Swami Muktananda: “I do not agree with those who identify the Guru with his physical body, or who mistake physical proximity to the Guru for inner realisation. When Lord Rama and Lord Krishna were here in this world, millions of people saw them, but I don’t think all of them were liberated. Sadhana is a discipline. The purer you are, the greater your sadhana is.
What’s the point of mere physical closeness to the Guru if you’re not sensitive to him? If you do sadhana, you are transformed. If you do not do sadhana, what does it matter how long you were close to the Guru? Sadhana has its own end, its onw fruit. There are very few people who really do sadhana sincerely.
One must be worthy to gain the knowledge of Brahman, This worthuiness is acquired by service to the Guru. But in serving, one must also have an intense desire for liberation. Without this desire, even service to the Guru will not bear fruit. Many people did personal service to my Guru for many years, but who knows what they gained spiritually?
Source: 129-130, Bhagawan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri
Since 1968, Swami Paramatmananda Puri has lived the life of a renunciate in India, moving there at the age of nineteen to imbibe the spiritual essence of this great and ancient culture. It has been his good fortune to have kept the company of many saints and sages over the years, culminating in his meeting with his Guru, Amma, in 1979.
As one of her senior disciples, he was eventually asked to return to the U.S. to serve as head of the first ashram in the West, the Mata Amritanandamayi Center in California, where he remained in residence from 1990 to 2001. Many residents and visitors to the Center have shared that one of the highlights of the programs has been Swamiji’s talks.
Sri Sri Ravi Shanker: “The Guru Paduka Stotram is a hymn honoring the presence of a Guru in one’s life. This hymn describes the glories of the lotus feet of the Master and how a seeker’s life transforms with in the presence of the Master.
“Adi Shankaracharya was travelling across the country in search of his Master when he came upon a cave on the banks of River Narmada. He saw the padukas or sandals of Govind Bhagavatpada outside the cave and immediately recognized them as his master’s. Having found the master that he had been searching for, he was filled with abundant joy. Honoring the paduka has been a part of Indian tradition as a way of showing respect to the lineage of masters who have preserved the knowledge for us.”
Anantha samsara samudhra thara naukayithabhyam guru bhakthithabhyam,
Vairagya samrajyadha poojanabhyam, namo nama sri guru padukhabyam., 1
Translation: Salutations and Salutations to the sandals of my Guru,
Which is a boat, which helps me,cross the endless ocean of life,
Which endows me, with the sense of devotion to my Guru,
And by worship of which, I attain the dominion of renunciation
Bhodha pradhabhyam drutha mokshathabhyam, namo nama sri guru padukhabyam., 9
Translation: Salutations and Salutations to the sandals of my Guru
Which is the Garuda,which drives away the serpent of passion,
Which provides one, with the treasure of wisdom and renunciation,
Which blesses one,with enlightened knowledge,
And blesses the aspirant with speedy salvation.
Questions Concerning Guru Paduka Stotram
Q1: What is the Guru Paduka Stotram?
Sri Sri Ravi Skanker: The Guru Paduka Stotram is a hymn that honours the presence of a Guru in one’s life. This hymn praises the many qualities of a learned master and how a seeker’s life transforms under a master’s guidance.
Q2: What are the benefits of chanting the Guru Paduka Stotram?
Sri Sri Ravi Shanker: Chanting the Guru Paduka Stotram helps one invoke the Guru principle and imbibe the qualities of the learned masters.
Q3: Do I need to know Sanskrit to learn to chant?
Sri Sri Ravi Shanker: No, it is not necessary.
Q4: Who can chant this stotram?
Sri Sri Ravi Shanker: Anybody can chant the Guru Paduka Stotram.
Q5: How often should I chant the Guru Paduka Stotram?
Sri Sri Ravi Shanker: You can chant the stotram along with your morning or evening prayers.
Q6: Do I have to chant the stotram silently or can I chant it out loud?
Sri Sri Ravi Shanker: You can chant it silently or even aloud.
A villager wrote to his son living in a town: “Please send me Rupees 10 every month for my expenses.” The village postmaster saw his opportunity in this and added one 0 to the figure and made it 100. The villager’s son went on sending Rs. 100 every month to his father; and the postmaster coolly pocketed Rs. 90 and gave only Rs. 10 to the father.
The postmaster’s greed grew wilder! He induced the villager to write to his son for more money. The villager wrote, “Please send me Rs. 20 hereafter.” The postmaster added a 0 and made it Rs. 200. His income was doubled thereby.
