Jai Swaminarayan! Our namaskars to His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharajji, his sadhus who are present here today and to all other devotees present. We have been invited to speak on the subject of "The Importance of Obeying One's Guru."
Let me begin by sharing some background on our association with BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha. Our relationship began some ten years ago in 1995 when our founder and guru, Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, affectionately known as Gurudeva, attended the 75th Jayanti of His Divine Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj in Mumbai. Also at that time he visited Akshardam in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, and the monastic training center in Sarangpur. At Sarangpur Gurudeva was quite impressed by the strict life the young sadhus there were living--sleeping on the floor, eating only what is served to them, touching the feet of the other sadhus each morning, keeping their distance from women and giving up family and career to be of service to God and Guru.
My guru understood that strong communities of sadhus play an important role in Hinduism, particularly at this time on the planet. He stated: "Families are blessed who share in and support the renunciation of their sons born through them to perform a greater dharma than the grihastha life could ever offer. It is the monastic communities worldwide, of all religions, that sustain sanity on this planet. It is the monks living up to their vows who sustain the vibration of law and order in the communities and nations of the world. This is how the inner worlds see each monastic community worldwide. This is how it is and should always be. This is how humanity balances out its experiential karmas and avoids destroying itself as it passes through the darkness of the Kali Yuga. The monastic communities that surround the planet, fulfilling their dharma, compensate for the adharma that is so prevalent, thus ensuring that humanity does not self-destruct in these trying times."
A second event occurred in 1995 when we chose Swamishri as the recipient of our Hindu Renaissance Award, an annual honor bestowed by our international magazine, Hinduism Today. This award recognizes one eminent Hindu each year who has most impacted the faith and spread its values, compassion and profundity across the globe. Upon giving this award, Gurudeva said the following: "Shri Shri Shri Pramukh Swami Maharaj has inspired millions as the fifth in the line of successorship of the Swaminaranayan Fellowship. His humble, austere life and magnanimous heart which offers others everything, while possessing nothing himself, have made him dearly loved by a vast following of devotees worldwide, and by the over 500 swamis of his courageously strict and highly-skilled Hindu order. Swamishri oversees 350 temples in India, and 20 beyond Bharat. He was responsible for the 1985 Cultural Festival of India in London (visited by over a million people) and the 1991 30-day exhibition in New Jersey, which again stressed Indian cultural values and arts. Yet these were small compared to the 1985 and 1992 festivals in India that drew nearly 10 million visitors each! Swamishri obviously thinks big. He also thinks small, putting great energy into the youth, training them in the traditional ways and how to live dharma in a contemporary world without succumbing."
Gurudeva continued: "Swamishri again triumphs in bringing the glory of Hindu India, Bharat, to England with a message of love and oneness. Yes, the London temple is for everyone to come and see what India is today and was yesterday, and how, despite all efforts, the Eternal Truth or Sanatana Dharma, will live on and on as long as mankind inhabits the planet. One can no more thank Swamishri than one can thank the rain clouds for shedding their life-giving abundance on the dry earth. Still, we must make an attempt. It is time to honor this preeminent sant who has earned international recognition and has prevailed over all challenges. Thus it is that we take special joy in conferring Hinduism Today's 'Hindu of the Year' award for 1995. Some might say Hindu of the century. They may well be right."
Nine years later, in July of 2004, I was present at the opening of the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Houston, Texas, where I had the honor of meeting personally with Swamishri and some of his senior sadhus. We also enjoyed meeting a number of the Houston BAPS devotees. One father had an interesting story I would like to share. He described how his two sons were devoting their entire summer to helping in the construction of the Houston Mandir. They would rise early every morning and leave for the Mandir and only return home about midnight to sleep for a few hours. Then the next morning they would leave early to go back to the Mandir to continue with the construction efforts. The father was rightfully proud of the strong religious spirit of service in his sons, and we were quite impressed as well at the extent of their dedication. Of course, such great dedication was inspired by their living satguru.
Hinduism Today also produced a major article on BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha and the Houston Mandir in the January 2005 issue. An important part of our mission is promoting all the major Hindu denominations and organizations and we utilize the magazine for that purpose.
His Divine Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj, after being shown the article and hearing it translated into Gujarati, asked one of his sadhus to convey a special word of appreciation and prayers for the encouraging and inspiring works Hinduism Today is doing in promoting Sanatana Dharma. The message from Swamishri states: "The various articles, tidbits of relevant information and news are inspiring and gladdening. It infuses and strengthens pride in all Hindus. The glory of Hindu Dharma and its universal appeal is elegantly displayed through Hinduism Today."
