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Last night, Sri Swami Vishwananda gave the second part of his commentary on
the Guru Gita, covering verses 21-40. Here is an excerpt of his commentary.
VERSE 24
Gukaarah prathamo varno,
masszaadi guna bhaasakah;
Rukaaro dviteeyo brahma,
maayaa bhraanthi vinaashanam.
"The first syllable ‘Gu’ have the attribute of Maya, means also
ignorance. So, here in this verse Bhagavan Shankara is saying that this
first syllable ‘Gu’ stands for Maya Prakriti, Devi, the Shakti that
binds and holds one to this reality. And the second syllable ‘Ru’
stands for Purusha, stands for the Supreme Absolute which frees one from
illusion.
"In the same word, ‘Guru’, you have both: you have Maya and you have the One who frees you from Maya. Thus, this shows that the Guru is the Master of Maya, Master of this reality, He knows how to free one from that reality and He knows also how to put one in that reality – both. To master it you have to know both ways. You can't master something, if you know only one way, then you have not mastered it. If you live in a very fancy reality or in a dream reality, you will not know what true happiness is. Only when you have mastered the other side, when you have mastered the lower quality, then you will truly know the higher qualities.
"In the same word, ‘Guru’, you have both: you have Maya and you have the One who frees you from Maya. Thus, this shows that the Guru is the Master of Maya, Master of this reality, He knows how to free one from that reality and He knows also how to put one in that reality – both. To master it you have to know both ways. You can't master something, if you know only one way, then you have not mastered it. If you live in a very fancy reality or in a dream reality, you will not know what true happiness is. Only when you have mastered the other side, when you have mastered the lower quality, then you will truly know the higher qualities.
VERSE 37
Yasya sthityaa satyamidam,
yadbhaati bhaanuroopatah;
Priyam putraadi yet preetya,
tasmai sree gurave namah
"It is through the Grace of the Masters, through the Grace of the Guru that one perceives the Light of Love, True Love, not just plain love, but the deepness of Love. Through this Light of the Master all relationships become dear. In the Guru family everybody becomes dear, because the Guru unites all, no matter wherever you are, which means that in many lives all of you have been coming together.
"You come from Russian, from France, from Italy, from Spain, from America or Latin America, Brazil but it is only through the Grace of the Master that all of you come together. The Grace of the Master brings everybody into One dear family. The Guru becomes the magnet which attracts all and holds all tightly, making One big family. This happens only through the Love of the Guru. Without the Love of the Guru where would you be? Elsewhere, no?
"Priyam putraadi yet preetya, tasmai sree gurave namah, which means that it is like the love of the father and son, the parents, that's what brings all close to each another. The parents always try to unite the family, to keep the family together. Nowadays it is different but in a true family it is like this. So here Bhagavan Shankara is saying, ‘The Guru is like that. He unites the family together and brings all under one roof.’"
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Having so many devotees from all over the world joining together during these nine days of Navaratri is such a huge blessing - there are so many people from all over the world here with Sri Swami Vishwananda, joining together to celebrate this connection we all have to the Mother of the universe.