One day a Postal Inspector paid a surprise visit to the Post Office and found out that the Postmaster was enjoying himself thoroughly. He made enquiries from the local people and suspected mischief.
He asked the old villager: “What are your needs?” He answered: “Rs. 20 a month.” “Why are you sending your father Rs. 200 a month, whereas he needs only Rs. 20?” the Inspector asked the son.
The enquiry revealed the Postmaster’s trick. Promptly he was dismissed and punished severely. The old villager was saved from being robbed of his income.
It is the Prana in the body that needs food to sustain the body. The needs of the Prana are very few. But the tongue coming between the food and the Prana demands very much more! It demands delicious dishes-sweets, Chutnies, Sambar, Rasam and Dosai. The more it is catered to, the greater becomes its craving.
The Guru comes into the life of the man and points out to him that there is some fraud, and that all that he is eating is not really necessary for the sustenance of the Prana. The thief is caught and punished severely by fasting, saltless diet, etc. He is completely over come. The Sadhaka becomes a Jitendriya.
There was once a man of good spiritual impressions who used to attend Satsang classes where he heard that the Guru’s Grace was indispensably necessary for God-realisation. From that very moment he began to search for a Guru to receive instructions and practise Sadhana. He came across many Sadhus and saints but found some fault or other with every one of them. He had a perverted intellect and a narrow-minded; fault-finding nature. Therefore, he was not able to find a Guru. As long as one does not crush one’s pride of intellect and learning and become like a child with intense faith, one cannot find a suitable Guru.
One day while sitting in his house in a sorrowful mood, his wife asked him the reason for his lamentation. He replied that he could not find a Guru who would show him the way to God. His wife suggested that they should both go to the forest at night and sit on the wayside, and the man who happened to pass that way first should be taken as their Guru. The husband agreed.
The next day they went to the jungle and sat on the side of a pathway. It so happened that a thief with some stolen ornaments was hurrying that way. The couple at once caught hold of his feet and took him as their Guru They begged him to teach them, the Guru Mantra.
A Thief for a Guru?
The thief was very surprised and also frightened. They narrated the whole story to him. He was moved by their faith and expressed the truth that he was a thief. The couple, however, would not allow him to go further and insisted that he teach them the Guru Mantra. The thief was alarmed that if he tarried any longer he would be caught. In order to get away somehow, he asked them to bend down, close their eyes and catch hold of their ears. He asked them to remain in that posture until he again ordered them to stand. They obeyed him and assumed the position. They remained like that throughout the night and the next day also. The couple did not take any food or water. In the meantime, the thief was caught and put into prison.
Waited for their (Thief) Guru
Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi were very much moved by their faith. Lakshmi became restless and prayed to the Lord to give them Darshan. Lord Vishnu appeared before them. On seeing the Lord, the couple were pleased but did not open their eyes or stand up. The Lord requested them to stand up but they replied that they would not do so without the permission of their Guru.
Thereupon the Lord appeared before the ruler of the country in a dream and asked him to release the thief from prison. The Rajah thought that the dream was false, but when it was repeated thrice, he at once released the thief. The same night the Lord appeared in the dream of the thief and told him to go to the place where the couple still remained in the same posture as he had ordered, and ask them to open their eyes.
Upon his release the thief immediately proceeded to the jungle and asked the couple to open their eyes and stand up. They did so and explained how the Lord had given them Darshan. The thief too revealed to them his dream and about his release.
A voice from heaven was heard: “I am very much pleased with the intense faith you have in your Guru. Do Bhajan, Japa and meditation regularly. I will give you Darshan and liberate you from the cycle of births and deaths.”
From that day onward the thief also left his habit of stealing and became a devotee of Lord Vishnu. The couple commenced regular Sadhana and Bhajan and became liberated souls while living.
Devotion and obedience to the Guru can achieve anything. Guru Bhakti is the supreme purifier and illuminator. It is devotion to the Guru alone that makes the life of the aspirant blessed and fruitful.
Source: 120-122, Inspiring Stories by Swami Sivananda
Bhakta Pipa
When once you have taken a man as your Guru, you should never change even if you get a man with greater developments or Siddhis. Then only will you have faith. Through strong faith, you will then and there, realise Brahman, the God in that Guru. You must become like the famous Bhakta Pipa of the well-known Bhaktamala, who took a rogue Nata as his Guru and when he saw his Nata Guru dancing on the bamboos in the open market, he took him as Guru, the Brahman incarnate, prostrated before him and thus eventually had his Self-realisation through the form of the rogue-Guru, the Nata.
