Guru Yoga
Wednesday, October 1st, 2008Anandamayi Ma left us many words in the form of recordings of her satsangs. But her teachings can be boiled down to one pith instruction: Live in constant remembrance of your true nature.
Self-realization means being yourself. But first we have to discover our Self, the Self we have forgotten.
This is the function of Guru, to remind us of our true nature. We see our real potential in another human being. But it is more than this. In the presence of Guru, we actually experience our Self, we don’t just see something. Guru short-circuits what is called “anavamala,” our root sense of separation. In those moments when we are open to the transmission of Guru, we are actually enlightened.
Then we forget again until the next time. Darn!
The job of the student is to try to be in constant remembrance of that state of enlightenment being transmitted through the teacher. This effort is called “Guru yoga.” Guru yoga is, in the end, the only practice.
Many students, when they first come to a teacher, may not be very aware of transmission. They feel something, and this something causes them to stick around long enough to learn. But they are not yet capable of consciously investigating that something or cultivating it. They are still too distracted and preoccupied. We are all in different conditions and must do many practices such as yoga, kirtan, mantra, yantra, meditation and so forth, in order to relax our fixations.
But once we have relaxed enough, we gain more and more access to the state of Guru. Then we can consciously practice Guru yoga.
The state of Guru, of one’s own Self unfettered by fixation, is available at all times everywhere. However, the world Self gives to itself certain human beings who help humans to focus and receive knowledge of Self. This is grace, truly.
Ma often told disciples: Just remember me. She was telling them to do Guru yoga.
In the Trika tradition, and others, there are many ways to enter into the state of Guru. There are some techniques one can learn. But it is also possible to have no other assistance than the transmission from Guru. Then one just remembers, over and over, and identifies or integrates with that.
Guru yoga is the highest yoga. It is the secret yoga taught in the Bhagavad Gita. Like all of the secrets of Nature, it is an open secret - revealed everywhere, just waiting to be discovered.
In Ma’s love,
Shambhavi
And, here’s a shout out about a great new resource for all of you Anandamayi Ma lovers. Ananda Varta is the magazine that has been published by the Anandamayee Sangha in India since 1952. A loving devotee is now in the process of scanning these impossible-to-find early issues and putting them online. Each issue has words from Ma’s satsangs and articles by devotees about their experiences of Ma in those early years. Check it out, and check back frequently as more issues are going up all the time.
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