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... attached to the Guru!
The devoted practice of the three-fold path, can occur only after the yearning for the soul arises. If the yearning for the soul persists then reasons for devoted practice too abound. The more the refinement in the feelings, the earlier one finds the external reasons. If one is not getting enough reason to get into devoted practice, then it is the weakness of one's own feelings to blame.
A jiva devotedly practising dharma only externally without the thought of Atma, harbours many myths. His belief about deva, Guru and dharma or his understanding of the topics of knowledge etc., is full of defects. Srimadji, while indicating the places where such jivas go wrong, says -
बाह्यत्याग पण ज्ञान नहि, ते माने गुरु सत्य,
379at faulgoufat, a Thai 37 444.....28
Just as every man needs a guide in the worldly life, on the path of liberation too he needs a Guru. Just as in worldly affairs one goes to an experienced person for advice, in the spiritual path too, the self-realised sages take the place of the Gurus. Those jivas who are unaware of this, who have no knowledge of the spiritual path, whose interest in the soul is not yet awakened, do accept a Guru, but only a namesake! A Guru who is merely dressed like one, but who has not yet experienced the split within - he has not experienced the separate identity of the body and the soul with the help of the science of differentiation - bheda vijnana. Accepting such a Guru will not lead to accomplishment.
Although external rituals are necessary, the goal has to be of self-realisation. In our tradition, the Sadhus are made to accept the vows of compliance of Pancha-Mahavrata and Five Samitis and Three Guptis. The Mahavrata vow is of nine grades. The forbidden is neither to be done through mind, speech and body, nor got done by another, nor is another doer to be endorsed.
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