Swami Sivananda: “Initiation into the Divine Name or the solemn Mantra-Diksha is one of the holiest and most significant of the sacred rituals in the spiritual life. To receive the Guru Mantra from a realised Saint and Sat-Guru is the rarest of good fortune and the most precious of the divine blessings that may be bestowed upon the aspirant—the full glory of the Mantra-Diksha, specially when it is done by a realised soul, can hardly be imagined even fractionally by the uninitiated who has not yet proper idea of what that Mantra and Mantra-Diksha really imply. The process of Mantra-Diksha is one of the most ancient in this sacred land and is the grandest jewel in the treasure of our peerless culture.
“Initiation puts you in possession with the direct means of attaining the grandest and the highest thing which can be attained, attaining which you obtain everything, knowing which you know everything, and gaining which nothing more remains to be gained! Initiation leads you to the full knowledge and experience that you are neither the mind nor the body, that you are Satchidananda Atma, full of Light and full of the Highest Bliss. May the Grace of the Satguru, the Visible God, bestow upon you all the highest fruit of Self-Realisation.” (pg. 304, Yoga Samhita by Swami Sivananda)
Swami Muktananda: “The mantra given by the Guru, although seeming to be mere syllables, has the divine potency to awaken the highest yoga in a disciple. It has the power to burn up completely a sadhaka’s accumulated karmas… the mantra is capable of transforming the (sadhaka), of making him worthy of attaining oneness with (God).” (pgs. 59-60, Light on the Path by Swami Muktananda)
Swami Satyananda: “Once you are initiated into a mantra you should continue it throughout your life in order to succeed in the practice. You must have faith in the Mantra which you have received in initiation, and stick to it right up to the very end. Japa Yoga may be a long path but it is sure and certain. (pg. 117, Early Teachings of Swami Satyananda Saraswati) [Swamiji is a direct disciple of Swami Sivananda].
Swami Sri Sivaya Subramaniyam: “Mantra diksha bestows the permission and power for Japa Yoga. Without this initiation, it’s repetition bears lesser fruit,” (pg. 405, Dancing with Siva)
“Self-assertive nature is a great obstacle in the spiritual path. This is an evil quality born of Rajas. This is accompanied by vanity and arrogance.
“The self-assertive aspirant does not pay attention to the instructions of his Guru. He has his own ways. He pretends to be obedient to his Guru. At every step his little ego asserts. He is disobedient and breaks discipline. He creates party spirit, revolt, chaos and disorder. He forms parties. He criticisesMahatmas, Sannyasins, Yogins and Bhaktas. He has no faith in the scriptures and the words of sages. He insults his own Guru even. He conceals facts and tells deliberate lies to keep up his position or to cover up his wrong actions. He tells several lies to cover up one lie. He twists and tortures real facts.” (pg. 368, How to Cultivate Virtues and Eradicates Vices by Swami Sivananda)
“(Many) disciples who get initiation from their preceptors become insincere and faithless and ungrateful. An insincere disciple betrayed Lord Jesus. Some of the disciples of Lord Buddha became his traitors and enemies. They left their Guru and did much harm and mischief. Even now there are plenty of insincere disciples who cheat even their Guru. What a shame! What a sad state! Their lot is highly deplorable! Such disciples will meet with miserable death. They will be tortured in the Maharaorava hell. They will be thrown in lower wombs in the next birth and suffer from incurable diseases.” (pg. 196, How to Cultivate Virtues and Eradicate Vices by Swami Sivananda).
“An insincere man cannot make even an iota of spiritual progress…. Sincerity is one of the important qualifications in the path of spirituality. Throughout the Gita, the one ringing note is that the aspirant in the path of Self-realisation should possess the important virtue, sincerity. The Sanskrit term for sincerity is Arjava. Look at the sincerity of Lakshmana and Bharata and their unflinching devotion to Lord Rama. Wherever there is sincerity there is devotion also. Savitri was very sincere to her husband Satyavan. Maitreyi was very sincere to her husband Yajnavalkya. So she received the Atma-Vidya from him. Mira was very sincere towards her beloved Lord Krishna. She had the good fortune to have Darshan of Giridhar Gopal. A sincere friend, a sincere devotee, a sincere husband, a sincere wife, a sincere son and a sincere servant are gods on earth. There is no virtue greater than sincerity. It should be developed at all costs by one and all.
