Lord Narsimha, Maa Kali and the Guru-3
Seotember 13, 2024
Continuation from Part 2
I had committed Guru Ninda as written in Part 2 and the dream of an ISKCON person coming over to me and showing a picture of Lord Narsimha and Goddess Narsimhi (written in Part 1) too indicated something.
I realized that no matter who your Guru is or what lineage you belong to, each Guru has learnt from the other as well. Take for example, many may have received some mantra in Sri Vidya tradition from a genuine guru yet the foremost Guru of Sri Vidya is Lord Shiva himself from whom all mantras have originated. Many saints have grown up listening to or practicing various teachings by various Gurus and hence, somewhere when the Guru teaches, She or He is a cumulative knowledge of various sources including Her or His own initiated Guru and of course, even the lineage.
Furthermore, take for example Sri Maa, she reached her own spiritual destination like the Goddess of the mountains all by her own efforts and spiritual guidance by her friend. Also, Maa Aanandamayi experienced spiritual samadhi when she was a mere toddler! Lineage or no lineage, Guru is there to help and such realized souls or enlightened beings are indeed a part of Guru Mandal!
The Guru Mandal
Sarajubala Devi was a disciple of Maa Sharada. As recorded in The Gospel of The Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, Sarajubala wasn’t somebody extraordinary but by Divine grace, a mantra was revealed to her in her dream and it happened before she was formally initiated by Maa Sharada. This indicates that the Guru may be present in the physical form or beyond, no matter what, a sincere seeker is definitely guided for spiritual growth by various means.
Brahmachari Ashutosh Om during a video call said that each of the Guru wishes for our spiritual growth, they are there to help. I understood that they all constitute the Guru Mandal. Astonishingly, even the Divine is a part of Guru Mandal because the first and foremost spiritual master for this Universe is none other than the Divine!
“Guru” means spiritual master and “Mandal” means a certain space. Here, Guru Mandal refers to the sacred space where the energy of all Gurus across the Universe is present collectively.
Connecting the dots
As written, I saw an ISKCON follower asking me about Lord Narsimha in the dream. Towards the end of the dream, I noticed the existence of bias in my head. Actually, I didn’t like a particular book written by the Guru Prabhupada much because it didn’t resonate with my values. Well, it is not at all important to resonate with every Guru out there. Since there exist many Gurus, a true spiritual seeker goes ahead and sees whom she/he is fitting the best with or whom is his/her heart is accepting like flowing milk. As far as I am concerned, I wasn’t resonating well with Prabhupada’s teachings and I accept, at some point, I have engaged in speaking ill about him as well as about other gurus too. It was my ignorance and I sincerely seek apology for it.
Brahmachari Ashutosh reminded us about something that Sri Maa told us once, (paraphrasing) that its better to discuss the qualities or deeds of a person in a progressive, solution oriented manner rather than about the person as an individual.
I realized that I had spoken ill about a few Gurus with whom I felt not resonating enough. It is the doing of the ego where a person begins considering one’s own Guru as the best and under ignorance begins to degrade and demean the other Gurus, unnecessarily attracting serious negative karma towards the self.
Its better to follow what the heart says and follow it entirely. Your own Guru is a part of Guru Mandal, the path to Divine. Divine is a part of Guru Mandal too. Since the real, genuine guru has realized the Divine, the Guru becomes a part of Divine as well!
Through the dream, the Divine indicated about my bias and hypocrisy and I am deeply and greatly thankful to the Divine for doing so, enabling me to make corrections in my conduct and life.
Is the Guru genuine?
I know that not every Guru is genuine. In fact, as per what’s happening here in the first half of 21st century, it won’t be an exaggeration to say that 98% of all who consider themselves Gurus are fake, stroking their egos with a huge fan following. Yet, to be on safe side, its better to be compassionate and discuss one’s deeds or work instead of the person as an individual, deliberately assassinating their character. Who knows that you may end up abusing a genuine and real Guru which indirectly translates to disrespecting your own guru and the ishta too? This may indeed increase the burden of Guru Ninda whose consequences are indeed severe!
Seeking forgiveness from all the Gurus, the Guru Mandal
I committed Guru Ninda of not only disrespecting my own Guru but also by trash-talking about other Gurus as well. To avoid the serious consequences I was slipping into, I desperately wanted to seek forgiveness, so, I decided to meditate on the Guru Mandal.
I imagined a bright circle of whitish-golden light invoking all the Gurus and enlightened beings of this Universe to be present there. I bowed down to that Divine light, I kneeled down and, in the middle, I saw Sri Maa’s form appearing. She was the embodiment of entire Guru Mandal for me. Above her were Shiv-Shakti in a dance form and around her was a soothing outline of the bright Divine light. I bowed down to her, crying. I asked Her and each Guru of this universe to forgive me. I said- I am ignorant, please forgive me! And tears rushed down my cheek.
My million obeisance to my Guru, my Sri Maa!
If you wish, you too can meditate so on Guru Mandal taking your ishta or the guru as the embodiment of the Guru Mandal.
What could have gone wrong?
Just a while back, I was thinking, what if Sadhana App wasn’t there for me? What if I couldn’t point out at my own blunder in ego? This would have meant that I would be born again maybe in a different social setting, away from spiritual practices, who knows?
I was slowly getting distracted, demotivated with a vegetative will power. What if I had died with my vikaras (negative habits and mindset which halt one’s growth) still intact? This meant that I may reborn with some cruel destiny to pay back the negative karma of Guru Ninda committed by me! Maybe then, nobody could have told me about my own karma of Guru Ninda like Sri Maa compassionately told me about in this lifetime! What if I had held on to my ego and ignorance and never tried seeking forgiveness from the Guru or the Divine and continued to live in ego? What would have happened if I would have trusted the rumours surrounding a genuine saint rather than the saint herself/himself?
It shudders me to even think of that! I am deeply thankful to Sri Maa and Divine for always being with me and steering me back to the right direction whenever I falter!
Maa, I am sorry and I offer a million obeisance to you!
By the way, the grace of my Guru and Divine is such that eventually, through a mere question by Sushree Aparna Om, I received a list of sadhanas one ought to do! It happened after I cried for forgiveness. A huge thank you to Divine for working in mysterious ways!
Narayani Namostute!
Om tat sat!
-Chitra Om
