Ways to God-Realization

Om Sathguru Sri Seshadri Swamigal Thiruvadikkae

• In order to realize God a devotee should relate to God in a certain way – one should regard Him as either a friend, a parent, husband or a child.
• You find no difficulty in driving a nail into a mud wall. But its points break if you try to drive it against a stone wall and still it will not pierce it. There are people whose spiritual consciousness is not at all awakened even though they hear about God a thousand times. They are like a crocodile, on whose hide you cannot make any impression with a sword.
• What good is there in reading a whole lot of scriptures? What good is there in the study of philosophy? What is the use of talking big?
• In order to learn archery one should first aim at a banana tree, then at a reed, then at a wick, and last at a flying bird.
• At the beginning one should concentrate on God with form.
• The harmful effect of the study of the scriptures is that it encourages reasoning and arguing. If you repeat the Gita ten times it is reversed into ‘tagi’, which indicates renunciation.
• The way to realize God is through discrimination, renunciation, and yearning for Him.
• What kind of yearning? One should yearn for God as the cow, with yearning heart, runs after its calf. One can attain spiritual consciousness through both affirmation and negation. There is the positive path of love and devotion, and there is the negative path of knowledge and discrimination.

  When you preach the path of knowledge (addressing a pundit), it creates a very difficult situation: the guru and the disciple do not see each other!

• Sukadeva went to Janaka for instruction about the knowledge of Brahman (Para-Brahma – the Lord of Universe). Janaka said to him: “You must pay me the Guru’s fee in advance. When you attain the knowledge of Brahman you won’t pay me the fee, because the knower of Brahman sees no difference between the Guru and the disciple.”
• Both negation and affirmation are ways to realize one and the same goal. Infinite are the opinions and infinite are the ways. But you must remember one thing:
  • The injunction is that the path of devotion described by Narada is best suited to the Kaliyuga. According to this path, first comes bhakthi: then bhava, when bhakthi is mature. Higher than bhava, are mahabhava and prema.
    • He who has achieved these has realized the goal that is to say, have attained God.
• While preaching (addressing the pundit), eliminate the ‘head and tail’, that is to say, emphasize only the essentials.
• “Immerse yourself for evermore, O mind, In Him who is pure knowledge and Pure Bliss.”
• Live in the world like an ant. The world contains a mixture of truth and untruth, sugar and sand. Be an ant and take the sugar. Live in the world like a mudfish. The fish lives in the mud, but its skin is always bright and shiny.
• The world is indeed a mixture of truth and make-believe. Discard the make-believe and take the truth.
• Dedicate every action to the Lord and there will be no place for ego. That is the quickest way for the ego to subside.
• Energy arises from surrender to God. God is positive. Man is negative. If contact is made, the divine current flows from positive to negative (the Indian tradition of touching a divine person).

THE ROSE IS BEAUTIFUL, FRAGRANT AND VERY SOFT TO TOUCH. EVERY ONE IS FOND OF A ROSE BECAUSE OF THE QUALITIES IT POSSESSES. BUT THE ROSE ITSELF IS SURROUNDED BY THORNS.

EVEN AS ONE PLUCKS THE ROSE BY CAREFULLY REMOVING THE THORNS, ONE MUST LEARN TO MEET THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF THE EARTHLY EXISTENCE WITH PATIENCE, AND WORSHIP GOD WITH UNFLAGGING FAITH AND CONVICTION.

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Kundalini and Initiation

Om Sathguru Sri Seshadri Swamigal Thiruvadikkae

Disciple:

What is true initiation?

Master:

Without initiation, all actions and rituals are fruitless. Without initiation, spiritual perfection can’t be attained. The Guru transmits his own inner soul, his Shakthi, his teaching, and his message directly into the disciple. According to scriptures, this initiation merges the individual soul into Shiva and annihilates its separateness. Initiation leads to spiritual perfection. How can such an initiation be a mere formality?

A Master whose Kundalini has been completely activated through the grace of the Guru and who has the blessing of the Kundalini can fully awaken the Kundalini of his disciples. To transmit just a partial awakening is not of great importance. It is possible for one to experience partial awakening by just being in the company of disciples whose Kundalini has been activated by a Guru. One must also consider how far such an awakening will take a person. There are many in the world who are able to induce a partial awakening, but to awaken the Kundalini effectively, one must have attained complete realization, been blessed by one’s own Guru and the Supreme Power and received their command to perform Kundalini awakening. One should receive as the gift of his Guru, the blessing that empowers him to awaken the Kundalini of others. Only a Guru who has been empowered by the blessings of the Supreme power and his own Guru can awaken the Kundalini permanently.

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3 kinds of physicians and teachers:

Om Sathguru Shri Seshadri Swamigal Thiruvadikkae

There are 3 classes of physicians and Gurus:

The physicians of the first kind, feel the patient’s pulse and leave, merely prescribing medicine. As they leave, they simply ask the patient to take the medicine. They are the poorest class of physicians.

