The Guru is not just one man in a robe, a beard, and sandals. The Guru is a lineage that spills all pervading Grace down the centuries through embodied channels, where it can flow in a more concentrated form, and pour into your heart. That stream of Grace ignites the GuruTattwa, the inner teacher, in each of us. Then it is up to us to tend that fire until it illuminates our every cell. --Fred LaMott
Today is the birthday –in Sanskrit “Jayanthi”–of my teacher, the great Sri Swami Satchidananda Maharaj, . Although he left the body in 2002, his teachings have spread far and wide through the efforts of his many devotees. These days, most Yoga teachers are not being trained by a living Guru, but in the 60’s when so many young people–like myself–were beginning to get interested in Yoga we were blessed to have a living example of what a yogi looked like, how a yogi acted, and how yoga could have its effect on us.
The word Guru also comes from Sanskrit, one of the most ancient languages in the world. It takes its meaning from 2 words: Gu, meaning darkness, and Ru, meaning the remover. So the Guru is the remover of the goo, the darkness. But as the short poem by Fred LaMott says, it’s up to each one of us to keep the fire of enlightenment burning. One of the ways I keep my light shining is through chanting and writing music, and I’ve included a link to a rough mix of 54 repetitions of the sacred mantra that I was given at my initiation by Sri Swamiji. In honor of my beloved teacher’s Jayanthi, I offer it to you.
Many blessings of the season to you and yours,
Meera has a lovely way of explaining an ancient language and practices that still apply today. Let’s hope the world can remove the ‘goo’ in 2021 and have more jyoti (another word I learned from Meera – the Sanskrit word for divine light).