Once upon a time, a Guru was giving
darshan to a congregation. People were coming and bowing down, seeking
blessings. Gurudev was silent most of the time and when somebody would come and
share their troubles, looking for a response, he would say only one thing –
“You are very lucky”. One person came to him and said, “I failed in my exam.”
Gurudev said, “Well, you are very lucky.” Another came and said,
“My wife has left me.”
“You are very lucky.”
No matter what problems people
shared – “None of my friends are talking to me” or “I lost my job”, Gurudev
kept telling them that they were very lucky. Even though it was the same
response, strangely, those people would walk away happily, as though they received
the right advice for their situation. After a while, one person came forward
and shared, “Gurudev, I feel very lucky and I am so grateful that I have you in
my life.”
When Gurudev heard this, he got annoyed and gave this person a tight slap. Even
more strangely, this man, with tears in his eyes, started dancing in gratitude.
Another person who was watching all
this, got totally confused at everybody’s behavior. But he could not gather
enough courage to ask Gurudev directly. So he went to a senior disciple and
confided, “I can’t make any sense out of what I saw. Could you please explain
to me the meaning of all this?” On being asked to give an interpretation of the
Guru’s actions (which devotees love to do anyway), this person replied, “It was
perfect what Gurudev did! The first person realized he was lucky because when
you fail in an exam, you end up studying it more thoroughly. The person who
lost his job and the one whose friends left him are lucky because they now have
some time to introspect. People in jobs never have any time and one has to be
really lucky to get some time in life to reflect on the Truth, on ‘who am I’.
The person whose wife ran away is lucky because now he can learn what mistakes
he made in his relationship. He now has an opportunity to become sensitive to
his wife’s welfare and that’s why Gurudev’s words made him happy.
There are three levels of human
consciousness. The first and the lowest is pure inertia, when one does not feel
anything. The second is when one realizes that there is misery in life. Buddha
took people from inertia to awareness of misery. Every misery wakes
you up and that is when dispassion and discrimination dawn in you. That is why
many people become spritual when they see sorrow in life. The third
step is realizing that life is all blissful. This is where the Guru Tattva
(Principle) is needed. In the presence of the Guru, misery gets transformed
into bliss.”
“But why did the last person who was
grateful get a slap?”
“Because when he said, ‘I am
grateful’, he was still centered around the ‘I’. When he got that slap, he
realized that even to be grateful, there need to be two. The Master told him,
‘Me and you? Two? Come on, wake up. There is only One Brahman.’ When you realize
this, misery vanishes from life.
Usually people exist, they don’t
live. Existing without life is ignorance. Living as if you don’t exist is
enlightenment.
Shoonyata and Poornata – meditation and
celebration go together and today, Guru Poornima, is the day for both.
[This was Sri Sri's address at Guru
Poornima 2013]
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