Book Presentation

The Teacher. Meaning and Significance

by Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar

 

Adi Shankara was a Grand Master of every facet of wisdom and is revered as the most high being. He relentlessly taught the unity of all existence. Adi Shankara says that the Sat Guru is no other than Brahman (the Absolute God), made himself available to benefit the beings. He sings spontaneously twelve stanzas in Sanskrit as an offering to the feet of Sat Guru.

Master, Teacher are the other names to Sat Guru. The Teacher is essentially a Son of God. He is seen as representative of God on earth, to enable the seeking souls to enter into the Kingdom of God. The Teacher imparts Wisdom to lift up the student from ignorance to knowledge. And through His looks, His word and His love, He continues to uplift the oriented student. The Teacher leads and the student follows until the student enters into the bliss of existence and transforms himself into yet another Son of God.

Sat Guru being a personification of Jupiter whose number is twelve, twelve stanzas are instantly given. They contain what Sat Guru stands for. These stanzas are given with brief commentary to inform the students to be able to better orient to their Teachers.

Dhanishta, Visakhapatnam, India 2010.
ISBN 978-81-89467-13-5

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Sample:

Extract: Stanza 11

81. Taptakanchanadeepyamanamahanumatrukam arupakam - The Teacher is formless and yet shines forth as a micro atom with golden effulgence.

The formless one shines forth through form, he can be a micro atom and also a macro atom. The first trill comes out of seeming nothingness. This trill emerges as the golden egg. The golden egg is six- dimensional and is therefore considered as a cube. From cube to sphere the formations happen the basic design being a hexagonal form. The micro atom is seen to have six dimensions. The Vedas describe this hexagonal form as a four-armed one that has six dimensions. All that happens in the creation has this basic hexagonal structure. For this reason the cosmic permanent atom is given out as the one with four arms. Within the hexagonal structure there is the central theme of electric blue which is referred to in the Vedas as Maha Vishnu (Cosmic Person).



Around this electrical blue there is the golden effulgence which is poetically stated as the lord having golden robes. It is electrical blue in the centre and in the periphery it is golden yellow. The blue is said to be enwrapped by the golden colour. The former is the essence, the latter is the formation emerging from the blue which has many grades in it. It has all the detail of deep blue to golden yellow and later further enveloped by the material formations.

The Teacher is thus compared to the electrical blue which is essentially formless around which there is the emergence of the golden. Thus, around the formless one formations happen due to the trill which has a time periodicity. The law of periodicity prevails for the emergence of the form and its mergence into the formless state. The meaning attributed in this name is that around the formless one formations happen through time in a graded manner resulting in different states and planes of Existence. They happen according to an order, according to a timescale. Their mergence also happens according to the same timescale. The primary form is considered to be a golden egg (with the colour of molten gold) which is worshipped as lingam. From out of the golden egg emerges the hexagonal form which is called the cosmic person. Every being is a replica of this form. Man is a micro-unfoldment of the cosmic man.

The Teacher is one who thus realizes himself to be essentially formless around whom formations happen. He also sees the formless in all the surrounding forms. To him the absolute is omnipresent. He also realizes the omnipotence of the formless one. Synthesis is to see the formless and the form as but two dimensions of the one.

The Vedas describe the cosmic person, Maha Vishnu, as the blue one enwrapped by effulgent golden robes. The blue is in fact transparency in its depth. The clean sky for example is similar to this state. The sky has no specific colour. All colours happen upon it. Such is the state of a true Teacher.

Very early in the morning I recollect the holy sandals of the Master in the inner chamber of my heart.