yoga shraddha (22)

do not trust
trade mark guru

By Kulamarva Balakrishna

Vienna,Tuesday, February 26,2008:In the
earlier sutra we have identified who are
bodyless and who are absorbed in nature.
We are with nature,when we pray nature
also joins us in prayer has been the conviction
of the sages who evolved the system of
our daily dawn,noon,dusk prayers.Then in
the last posting I mentioned just the three
dimensions of truth.Now before we take up
the road to =asamprajnata samadhi=,
samadhi reached unaware by humans the
route of five steps are described.

=shraddha 2.virya,3.smriti,4.samadhi, and
5.prajna purvaka itaresham=,meaning for
humans faith,energy,memory,samadhi and
derived knowledge get =samadhi of
unawareness, that is abstract samadhi.
We get a chance here to note that yoga is
not a simple suppression of five fold flow
of the mind, a common misrepresentation
by most trade mark holding yoga gurus.
In the above quintet we note the five elements
cause the flow of the mind.The more intensive
the elements are the better for reaching
the target.There is then no suppression is
in involved but promotion, channelization
is involved.Maharshi Maheshyogi was
right in his suggestion while propagating
his transcendental meditation, that mind
should be guided to its defined goal.

Of the quintet, the first shraddha is the most
misunderstood word of Samskrit. It is
generally translated as faith.The word is
mentioned in Bhagavadgita =shraddhavan
labhate jhananm=.The general simple
translation of the sentence is the one who
has faith gets knowledge.When elders ask
children to learn attentively they use the
word shraddha to describe the nature of
attention required to get success.Apart
from attention, devotion also involved in
shraddha.But preceding the two elements
there is a pre-requisite that is a clear
understanding motivating devotion.
It is described by Trever Legget in his
English translation of Samskrit commentary
text of Vyasa,perhaps also know as
Badarayana Vyasa to differentiate him from
the notorious gigolo Vedavyasa, as
=faith is a settled clarity of the mind: like a
good mother,it protects a yogin (student).=
The mother has love for the child,understands
the child,she gives her devoted attention
to the child, she not only protects it but
also promotes it.Faith has all these qualities.
It mobilizes strength,energy.Then to describe
the word shraddha in simple terms of a
=belief= is off the mark. Most gurus including
religious, play with faith of others and
make the believers almost like slaves.
Which is not meant by belief, confidence,
and faith.The common gurus are conmen,
confidence tricksters.They aim at creating
confidence to misuse it immediately
after gaining the confidence. It is then
good to an individual not to trust a trade
mark guru.

Such trust in a trade mark guru is =andha
shraddha=, superstition,blind belief causing
disasters.Make sure the guru is indeed
trust worthy.He is not a marketing man.He
is not identified by his clothing, beard, laugh,
funny stories or cheap magic miracles.
Do not be fooled by garbed looks or his
stage performances.Do not be led to the
deep pit of superstitious muck.
There are not many in India of today gurus.
Because yoga is a way of life that leads
us to live away from the crowd let alone lead
the crowd even mob.The crowd gathers
are not yogis.They are bhogis meaning
beneficiaries.(end)