Summary: Explains that the Guru’s grace is a transmission of his awakening to the seeker. Emphasises that to realise the Divine one must give oneself completely.

Kṛipâ means grace. It is the activation that starts to happen in oneself by the presence of the Guru, the Master – because of what he has and is. It is the giving of the consciousness and the awakening that is present in the Master to the seeker, although what one receives is dependent on the preparedness of the seeker: like Ramakrishna with Vivekananda. He offered to Vivekananda all that he had of his awakening. That does not mean He did not offer it to the others – he did. But the whole lot He offered to Vivekananda who was very prepared for the work that needed to be done. So one would term that as grace, as also when Ramakrishna offered everything at the feet of Sarada Ma. It is the transference of the awakening, power, experience, realisation and consciousness from the Guru to the seeker. Being in the atmosphere, in the presence, in the feel of the consciousness of the Guru and Master, and through that what one receives is the grace-kṛipâ, Guru kṛipâ: the act of benediction that the seeker receives from the Master; the act of love, and through that love what is present in the Master.

Bh.: It is said that it cannot be given.

Really? Then why are people hanging around the Gurus? There are enough examples from the past where it has been given. Through the presence, through the darshan, through the sight, through the eyes, through the giving of a flower, the contact is made – the gift is given; hopefully the gift is received. Then of course what the receiver does with it, how the receiver manages to retain it, that is then the receiver’s ball game. The ball is then in his court.

The whole process of initiation is Guru kṛipâ. The Guru duplicates himself in the seeker. That is His grace. It is the duplicating of the Buddha in the followers of the Buddha; it is the duplicating of Mahavira in the followers of Mahavira – this is grace. Duplicating meaning duplicating the awakening like a candle being lit by a lit-candle. So it is gracious and precious to be in the presence of an awakened one. That is why the Buddha says, “Better than years of meditation is one moment of reverence shown to the awakened one.”

Bh.: So it would not be possible without the Master.

It is easier – it is not that it is not possible. Ultimately, who is the Master anyway? He or she is what is potential in you! He is the visible manifestation of what you seek, that which is yet to awaken in you. He has arrived and so can help you in your journey to arrive. Like the saying: ‘The father is reborn in the son,’ so is the Master reborn in the seeker.

Bh.: Did you have your own Master?

No. What I have I was born with. I am sorry to say I did not have the privilege to enjoy the disciple to Master relationship. I may have not required it but then I missed out on the profoundly loving and exalted sweetness of the most precious of relationships. Maybe one lifetime I will pray for this to happen just so I can enjoy the exaltation and profundity of such a relationship.

Bh.: In past lives then?

No.

Bh.: How did you manage? (Laughter)

(Pointing to the sky) You will have to ask Him! It is one of those things… Maybe I found the corpse already prepared… I was walking in the forest and found everything arranged for me… I was tired, so I happened to sit down at the right spot. (Laughter) That is all!

Maybe you struggle too much…

In the innocence of your being you can awaken to light, you can awaken to God. Have that trust in yourself. That is why I said yesterday, be your own master. That is why I say, what you see visible in a Master is potential in you. It is only a matter of time for the manifestation to happen. Keep on going. Maybe you too may find a ready prepared corpse!

Bh.: All these years at it but we feel we have not got any closer.

The corpse is not yet ready! How can you not see the difference between when you began and yourself now? How can you not see the difference between yourself and the new seekers? It is very obvious. So you are travelling, you are arriving, you are preparing. Carry on. Within the progression you will have radical moments, but remember it is a progression, it is a process. When those radical moments come, radical jumps are made – but it is still a process, a continuum. It never stops. There is no end.

Bh.: So for the enlightened Master also new doors open up?

Sure. The higher you go there are higher regions still. The deeper you go there are deeper regions still.

Bh.: Living with the Master constantly, does the process become faster?

Yes – it can also get tough though…

Pb.: It gets tough faster!

And then you become tough fast!

Bh.: Then the person does not become a puppet?

But are you not puppets anyway? The Master awakens you to yourself!

Bh.: Can the Master work from a distance?

Sure, yes.

Bh.: Which is better?

It depends what you can handle. If you go next to the sun it gets very hot! How much heat you can tolerate that much distance you keep. Although, the nearer the better – in your soul.

You know, there is a story about Vivekananda and Ramakrishna where Ramakrishna asks him that supposing he were a fly how would he enjoy a bowl of sugar syrup? Vivekananda said, “I would sit on the edge and drink.” Ramakrishna then asked, “Would you not jump into it?” “No, I would drown,” replied Vivekananda. To which Ramakrishna said, “This drowning is of a different kind; here you do not die.” It is only the ego that dies but then you must take the leap and throw caution to the wind, in other words – give yourself completely and totally. It requires courage and lifetimes of preparation.

Bh.: It is said that Dattatreya had twenty-two Masters. What was the meaning of that?

Not in the way you understand. I will tell you how he considers the Masters. He was walking through a village once… can you hear me?

X: Very little.

What to do? I am in a very silent state; it is an effort, that is why we need a little loudspeaker here. It is an effort even to speak. At the moment I am not feeling the body at all, there are only the words coming through. There is no volition… the breath is moving in an empty space, the words are flowing from emptiness and I am thoroughly intoxicated, drunk – without having a drink. So be careful – are you sure you want all this? You cannot even speak aloud… You know, Ramakrishna used to fall down because he used to get into such states of intoxication. So there always used to be some people around Him making sure that he did not fall and hurt himself. One time He fell down and broke his front tooth and his arm. So do you really want to be in this condition? No, huh? It is better where you are! (Laughter) Here is a beautiful song:

I am dancing

At the feet of my Lord

All is bliss, all is bliss.

We can all sing. It is a beautiful song.

I am dancing

At the feet of my Lord

Who is your very self!

All is bliss, all is bliss.

So coming back to Dattatreya and how he had twenty-two Masters, I will quote the words of Christ here, “He who has eyes to see will see; he who has ears to hear will hear” and will explain this saying through Dattatreya’s story. He was of that stature, Dattatreya. His eyes and ears were open, so to him anything and everything was a teacher. He sees everything as a teacher, he learns from them. Once he was passing through the streets of a village and he saw this poor house, a hut, in which there was a young girl alone and an elderly man and woman who had come visiting to seek a possible bride for their son. It was an unexpected visit, a surprise. Her parents had gone out in the fields and she was the only one left in the house. The girl is disturbed. What to do! She has to take care of them so that they do not go back disappointed. So she goes in. She wants to prepare something – there is only a little pounded rice, not enough to prepare anything. It is a poor house so there is no ready food in abundance but she does not want them to know this for they will go away. So she goes inside that they may not hear her pounding new rice – because they will know then, this house is not a house of plenty, rather it is a house of poverty, and only now is something being prepared. But when she begins pounding the bangles on her arms start to make much sound so she takes them off one by one until only one is left – then there is no sound. Dattatreya learnt from this; she became Dattatreya’s Guru in the sense he learnt from her that to be alone is best for one’s life-quest. When there is more than one there is noise, conflict, distraction. This is how he had twenty-two Gurus, or as many as you like. He learnt from this girl, this whole event, this situation, something for his life to carry on. So he considered that young girl his Guru. Therefore the quotation from Christ, “He who has eyes to see will see; he who has ears to hear will hear.”

Panchmadhi

18 Feb 2001