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Chapter 1: Introduction
There are 23 stanzas in this introductory chapter. Shrimad gives therein the vital factors of the composition like Mänglik, its purpose, characteristics of lifeless ritualists and of bare knowledgeable, importance of Guru in spiritual pursuit, characteristics of true Guru and guidance for the aspirants in absence of a Guru.
Je Swarup Samajyä Vinä, Pämyo Dukh Anant; Samajävyun Te Pad Namun, Shri Sadguru Bhagavant.
In absence of understanding the true nature of soul, I experienced endless suffering.
I bow to the graceful Guru, who explained the true nature of soul. (1)
Explanation & Discussion:
In Aryan tradition, a spiritual composition usually begins with presentation of four aspects: (1) Mänglik: prayer for blessings, (2) Sambandh: the context or the relation in which the composition is presented, (3) Abhidheya: the subject matter of the composition, and (4) Prayojan: the purpose of the composition. The first two are covered in this stanza. Mängalik consists in the form of paying homage to the graceful Guru and Sambandh in the form of Guru explaining to pupil. The remaining two aspects are left to the next stanza.
Since the time immemorial the worldly soul has been going through the cycle of birth and death. Its intention is to gain happiness, but actually it ends up in suffering. In spite of trying hard to mitigate that suffering, the soul fails in doing so, because it does not make out the true cause of suffering. Delusion, the real cause of suffering, prevents it from understanding its true nature and deprives it of its inherent happiness. By virtue of the delusion the soul identifies itself with the body and treats the comforts and discomforts of the body as its own. This is the root cause of its misery, wandering from birth to birth and suffering from old age, disease, death, etc. This stanza thus specifies the root cause of suffering.
That suffering cannot end, unless the soul realizes its true, blissful nature. That realization can come forth by securing guidance from a true Guru who has realized the soul. One, who has not realized it, cannot explain its true nature. Here explaining does not mean clarifying the terms, as it is done in the schools. That type of explanation, the worldly soul might have got on innumerable occasions during its infinite wandering. At times it might have also got the right explanation, but that has remained at the superficial level and did not reach the depth within. It is not possible to bring the suffering and misery to the end until one understands the true nature of soul and brings it to the experiential level, until he attains self-realization.
Explaining by a self-realized Guru occurs from his soul and is therefore convincing. As such, the pupil is induced to put the same into practice. The genuine efforts in that direction can enable him to understand the true nature of soul. Shrimad has therefore said
