Hari om. So, we all come here for service, for darshan, and what is it all about? So today I'm going to just touch on a topic called 'guru bhakti karma yoga'. Great masters and spiritual saints and sages of the past have declared that the easiest way to attain God-realisation is through guru bhakti karma yoga. What is the meaning of bhakti? Devotion, dedication, and love. What is the meaning of karma? Act, action, to do. So, to do duty to your guru with love is what 'guru bhakti karma yoga' means. It is a yoga in itself and we must understand that great sages have said to us that you only have five ingredients to become a disciple and those five are very simple: dedication, devotion, faith, surrender and love. If you have those five you can call yourself a disciple. That is what great masters have said to us, and Swami Siviananda very nicely said it in his book Guru Bhakti Yoga that 'A disciple is he who is one hundred percent committed, one hundred percent behind his master or his guru'. And in guru bhakti karma yoga we are saying very simply that coming and sitting here in front of the guru is not guru bhakti at all. It's laziness. Coming here to listen to the guru is guru bhakti gnana yoga. That means you are getting some idea of this journey. But coming here and doing work as instructed by the guru is called guru bhakti karma yoga and it's very important that we follow it.
So I'm going to tell you something now. When a guru is ready to leave his physical body, he seems to be the most agitated person and he will say and do things that you'd never believe. When a guru does that you must understand that the guru is ready to leave his physical body. And if you have mastered or performed guru bhakti karma yoga in your time with your guru, even if it's five minutes. Satyaseelan only spent two months with his guru, and at the time of his guru's death - because of the two months of dedication, love surrender, faith and devotion for his guru - his guru given him everything just by touch, and immediately after that he left his physical body. That is guru bhakti karma yoga - where you do everything for your guru. There's nothing that you do that does not have guru in it. I know there are some of you here, the only thing that comes from your lips is 'Guru, Guru, Guru'. I know some of you here, even when you are travelling, you imagine your guru is there. That is guru bhakti. But let's take it further. We can have the faith, devotion and surrender. But do we have the action? Are we doing things that the guru wants to be done? We're not. And yet masters have declared that the easiest way to Self- and God-realisation is guru bhakti karma yoga.
As I was walking from the house to here, a great master said to me 'Let the yoga continue'. And I'm trying for that – for the yoga to continue in myself and every time I try to hold you by your hand and take you on the guru bakti karma yoga journey, you pull back. You have excuses, reasons, justifications. And once you start having excuses, reasons and justifications, you have no devotion, no dedication, no surrender. Just in one aspect, out of three of the rungs of the ladder for guru bhakti, karma yoga disappears.
You must know that to be a disciple you need to be strong: emotionally, physically and spiritually. It is a tough life, a tough journey. Your guru will scream and shout and then the next minute he'll be laughing. A guru does not take this moment into the next moment. He knows that now is now and it's finished in five minutes. It's just a moment, then it's finished. But do you know that? You'll have a permanent marker board somewhere in your head where you write it down so it cannot be erased. Why can't you be in evenness of thought, mind, and decision. So in this guru karma bhakti yoga, you must have total surrender. It must be complete, should not have any obstacles or stoppages. It should not be clogged. If it's clogged, use your mind to plumb it out. Simple as that. Get it out and have this devotion, and see where it takes you.
So what we are saying is that guru bhakti karma yoga is the easiest way to God-realisation through Self-realsiation. And everyone seated here has the potential, has the know-how and the utensils to do it. There's nobody here who doesn't have those three. Find your guru. Hold him for dear life. If he kicks you hold him again.
When I first met my guru at the age of fourteen, on our first visit to him he told my dad, 'Are you'll crazy? Get away. I don't do these things'. My father was upset. There was an old granny that took us there and he was shouting at her. She said, 'don't worry, small brother. It will come right'. Two days later she was back, forced my mother to come again. My mother put on some drama and my dad said we could go. So we went and the guru was labouring in the field, as a supervisor, and saw us on the other side of the river. There was no bridge. He stopped the car and said, 'I told you not to come back'. And he swore at us and told us, 'Get out!' He didn't want to see us. The third time my mother didn't eat for three days, so we went on the third day to his house and he said, 'Come, come, come. Sit'. That is a guru. He was testing to see if we had the devotion, love, surrender and faith. My father showed through his persistence that he had these. And he became my first guru. He was no guru like those of today. If he was here now, none of you would follow. He was rude, untidy and filthy but he was a guru. Today, not one of you would prostrate at his feet because you are seeing through your eyes so you wouldn't touch him. That is how the mind works. And he would have his bottle of Mainstay, and chops on the table while he talks to us. I used to think, 'What kind of guru is this?' My mother accepted him first and then I accepted him. He was my guru for many years. His name was Narayansami. But in those years, many times, he was absolutely rude. He said once 'If you don't go now I'll give you rain'. My my dad tested him and we didn't go. Then we couldn't go over the bridge because of the rain. But we held onto him every moment of the way. He was the only one who could tell my father what was wrong with me. The doctors declared me insane but Narayansami told my dad I was going through a spiritual transformation. I was fourteen. At no time did my father disregard him because he was shouting. We kept on going back to him.
One of the persons who has guided me to this position here is my Gurudev Narayansami. He was a very unique individual in the way he guided me and my family. My father would not do anything without us going to Gurudev, even if we were travelling. And some of you might think I'm telling a story but if you speak to Betty's mother-in-law she'll tell you. They had a cow that could not have calves. They went to Gurudev, told him the story: no milk, no calves. Gurudev gave them something, said, 'Feed the cow'. They did and it had a calf. Gurus have all the power but they won't show it to you. He never showed it for one day. He just did things. He'll give you a thabeeth with circles squares rectangles, triangles, like a child's drawing, and give it to you. But at the end of the day he was a great guru and it takes a wise one to identify with a great guru. Really, we can go right past him and think he's a beggar. For as long as I knew him which was from fourteen to about thirty years – for 16 years - he only had one coat and it fitted him for all those years.
So guru bhakti karma yoga is very important. The guru will walk right past you. Don't think he doesn't like you. He's just testing you. If we go back to Kriya Babaji, Bhogar Maharishi did not do good for him. Bhogar Maharishi always brought him down, but Babaji kept going back and said, 'Gurudev, what have I done wrong? Show me'. Bhogar used to show him exactly what he had done and say 'That is incorrect,' even though he did the same thing he was shown. That's what gurus do - make you very strong. I want all of you to somehow find a guru and let him help you find yourself. Really, it is very, very important that you do that. And if you have a guru, make that acknowledgement within yourself and let it be pure with devotion, dedication and total surrender, faith, and love. Don't superficially say, 'I surrender to you.' The guru knows what is total absolute reality. Temporary reality he knows.
So I want you to do that. Hang onto your guru. Find him and hang onto him for dear life. Only he knows the way. You don't know the way. If you knew the way, you wouldn't be here. But you don't know the way, therefore you're here. Find yourself a guru who can lead you. That is what life is all about. So guru bhakti karma yoga is for you. Think about what I said and enjoy.
Hari Om.
