How to know about Brahman?
Shiva : Parvati, We are not two separate Energies, but We are ONE. You are very devoted to me. Your mind is fully in me. None had asked me this question before. The real intention of your question is to bless the universe at large.
Shiva : Guru is Shiva. Shiva is Guru.
Here Shiva did not say, Guru is ME. I am Guru. Thus we must understand Shiva is Parabrahman. One must not see any difference between Sadguru and Parabrahman. Seeing them as two entities will incur huge sin. This is sacred and a secret that is unknown in the three worlds.
At one point of time, Demi gods and demons were ordained to churn the ocean. Mountain Mandara was used as a churning rod and Nagaraj Vasuki was churning rope. Poison emitted out of the ocean. Shiva comes to the rescue and drinks the poison. Thus He got the name Neelakanta. Then He says, I like the Trinity very much. Does this mean He is not amongst the Trinity? Shiva, both in Sri Guru Gita and in the above incident, means Parabrahman. Not one amongst the Trinity. Sadguru is Parabrahman.
Bhajan: Gauri Gauri Guru Gururupini
Compiled by Sridhar Matukumalli