Gurupurnima with Swami Tattvavidananda
About a hundred senior students of Vedanta took part in the Gurupurnima function in the presence of Swami Tattvavidananda at the Brahma Vidya Kuteer in Hyderabad, on the evening of the 3rd July. Of course, the full moon day of the AShADha month does not fall on the same day every year, but the date of function is calculated as per the Indian calendar. It is celebrated all over the country.
It is the day on which Sage Vyasa is said to have born about five thousand years ago. He is the one who sorted out the unmanageable mounds of Vedas and put them in proper shape and categories. He also wrote the Mahabharata which contains one hundred thousand verses (of which Gita is a tiny part with 700 verses), to encompass all human knowledge of the time. It was acclaimed as dharma shastra by social philosophers, as Vedanta by the speculative philosophers, as an epic by the poets, as a treatise on state-craft by the kings and so on. Vyasa is also credited to have authored the brahma-sutra-s but pundits dispute this. Another disputed claim is about the authorship of the eighteen purANa-s, and of Srimad-Bhagavatam, which he is said to have undertaken as an exercise to bring the philosophy of the Vedas to common man.
However, the dates and authorship are a mystery, as the Indian mind, trained in dismissing the nAma-rUpa duo as ephemeral, gave more importance to the purport of the book than to the historicity. This may appear to be a virtue, but it has the inherent disadvantage of anyone faking a text in the name of Vyasa, to give it respectability and acceptability. It is more so in the case of Vyasa, as the word ‘Vyasa’ came to denote a particular status or title for a person who wrote elaborate commentaries (as we see the Vyasa commentary on the Patanjali Yoga aphorisms). The word Vyasa itself means ‘elaborate’.
Anyway, Gurupurnima is an occasion to remember and respect the guru-tradition in general. The word ‘guru’, here connotes the teacher of the knowledge of Self. It does not refer to the class-room teachers, though nothing forbids us from showing our reverence for them. The one who imparts self-knowledge is the one who himself is enlightened. He is the one who removes the hRRidaya-granthi-s, i.e. the knots (similar to Gordian knots) of confusion in our minds.
Swami Tattvavidananda says that a guru is like a sign post, giving directions at every stage to a spiritual seeker. He is like a zealous gardener who examines as to whether the fruit is ripe. The student is the one whose emotions, feelings of love and hate, ambitions and desires, are constantly in a test. They are supposed to melt away in the presence of a good guru, who himself is a realized person. He should be a shrotriya-brahmaniShTha (as Mundaka Upanishad says), i.e. one who confirms to social norms while being a realized person. The contrast is a non-conformist, theoretical, existentialist guru, in whose guidance the seeker may or may not attain knowledge, but runs the risk of becoming a dissolute person.
Swamiji’s book, a commentary on ‘Purnananda stava’, was released on the above occasion. It is a small book with twenty-two verses, but it is terse poetry, requiring scholarly explanation and Swami Tattvavidanandaji has done it exquisitely. The poems are by Akhandananda ji Maharaj, the well known modern sage, and they are in praise of his guru, Purnananda Maharaj. The poetry is deeply influenced by Bhagavatam, and hence equally dense in imagery and structure. The poems are not an expression of servility but of love. I had the privilege of reviewing the book in the presence of the Swamiji.
Three important points were made by the Swamiji during his speech.
Indian society at present is ignoring j~nAnam and is dwelling more and more on bhakti and karma. Pundits are inventing newer and newer modes of rituals and binding people more in superstitions. Devoid of j~nAnam, which should be the guiding force for both, bhakti and karma are growing in unfettered directions, spreading superstitions, commercializing and trivializing the culture.
Gurus, quite often, are also setting up institutions of guru-dom, and instead of enlightening the disciples, they are ‘en-burdening’ them physically and psychologically, with both guru and disciple exploiting each other. The guru gets into a guru-fixation and the shiShya into a shiShya-fixation, and both become mutually dependent. A good guru releases the student from bondage but not bind him as a psychological dependent. He is like a lamp which gives light, but which is detached.
The real gurus like Akhandananda have a purifying presence but the commercial gurus have infested the field so much that some eminent men like Jiddu Krishnamurthy felt that there was no need for a guru. Swamiji commented that all the real gurus have, in fact told the same. They did not encourage guru-dom, instead they took the position of a ‘guide’.
Having reviewed a book of poems in which Akhandanandaji eloquently praised his guru, I also read out a verse composed by me for the occasion, which I may be allowed to submit.
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aj~nAnArta-hRRidi-sthale shrutivachaH-pIyUSha-dhArAdharo
vedAntAmbudhi-manthanotkaTa-mahAkuulaMkaSho matsyarAT.
antevAsi-hRRidUrNanAbhi-rachita-granthIn samuchChedayan
shrImat-tattvavidAkhya-vishvagururAD Anandado bhrAjate..
It means this: On my heart-field, which is parched by ignorance, Swami Tattvavidananda is like a cloud which rains the nectar of the Upanishads. He is like the mighty whale (referred to in Brihadaranyaka) which moves freely in the ocean of Vedanta touching the edges all around. He cuts the cobwebs of misunderstanding woven by the spider called heart (the image of spider is familiar in Vedanta), i,e. he helps in resolving the cobwebs. As the teacher of a universal message, he shines as the giver of the bliss of Brahman.
Listeners to his lectures will realize that it is not a eulogy.
