Speech of Swamini Vimalananda So a good teacher
has to see that. Learning should become an enjoyable
& joyous discovery. There is a story about
Shankaracharya the great master of this country because
of whom you and I have this great tradition right now
alive. He was passing by along with his shishyas,
in a remote place somewhere in Orrissa. One couple came
over and said “Please come and bless our child. He
is dumb, he does not talk, and we re worried; he is
twelve years of age and he does not talk. Please come and
bless our child”. So Shankaracharya out of sheer
compassion went to his house and asked this young boy,
"ko namabandho katha mey tadathata”
(What is your name my child, from where have you come?
What is your goal? Who are you in essence?) And this
child is Shudh sanskrit started reciting verses,
“I am not a brahmin, khsatriya, vaishya, shudra. I
am not a child, adult or an old person. I am the pure
self-Sat-chit-ananda swaroopa”. Everyone was shocked
they asked him, “If you knew how to speak why
didn’t you speak?”. The child said, “etla
silly question baddha pooch tah ta. Shoo khashe? aa
peeshe? No one asked me question that matter, and
here is the Guru discovered this in me and he asked me
the right question and I have answered him. The so called
dull, dumb person, it is the Guru who spots this
potential, discovers this wonderful thing that is lying
within him and takes him to heights. A Guru in turn
becomes great when he is hooked on to something great. I am reminded of
this particular story with which I end my talk. Tansen
the great singer was once singing in the court of Akbar,
and how his singing waas ! It was divine! When he would
sing raag malhar it would rain. Here he was
singing so beautifully, Akbar said, “You are the
greatest singer in the world. There cannot be a greater
singer than you. You are the best”. Tansen said
“Jahanpandh there is a greater singer than me.”
“Who is that?” “My Guru” “Bring
him to court.” “Sorry, he won’t come and
if you want to meet him you have to go and meet him. And
he is staying in the jungle; Very remote, you
wouldn’t be able to take your chariot. You have to
walk”. Akbar was a great patron of music, “ok
let us go”, and they went. Remote jungle of
Vrindavan, far away, walking and they saw a small little kutiya,
there is this man sitting on this veranda, singing away. There is no
audience. There is no one to do wah-wah. Nothing,
he is just singing away. And when Akbar heard this he was
entranced. He was so moved by this he looked at Tansen
and said “Is this your Guru?” he says “Yes
he is my Guru” “He sings very beautifully,
there cannot be a better singer than him”. And then
he turns around to Tansen and says, “You have all
facilities. How come you don’t sing as well as
him?”. Tansen said, “I can never, will never be
able to sing as well as my Guru”. “Why?”
“Because I sing to please you, and he sings to
please the Lord.” So the higher the goal you and I are hooked to, the greater is the potential that comes out of us. Similarly a Guru, the higher is his nishtha, the diviner and the nobler and the nobler are his goals and greater and greater is the potential that comes out of him and greater and greater the potentials he can bring out from his own disciples, and therefore even though I never did respect any of my teachers, the minute I met my Guru everything turned. And on every |