Jaya Guru Datta. Sri Guru Datta. Satyakama. The Guru Gita says that one should see the peaceful form of the Guru who is an embodiment of God in all of God’s creation - in the animate as well as the inanimate. Since the Guru is all-pervading, he grants knowledge to the eligible disciple immediately without a second’s delay wherever the disciple may. Satyakama’s story clarifies this. Satyakama was the disciple of sage Gautama. He seeks refuge with the Guru for knowledge. In order to test Satyakama, Gautama gives him 400 weak and emaciated cows and asks him to go to the forests. If he nurtures the cows well and increases their count to one thousand and then returns to Gautama, he would, at that time, give him knowledge of the self. Of the 400 cows the Guru gave him, half could not conceive. They would not contribute to the increase in count. They would only keep grazing, it is only the remainder of the cows that would useful. Some people who heard about this said, “What kind of test is this? Go to another Guru. If you do this, you will never attain self-realization. What is this business of taking care of cows? When will these cows give birth? Increasing their count to one thousand seems no where in sight. These cows do not even have the strength to give birth. That is why, go to another Guru. You will never attain self-realization here. You will get it elsewhere”. Everybody discouraged Satyakama. But Satyakama who had firm devotion towards the Guru did not care for their suggestion. He set out to the forests as per the Guru’s command to serve the cows until the count grows to one thousand. “No matter what, I have to get to one thousand cows from these cows”. With great faith, Satyakama would feed the cows in the forest while meditating on the Guru. Some time passed like this. Once, Gautama went to the forests. Satyakama was very happy that his Guru gave him darshan even while he was still serving the cows. He was happy, “I am still serving the cows, the Guru himself came here to give me darshana, I am so fortunate”. “Stop all religious rituals and focus only on serving the cows. No more meditation, worship etc. You must give up all this. If you really want to serve the Guru, then with a focus on duty, give up all these for now and only take care of the cows”. Gautama ordered him and went away. As per the Guru’s command, Satyakama spent his entire time taking care of the cows and considering the cows as Parabrahman. That was it for him. He treated the cows as Guru, as Parabrahman. “I do not need to observe any religious rituals. Taking care of the cows itself is my religious ritual. That is my meditation”. He had no other thoughts. After some time, the count of the cows crossed one thousand. But Satyakama did not even notice. He was just continuing to serve the cows. One day, a bull near the river spoke in human language, “Why are you still here? You approached the Guru for knowledge of the self. Our count crossed one thousand. Take us to the Guru’s hermitage. Learn knowledge of the self”. Then, Satyakama set out for darshana of the Guru. The bull spoke, “Prakashavaan” or one who illuminates and saying, “The God of Fire will teach you the next verse”, joined the herd. Satyakama learned the first line of the teaching in the Principle of Truth. After walking a little distance, The God of Fire taught the second line “Anantavaan”. That means, God pervades the earth, the sky, all the worlds and all the seas, he is infinite. After walking even further, a swan taught him the third line, “Jyotishmaan”. That means, fire, sun, stars, moon etc are all powers of God. Finally a waterhen taught the final line, “Aayatanavaan”. Energies such as Prana, eye, ear, mind etc are caused by God’s grace. Jaya Guru Datta. Sri Guru Datta.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 18:43:43 +0000
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