गुरुरेव परं ब्रह्म Gurureva Param Brahma
By Srinivas Mallapragada
The divine tradition of Guru-Shishya is unique to Sanatana Dharma. There is no greater divinity than the Guru in Sanatana Arsha Sampradaya. With Guru’s grace alone, one will be able to attain all noble goals of life. The role of a teacher is very prominent in every branch of learning, even in the corporeal realm. However, in the spiritual realm, the role of the Guru is indispensable. Our shastras proclaim with one voice that all learning can happen only at the Guru’s lotus feet.आचार्यवान् पुरुषो वेद – declares the Chandogya Upanishad. Only the one who is fortunate enough to learn at the feet of the Guru, can obtain the divine spiritual knowledge.
We see in many ancient works on the shastras, that the authors conclude their theses and commentaries with the phrase “इत्यस्मद्गुरवः” – meaning “thus taught by our Gurus”. No matter how accomplished and how knowledgeable one is, our tradition teaches us to always remember that the knowledge and the ensuing accomplishments are but due to the unconditional compassionate grace and teaching of the Guru.
Bhagavan Sri Krishna Himself says in the Gita :
तद्विद्धि प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन सेवया । उपदेक्ष्यन्ति ते ज्ञानं ज्ञानिनस्तत्त्वदर्शिनः।।4.34।।
Commenting on the above verse, Adi Shankara Bhagavatpada, in his Gita Bhashya says :
आचार्यान् अभिगम्य प्रणिपातेन प्रकर्षेण नीचैः पतनं प्रणिपातः दीर्घनमस्कारः तेन कथं बन्धः कथं मोक्षः का विद्या का चाविद्या इति परिप्रश्नेन सेवया गुरुशुश्रूषया एवमादिना।
Meaning, the greatest spiritual truths can only be learnt by completely surrendering oneself to the Guru, serving the Guru (गुरुशुश्रूषया), thus eliminating one’s ego and cleansing one’s mind to receive the noble teachings of the Guru. It can never be done by merely gathering “information” from books or teachings.
Krishna also says, in Kshetra Kshetrajna vibhaga yoga :
आचार्योपासनं शौचं स्थैर्यमात्मविनिग्रहः।।13.8।। ……………………….. एतज्ज्ञानमिति प्रोक्तमज्ञानं यदतोन्यथा।।13.12।।
In the above verses, commenting on the word आचार्योपासनं, Adi Shankara Bhagavatpada says :
आचार्योपासनं – मोक्षसाधनोपदेष्टुः आचार्यस्य शुश्रूषादिप्रयोगेण सेवनम् ।
Once again, Lord Krishna and Shankara Bhagavatpada both highlight that real knowledge (ज्ञानम् इति प्रोक्तं) is what is learnt through the process of devotion and service to the Preceptor. Everything else is ignorance in reality (अज्ञानं यदतोन्यथा), even if it can be termed as great scholarship.
In his Guru Ashtakam, Shankara Bhagavatpada bluntly warns us that he does not see a way of redemption for the person whose mind is not firmly and permanently set on the Guru’s feet.
षडङ्गादिवेदो मुखे शास्त्रविद्या कवित्वादि गद्यं सुपद्यं करोति । मनश्चेन्न लग्नं गुरोरङ्घ्रिपद्मे ततः किं ततः किं ततः किं ततः किम् ॥
The Vedas with their six limbs and the knowledge of all sciences may be on one’s lips; one may possess the poetic gift and may compose fine prose and poetry; but if one’s mind be not centered upon the lotus feet of the Guru, what then, what then, what then?
Every child in our dharma is taught the sloka that teaches one to view the Guru as Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Maheshwara. Guru is the Master in whom the wisdom of the divinity is embodied. Service of the Guru enables the aspirant to attain the highest goal – Self Realization. Worship of the Guru and doing acts of service to him who teaches Brahma Jnana are the only pathways to attaining such Jnana and realizing one’s own divinity.
Therefore, Shastra teaches us to not only worship Guru as the embodiment of the Trimurthis, but to surrender to the Guru as ParaBrahman – the ultimate form of Divinity, who is beyond all names and forms. The disciple thus realizes Brahman in and through his Guru. This is the ultimate fruit of the devotion to the Guru. For a true student of Vedanta, surrender and devotion to the Guru are not only indispensable, but natural. न गुरोरधिकं तत्त्वम् says the Guru Gita. There is simply no higher principle than the Guru. न गुरोरधिकं तपः – there is no higher spiritual practice than the service to the Guru. Lord Shiva declares that this is His command – शिव शासनम्.
Every sampradaya has invocation verses to pay obeisance to its lineage of the Gurus. In the smarta sampradaya or Shankara sampradaya, the following verses are chanted to pray to all the Gurus in the lineage.
सदाशिव समारंभां शङ्कराचार्य मध्यमाम्। अस्मदाचार्य पर्यन्तां वन्दे गुरु परंपराम्॥ नारायणं पद्मभुवं वसिष्ठं शक्तिं च तत्पुत्रपराशरं च । व्यासं शुकं गौडपदं महान्तं गोविन्दयोगीन्द्रमथास्य शिष्यम् ॥ श्री शंकराचार्यमथास्य पद्मपादं च हस्तामलकं च शिष्यम् । तं तोटकं वार्तिककारमन्यानस्मद्गुरून् संततमानतोऽस्मि ॥
The above verses seem to suggest that there is a visible physical hierarchy of the Gurus. There are Gurus and there are Gurus above Gurus, all the way up from the Lord (सदाशिव:/ नारायण:) down to one’s own Guru (अस्मदाचार्य:). There seems to be a gradation, an order in which the Gurus are placed. Let it be so. But, for a disciple who looks upon his Guru as Parabrahman, the order is immaterial. One sees the aggregate potency of all the Gurus of the hierarchy including the Lord Himself, in one’s own Guru.
Guru is thus not a mere physical entity, but a divine presence far beyond rational human understanding and calculation. स एष पूर्वेषामपि गुरुः कालेनानवच्छेदात् says Sage Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras. “He is the preceptor even of the very first, for He is not limited by time”. So, the “above-ness” of the Guru is therefore not temporal and mathematical but spiritual and transcendental.
As the immeasurable and timeless Guru Tattva manifests itself through the physical Guru who makes himself accessible to the disciple, the Guru becomes the very representation of the limitless Truth and Knowledge principle (सत्यं ज्ञानं अनन्तं ब्रह्म) – The Parabrahman, whose glory is sung by the Upanishads themselves.
In light of this realization, the ubiquitous sloka ceases to appear as a mere praise of the Guru with flowery words.
गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुर्गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः । गुरुरेव परं ब्रह्म तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥
It is instead declaring a profound truth that we are yet to realize – that the Guru IS verily the Param Brahma, the very manifestation of the highest supreme divinity. There is no greater fortune for us than realizing this truth and serving the Guru who showers unconditional compassion on us and lifts us up from the depths of our ignorance, which we will not be able to achieve even after a million lifetimes of our own effort. नान्यः पन्था अयनाय विद्यते. There is no other way to everlasting bliss.
Submitted with humble namaskarams at the lotus feet of our glorious Guru Parampara and my Guru Dharmatma Dr. Yegnasubramanian on the occasion of Shankara Jayanti 2020.
