Yog is the final frontier, and the Guru has to carry you on this journey from here to there. This calls for 100 per cent unshakeable faith on the Guru figure, faith which is able to even move the Guru and the gods. Guru-shishya relationship goes much deeper than a teacher-student one as that is what it is taken as, what Guru cannot accomplish, shishya can, with the Guru mantra.
To quote an example from history, Angad was sent by Lord Ram as a messenger for peace in the court of Ravan.
When Ravan did not heed Lord Ram’s message, Angad put his foot forward and said, “If anyone in this court can shake my leg, Bhagwan Ram will return to Ayodhya and leave Mata Sita.” Such was the faith and confidence of Angad in Lord Ram that he pledged on behalf of Lord Ram himself and it is this faith which could not let the biggest warriors in that court, including Ravan to move his leg by even an inch. Ravan who had moved Mount Kailash was not able to move the leg of a monkey, this is the power of Guru bhav.
Another leap of faith was made by Kabir.
Kabir came from a very humble background, he was the son of a weaver. Swami Ramanand was among the greatest saints of the times in Rishikesh and he was not ready to make anyone his shishya. Kabir however was determined to become his disciple.
Swami Ramanand used to take a dip in Ganga at the time of brahm-muhurat. Kabir would often go there in hope to see him. Once it so happened that Kabir was lying on the banks, and Swami Ramanand not seeing the young child lying there, stepped on his forehead. He then lifted the boy and asked him, ‘What are you doing here son, go do Ram Ram.’
After that day Kabir went around the whole town telling Swami Ramanand has made him his shishya. When the news reached Ramanand ji, he called Kabir to his ashram, and spoke to him from behind a curtain. He asked, ‘why are you going around lying to people? When did I make you my shishya?’
Kabir replied, ‘Respected Guruvar, the other day when you had come to Ganga-ghat for snaan, you gave me Shakti-pat by touching my agya with your feet and giving the diksha of mantra of ‘Ram’. Devi Ganga herself bore witness to the event.’
Swami Ramanand was impressed and said, ‘I found my first shishya.’ The faith and conviction of Kabir was so intense that it was not even up to Ramanand ji to refuse him what he wanted. It came walking to him.
While it is easy to say or think one has 100 per cent unshakeable faith, in practice, often one shakes without even realizing. There is another anecdote from the life of Kabir that exemplifies this.
Once Kabir was out of his ashram, when a leprosy patient came asking for help. His son attended to the patient. He chanted ‘Ram’ three times and sprinkled gangajal on him every time with the chant. It is said the patient was cured of his disease. When Kabir came home, the son narrated the incident to him. Kabir on hearing said, ‘Son, you made the biggest mistake of your life.’ The son looked at his father puzzled. Kabir explained, ‘Why did you do it thrice? Once was enough.’ So repeating the Guru mantra thrice was seen as an act of lack of faith on the Guru and his mantra… so fine and deep is this relationship of faith between Guru and shishya
