Guru Smaran Saptah- 4th May ( Day 2)
Worli class held on Tuesday 11:30am.
Attendees: 9
Class started with Guru Stotram being chanted verse by verse by members of the class.
The reflections on My trek through Uttarakhand were discussed and the points that stood out were:
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The descriptive writings in the book paint a vivid visual, enabling us to live through Gurudev's experiences. He describes the Yamuna as a "restless youthful pahadi lass, who jumps from stone to stone down a hill". Whereas Bhagirathi has ``the dignity of a lady and the poise of a queen at the head of a procession".
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Pujya Gurudev did not give up on his goal in spite of all the hardships, whether it was the lack of food, aching feet or challenging weather conditions. He saw humour through all his challenges e.g. his feet felt like 'sole of thorns'.
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Gurudev saw divinity in nature. The same Deodhar trees he had seen earlier, later appeared as though the branches were arranged symmetrically, like many handed God's encouraging man to scale greater heights of the voiceless realms.· In spite of all the hardships on his journey Gurudev's bhakti increased manifold. Meditation & prayers came very easily in the beautiful surroundings of nature. We are compelled to think of the Creator when we see his beautiful creation.
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Swamiji saw the grace of God when he reached Yamnotri on Ekadashi just in time for a dip on Sankranti.
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Swami Krishnasrama taught Gurudev to drink real Gangajal not the river water, to visit the inner gomukha, to develop shraddha and prem. He advised that there is no God beyond and beside you and His kripa is your own efforts. Though Gurudev was in his presence for a brief period he had his first taste of the bliss of meditation after that.
Lessons we learnt :
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We learnt that pain turns us away from sense pleasure and makes us look within. Real essence is within. At that point pain disappears and grace comes in.
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Silence is the substratum for all the sounds that we experience.
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It is important to cultivate intuition as it is the only faculty by which man can feel, know, live and become the immortal, undivided & indivisible Infinite by integration of mind and intellect
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We can learn from anyone in our life as Gurudev did from the Mahatmas in the Himalayas to the pahadi boys and the local people.
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Continuous Brahma vichara, Meditation and Renunciation should form an integral part of our life.
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The world of the senses is one undivided essence of Existence absolute, Knowledge absolute, Bliss absolute.
The class ended with Alka chanting the 108 names of Pujya Gurudev.
Summarised on behalf of the class by Radhika.
