“Is it possible to acquire knowledge without the guru? And is it possible to acquire knowledge without renunciation? In the same way, the Vedas and Puranas sing that there is no chance of happiness and peace without devotion to Shri Hari.” (Dohavali, 137)

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बिनु गुर होइ कि ग्यान ग्यान कि होइ बिराग बिनु।
गावहिं बेद पुरान सुख कि लहिअ हरि भगति बिनु।

binu gura hō’i ki gyāna gyāna ki hō’i birāga binu
gāvahiṁ bēda purāna sukha ki lahi’a hari bhagati binu

As explained by Goswami Tulsidas, the source of jnana is the guru. It is an amazing transition within nature, if we think about it. The babies of today will be the leaders of tomorrow. They will carry the torch. They will be the authority figures.

Now imagine a series of hundreds of babies, who require guidance, who need protection from parents and well-wishers, who need to be taught the important values of life, passing forward jnana from one generation to the next. That is how it reaches us today, in what is known as disciplic succession.

That knowledge from the guru should make an impact. It is not only for answering questions on a standardized examination. It is not only for gaining entry into a club, being allowed to worship within an institution, receiving an honorary title, or putting the scholarship on display.

Since the jnana relates to the identity of the individual, there are certain changes we can expect to see. That identity applies across the board. Whether someone believes or not, whether they follow out of dogmatic insistence or refuse out of memories of prior experiences, the identity is the same.

When someone has knowledge of that identity, when they understand the difference between what is living and what is not, when they know the difference between reality and illusion, many of the common problems of a material existence go away.

1. No more morose

“I was not a pleasant person to be around. People did not actively seek out my association. I held onto grudges and personal insults for the longest time. The offending party might not even have known, but I never forgot.

“Jnana has changed things a bit. I understand that everyone is flawed. We are all born into delusion, moha. The dualities of attraction and aversion overcome us. It is like drawing a line arbitrarily on a piece of paper and choosing which side to fall on. We like the chosen side and hate the other one, but there is actually no meaning to the sides.”

इच्छाद्वेषसमुत्थेन द्वन्द्वमोहेन भारत।
सर्वभूतानि संमोहं सर्गे यान्ति परन्तप।।

icchādveṣasamutthena dvandvamohena bhārata।
sarvabhūtāni saṃmohaṃ sarge yānti parantapa।।

“O scion of Bharata [Arjuna], O conquerer of the foe, all living entities are born into delusion, overcome by the dualities of desire and hate.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 7.27)

2. No more depressed

“I used to be so depressed. It didn’t matter if I was alone or surrounded by people. I felt awful. I was hopeless about the future. I was sad that the past could not be recreated. It was a terrible way to live.

“Because the guru passed along jnana, I have a better understanding of the world around me. There is nothing to be sad about, precisely because the spirit soul lives on. No one actually dies. No one really kills another person. These are byproducts of illusion. We get tricked by what we see.”

नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः ।
उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः ॥

nāsato vidyate bhāvo
nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ
ubhayor api dṛṣṭo ’ntas
tv anayos tattva-darśibhiḥ

“Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the nonexistent [the material body] there is no endurance and of the eternal [the soul] there is no change. This they have concluded by studying the nature of both.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.16)

3. No more hardened

“It got to the point that I stopped caring. I was stuck in my specific way of life. It didn’t matter if good or bad things happened. I remained exactly as I was. I refused to see things in a different way. Nobody could really persuade me otherwise.

“The guru opened up a whole new world. In fact, it is like they gave me the entire world, to hold in my possession, to explore at my leisure, to study, to appreciate, to marvel at. That is the power of jnana. There is endless potential. I now see that we are all basically the same. There is like an undivided energy dispersed throughout the creation, though there is apparent division within the visual.”

सर्व-भूतेषु येनैकं
भावम् अव्ययम् ईक्षते
अविभक्तं विभक्तेषु
तज् ज्ञानं विद्धि सात्त्विकम्

sarva-bhūteṣu yenaikaṁ
bhāvam avyayam īkṣate
avibhaktaṁ vibhakteṣu
taj jñānaṁ viddhi sāttvikam

“That knowledge by which one undivided spiritual nature is seen in all existences, undivided in the divided, is knowledge in the mode of goodness.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 18.20)

4. No more miserly

“I went after coupons. I looked only for deals. I wanted to exploit the system. I never gave in charity. I refused to lend a helping hand to others I considered to be already well-enough off. It was kind of a hellish existence, more so because I had something to give but refused to part with any of my possessions. There was no question of sacrifice.

“The guru changed everything for me. The jnana made me realize that sacrifice is an important part of life. We should be charitable, within the right spirit, directed at the proper recipients. There is no reason to be miserly, like a kripana, because the person in knowledge, the brahmana, realizes that everything ultimately belongs to a single source.

प्रायेणार्थाः कदर्याणां
न सुखाय कदाचन
इह चात्मोपतापाय
मृतस्य नरकाय च

prāyeṇārthāḥ kadaryāṇāṁ
na sukhāya kadācana
iha cātmopatāpāya
mṛtasya narakāya ca

“Generally, the wealth of misers never allows them any happiness. In this life it causes their self-torment, and when they die it sends them to hell.” (Lord Krishna, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 11.23.15)

5. Worshiping Shri Hari

“I only worship because the guru showed me the way. I think that is the ultimate purpose of both jnana and vairagya. Knowledge and renunciation should lead to bhakti, which is devotion. Not that I consider myself a devotee or a saintly person, but in a show of appreciation, to both the origin and the person within the link of succession, I follow a standard of worship.

“Everything is directed at Shri Hari. He is God, in the personal form. God is always a person. You can only have the impersonal if there is the personal to start. Like darkness produced from the absence of light. Like the reflection showing a version of the original object. Hari is everything to me, and I hope to continue in this worship for life after life.”

In Closing:

Not anyone caring for,
As miserly before.

And with anger viewing,
Hostility brewing.

Changed when jnana brought,
By spiritual master taught.

Such that now to Hari bound,
Greatest benediction found.

Categories: dohavali 121-160, the five

Tags: dohavali, god, hare krishna, poem, poems, poetry, religion