Satsang Glory of the Guru

A Guru transmits his power to a worthy disciple through thought,
sight or touch. Transmission through thought is like the hatching
of eggs by mother tortoise, which buries its eggs in the sands
and goes away but its continuous thought waves have the power
and warmth to hatch the eggs. Transmission through sight is like
the intense gaze of the Guru into the eyes of the disciple, like the
fish which lays its eggs in an insoluble bubble just outside its
mouth and looks at the eggs all the time and the third type of
transmission is through the touch of the Guru - placing of Guru's
palm on the disciple's head.

Enlightening by thought like the mother tortoise hatching her
eggs was the method used by Sai Baba. Enlightenment by
drishti, like the fish hatching her eggs through sight was the
method used by Ramana Bhagawan and transmission through
touch like the bird hatching its eggs by sitting on it was the
method of Ramakrishna.

Since God's grace is ex-gratia and can never be procured by
human effort all that an earnest striver can do is to "seek,
knock and ask". When the seeker's hunger and thirst for God
equals the cry for air by a man drowning in water or the
desperate need for water by fishes thrown out of water then the
Grace of God is not far away. God's love for man has been
described as follows:
"When my devotee prays to me lying down, I sit near and listen.
When he sits and prays, I stand by and listen. When he stands
and prays, I dance before him, and when he dances in ecstatic
prayer to me, I prostrate before him."

Narada saw Lord Krishna opening a small pooja box and taking
out reverentially something from a beautiful silk pouch and when
he saw it was just a bit of earth, he asked of the Lord what it was.
The Lord replied it was the dust collected from the feet of the
devotees. So there is no higher sadhana than total unconditional
surrender. Man by himself is nothing but a frail being like a dry
leaf caught in a storm and tossed about helplessly till the power
of God flows into him and he becomes the image of God as God
had originally made him. Complete and unflinching faith in the
Guru will take the disciple to the goal even as Ekalavya attained
perfection in Dhanur Vidya by worshipping with faith only the
clay image of Drona as Guru.

(to be contd..)
Saipadananda Magazine July 1995
Source: http://www.saileelas.org/magazines/saipadananda/july95.htm