On the ninth day of Navaratri, Sri Swami Vishwananda finished his commentary on the Guru Gita, covering verses 155-182. Here is an excerpt of his commentary.
VERSE 156
Guruputro varam moorkhas,
tasya siddyanti naanyathaa;
Shubhakarmaani sarvaani,
deekshaa vrate tapaamsi cha.
Guruputro varam moorkhas,
tasya siddyanti naanyathaa;
Shubhakarmaani sarvaani,
deekshaa vrate tapaamsi cha.
"Here Bhagavan Shankara is saying how important it is to the bhakta to surrender to the Feet of the Master, to surrender completely to the Will of the Master. They don't need to do anything. Just by concentrating, by meditating on the Master's form, by chanting His name one will attain everything! So, the devotees who surrender to the Guru will be successful in their life.
"There is this story of Trotakacharya. His name was Giri. Giri was a humble and devotee disciple of Adi Shankaracharya. And the duty which was allocated to him was to wash Adi Shankaracharya's clothes. You see, Adi Shankaracharya used to speak every day, at a certain time, about the shastras, the Puranas, the scriptures.
"One day Giri was washing the clothes of Adi Shankaracharya and the class began. When the class began, all the students, all the devotees of the Guru, Adi Shankaracharya, started running to listen to the class. As the people were running to listen to the class they were making fun of Giri saying, ‘How fool are you! You are washing the clothes of the Master while the Master is talking.’ They started to make fun of him, ridiculing him.
"Adi Shankaracharya noticed what was happening. So while Giri was washing the clothes, there was a spontaneous flash in his mind. Due to that Grace which was transmitted by the Guru to Giri, spontaneously, all the knowledge of the scriptures flashed into his mind. He could not understand what was happening inside of him: why all of a sudden he could chant great mantras? Why all of a sudden he started chanting all the scriptures? So, he run quickly to the Feet of Adi Shankaracharya and as he opened his mouth all the verses which the Guru had explained came out of his mouth automatically. Even the most difficult verses, became very easy for him to uttered.
"Seeing that, all the other students were shocked, ‘How come?’ So they realised at that moment that Guru seva is the most important thing. If the Guru says one to do something, one should not even think of something else, but only of doing what the Guru had asked one to do.
"There is a similar story in the life of Kabir. There was one incident in his life when all his disciples assembled together and asked Kabir, ‘Maharaj, tell us please who is your greatest devotee?’ So Kabirji pointed to his son and said, ‘Kamal is my greatest bhakta, my true disciple.’ So everybody was wondering, ‘Why is Kabirji saying that Kamal is his foremost disciple?’
"Kabir could read their minds, so even if the sun was shining he said to his son Kamal, ‘Kamal, I have dropped the needle while sewing. Could you please bring me the lamp so that I can look for it?’ Straight away, Kamal went to get the lamp and brought it to the Guru. Kabirji didn't say anything. Then, he asked his son, ‘Kamal, today some devotees are coming and I would like you to cook some prasad for them. Go and cook quickly some sweet laddoos, but instead of sugar put a handful of salt in it.’ Kamal did it without questioning. Meanwhile the others were observing how Kamal was obeying to his Guru without any questions.
"Then, Kabir told his devotees, ‘Don't you think that Kamal knew that my comments were ridiculous? Don't you think that he knew that cooking a sweet dish and put salt in it would ruin it? Don't you think that he knew that the sun is shining and that I can see where the needle is? But yet he took the Guru's command without any question.’
"So the moment one meditates, the moment one accepts without any question the command of the Guru, in that moment true meditation happen spontaneously. And it is also by seeing such a dedication that the Lord Himself gives Darshan to the bhaktas.
"So these are two stories which show that even a fool who is dedicated to the Guru with full devotion, even if one doesn't do much, but just by having great reverence for the Master, one shall have everything!"