Many Hindus around the world feel there is a need to stand together as a united group to advance the image of Hinduism and protect the rights of Hindus in their country. However, often times those involved feel this can only be achieved if Hindus adopt a unified set of beliefs and practices. Our approach, as formulated by Gurudeva, is that Hindus can be unified and achieve the benefits of standing strong together for Hinduism while maintaining our multiplicity of great traditions. We express this in our magazine's first purpose: "To foster Hindu solidarity as a unity in diversity among all sects and lineages." The reason we choose to put forward in our magazine Hinduism Today all the major Hindu organizations is to remind Hindus worldwide of the great diversity of traditions within the Hindu fold.
Following my visit to the Houston Mandir in July of 2004, I visited the Mandir and Haveli in London in March, 2005 and the Haveli in Toronto in August of 2005. In November 2005, I had the privelege of attending one of the preopening days for Akshardham Delhi, touring the magnificent facility and giving a talk at an evening satsang. As I mentioned in the talk, certainly in the decades to come, the tens of thousands of visitors who pass through Akshardham Delhi each year will experience a great pride for India and its rich, inspiring culture and heritage, as well as deepen their understanding of that culture and heritage through Akshardham's traditional monument, experiential exhibitions, IMAX theatre, research centre and contemplative gardens. The most recent event attended was the opening of the Toronto, Canada, Mandir in 2007.
My evening talk at the Toronto satsang pointed out that though our order of sadhus is less than sixty years old, small and, of course, worshipers of Lord Siva, still we feel there are a number of strong similarities between our sangam of devotees and yours.
Certainly the most important similarity our two sangams share is having a living satguru and a tradition for perpetuating the guru lineage for future generations. Most Hindu organizations do not have such a tradition. In them either the founder who passed on some time ago is the only guru or the organization was formed in the first place without a guru.
Organizations that have a lineage of living satgurus are truly fortunate, for the divine blessings of a living satguru help us to make much greater spiritual progress in our lifetime than is otherwise possible. Of course, this acceleration of spiritual progress is not automatic--rather it happens because we are obedient. That is, we follow the general principles taught by the guru and, if we are fortunate enough, any personal advice the guru has given to us. Obedience is indeed the key.
Sometimes organizations such as yours and ours which are under the guidance of a living satguru are looked upon by Hindus who do not have a living satguru as closed, sectarian and odd, criticized for their "old-fashioned" ways and their dedication to their guru. However, such discipline, strictness and love of the guru are strengths, not weaknesses. Spiritual groups with a living satguru are essential to Hinduism's well-being. Such a fellowship is a powerful force, everyone working together under the guru's love and wisdom, sacrificing their smaller lives to share in the noble dharma of service to each other and to the wider Hindu world. The BAPS Swaminarayan Fellowship sets an excellent example for others to follow. We are proud of you, and wish you all to know how blessed and fortunate you are to be part of such a strong and dedicated spiritual family. One day the entire Hindu world will understand and praise what you are all doing together.
Our Gurudeva attained Mahasamadhi in November of 2001. On that occasion, His Divine Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj sent us a message we would like to share that contains insights into the continuity of the spiritual power of a guru lineage. Swamishri said:
"The first duty of all the disciples and monks of Gurudeva would be to follow every command of Gurudeva and keep on doing the great work he has been doing in letter and spirit. In Hinduism's tradition, the body dies but the spirit and consciousness of the person who has left the body will continue to guide. I will do special prayers personally for Gurudeva, who has done great work. Gurudeva's spirit will continue to guide his successor. Gurudeva's saintliness and spiritual values will continue to guide the whole lineage. This has been the tradition of Hinduism."
When Gurudeva spoke at the 75th Jayanti of His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj in Mumbai in 1995, he made the following key statement to the 30,000 gathered that evening: "I have three suggestions for all of you, the dedicated members of the Swaminarayan Fellowship. If you follow them, you will succeed. If you follow them, you will grow stronger as individuals. If you follow them, you will add your strength to that of all the others in the Fellowship. If you follow them, Hinduism itself will be made more noble and secure. So, what are my three points of advice tonight? Let's take them one at a time. The first is to obey your guru. The second is obey your guru. The third is obey your guru. Do these three things and you will live a blessed life, and you will also make Pramukh Swami Maharaj very happy."
