Here is a quiz for my readers. Who would you pick as your guru? One who sits on a throne some distance away from us and has his followers who double-up as servants and bodyguards keeping the crowd a safe distance, or one who travels alone and is accessible to everyone and hugs each one of them. If God lives in all he should come down to our range and ranks and touch our souls and hearts.
Tavayogi, the moment he saw us sitting on the mat laid out on the floor in my home, got up from the chair that we had prepared for him to sit in and address us to sit among us during his first visit. Even before he stepped into my home, we were told not to wash his feet as was traditional with receiving gurus. When I asked my daughter to document the day's event in video he saw her with the video camera and told us that he was not a politician to be given coverage. When I sent him off, I thanked him from my heart. But he came down hard on me telling me that I was living in Maya and that I thought he had something within the saffron cloths. He told me he was not God nor Guru and pointed me to Agathiyar. Though his words hurt initially, I came to see his humility now. He did not portray himself as special.
Would you want a guru who pleases you, grants every wish, and makes us always seek him out for all our needs, or who molds us and nurtures us, and has us stand on our own feet to become one like him?
The guru comes to sow the seed as he travels many places. The seed has to germinate on its own, pulling in the resources available at each moment and reaching out to the sun. He does not stop to watch it grow. Tavayogi was one such guru. He gave us the techniques, showed us the path, and moved on leaving us to place the efforts. He left it to Agathiyar to bring us to greater heights. He did not take credit for anything. What he said about our effort bringing us to Svadishtana and the guru taking us further came to be true. His job was to give us the tools to bring us to work towards opening the second Chakra provided we used those tools to till the soil. From there Agathiyar took the reins.
Just as Tavayogi took me to visit three gurus upon my arrival at his Kallar ashram the very first time, and showed me that not all gurus have the same intentions, strength, humility, and mission in life, Agathiyar showed me the other side of gurus too. There are the bad apples too. I had thought that all gurus would only do good. It shocked me to learn otherwise. Choose your guru with care. Just as we are tested, it is alright to test a guru too.
What is in a name? The Gods have numerous names but they are all one in substance and essence. The Gods and we are all manifestations of that One. Name, race, language, nation, region, and gender only differentiate us. They are there to split us, keep us apart, and keep us in the web of Maya. We need to lose this individual identity. Become one. Back to becoming the primordial soul. That is who we are.
In the face of death, I might not even remember his name. If my car turned turtle after a crash and I am thrown into the air I cannot possibly call out to God or Guru with all his honorary titles. It would be too late. I would just utter, Amma, Appa, Muruga, Siva, Krishna, Rama, Bhagawane, Andava, or Kadavule that instant.
God can come in any form and through anyone. Agathiyar told us he could come before us but are we worthy of his Darshan he asked? Can our eyes withstand his Light? Should not we prepare ourselves to see him? One has to be fit to receive his vision says Asanga, a famous Indian Buddhist saint, who lived in the fourth century, in the following story, after this truth dawned on him following a series of experiences. Sogyal Rinpoche in his book "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying", HarperSanFrancisco, 1994, shares the story.
Retreating into the mountains to meditate in the hope of having a vision of Buddha Maitreya and receiving his teachings, Asanga was saddened and disheartened that he did not get even a glimpse of Maitreya in even his dream, the vision he aspired for, having put in some six years of meditation in the harshest of conditions. He thought that he would never succeed in his dream to have the vision of the Buddha and learn from him, hence he left his hermitage abandoning the noble venture. He had not gone far down the road when he saw a man rubbing an enormous iron bar with a strip of silk cloth. Asanga asked him what he was doing to which he received the reply, "I haven't got a needle, so I am going to make one out of this iron bar." Asanga was stunned and told himself "Look at the trouble people give themselves over totally absurd things. You are doing a really valuable spiritual practice and you're not nearly so dedicated." He turned around and went back to his retreat to continue his meditation.
Another three years went by and there was no positive sign that he would have a vision of the Buddha. He told himself, "Now I know for certain I am never going to succeed" and so he left his practice again. Coming down the road, at the foot of a huge rock stood a man busily rubbing the rock with a feather soaked in water. When questioned about his action, the man replied that the rock was stopping the sun from shining onto his home thus he was getting rid of the rock. Asanga could only revel at the faith and indefatigable energy he carried in him, and ashamed at his own lack of dedication he returned back to his retreat.
Three more years passed by and still, he had not even had a single good dream. He told himself that it was utterly useless and hopeless for him to pursue further, and left again. This time he came across a dog lying in the path of the villagers, snarling at all those who passed by, ready to sink its teeth into them although it had only its front legs and the hind legs were rotting away. Compassion came over Asanga. He cut a piece of flesh from his body and fed the dog. He knelt beside the dog, closed his eyes, and began to stick his tongue out to remove the maggots that had infested its flesh. But his tongue touched the ground. Opening his eyes he saw no dog. In its place was the Buddha Maitreya, envelope in a shimmering aura of light.
Asanga asked him why he did not appear earlier. Maitreya replied, "It is not true that I never appeared to you before. I was with you all the time, but your negative karma and obscurations prevented you from seeing me. Your twelve years of practice dissolved them slightly so that you were at last able to see the dog. Thanks to your compassion all the obscurations were completely swept away and you can see me before you with your very own eyes. If you do not believe that this is what happened put me on your shoulders and try and see if anyone else can see me."
Asanga put Maitreya on over his shoulder and went to the marketplace. He began to ask the people there what was it that he carried on his shoulders. None saw Maitreya seated on his shoulder. Surprisingly one woman told him that he was carrying the rotting corpse of a dog on his shoulder. Maitreya told him her karma was slightly purified hence she was the only one able to see the dog. No one saw the Buddha Maitreya.
Sogyal Rinpoche writes that finally, it dawned on Asanga that "the power of compassion had purified and transformed his karma and so made him a vessel fit to receive the vision and instruction of Buddha Maitreya. Maitreya took him to heaven and gave him further teachings.