Swami Shivapadananda on relationship with the Guru

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Taken from Mother Radha’s
notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.

Day 347

 

 

Guru is only One. Just like you have a father, you cannot change him no
matter what happens. So regard the other holy ones, not as ‘my guru’ but as ‘my
teacher, my father.’ There is no substitute for the guru.

 

At initiation the guru gives you his power. He wants you to become one
with him, with God, but he does not really care who comes and who goes. You [the individual ego] are not of
importance to him.

 

Serve him selflessly and think of him continually, become one with him.
As you think like this, you will become purer. You will see him in all and then
his physical form will disappear and only the spirit will remain.

 

At present you think of the guru as ‘that man over there,’ rather than
of his spiritual form which is without name and form. Because God is God, He is
your [higher] Self. The lower form of the guru, the physical form, is a projection of
your own mind only. The higher view of the guru is the spiritual form, a
projection of your [higher] Self. You will get the strength to realise this and
more too. This is the Law.

 

If someone hurts me, what hurts? If something pleases me, what is
pleased? Take the good and the bad as it comes. See it and then forget it. Do
it and then forget it. Forget the whole past, give it away.

 

We must either have a pure mind, which leads to sattva [balance,
equilibrium, harmony] (and this leads to self-realisation) or we must give all
to God, to guru: ‘Lord, all this, pleasure, pain, hurt, love, is yours.’ Try
this for six months and see the results. This is not book learning, it is
experience.

 

When you begin to worship, it is just a photo. Gradually the Ishta [personal
or chosen Deity] becomes alive – if you are sincere – then It reveals Itself to
you. It must, this is the Law.

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