[Advaita-l] Chanting Gayatri overseas

[Sujal Upadhyay]

Namaste,

May be. But I too have experienced. Not all present receive grace equally.
Swami Tadrupanand ji says that if you wish to achieve something, you should
worship Gods and Goddesses, but if you wish to uproot the desire to achieve
material objects, then you should approach a saint. Many people approach
saints for personal reasons for example, a couple wished to beget a child
and asked for Swami ji's blessings. What has sanyasin to do with begetting
a child?

Swami Tadrupanand ji also says that if someone donates money or is a
trustee, you give him 10-15 minutes to give him a lecture and offer him
first row in a discourse hall. guru may do this and ask his disciple to sit
on last row. However when actually giving GYAna, the trustee is the last
one to receive and his disciple is the first one to get GYAna. When it
comes to uprooting desires, it is always his disciples. If anyone else
approaches and is not worthy, Guru may give same updesha that he gave to
his disciple, but the force of Ishvara is not in his words and so these
words will not touch his heart and transform him. He will continue to live
same life as he used to live before approaching sanyasin. At most he may
feel happy and contended that he got his answer. But inner transformation
happens only when power of Ishvara flows through a guru along with words.
Without ishvara's backing, no one can change the basic nature of anyone.
One will not enter into depth in meditation, one may not have divine
experiences. That is why we say Siva kripa is necessary for spiritual
progress. Siva kripa means guru kripa. Both are connected. No guru says
that 'Come to me, I will transform you' only Krishna (Ishvara ) can say,
'Leave everything and go to my refuge, I will free you from sins and grant
you moksha'. All others say, I am a servant of Ishvara.

Swami Tadrupanand ji says, if two devotees are present at same time and are
talking with a guru. guru gives same instruction to both. One's life will
be transformed and other's will not. Why? because in first case, it is the
grace of Ishvara that wishes to transform the ready and deserving disciple.

Adi Sankara walked length and breadth of Bharat, but how many disciples did
he make? four, Lets add one from Kanchi Matha. Lets be lenient and add 2
more. So in total, 7 disciples. Only 7 and he is a jagadguru? Why? There
can be lakhs of devotees but disciples can be counted on finger tips says
Swami Tadrupanand ji. There is a difference between devotee and a disciple.
In case of disciple, a guru will accept him as his disciple and assume the
role of a guru all by the grace of Ishvara i.e. upon Ishvara's orders and
will say ' I will not leave you until you get moksha' and says to his
disciple, you too are not going to leave me'. One can escape from clutches
of a crocodile but who can escape from Guru, his bond with him is now
eternal.

Just my 2 cents.

Hari OM
Sujal



On Tue, Oct 10, 2017 at 4:27 AM, Ravi Mayavaram via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Items #8 and #9, if true,  will undermine the shraddhaa of
> disciples/devotees. One will then never know when the blessings are genuine
> and when it  is done as a formality (and which probably means nothing).
> This may not be the position of the aacharya.
>
> The way I would like to construe is - blessings are there (and with
> kindness) but for attaining chitta shuddhi and bhakti towards Ishvara - no
> matter with what request a devotee approaches them.  Hence, it is never a
> mere formality (at least that is my take).
>
> On the aside, for all those living abroad, real threat is what Ravi
> Chandrasekhara pointed out.  A large percentage of the children of these
> immigrants will marry people from other religions and/or other castes.
> There is a high probability that the  family line of dharma these
> immigrants may  come to a grinding halt with them.
>
>  I am convinced that only way to help them is by teaching paatanjala
> yoga-darshana (and rigorously when they are in high school).   May be via
> yoga darshana, they may get back to other things later in their lives. Even
> on the bhakti side, we should mean what we say. For example, never dismiss
> phala shruti as mere arthavaadaa. That is enough to undermine it. If phala
> shruti of Sri Vishnu Sahasranaama, says  some things, then that is it. It
> is true. If we have that conviction and help other Hindus in need, nobody
> will convert to other religions.
>
> --
> Ravi
>