The Criteria of a Guru :
Let us look at the spiritual world. In the spiritual world, he alone can be a guru who can lift downtrodden humanity to a high spiritual level, who can illumine humanity with spiritual effulgence. That is, only a Mahákaola has the requisite qualification to be a guru, others cannot be gurus. In order to be an ideal guru in the spiritual sphere, one must be throughly conversant with the minutest details of sádhaná, every aspect of sádhaná, important or unimportant. The guru must not only learn those things, but must also possess the capacity to teach those practices to others. Otherwise he should not be treated as a guru. The Mahákaola alone has this capacity, no one else. Kaolas are those who by dint of sádhaná have successfully elevated their microcosmic stance and established it in the Macrocosmic one; but a Mahákaola is one who is a kaola, certainly, but at the same time possesses the capacity to help others as well to get to that exalted kaola position. In the past Lord Shiva was one such Mahákaola. Lord Krśńa was another. To be a guru one must be a Mahákaola.
You may raise the question, “What is a shástra?” You might point to a voluminous book and call it a shástra, but that would be misleading. Shástra in the true sense means, Shásanáttárayetyastusahshástrahparikiirtitah – that is, “Shástra is that which disciplines and liberates humans.” So a guru must be well versed in shástra, otherwise he cannot show the right path to humankind, [otherwise] the term “guru” would be a misleading misnomer – which is never desirable. Shástra does not necessarily mean the Vedas; it means “the way to emancipation through the inculcation of rigorous discipline”; it is something that prevents one from taking license in the name of liberty. It means “clear instructions that guide everyone along the path, that lead to attainment of prosperity and welfare”.
I have already said that a guru must be an authority on all subjects in all the three strata:
As a spiritual guru, he must be thoroughly versed in spiritual science – both the theory and the practice. He must know how Parama Puruśa associates Himself with the jiivas [unit beings]; and he must know how the jiivas associate themselves with Parama Puruśa (they associate themselves just as the Ganges merges into the Bay of Bengal). Otherwise, how can he teach this science to others?
And who knows this science? Only Parama Puruśa knows it, because He Himself has created everything. He has created our sense organs, and He has created the tanmátras that our sense organs detect. He can create anything He likes. But remember, He does not do anything. His “doing” means His thinking. Things will take shape as He thinks. No one but Parama Puruśa knows how He does it. So how can people know Parama Puruśa if He does not teach to others the science of knowing Him? Only Parama Puruśa knows the science and the method to realize Him, to know Him; because He has created both human beings and the path that they must move along. So people can know the method by His grace only. Hence it has been said in ÁnandaSútram, BrahmaevaGururekahnáparah – that is, “Brahma alone is the Guru.” Through His physical structure He teaches the actual science to spiritual aspirants. People should clearly understand this.
As in the spiritual sphere, so also in the psychic sphere: a guru must be learned. That is, the guru must be aware of the nature of the human mind – what it is made of, how it should be elevated step by step from crude to subtle, how all the unit minds can march together in unison towards the goal – in a word, he must know both the theoretical and the applied sides of psychology. He must know a thousand times more than is written in books. He must assimilate everything through his own refined intellect. And then only can he teach others perfectly. That shows that he must be not only a spiritual guru, but also a guru in the psychic world. There is a sense of want in the human mind. One who can remove the sense of want is a guru. In order to qualify as a guru, one must have the power to remove psychic wants.
Next comes the physical world. The followers, the disciples, of the guru, are men and women of flesh and blood, having physical structures. They have their sorrows and miseries, their tears and smiles. This is their life. They have their problems of food and clothing; they have their pleasures and pains, their tears of pain and tears of joy; they become elated in happy circumstances and depressed when things go wrong. It is the duty of a guru to provide his followers with the wherewithal for their progress. This is what an ideal guru is to do in the physical sphere. As a guru in the physical world, he will have to teach humankind such techniques as will solve their wordly problems – problems of food, clothing, education and medical treatment. A guru must see to it that their mundane problems are solved.
So in order to be a guru, one must come onto this earth with the highest qualifications in the spiritual field, and with the greatest capacity to face the mountainous obstacles in the physical world. To shoulder the responsibility of a guru is not childʼs play.
Microvita and the Guruʼs Grace :
A human being is just like a machine – or a mechanical doll – in the hands of the Macrocosm. Perform spiritual practices to satisfy Parama Puruśa, the Supreme Cognitive Faculty, and He will do everything. If one gets the guidance of a Sadguru at the age of thirteen, fourteen or fifteen, and diverts oneʼs potentialities towards Parama Puruśa through spiritual practices, one is sure to be successful in life.
3 June 1987, Kolkata
from “Bio-Psychology”
Yoga Psychology
Do microvita influence the mind first, or matter first, of any human or living structure? Negative microvita can function directly at the physico-psychic plexus [vishuddha cakra], but they cannot reach even directly to the occult plexus [Guru cakra]. Only positive microvita can touch the lunar plexus [ájiṋá cakra] and they may be elevated up to the occult plexus, but negative microvita may be elevated to the lunar plexus by another course. If negative microvita affect the mind, the mind may undergo derangement, but negative microvita cannot affect the mind directly.
Positive microvita may be used for intellectual development and for imparting certain occult powers, but not for spiritual power or spiritual development. Suppose a person is deaf and dumb. As the functions of hearing and speech are controlled by nerve cells or nerve fibres, they are activated with the help of nerve cells or nerve fibres. Nerve cells are controlled with the help of the lunar plexus. Positive microvita may function directly up to the lunar plexus, but there at the lunar plexus, if positive microvita are to influence the nerve cells, they require some special power. Positive microvita cannot do something supernatural with the help of the nerve cells – they require some special power of some powerful person.
