Talk On Vivek Chudamani

Author(s): Chinmayanand Swami
Publisher: Chinmay Publications Trust

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तमाराध्य गुरुं भक्तया प्रह्ववप्रश्रयसेवनैः । प्रसन्नं तमनुप्राप्य पृच्छेज्ज्ञातव्यमात्मनः ॥ ३४॥
tamārādhya gurum bhaktyā prahvaprasrayasevanaih prasannam tamanuprāpya prechetgnātavyamātmanah 34.
तम् - that, गुरुम् - the preceptor, आराध्य worshipping प्रह्वप्रश्रय सेवनैः - with surrender, humility and service, प्रसन्नम् - pleased, तम् - him, अनुप्राप्य - approaching, पृच्छेत् should ask, ज्ञातव्यम् - what is to be known, by one.
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Worshipping that Guru in deep devotion through nursing, serving and comforting him, when he is pleased with your humility and service, you must approach him and ask him what you want to know.
The stanza makes it clear that no amount of enquiring into or discussing with a teacher is of any avail unless the student has taken enough time to tune himself with the teacher. The essence of Sat-Sang lies in the perfect attune
ment.
Spiritualism is not a thing that we can start discussing and arguing among ourselves to while away an idle hour, completely forgetting all about it in a third-class waitingroom on the Indian Railways. In fact it is to be understood in an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity; and in this understanding, it is an attempt at comprehending the deep experiences of the master expressed not through words, but perhaps, through the ring of the words and the flavour of sincerity that the words carry when they come from his heart, throbbing with his own 'nista.' As such, Sankara here is explaining how the seeker should approach the teacher and learn, first of all, to love him, and later on, through love-inspired acts of service, how he must get into a loving intimacy soaked with reverence.
In Vedanta, the method of approaching the teacher has almost been over-emphasized. But these are, unfortunately, days when, over the 'phone', a seeker from the other end of the city enquires of a teacher to convince him about the