Darshan, Grace of the Guru, Part Three
Author: Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami
Description: it is possible to draw and enjoy great darshan, energies flowing from the deeper chakras, sahasrara and ājñā, from an illumined soul. The darshan of a guru is the power that stabilizes the devotee on the path. Satguru darshan releases the awareness of the devotee out of the area of the mind which is constantly thinking, into sublimity. The devotee begins to awaken and unfold his Divinity. It is darshan vibration that makes a human being a holy person. The grace of the satguru fires the ability to meditate in the seeker.
Transcription:
Good morning everyone. We are continuing with "Merging With Siva", chapter forty-four entitled “Darshan, Grace of the Guru” drawn from "The 1972 Master Course" and we are in the middle of Lesson 305:
"Sensitivity to Darshan
"Everyone has some feelings radiating from within, but they are emanations that fluctuate. Because you feel these vibrations coming from them, you can intuit how they are feeling. They do not emanate a constant or a building flow. It is a fluctuating flow of emotional, or astral, energy. The darshan I am explaining is really the energies flowing from the deeper chakras, sahasrāra and ājñā, the seventh and sixth chakras, or psychic force centers, in the head, through the kuṇḍalinī force within the spine. These energy flows do not fluctuate as the emotional odic-force energies do. They go on day and night and night and day through the illumined soul. Those devotees who are in tune with the guru can feel his physical presence when he enters their town because the darshan gets stronger. And it feels to them more ethereal when he is farther away.
"These energy flows are very important to study, because it is possible to draw and enjoy great darshan from an illumined soul if you approach him in just the right way. If you can become as a sponge when you approach him, you will draw out inspiring talks and gracious blessings from him. (So that's an interesting comparison to a sponge. I use that one some times for the temple. You take a sponge and you use it to clean something, it's full. So if you go to the temple and you are full like the sponge is full, you're not able to absorb the darshan. So, you have to squeeze it; you have to empty yourself for you need to be empty like a squeezed sponge to feel the darshan. Now I have to find where we were I think. Here we are.) The Hindu is conscious that he is drawing darshan from his ṛishi or his satguru, just as you are conscious of drawing the perfume of the rose into your body. When approaching a soul who is known to give darshan, be in the same area of the superconscious mind that you feel he must be in. The guru does not have to be necessarily functioning in that same area. He could be externalized in consciousness at the time. This is not important. It does not stop his darshan at all. The guru, feeling you draw the darshan, would immediately go within and enjoy it himself. Once darshan is there in him, it is always there.
Lesson 306:
"Protection and Stabilization
"Hindu devotees are very careful not to upset their guru, for they do not want his forces strongly directed at them. It is the same darshan, however. At a time such as this, it is like a distilled perfume from the rose. It becomes too potent. Therefore, the devotee tries to maintain a good atmosphere around the guru so that his darshan is pleasant and natural. The darshan of a guru is the power that stabilizes the devotee on the path. The philosophies, teachings and practices that he is given to do are important, but it is the power of darshan that is his stabilizing influence, enabling him to unfold easily on the path of enlightenment.
"Darshan is a mystical power emanating from the adept who has gone deep enough within to awaken this power. By stabilizing that power, he gives psychic protection to his disciples and devotees, even during their sleep at night. The same power grants them the ability to meditate without the prior necessity of extensive tapas. Satguru darshan releases the awareness of the devotee, out of the area of the mind which is constantly thinking, into sublimity. (I like that one: "...out of the area of the mind which is constantly thinking, into sublimity." Meaning that part of the mind that's not constantly thinking. So we don't want to get caught in the thinking mind.)
"A beginning meditator is usually aware most of the time in the area of consciousness where thoughts run constantly before his vision. He finds it difficult to go deeper. All efforts fall short of the divine life he inwardly knows he can have, as he is bound by the cycles of his own karma. The satguru’s power of darshan releases the meditator’s individual awareness from the thinking area of mind and stabilizes him in the heart chakra, and he begins to awaken and unfold his Divinity.
(So the idea of a mountain-top consciousness is helpful. We need to visualize something. So if you visualize a mountain-top consciousness, such as Gurudeva taking his devotees to Mount Tamalpais the first Sunday of every month, you're looking down on the cities below. So in terms of what's inside you you'd be looking down on the part of the mind that's thinking instead of being caught in it, you're above it and therefore able to control it better.)
"Devout Hindus sit before a satguru and, in seeing him, draw the darshan vibration from him, absorbing it into themselves. They are sensitive enough to distinguish the vibration of darshan from the other vibrations around the guru. They also believe that any physical thing the satguru touches begins to carry some of his darshan or personal vibration, and that when away from him they can just hold the article to receive the full impact of his darshan, for the physical object is a direct link to the satguru himself. It is darshan vibration that makes a human being a holy person. When we say someone is holy or saintly we are feeling the radiations of that divine energy flooding through him and out into the world.
"The inner life of a devotee has to be stabilized, cherished and well protected by the guru. The guru is able to do this through his well-developed facilities of darshan, even if his devotee lives at great distances from him. Unless the inner vibratory rate of the devotee is held stable, he will not come into his fullness in this life. If a plant is transplanted too often, it won’t come into its full growth. If the bud is picked before it blooms, it will not flower or give forth its redolent fragrance. Yes, the grace of the satguru fires the ability to meditate in the seeker, the erudite Hindu believes."
Lesson 307:
"Relationship With a Guru
"A child living with his family who does right by his family in honoring his mother and his father reaps a reward—for that mother and father are going to gladly see to all his needs in the emotional, intellectual and material world. But if the child negligently begins to play with the emotions and intellect of his mother and father by not living up to their expectations, they will be relieved when he is old enough to leave home and be on his own. During the time he is still at home, they will, of course, talk with him and work the best they can with the negative vibrations he generates, as their natural love for him is a protective force.
"As it is with the parents, it is much the same with the guru. A devotee coming to his guru who is evolved, honest and able is first asked to do simple, mundane tasks. If they are done with willingness, the guru will take him consciously under his wing for a deeper, inner, direct training, as he fires him to attain greater heights through sādhana and tapas. This darshan power of the guru will then be constantly felt by the disciple. But if the disciple were to turn away from the small tasks given by his guru, he would not connect into the deeper darshan power of the satguru that allows him to ride into his meditations deeply with ease. If the devotee breaks his flow with the guru by putting newly awakened power into intellectual “ifs” or “buts” or—“Well, now I know how to meditate; I don’t need you anymore. Thank you for all you’ve done. I’ve learned all you have to offer me and must be on my way”—or if he merely starts being delinquent in his efforts, then the guru-disciple relationship is shattered. "
So one of my talks on karma yoga talks about simple tasks, small tasks given by his guru, simple tasks. So the one, the one that's in my talk is Mahatma Gandhi's ashram. Important people, VIP's in India, VIP's that thinks it's a big deal being a VIP. They come to his ashram to study and they expected to be taught meditation and all and Mahatma Gandhi would have him clean the toilets as a small simple task and lots of them left. So they weren't able to do the small simple tasks and failed the first test so they didn't get close to the guru for darshan.
So, thank you very much. Have a wonderful day.
[End of transcript.]