Suppose the Sadguru is saying something, and a deaf or dumb man wants to hear it, but cannot. If he concentrates the mind on barábhaya mudrá, there will be the direct effect of positive microvita on the auricular or other nerve cells and also on the controlling cells, and it may be that all of a sudden he may get back the power of hearing. One should look towards these two mudrás and not to anything else. Microvita are radiated through these two mudrás. This is the inner secret. This is supernatural, but not illogical. Certainly it is supernatural because it does not come within the scope of natural phenomena. Here the inner secret does not lie with microvita, it depends on something else.
The highest point up to which negative microvita can function is the physico-psychic plexus, but with the application of some force they can be raised up to the lunar plexus. This raising is called rśt́i or ruśt́i. The lunar plexus is the highest point of positive microvita, but if positive microvita are raised above this point, it is called krpá. That is, raising positive microvita from the lunar plexus to the occult plexus is called krpá. And raising them from the lunar plexus to the pinnacled point of human glory is called karuńá. Without krpá there cannot be karuńá, there cannot be any galloping jump. Raising negative microvita above the psycho-physical plexus is rśt́i. You should always try to avoid rśt́i and always try to receive the glamour of krpá or karuńá.
7 January 1988, Kolkata
from “Questions and Answers on Microvita”
Microvita in a Nutshell
The Grace of the Guru :
[3 June 1987, Kolkata] – To make the mind pinnacled, one should do dhyána of the Guru in the Guru cakra. The Guru cakra is slightly below the pineal gland, though the sahasrára cakra and the Guru cakra are virtually the same. So the mind is to be concentrated on the Guru cakra, and all the potentialities of the unconscious mind are also to be concentrated here. The moment one achieves full concentration, one becomes omniscient.
Why do spiritual aspirants concentrate on the Guru cakra and not on the pineal gland for dhyána? Because the Guru cakra is the internal side of the sahasrára cakra.
A spiritual aspirant should not do spiritual practices to become omniscient. Rather, a spiritual aspirant is to perform spiritual practices to satisfy Parama Puruśa in the form of Parama Guru. That is why it has been rightly said, Guru krpáhikevalam [“The grace of the Guru is everything”].
There is no difference between the pineal and pituitary glands of males and females, but there may be differences in the other glands. This is why those who say that women are not entitled to spiritual salvation are wrong. Men and women are equally entitled to spiritual salvation.
The right wing of the pituitary plexus controls the qualities, attributions and quanta of the leftistic propensities, which are a little more than 400 in number. The left wing of the pituitary plexus controls the qualities, attributions and quanta of the rightistic propensities, which are also a little more than 400 in number. The total is a little less than 850. When both sides of the pituitary plexus are fully developed and fully utilized, one attains apexed intellect.
Leftistic propensities are those which have a degenerating and depraving effect, such as shyness, shamefulness, melancholia and fear. Rightistic propensities are those which pave the way to supra-consciousness. As a result of the normal secretion of hormones of the first sub-gland of the mańipura cakra, the propensities of shyness and shamefulness are created. This creation of shyness is an imposed saḿskára. It only occurs when the environment helps in creating this propensity. The combined effect of the over-secretion of the fifth and of the over-secretion of the sixth sub-glands of the igneous plexus is melancholia. Due to the under-secretion of its ninth and tenth sub-glands, the fear complex is created.
If one commences spiritual practices later in life, and if the left wing of the pituitary plexus is developed, one can remember oneʼs past life. When the right wing is developed but the left wing is not developed, the entity will not get a human structure with developed nerve cells, but will get the body of a developed animal such as a dog, cow or monkey. In such cases the entity will remember its past life until its sex glands start functioning. When the sex glands start functioning, it forgets its past life; if it cannot forget, it dies. When, in rare cases, a person does not forget his or her past life nor dies, he or she becomes a spiritual genius, a hermit, or a worker of a missionary organization.
Good propensities may be enhanced or diminished by microvita with the help of the Macrocosm. Good propensities may be enhanced with positive microvita and diminished with negative microvita. Bad propensities may be enhanced with negative microvita and diminished with positive microvita.
When the Guru is pleased with the disciplesʼ efforts, the Guru graces them by encouraging and enhancing their good propensities and by reducing their bad ones by microvita. The good propensities are enhanced by positive microvita and the bad propensities are reduced by positive microvita. Through microvita the Guru does the needful to increase or decrease the secretion of the glands.
If Parama Puruśa is pleased with a boy He applies positive microvita to all his plexi, and as a result the person enjoys bliss. It is remarkable that after a sádhaka has developed to the third phase of sádhaná, he attains salvation within a short period with the help of the Guru.
A human being is just like a machine – or a mechanical doll – in the hands of the Macrocosm. Perform spiritual practices to satisfy Parama Puruśa, the Supreme Cognitive Faculty, and He will do everything. If one gets the guidance of a sadguru at the age of thirteen, fourteen or fifteen, and diverts oneʼs potentialities towards Parama Puruśa through spiritual practices, one is sure to be successful in life.
3 June 1987, Kolkata
from “Bio-Psychology”
Yoga Psychology
Source: The Grace of the Guru
Published in: Who Is the Real Guru? [a compilation]