mahimas of guru

"GURU" literally means a person who shows the good path to his disciple Our Guru Shri. Brahmashri, Thiruvayaru S. Venkatesa Sastrigal, fondly called “Mama”, belongs to “Yangan” which is situated in nagapattinam District in Tamil Nadu. He was born on 14th of June, 1921. His father Shri. Srinivasa Sastri was also a Vedic scholar, and his mother was Smt. Anantalakshmi, later she was called, by all known to her, as “Devi Patti”. Our Guru had six brothers and one sister. During his childhood, he along with his parents shifted their residence to Thiruvaiyaru. It was at this place that our great carnatic composer Sri. Thyagarajar attained Samadhi.

Our Guru started life in penury. He had suffered a lot during his childhood. He subsequently became a scholar in Sanskrit. To meet his family needs he went to Delhi. Our Guru was the Vedic teacher to our late Shri. Lal Bahadur Sastri, Late Shri. C.R. Pattabiraman and their families.

In 1958, our great paramacharya Shri. Chandrasekara Saraswathi Swamigal of Kanchi mutt gave him the Shri. Rama Mantra upadesam. In the year 1960, he explained the significant of Vedic dharma at Banaras (Varnasi) in the august presence of many scholars and received valuable award for the same.

In the year 1955, he was initiated to Shri Vidya Shodashakshari and received dhiksha. He was then named Shri. Kameswarananda. From that day onwards he started doing NAVARNA POOJA daily and during Navrathri Festival, which appears Four times in a year. He had continued this till his death. This Pooja ‘Navarana Poooja’ is nice and divine to observe.

Our guru, in his discourses, always quoted form Dharmasastras advising the listeners to adhere to them. He also used to cite lot of examples from the Vedas. His every day routine started with worship from dawn. He would normally not speak while doing pooja. His pooja would continue till the afternoon, and he would take food only after he finished his pooja. He would rest for about an hour after lunch and thereafter would be chanting or doing Veda parayanam and Nama parayanam. His first discourse started in Delhi in the presence of Late. C.R. Pattabiraman who was then a Central Minister. This discourse continued for 175 days. He conducted discourses in several places including Mumbai, Kolkata, and Kerala & Nagpur.

He delivered lectures several times in the august presence of Swami Sivananda at Rishikesh. Swamy Sivananda was always delighted to hear his lectures. Once our guru asked Maharishi, as to whether he could show the sages who were alive during the Ramayana period. The Maharishi touched our guru’s head and Lo! He had a vision of a huge number of sages; some were hanging upside down from a tree while some others were levitating in mid air. This vision lasted for a few seconds only.

He learnt Kamba Ramayana and Bodayana Ramayana from Chennai Tamil Sangam Srinivasan and Sirukamani Sivaramakrishan Bhagavada during 1964 - 65

Our guru was very adept at astrology on seeing a horoscope he would give necessary senedy in the form of mantra upadesa/some other solution. As for as I know he hardly demanded money unlike others. I am happy to express that he news failed the expectation of the people who had approached him. He had three sons and two daughters. He left his mortal coil on 12th of September 2002.

SRI GURUBHYO NAMAH BHAKTHI

Guru Devotion is the best of all devotions. Guru has to be looked upon as Ishwara or Ambika. The more the faith and devotion a disciple has for his Guru, the greater the grace and blessings he receives from his Guru.

At dawn, as one gets up from bed, at the beginning of chanting the Mantra Japa, before doing the main pooja and also at the time of retiring to bed, one must meditate on the lotus feet of his Guru.

One must meditate on the paduka of his Guru while he keeps his ands on his head in the Mrgi Mudra. Mrgi means deer and it symbolizes its eyes. Mind is always wavering, like the eyes of the deer, never static at any point. For meditation the mind should be steady. Only an unswerving devotion to Guru helps in achieving a steady mind. Though devotion to Ishwara helps in steadying the mind, devotion to one's Guru is said to be better in firmness and steadiness.

The more the faith and devotion to one's Guru, the more effective the Mantra Japa will be. The first step towards Guru Bhakthi is meditation on the Guru Paduka Mantram consisting of the Deeksha name of the Guru and his Guru Parampara.

Sri Vidya means Brahama Vidya. Its greatest ideal is to prevent rebirth. Initiation in this Sri Vidya is the result of our good deeds in our previous births. It is through the grace of our Guru that we can attain this.

Meditation of Guru Paduka is the very breathe of Sri Vidya. Ganapathi upasana is the first step and slowly step-by-step we proceed to reach Ucchistra Maha Ganapathi. By whatever means we may achieve knowledge, we should not let go of that knowledge. We need the full grace of the Guru to obtain the complete benefit of that knowledge.

We not only need to look upon the Guru as Ishwara but also need to view him as a human being. We have to serve him food, and make him comfortable. This is the humane approach to the Guru. Instead of serving him food when he is hungry, we tend to attend to other kinds of service and also allow others to meet him one after the other and make them prostrate to him. This is not true Guru Bhakthi as it only inconveniences him.

We have to meet the Guru periodically, as only then will he be able to correct us and guide us in our spiritual development.

We have seen instances where a disciple has stunted progress. This is due to his not meeting the Guru for a long time. We should not find fault in the words or action of the Guru. If at any time we should do so, we need to ascertain the significance of his deed/word, think of his divine nature and thereby try to save ourselves by overcoming such obstructions. We need to understand that our Guru is Ishwara incarnate and feel ashamed for our negative thoughts.

The disciple should neither hesitate nor feel afraid to approach the Guru to clarify his doubts. We should have complete faith in the mantra he has initiated us into. We should not, whatever may be the reason, change the mantra without his permission.

When the Guru is in the disciple should not initiate others with this mantra. Should there be a compelling situation, he could do it after obtaining the Guru's absolute permission. We should not forget that the status of a Guru is not something we can take lightly. Once we accept a disciple we should guide his every step in his spiritual pursuit.

While we go to meet the Guru, should we come upon his Gurus, we should prostrate them first and thereafter prostrate our Guru.

The steps of Sri Vidya are: First is Guru, followed by Ganesha, Palai Panchadasi, Shodasi, Ucchistra Ganapathi and Mahapaduka.