taking a break.

[elmec]

Hari Om,
Namaste everybody,

I would like to take a break from the List for about two months as it is
summer vacation for all the colleges here in Bangalore, India, and as
such I will not be available in town as we have plans to visit places
and people during the holidays. I will not have access to computer
wherever we go and I do not like to keep the messages from the List
unattended for days together. Hence kindly permit me to take a break now
and re-join you all after the vacation, say around mid June. I hope this
sort of temporary " Signoff " is allowed by the List managers.
Otherwise, kindly let me know what is to be done. I will be here till
Sunday,the 23rd.

My greetings to all the List members in advance for the Shankara
Jayanthi celebrations. I would like to quote here one of my favorite
Guru stutis found in
" Upadesha Saahasri " of Sri Shankara.

" Vedaanta vaakya pushpebhyo jnaanaamR^ita madhuuttamam
  ujjahaaraalivadhyo nastasmai sadgurave namaha "

My obeisance to sadguru who has extracted the best honey called  jnaana
from the flowers of sentences of veda just like a bee ( extracting honey
from the flowers ) and given it to me !

What a wonderful stuti !  I literally cried reading this.
Man may have technologically advanced very much. But can he ever select
the right flowers and extract the best honey from them using any
equipment ??! No, never. Inspite of the superiority that we claim over
other beings because of our intelligence, we have to surrender to the
little bee to get us the sweetest of honey. Only a bee can discriminate
which flower has what kind of honey in it.

Similarly, it is only the Guru who can extract that honey called jnaana
choosing the right sentences from garden of  flowers called vedas. If we
totally surrender to such a Guru, do his service with all our devotion
and beg for jnaana, he will certainly be pleased and readily gives us
the best of the honey that he has collected. Without a Guru, can we ever
imagine collecting that honey from such a vast garden ourselves ?! We
would be totally lost and can never ever break  free from this viscious
samsaara chakra. Come, let us surrender ourselves to such a Guru and
partake from him what he has to offer.

naguroradhikam tattwam  naguroradhikam tapaha
tattwajnaanaat param naasti  tasmai sri gurave namaha.

Regards,
Hari Om,
Latha Vidyaranya
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