Chapter 6 - Guru Is The Way
Day 42
We need to be a little awake to judge whether our efforts have been made to the full extent possible. Rest and sleep can wait till after death. While we still breathe, let us not waste our time sleeping in bed.
Put in effort. Put in 100% effort. If a sadhak feels that he and his efforts are separate then he gets tired, and if he gets tired working, there is a possibility that he will quit his efforts.
If he works for someone else, he will get even more tired. But when he works enthusiastically for himself, he will not get tired. When your son or daughter's wedding draws near, you are busy with preparations.
You work day in and day out, but still you are not tired, but you cannot even work for half an hour for someone else. If you had to do eight hours of work, you can only imagine what would happen.
When you are forced to work for others or do not want to work, you get tired after just three hours. If you are putting in effort, and there is a difference between you and the effort, then you become tired.
It is true only when life itself becomes an effort. This seems to be the reverse of what was said before. In the beginning it said to drop your efforts.
Now it says, "Do any work and get involved in it so much that you do not feel tired”. That is sadhana. When the mind is in agreement with any work that we do, whatever it may be, we do not feel tired or find pain or misery in it.
It does not matter whether you succeed or fail in that work. You will be free that is certain. It hardly even matters if you make a profit or loss, because the work is a pleasure.
While operating, a doctor puts in his 100% effort for the patient. Whether the patient survives or dies, the doctor feels relieved for having put in his best effort.
If the doctor puts in effort only to ensure that the patient survives, but he does not make it, the doctor will be sad. It is not possible to save all patients.
If the doctor has not put in 100% effort, his mind will be upset, whereas if the doctor has put in his full efforts he will not feel regret Guru is the means.
People who approach a Guru and ask, "Please show me the way," do not have any common sense. It is enough just to consider the Guru as your Guru. Anyone with innocence and an open mind automatically gets the energy of the Guru.
Sometimes people feel dull before they come to satsang, but as soon as they come and sit in the satsang, consciousness starts flowing through them, and they feel alert, energetic and enthusiastic.
This is a sign of a Guru. Guru is the means. Once you accept someone as your Guru, in time you will be able to see the nature of the Guru in yourself. That much devotion to your Guru is enough.
Kanakdas did not attend any university, but he still wrote
many poems. He had the necessary faith and devotion. His Guru told him, “Go, buffalo' is your mantra”.
He started repeating, "Buffalo," and a buffalo came to him. This is not only a story. Nobody has seen God, and it is difficult to believe in a God who you have not seen.
The Guru is visible to us, and in him we can see trust, love, peace, naturalness and strength. A relationship can be made with a Guru that you can see. Guru is the means.
If you cannot make an effort, at least come with an open mind. In putting in effort, your ego grows, and you feel, "I am doing something. So far, two sutras have been given, which are very important.
One is "put in your best effort, and the second one is, “you come to a guru only after you put in your full effort, but still feel defeated”. Then you do as the Guru advises.
It is very difficult to find a Guru in this world. One meets a Guru because at some point he has done some good work. There are very few who take advantage of a Guru even if they meet one.
After using all the means, you have faced defeat in life, and Guru is the last means. When Guru becomes the means, then there is no defeat in life. Your perspective in life shifts.
So it says, “Guru is the means”. The body is an offering. Once you have approached a Guru, blaming yourself is out of the question. There is no room for it.
If there were room for blame, then it would be as though you had not come to the Guru. What is the meaning of approaching a Guru? It is not just walking up close to him, but to have that trust and faith that the Guru is with us.
That he will provide whatever we need, he will guide us and our life will flow smoothly. Such a deep faith will develop on its own.
