Sri Swami Vishwananda gives commentary on the Guru Gita - Part 3

Yesterday, Sri Swami Vishwananda continued his commentary on the Guru Gita covering verses 41-90. Here is an excerpt of his  commentary.

VERSE 62
Tadejati tannaijati,
Taddoore tatsameepake;
Tadantarasya sarvasya,
tadu sarvasya baahyatah

So here He is saying that there is no place where the Guru is not. Whether He moves or not move, He is ever-present. The Guru can appear far away, but in reality He is the nearest. And for some He can appear very near but yet He is far. You may see someone very close to a Guru, but the physical closeness doesn't mean much. The physical closeness is due to samskaras from the past. Due to that, the Guru has to keep somebody close or somebody far away.

The Guru is far as well as near means that He is far for the mind, He is far to be grasped, because the mind is looking at the Guru always from the outside, the mind rotates only into the outside, one sees only the outside. If you look towards the outside, you will see the distance and the farness. But if you look with the consciousness, when you look inside of your heart you will see that the Guru is the dearest and the nearest one. So once you have perceived the Guru inside, you will perceive the Guru everywhere.

VERSE 82
Yasmaat parataram naasti,
neti neteeti vai srutih;
Manasaa vachasaa chaiva,
nityam aaradhayed gurum

Here He said that your mind should not wander around when you are surrendered to the Guru. Your mind should be always focused on the Guru. Your speech, whatever you talk about should not be vain talk, it should always be concerning the Master.

The Guru is everything, so one can't put any limit to the Guru. One may perceive the Guru with the limited mind but yet He is beyond that. Even the Vedas say that the Guru is, ‘not this, not this’. Even if you say that you have understood the Guru the Guru will make you perceive that you had not understood him. Even if you think that you know the Guru, He will make you perceive that you don't really know Him. You know only what He wants you to see. You can only perceive Him in what He wants you to perceive. He can make you think that you know Him, but in reality you don't know Him. That's a quality of the true Guru. When you think that you know Him, next moment He will show you another aspect of Him which you don't know. When you think that you have mastered that aspect, He will make another aspect. The Guru is like... [someone in the audience says, ‘chameleon’] No. The chameleon will take only the appearance of what you put it on. If you put the chameleon on the red, it will become red. But if you put the Guru on the red, He will become green. [Audience laughs] So one can't grasp the Guru with the mind. But with Love one can perceive a certain reality.

VERSE 88
Sreemat parabrahma gurum smaraami,
Sreemat parabrahma gurum vadaami;
Sreemat parabrahma gurum namaami,
Sremat parabrahma gurum bhajaami

Here Bhagavan Shankara is saying, ‘I remember my Guru who is the Ultimate Transcendental Absolute God, Narayana Himself. I praise the Guru who is Parabrahma, I am constantly meditating on Him and His praises are constantly on my lips. I bow to my Guru who is Prabrahma, I offer my salutations to Him who is the Supreme Lord Himself. I serve my Guru who is Parabrahma.’ This is the mantra that a bhakta or somebody who is truly surrendered to the Feet of the Guru should chant, first thing in the morning even before going out of bed. By singing these four verses one reminds oneself of Who is the Guru. Lord Krishna Himself said, “I am Parabrahma.”

Guru Puja during Navaratri