Page 18 - Light of Divinity

Light of Divinity

spiritual journey. He is the guide without whom the tentative first-
time climber and the stalwart spiritual mountaineer are both lost. He
is not only the path, not only the gate through which the seeker goes,
but also the goal, the top of the mountain. He is the Pole Star in the
journey from darkness to light, from ignorance to self-illumination.
And all the scriptures of the world are but feeble commentaries on
his nature. They are the fingers that point to the moon.

But, when you have Guruji’s darshan, the moon is right before
you—incandescent. If you choose to avert your gaze—not once, but
again and again—the light of truth is too strong for you. The Guru’s
call is to the divine in you. His word or shabad, his hukm or fiat, is
like the pebble that hits the lake: the entire lake shivers with the
form of its energy. And, know that this energy is contagious; it is
inescapable.

Meeting the Guru or having his darshan is not like going for a social
visit: it is like going to war knowing you are going to lose; it is like
watching a fire burn the house of your ego down; it is preparation
to meet the Highest. For the Satguru robs man of his defences. You
cannot win over a Satguru with words (alas!), you cannot put up an
appearance before him. He knows the truth of your being. Accept
that; hide nothing; don’t play games with him.

When you come to him, it is not who you are that matters; it is
not how confounded you are or how dark your deeds were or what
promises of saintliness you are now making. What matters is whether
you have said yes! That yes is the first, most firm footstep on the
spiritual journey. That yes brings innumerable gifts, that yes clasps
you to the Guru’s being with a force that even death cannot sunder.
That yes brings the Guru’s entire clemency, his grace, to you. And
that yes is perhaps the disciple’s only task. The rest of the journey is
a reaffirmation, footstep by footstep, of the first step. That yes is the
miracle; the rest are the miraculous details.

An ancient prayer invokes the Guru as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva
(Gurur Brahma, Gurur Vishnu, Gurur devo Maheshwarah, Gurur
sakshat Parbrahm, Tasmey Shri Gurve Namah)—the holy trinity of
Gods—for the Guru’s being is limitless. He is not just the Creator
(Brahma), the Preserver (Vishnu) the Resurrector (Maheshwarah)
or God Absolute (Parbrahm); He is all creation himself. He is the
thousand-eyed, thousand-limbed, thousand-mouthed God. He is the
seed, the spore, the sap and the tree of life. No one knows him. The

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