“(An insincere man engages in) double-dealing… cunningness, crookedness, petty-mindedness… He tries to pose for a sincere man by trying to please his friends in a variety of ways, by gifts, artificial sweet and nice speech born of cunningness and other cunning methods. But he does not know that there are better intelligent people to detect the crow which shines in borrowed feathers. He is soon found out.
“O friend…! You have become insincere on account of intoxication from selfishness and greed. You do not know what you are exactly doing. You have a clouded understanding. Your conscience will prick you severely at one time. Your heart will bleed when you come to your senses. Your heart must bleed through repentance with a contrite heart. Then only can you purify yourself. Do Japa. Sing Lord’s Name. Fast on Ekadasi. Do not take even a drop of water. You will develop sincerity and through sincerity you will achieve freedom, peace and perfection.
“Hypocrisy, arrogance, conceit, wrath, harshness, unwisdom, deceitfulness, falsehood…cunningness, crookedness, petty-mindedness are connected with insincerity.”
(pgs. 191, 192, 194, 195, How to Cultivate Virtues and Eradicate Vices by Swami Sivananda)
Bhagavan Sri Ramanamaharishi: From the standpoint of the path of Knowledge, it is the supreme state of the Self. It is different from the ego which you call yourself.
Question: Can’t one approach God without the Grace of (a human) Guru?
Bhagavan Sri Ramanamaharishi: The ego is the individuality and is not the same as the Lord at all. When it approaches the Lord with sincere devotion, He graciously assumes name and form and takes it to Himself. Therefore, they say that the Guru is none other than the Lord. He is a human embodiment of Divine Grace.
Question: But there are some who seem to have had no human Guru at all?
Bhagavan Sri Ramanamaharishi: True. In the case of certaingreat souls, God reveals Himself as the light of the Light from within.
Question: Some people report that (you) deny the need of a Guru. Others say the reverse. What have you to say about this?
Bhagavan Sri Ramanamaharishi: I have never said that there is no need for a Guru.
Question: Okay, is there a need for a human Guru?
Bhagavan Sri Ramanamaharishi: What is a Guru? Guru is God or the Self. First a man prays to God to fulfil his desires, then, a time comes when he does not preay for the fulfilment of a desire but for God Himself. So, God appears to him in some form or other, human or non-human, to guide him as a Guru in answer to his prayer.
Question: what are the characteristics of a Guru by which one can recognise him?
Bhagavan Sri Ramanamaharishi: The Guru is one who at all times abides in the profound depths of the Self. He never sees any difference between himself and others and is quite free from the idea that he is the Enlightened or the liberated One, while those around him are in bondage or the darkness of ignorance. His self-possession can never be shaken under any circumstances and he is never perturbed.
Source: pgs. 94, 95, 96, 97, The teachings of Ramana Maharshi
Question: Who is capable of giving me the Divine wisdom, that which gives me Self-realisation?
Swami Sivananda: Divine wisdom, according to Sri Krishna, should be sought at the feet of a liberated Guru, one who has realised the Truth.
Question: How should one approach such a Guru?
Swami Sivananda: The aspirant should approach such a sage in a spirit of humility and devotion. God Himself manifests in the heart of the Guru and instructs the disciple. Having understood the Truth from the Guru by direct intuitive experience the aspirant is no longer deluded by ignorance.(Summary of Gita’s Fourth Discourse)
Question: Can’t I study the scriptures like the Gita on my own and understand what God wants me to understand? Do I need a Guru even for that?
Swami Sivananda: “…without the help of a Guru, you will not be able to understand the proper meaning of the verses of the Gita. You will be like the man who brought a horse to one who asked for saindava while taking food. The word saindava means salt as well as horse!” (pg. 9, Bhagavad Gita [Divine Life soceity, South African Edition]
Question: Is there any reference in the scriptures that say the greatness of the truly enlightened Guru?
If (God) becomes angry, the Guru can save (the individual who has been the subject of God’s anger), but when the Guru gets angry (with an individual), even (God) cannot save him. So, the Guru should be served with the utmost care.” [pg. 727, Canto 7, Chap. 36, verse 26, Srimad Devi Bhagavatam]
“(Many) disciples who get initiation from their preceptors become insincere and faithless and ungrateful. An insincere disciple betrayed Lord Jesus. Some of the disciples of Lord Buddha became his traitors and enemies. They left their Guru and did much harm and mischief. Even now there are plenty of insincere disciples who cheat even their Guru. What a shame! What a sad state! Their lot is highly deplorable! Such disciples will meet with 
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