Gururbrahma gururvishnu
gururdevo maheshwarah
Gurusakshat parabrahma
tasmai Shree guruve namah
“The Guru is Brahma, the Guru is Vishnu, the Guru is the Great Lord Shiva. To be near the Guru is to be near the ultimate Oneness – I adore you, O venerable Guru!”
There is a lot of power in this simple gesture:
In the West, there is often a lack of understanding about the tradition of touching the Guru’s feet.
In India one touches the feet of one’s parents, for instance, to show respect. Showing reverence for the Guru is not meant to create or increase superiority of the Guru, but rather, to create and increase humility in the devotee. Therefore, when we touch the guru’s feet, we are saying, “I am humble and I am your servant, because I am confident in myself and you, and trust in my ability to follow your guidance and excel in it.”
When we touch the Guru’s feet, we are following tradition, and paying respect in the same way that billions have done so for thousands of years.
There is power in this simple ceremony, and it is in essence a form of worship, a recognition of the Divine nature of the Guru. The reason we say that the Guru is God, is because the Guru shows the pathway to God.
The Guru becomes more important than God for the spiritual adventurer, because while God can be felt and sensed and worshipped, the Guru is there in flesh and blood, with a voice and ears and eyes, and the experience and accomplishment to be able to guide you in the best possible way. Guru's feet are a tremendously potent channel of Spiritual Transmission.The effective Guru doesn’t give you all the answers, but helps you stand and walk the path on your own. The effective Guru can help us tell the difference between fact and fiction, between our imagination and an experience of divine grace. The loving Guru helps to puncture our egos, which keep us separated from knowledge of the true Self, and does so with love and compassion, never in a way that shames, belittles, or damages us.
The Guru carries us from ignorance to insight, but they do so as part of a vast, moving, living stream of wisdom. Touching the Guru’s feet, then, is an act of respect and reverence, but also of learning. We facilitate our own spiritual progress when we learn to be humble. Humility puts us in a place of learning. By touching their feet, we demonstrate not only that we are ready to listen to them, but also that we are ready to transform and strengthen ourselves.
