Guru and Disciple

Author(s): Dada Bhagwan
Publisher: Mahavideh Foundation

Page 54

The Guru and the Disciple
The Guru and the Disciple
Dadashri: But when he becomes a 'sack of understanding' does that mean he can call the guru worthless? Instead, it is better to adopt what Bheem (An important man in Mahabharat Indian Epic) had done. Do not adopt what others do. Every time Bheem had to bow to a guru, he would get the shivers; he felt insulted. So what solutions did he come up with? He thought, 'I cannot afford to have these gurus. All my brothers sit here unaffected, but my ego starts to jump around the moment I see them. I start having negative thoughts. I must have a guru because otherwise what predicament will I be in without one?' So he found a solution for it.
He buried a clay pot upside down in the ground, painted it black and wrote on it in red ink, "Namo Neminathaya.' (I pay obeisance to the Lord Neminath). Neminath was dark skinned so he painted the pot black and then he worshipped it. Yes, that pot was the guru and he, the disciple.
Here, where the guru was not directly visible to him, he did not feel shy, whereas he felt shy in the presence of a living guru. He would not bow to him yet he continued to worship the black pot buried in the ground. Although he began worshiping this way, he still reaped benefits from it. That is because there is no risk of any negativity arising here, to poison the guru-disciple relationship. Even here in this situation, if one were to feel happy and elated, one will attain salvation.
So Bheem would go and sit there from dawn till sunset. This guru was better because at least he would not get upset or have any problems. And if he ever got offended, all he had to do was dig up the pot and throw it away. But the faith that you put in a living guru can poison you. There is God within the person whereas here there is merely your projection of God in the pot.
Questioner: Did he get any benefit out of making the pot his guru?
Dadashri: He did benefit for sure. He did not do it directly, but at least he did it indirectly. Did he not bow down to Lord
Neminath? Here some parents tell their small child to bow down to Dadaji but the child would not do that. Then when they insist, the child would eventually turn around and bow down. What does that suggest? It is the ego. That is how even Bheem had an ego and so he worshipped the pot in this way. Still, he definitely received benefits in return. This actually happened. Lord Neminath, the twenty-second one of the past twenty-four Tirthankaras, was alive at that time.
Questioner: So he was pratyaksh (present)! Dadashri: Yes, he was pratyaksh. Questioner: So in the end he worshipped him.
Dadashri: Yes, but he worshipped Lord Neminath through naming (naam) and establishing (sthapana) him as the pot.
Questioner: But worshipping the pot-isit not an inanimate object?
Dadashri: It is like this: everything in this world that you see through your eyes is all inanimate (jada); nothing is animate (chetan).
Questioner: A pot cannot give answers to our questions like you do, can it?
Dadashri: A pot will not give you the answer, but do not make someone your guru if you are going to let him down or if you are going to ruin things for him. Make him your guru only if you are going to remain sincere. I give you good advice, and then it is up to you what you do with it. There is grave danger if you discard your guru halfway through. It is better to kill yourself than to hurt a guru.
Grave danger in uprooting a guru Do not accept a known guru as guru, and if you do, then do not turn your back on him. Use a pot if you do not like him.