Guru Smaran Saptah
6 May 2021
Sevika : Geeta Kothari
Class : Thursday afternoon on zoom
Attendees : 5 including Sevika
The session began with Invocation, followed by chanting of Guru Stotram.
Every class member was then invited to share their reflection, learning from the book 'My Trek Through Uttarakhand'
Given below are few of the reflections of the class -
Swamiji, with his poetic language paints a picturesque picture of the changing landscape he traversed. His power of observation was superb as he described nature.
Swamiji had a resilient temperament. Though he encountered many adversities on the journey, nothing deterred him . His focus was on the goal, to reach the Lord.
Swamiji was disciplined. Starting early in the morning at 3-3.30 am, after a long hazardous day of trekking, often without tea, food, exhausted and in pain from lacerated feet Swamiji was disciplined to make his daily notes in his notebook, as well as write letters to family & publisher.
Swamiji displayed Titiksha. He was equanimous under all circumstances, never complained.
Like the journey , life is of ascents, descents and meadows
Swamiji, had environmental concerns. He considered the forests to be the wealth of a nation. Burning of the forest timbers upset him, he considered it a crime.
Swamiji was attuned to nature, the silence of the forest touched him, often leading to meditation.
Swamiji was respectful, paid his homage to Swami Tapovan at Uttarakashi, the Mahatmas at Gangotri. He asked for their blessings that he may stay on the spiritual path, progress Swami Tapovan advised him "To keep a continuous Brahma Vichar" Phalahari Baba told him “Drink the real, pure Gangajal, not this river water. Visit the inner Goumukh. The pahadi to lead you, is in you."
Swamiji reflected , mused on their guidance, to rise above BMI
The session ended with concluding prayers.
Reflection of a class member of Sevika Geeta ji Kothari's class - Ms. Anushka Jagtiani
My Trek Through Uttrakhand
This book has offered great respite and comfort at a time like this when the Nation is facing such tragedy.
Elements that inspired me and the characteristics of Gurudev I admire most are:
1.The exceptional literary quality of the descriptions of the landscape and the comparisons between the rivers – Ganga, Yamuna, Bhagirathi – made me feel that I was accompanying Gurudev on this tirath or pilgrimage myself. 7th May he writes, ‘There is a distinct difference between the roaring noisy speed of the Yamuna and the resonant humming of the Bhagirathi’s voluminous gushing. If Yamuna has the grace of a restless, youthful pahadi lass as she jumps from stone to stone down a hill, Bhagirathi has the dignity of a lady and the poise of a queen at the head of a royal procession’.
2. The transparent honesty of the emotions of agony and ecstasy. Page 105 ‘My feet had been so badly lacerated that I had to weep with pain at each step’. And later he says, ’Just as I was beginning to get thrilled by the atmosphere – the Panda came and rather rudely said “come out calo”’.
3. I am in awe of the tenacity of the spiritual quest. To keep walking in spite of excruciating pain in his foot and exhaustion, covering sometimes more than 20 miles a day barefoot. They traversed so many dangerous paths that I was on edge reading it. May 4 while crossing the Yamuna He writes, ‘These splinters look like bared grinning fangs. To walk on these fangs, clawing for support at the smooth inundations in the rock is the only method of crossing this section… I have no recollection of how or when I found myself on the other side too. Sweating profusely and shaking in every limb’.
4. I admire how Gurudev maintains his iconic sense of humour through it all. That also made the book more enjoyable to read. I laughed out loud often. It makes the pilgrimage come alive. Some examples of this are, ‘When I reached Mandala I was as dead as mutton’. Also his narrations of his occasional bickering with Jnanananda are hilarious. Example, Tuesday 4th May – when Jnananada says ‘ I do not care for Ekadashi or Grahanam – I have come here on a pilgrimage I do not want to walk with free hands’. – Gurudev writes “I was at a loss, not knowing what to say to this eccentric Mad guy who is a vedantin”. His criticism of the guide book is also really funny. He says on 1st May, ‘since the guidebook says that one should not try the pagadandi (footpath), we decided to go on that only’.
5. I am inspired by Gurudev’s candour and fearlessness. I love that we get a glimpse of a newly liberated nation that was not even a year old. Gurudev fearlessly comments on the Governments shortcomings and also on the greedy attitude of the Pandas. He is quite candidly vocal in his writing. Especially when there is no milk available and prices are exorbitant. 29th April facing a constant milk shortage he writes, ‘the government had not made any preparation. Because of the road construction, they had already declared the yatra stopped this year. As if a secular order or discountenance can stop the spiritual urges and the outflow of faith’. Yatris are arriving but no sanitary arrangements or police patrols. The situation is fantastically short sighted’. He also reveals his discontent with the Pandas when he says, ‘When will the Govt get hold of these Pandas and teach them to behave themselves? As it is they are a botheration, a nuisance, a pain in the neck’.
6. I admire the fact that though Gurudev later took up Sanyas, he could have retreated in the Himalayas and lived in a cave like the other sadhus he met along the way. Instead of escaping from the world all together – he decided to spread his knowledge of Vedanta and do so much philanthropic work
7. The most profound truth is written in the last 3 pages – These lines resonated with me and encapsulates all that we are studying. On the road to Badrinath when Gurudev’s feet are shredded and in pain he says, ‘I plod on courageously. Why does one have to suffer pain like this? … Pain alone turns us away from the sense pleasures into regions within the bosom. One raises strange but honest questions such as Who am I?’ He goes on to question whether we are defined by our success and failure, gains and losses. Or whether we are just the body, or the intellect or Mind. At the young age of 32 Gurudev answers these vexing questions so beautifully when he says, “There is a lord within us to whom belong the senses, the mind and the intellect. For we say, our intellect, our Mind, our sense organs, so that Lord, that power is within. The spirit. It too must evolve. Towards what? Perfection. Towards itself. That is a fuller realization of the soul force or the life force by the individual’. The lesson that I imbibed is that Pain can make you a Believer. One must understand that pain is at the level of BMI- it doesn’t define us. And we must endure even the highest level of pain to evolve to a higher plane of consciousness.