Likewise, there are teachers who merely impart instructions, but do not stop to see whether their teachings have produced any effect. They do not think about the disciple at all.

There are physicians of a second kind, who prescribe medicine and ask the patient to take it. If the patient is unwilling to follow their directions, they reason with him. They are the mediocre ones.

Similarly, there are mediocre teachers. They impart instructions to the student and, further, try to persuade him in various ways to follow the instructions.

Lastly, there are physicians of the highest class. If the patient does not respond to their gentle persuasion, they even exert pressure and force it upon him. If necessary, they pin down their patients and force the medication down his throat! Likewise, there are teachers of the highest class, who even exert force to direct the mind of the pupil toward God.

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The Guru and His Sishya

Om Sathguru Shri Seshadri Swamigal Thiruvadikkae

When the Guru in his infinite love rushes to help the devotee, (the helpless human being) the devotee in his turn must trust the Guru completely. He must have the ‘Shraddha’ or faith (Viswas) and abandon himself to the Guru. To put it simply, he must catch hold of the rope if he wants to save himself. How true even at the physical level!

What is Faith?

FAITH, “is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.”

-The Old Testament.

When we serve in a Gurukula, we are able to realize this truth.

That is why, faith is called, the substance of things for and evidence of things not seen; and therefore it is hailed as the greatest miracle.

The Guru is to the Chela (disciple), the manifestation of God Himself. The devotion to the Guru is for him the best help beyond all external and murthi (idol) worship, in his pilgrimage towards Brahman in the transcendence of his non-manifestation.

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The Spiritual Masters

Om Sathguru Shri Seshadri Swamigal Thiruvadikkae

The Creator and the Nourisher Lord of the universe is one, and only one, and besides Him there is none equal to Him.

• Who is a Spiritual Master?

• The Spiritual Master is not a teacher. The Master is more like an artisan; the master is more like one who knows a skill which cannot be taught through words, which can only be taught through experience.

  The disciple is not a student, the disciple is an apprentice.

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Our Obeisance to the Sathpurusha

Om Sathguru Sri Seshadri Swamigal Thiruvadikkae

A Sathpurusha is essentially the Parameshwara, and is capable of anything. The devotee also possesses the state of Parameshwara. If the devotee strives sincerely in his pursuit of God, the Sathpurusha will do whatever it takes to get you there.

If you desire to have that Godhead, you have to serve the One who has already reached that state. Worship God, and God will help you. And thus you will raise yourself to a state even higher to that of Parameshwara.

Ways to endear the Guru and the Lord: A Good Life

We should always worship Him.

We should abide by Truth and Non-violence.

We should practise Charity.

We should seek the company of good men.

We should fulfill the duties imposed by our station in life.

We should carry out penances involving the three tools (mind, speech, and body).

We should not discard the practices laid down from ages past.

We should stay away from people who mean ill-will.

We should not lose faith with in our Guruji’s mantra.

We should not ridicule our Guru.

These will confer blessings in the present life and future.

“Om Sathguru Shri Seshadri Swamigal Thiruvadikkae” is our way to God…

Mahan Shri Seshadri Swamigal advises that the prayer be done between 3 a.m to 4 a.m. every morning.

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Understanding a Sathpurusha

Om Sathguru Shri Seshadri Swamigal Thiruvadikkae

There are three principal modes of comprehending the words of a Sathpurusha:

Scholarship – One is to explain by various references, comments and examples; this the most common mode; for this the interpreter has to be a great scholar with wide reading, thought, research and experience, and in that too, he himself must have learnt in a traditional way; the student in this case also, has to be a person of no mean intelligence, work and capacity.

Self-realization – A person, who has no such scholarship, (from the worldly point of view), but who has attained the Para-Brahma, goes on talking about whatever he experiences in that state, either in a plain or a couched manner. His simple talks always have a subtle and deep meaning even though superficially they may not strike as of much importance. To understand these talks and derive the significance of their meaning can only be beneficial; in short, every listener cannot grasp what is spoken to them. His talks are not only very simple but they are illustrated with various common examples from one’s daily life.These talks of his run in the traditional groove. This mode is indeed, superior to the first.

Guru-Sishya tradition – The best way to self-illumination is the Guru-Sishya tradition. The Guru and his disciple may be far away, or, very near to each other. Even when they are together they are never seen to exchange a single word. The guru secretly acts on the mind of the disciple; the mind of the disciple gets linked up to that of his guru; and as the mind of the guru is in that state of Brahma, in due course, the mind of the disciple also passes into that state. There has been no talk, no explanation, and no external sign of any communication between them. In this the disciple spontaneously begins to understand everything by himself.

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