GURU AND GOD
While I read so much, met so many people, studied analogies, went through stories regarding realization, and acquired all the wisdom – the knowledge and information – required for liberation, I realized that liberation is not possible without the grace of God and the help of a Guru. Nobody can ever reach liberation unless it is the will of God, which may either happen through direct communication between a seeker and God or most often through the help of a Guru, a representative of God – a human form of God on Earth. With the help of a Guru and the grace of God, one can rapidly tread the path and climb the peak of Enlightenment, realizing the self and God. Without the Guru and God, this is as good as impossible.
WE MUST SEEK GOD! NOTHING ELSE!
We must realize the truth. How long would we run behind pleasures? How long would we let sensuality distract us? Can’t we realize that this is a temporary gratification that will end in death and decay and not give any lasting satisfaction?
At death, when the body starts to decay, even the closest ones distance themselves. The beloved wife shrinks with horror at the sight of the dead body. We must wake up and realize the truth. What is the point of just acquiring wealth? We ignore the permanent, though we have the power to reason. We create our own sorrows. We let lust and passion create pain. We shouldn’t live by instinct like animals. We need to be liberated and be a realized being. Youth is not permanent. Wealth comes and goes. What is permanent? Only God! Desires will distract us and pleasures will tempt us, but the end will be full of sorrow. Choose an eternal goal. Renounce! You will be happier. The real bliss is within. Seek God. Listen to the voice of God. Experience the God that dwells in your own heart.
How does one seek God? How does one pray?
PRAYER
Such a common term “Prayer”, but does the world actually know what it means and how it connects to God.
Prayer is of three types.
All the three methods may be used, but one must evolve in prayer.
Contemplating and meditating on God will lead to the realization of the truth, but this needs supreme devotion.
The method of Silence and Introspection can lead one to liberation. One method known as 8-fold path of yoga advocates – the practice of Values; Discipline; Postures; Control of breath; Withdrawal of senses; Concentration of the mind; Meditation and Total cessation of all thoughts. The third and fourth – Postures and Control of breath are commonly practiced, but true union through Silence and Introspection needs the practice of all the eight steps. By restraint of breathing, the mind becomes absorbed. As it witnesses the breath, it gains peace through concentration.
Man attains supreme happiness upon self-realization. With the help of a Guru, a qualified seeker can gain realization by dispelling his ignorance.
Is knowledge realization? Of course not! I had read many of these concepts before, but it never struck me that I was not the body. I always believed that I was Ravi V. Melwani and I was the creator of my business and the author of my success. When I transformed my life to RVM, my ego still reigned supreme. Never did it occur to me that I wasn’t what I saw in the mirror in front of me. For the first time ever, after reading and reading and reading for weeks and months, I started feeling sparks kindle within me that made me believe that I was close to discovering a new Truth!
One afternoon up in the mountains, as if from nowhere, I got a flash. I was looking at the mountains, the clouds, and the sky that was overcast as it was snowing. There were thousands of trees. There was a river flowing. It seemed as if a voice was speaking to me and saying, “This world is an illusion. The whole world is a three- dimensional myth. It’s the leela or drama of God. All of these are His manifestation”. Can you imagine creating all these – all that I could see with my eyes? It’s difficult to believe that all this is just an illusion, a dream, a 3D dream. But the entire scene and the voice within made me believe. All this may seem real now, but in the end, nothing is real. It’s like a dream. In a dream, the dreamer thinks everything is real, but on waking, he realizes that it was just a dream. So is it with life. It’s just an illusion, and we don’t realize this until death or realization.
It is strange, but I must admit that I found my mind to be my biggest enemy. When I would focus on a thought, it would wander away, spoiling my concentration. It seemed like the mind triggered my senses to crave for a delicious meal or even exciting sex. The boiling point of realization was never reached, because each time I tried, the mind switched off my effort to seek the truth. Have you noticed that when we heat water, it does not boil even at 99.9 degrees? Similarly, we do not realize till we reach that point of realization – just like the temperature of 100 degrees at which the water starts boiling. I decided that I would not let this happen. I started renouncing many things – first food and then sensuality so that I could progress on this journey. I sharpened my intellect to decipher between what was true and untrue. I let my love for God grow beyond anything else as I lived, controlling the mind, controlling the senses, and annihilating every craving. I put my faith together to focus on this journey with endurance and forbearance. With all these in focus, I couldn’t believe the change that I was beginning to experience!
MY GURU
Who helped me realize the truth? Even if I scream a million times, it will not be enough! It was my GURU, my dearest Dada, J. P. Vaswani.
I met him over 25 years ago, and at that time, I knew nothing about realization. He led me forward on the spiritual path. He was instrumental in my transformation from a businessman who was making money to a philosopher who gave up his business to make a difference.
In August 2012, after 20 years of being my Guru, I heard him say: “What is the purpose of life? Is life meant to be wasted away? We must go in a Talaash… a search”. The thought of looking for a purpose came from my Guru. The thought was just about to die when in August 2013 he once again reminded me by asking, “Have your progressed in your search?” It is then that I gave up everything and made the search an obsession. There is nothing in my life that has not been influenced by my Guru. He has held me like a child and helped me walk forward, holding my hand. He is a realized soul and has the grace of spiritual magic with the blessing of another realized soul, his Guru – Sadhu T. L. Vaswani.
Dada taught me many things. It was only recently that I heard him emphasize on the importance of silence and meditation – how one should switch off completely so that the mind doesn’t wander. The mind is a thief, he would say. It robs our contemplation. Through all the nine doors of our body, we are only able to look outward. We need to open the tenth door to look inward to realize the truth, and this needs meditation and silence. How could I realize the truth without my Guru?
In fact, without a Guru, realization is impossible. How can one understand everything in the short span of just one life? It needs the spiritual exposure of several hundred or thousand years to be a realized soul. Only a realized Master or Guru can help one cross the shores of the world. Vivekananda had Ramakrishna. Adi Shankara had Govindapada. God appears as a Guru to help a seeker realize the truth. I was blessed with Dada. Patiently, persistently, and lovingly, he has guided me forward for 25 years onward, forward, upward, and Godward.
While everything above helped me realize the truth, my Guru taught me one thing that I can never forget. Without the grace of God, you can never realize the truth. You need to be loved and to be blessed by the Master, the Creator. Therefore, our love for God is paramount. If we do not have deep love and longing for God, our Beloved, where would the grace of God be? Sometimes our love for God can be expressed by our love and reverence for a statue like the way I love Lord Shiva. It could be prayer, like I did abhishek and aarti for over 20 years every morning and night; or it could also be dedicated devotion to a Guru if we are blessed to have one. Love of God could also be expressed through service of suffering humanity. If we are able to see God in the poor and serve them, then there can be no better form of loving God. My Guru always said “Service of the poor is prayer to God!” I am grateful to God and my Guru that I got an opportunity to do many of the above. It was my Guru’s teaching to be humble as a blade of grass and to thank God at every step. I believe that all these led me realize the truth!
Love God beyond anything and everything!
My search made me realize one very important principle. The purpose of life is God. We are a part of God. We have lost contact with God and we must return to God.
Therefore, my priority was God, my desire was God, my passion was God, and my obsession was God. There was a deep desire, a deep longing for God.
I wanted nothing else, except God. My entire love, every atom of love so as to say, was for God and for nothing else and no one else. I wanted God beyond everything else. Nothing else mattered except God!
I felt I was madly in love with God, my Master, my Creator. Though I could not see God, I could feel and realize God in every breath I took, in every sound I heard, in every sight I saw, and every emotion I experienced. It was God, and nothing but God!