Let's look more closely at exactly what it means to obey the guru. The basic way to be obedient is to strictly follow the general principles taught by the guru. These are traditionally found in the scriptures of the lineage, such as the verses of the Shikshapatri. These 212 verses are certainly comprehensive in covering all aspects of life, and Swaminarayan followers are indeed fortunate to have such a clear set of principles laid out to follow in this "Code of Precepts." We have a similar code of precepts written by Gurudeva in 1991. You may be interested to know that he released a second edition in 2001 in which he added a number of verses based upon the wisdom he found in Shikshapatri. The revised version consists of 365 verses, one for each day of the year, and is called the Nandinatha Sutras. These sutras now guide our sampradaya, just as the Shikshapatri guides BAPS.
The importance of obeying the rules of the Shikshapatri is stated by Bhagwan Swaminarayan in verses 205 and 206: "Hence, all My disciples shall observe all the rules laid down in this Shikshapatri and shall never follow the whims of their lower instincts." (205) "Those of My disciples who shall live in accordance with the precepts laid down here shall attain all the four desired objects (Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha) on earth." (206)
A second form of obedience is to follow any personal advice given to us by the guru. Some Hindus select a guru who is no longer living. They place his picture on their wall and altar and study his writings. I call this a safe guru because he will never ask you to do something you do not want to do; whereas, a living satguru will, in fact, quite often ask you to do exactly what you do not want to do. Being obedient and doing what the satguru has requested may prove to be quite challenging. However, in accomplishing the task you will have made progress on the spiritual path, for he sees, better than you do, the karmas of your life and how you can overcome them.
Let's take as an example a disciple who is quite shy of public speaking. This shyness is based upon a few experiences in school in which he did very poorly in speaking in front of his class. These experiences convince him that others are better than he is. It would be natural for the guru to ask him to do that very thing--for example, to speak in front of a large satsang group every week until he overcomes his shyness of speaking in public. These positive accomplishments improve his self-concept to the point where he realizes he is neither greater nor lesser than anyone else because, in truth, he is the divine being within him. He is not the outer personality, the ego. Rather, he is the inner soul. This change would not have occurred if he did not have a living satguru directing him to do exactly what he was least inclined to do.
In verse II-51 of the Vachan-amrut Bhagwan Swaminarayan stresses the importance of following the commands of the guru.
"Only one who follows the commands of the Satpurush can be said to be under the influence of favourable circumstances. To deviate from those commands is the very definition of adverse circumstances. Therefore, only one who follows the commands of the Satpurush is behaving as the atma." - Vachanamrut Gadhada II-51
Obedience is a word that does not fall easily from most people's tongue in these modern times. But it is an essential quality of good character, and we should not be afraid of the idea, even if others are. In truth, obedience is the guiding principle of families, businesses, peace-keeping forces and, of course, spiritual institutions around the world, of every faith. Obedience is one of the five vows that all monks of our Yoga Order take. Let me share with you three excerpts from Gurudeva's description of the vow of obedience. Each elucidates a different dimension of this virtue:
"Obedience is the state of willingness and cooperation in which the soul remains open and amenable to enlightened direction. For the devotee it is an unbroken pledge of trust in and surrender to the satguru, the guru parampara and the mystic process of spiritual evolution. Obedience does not consist in blind submission and yielding to authority, nor in weakening our own will that it may be dominated by the will of another. Yet it is, in another sense, submission to a sacred purpose and the divine authority of the inner worlds. It is, for the devotee, an inner quality that allows one to remain consciously tractable and responsive.
At those times when the instinctive nature looms strong and there arises a sense of 'I' and 'mine,' obedience is a surrendering of the ego to the soul or the instinctive nature to the spiritual nature. As long as the ego dominates the life of man, he will experience obedience as capitulation or subjection. As the soul unfolds further, obedience is perceived as the union of minds and purpose, a state of harmony so complete that there can exist no distinction between him who gives and him who receives instruction or direction. True obedience is based on agreement, trust and knowledge, as opposed to passive servility, nonresistance or domination which have ignorance and fear as their basis."
There is a story from our guru parampara I would like to share that illustrates this concept of obedience. It occurred when our paramaguru, Yogaswami, was still being trained by his guru, Chellappaswami. The year was around 1905, a century ago. Amidst a festival crowd at a large temple Chellappaswami told him to, "Go within; meditate; stay here until I return." Chellappaswami came back three days later to find Yogawami still waiting for him to return. A soul of lesser dedication would have rationalized that Chellappaswami had forgotten about him and therefore it was all right to leave, return home and have a meal and sleep. Yogaswami, however, dutifully complied with his guru's instructions to wait until he returned, even though staying there for three days was a clear hardship and he had no idea when the guru would return.
