There are a few things I can recall vividly, even today, from Vedic Paathshalas depicted in TV serials which I used to watch as a child – Guru would be sitting on a slightly elevated platform and the shishyas would be asking the Guru their questions with utmost respect in a soft tone, with hands folded and humility in their eyes. While those serials represented certain aspects of Guru-Shishya interactions, there are many “conversation norms” that cannot be shown through TV medium, norms which I understood only once I met my Guru at the Dhyan Ashram.
You see, conversing with ordinary folks and conversing with a Guru are two completely different subjects and while conversing with ordinary people may not require an article in a magazine such as The Inner World, ‘Conversing with the Guru’ is definitely something that must be discussed on this platform, as 99% of the people falter in their conversation with a Guru.
Just because I am writing this article does not mean I am among the 1% exceptional cases, I am actually writing this article as I, all by myself, may have collectively made all the mistakes that 99% sadhaks may have made individually. With this article I am attempting to give a “concentrate” of my learnings from the last nine years of lost opportunities to access my Guru, just because of basic “energy grammar” mistakes.
Here it is important to understand that Gurus don’t go by the physical, they go by energy. We, as ordinary beings, with our minds and senses strongly embedded in the physical, only understand the physical aspect of any event or conversation. Even when we analyse an event, we start to recall the physical event, which Guru does not give emphasis to. The reason why it is nearly impossible to understand what the Guru is saying, if one starts using the limited buddhi.
Let’s try to understand this with an example. Take a situation where a sadhak does something for someone, telling himself that it was to help the other person. The Guru, however, informs the sadhak that he did it for his personal gains and that he cannot think beyond himself.
Typical reaction in such a situation is,
“No, no, Guruji.”
“But, why Guruji?”
“Kyun Guruji?”
“You are right Guruji, BUT I did this for these, these and these reasons. Please hear my side of it”
“Guruji, you only said that I should do this? So then why are you scolding now?”
“Maybe Guruji doesn’t know the facts that’s why he/she scolded me, it was not like this, it was actually like that”
“But I never said this, I said that”
“I think someone has poisoned Guruji’s ears against me. Someone may have given wrong information to Guruji that is why I am being scolded”
“Ji Guruji (saying yes but internally arguing)”
Every conversation with the Guru is a flow of energy. Once the sadhak says “No, But, Why, Kyu” [whether said it out loud or said it internally – it’s the same. Actually, arguing internally and not saying it is worse] to the Guru, the flow stops and a clash starts. When the clash starts, the communication becomes redundant as the sadhak has now blocked the flow of energy which the Guru had initiated for the improvement and well-being…of the sadhak. He may then be able to justify his actions, but he has no idea what he missed in the process…
There is one more way to respond in this situation. It involves zero ambiguity, complete trust, minimal words and maximum introspection. It is – Accepting what the Guru said, followed by silence and Swadhyay [introspecting to find one’s own faults – not the Guru’s]. If you can do this, you have a chance to understand your Guru and improve yourself and upgrade your frequency – to put it simply – you have a chance to evolve.
In my travels with Yogi Ashwiniji, I have seen people from all walks of life, including dignitaries, senior officials, celebrities, renowned journalists, students, homemakers and others from all over the world come to meet Yogiji. On every such occasion, I have noted that Yogiji never differentiated on the basis of one’s social stature or influence, he interacted with everyone as per their energy and quest. Some people would interact with Yogiji and extract the essence of his teachings from him and the interaction would go on for hours (even though Yogiji barely interacts) whereas some people would go back in a clash mode.
Once, Yogiji was invited by one of the leading industrialists of the world for the wedding of his son. On much request by the industrialist, Yogiji attended the function for a stipulated period of his time. In the duration of time [each minute being calculated] Yogiji spent 10% of the time to interact with the organizer and spent the remainder of His time there interacting with the Darbaan at the gate who greeted Yogiji with all honesty. These are the traits of Gurus – they have no ego – and interact with anyone who seeks them with the right “bhaav”. Those who have come to the Dhyan Ashram and experienced the force of Yogiji know exactly what I am talking about – those who experienced Yogiji and still decided to give weightage to their personal agendas and left….my condolences.
Don’t clash with the energy of Guru by using “No, But, Why, Kyun”. Learn the grammar of energy, interact with the Guru’s force. It’s the only way to evolve.