The sage
tradition representing Sri Krishna, Sri Buddha and Mahavir endeavored to uplift
the masses from the quagmire of tradition that continues to confine them within
prehistoric cults, moral values and objects of worship belonging to former ages
retarding and deforming them spiritually. Educating and civilizing such ‘savage’
and heathen races and converting them to their ‘superior’ monotheistic religion
and culture formed ‘the white man’s burden’ and the excuse for colonialism in
the past. However, the truth is far from that. The so called western culture has
been hegemonic and exploitive of the poor nations and peoples and has produced
a corrupt and hollow human civilization bringing degradation in all walks of
life including culture and morality. It has never been able to resuscitate the
human race spiritually in its true sense. The mere evangelic preaching of the self-sacrifice
and love of a compassionate God or forcing one’s religion on others would not
help humanity’s transition to a new age of spiritual transformation.
The Guru-Word
seeks to liberate individuals from the spiritual morass of ages that continues
to pollute life and vitiate the social fabric. Beliefs and practices when
outlive their tenure and age-specific dynamism stifle human aspirations and
arrest spiritual growth unless renewed and reinterpreted from time to time by
the wisdom tradition represented by great sages and avatars. The significance
of the Guru Vani, the spoken Word of Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru is immense in
this age of socio-cultural turmoil. There is nothing beyond the Guru-Word for
deliverance which has flowed down from Brahman, the Supreme Light. The
Guru-Word sanctifies the pollution in our life and helps us to understand
ourselves, our tradition and belief systems in a new age-specific perspective
that is so liberating. For the same reason, the Guru said that His path is the Vimochana Matam, i.e. the Liberating
Dharma.
The Guru-Word
dusts away the dirt and pollution accumulated over the ages on the surface of
tradition and beliefs of the forefathers and discovers for them the true basis
of their ancient-most faith and culture, to which all forms of Gnostic and
monotheistic beliefs in the world owe a debt. However, it might be a paradox to
say so because of the long history of distortion and deviation the Indian spirituality
is subjected to by its own votaries. The idea of a Single God and the Guru, the
God in human form (as the medium between man and God) is central to Indian
spirituality like any other monotheistic religions. The Guru Word re-affirms
more emphatically what Sri Krishna said some five thousand years ago:
Give me your
whole heart,
Love and adore
me,
Worship me
always,
Bow to me only,
And you shall
find me;
This is my
promise,
Who love you
dearly;
Lay down all
duties in me, your refuge,
Fear no longer,
for I will save you
From sin and
from bondage.
This is the
assurance of the Guru to His followers. The very theme that underlines the
corpus of Guru-Word is unmistakably the same. Follow the Guru-Word and the Guru
Dharma that has been gifted to us as the invaluable gift of God for this age.
Guru did not like to utter or act like a prophet who declares his prophet-hood
himself, in keeping with the self-denial and self-effacing character of the
age-old rishi tradition. However, the Almighty gave Guru’s disciples the divine
eyes as it were to see for themselves the sameness of God in Guru through
revelations and visions by which they realized beyond the clouds of doubt that
in Guru was both the Will of God and the Word of God.
Once an Islamic
scholar from Delhi posed a question to the Guru; ‘Are you a Prophet? ‘I did not
say so’, said the Guru to him. This scholar went away with the mistaken notion
that Guru was like any other crowd-pulling god-men of India. Guru was not a
messenger of God like Prophet Mohammad, he argued. It is true that Guru is not
a prophet because with Prophet Mohammad, the prophetical tradition had come to
an end, which Islam also asserts. In this age, the humanity needs to be guided
by a Far-sighted Seer. Guru often talked about His role as a Far-Sighted Seer
or Deergha Darshi, an Authority of Age, who is able to envision the genesis of
the world and its sustenance through the course of long cosmic ages, its twists
and turns and the rights and wrongs occurred in the spiritual and historical march
of humanity. The final sublimation or liberation of human soul culminates in
the truth of Guru. At the end of the tunnel of spiritual experience or spiritual
realization is the Guru.
The Guru-Word
reveals the cosmology of Manu and Manvantara, in which is found the original
framework or the teleological foundation of monotheism. The far-reaching
significance of the cosmology of Manu has never been comprehended by both
monotheists and polytheists alike. God in the form of the Primordial Preceptor
or Archetypal Guru - that is the raison d’être behind the concept of Manu. A
solar system and human life originate from the sankalpam or creational intent of
Manu in association with the Saptarshis, the guardians of the solar system. It
is for this reason the cosmic ages are calculated in terms of Manu Ages or
Manvantara cycles after Manu’s name. Reflecting the truth of Manu and the
Guru-origin of the universe, the flow of wisdom or the system of spiritual
guidance has been ordained through the medium of Preceptors who appear at
specific ages as the spiritual authorities.
At the turn of
every spiritual renewal, the appearance of a Guru is imminent. Everything has
its ordained time and space and has to give place to the continuing stream of
spiritual renewal. This is the basic foundation of Sanatana Dharma or the
Eternal Dharma, which is behind the resilience and tolerant nature of Indian
spirituality. The spiritual incumbency of the sages and prophets is not static
in the course of long cosmic ages. In other words, there is no scope for a final
prophet or an exclusive religion for salvation in the scheme of spiritual
evolution. However, there is an exclusive spiritual path that links man to God.
That is the path of a realized Guru who can sensitize us experientially about
the eternal truth of God through direct experiences and spiritual visions nourished
by a way of life based on universal love and compassion. India has been the
land of this experiential spirituality from ancient times.
Although the
original history of Manu has been lost to human race long ago, the mention of
Manu is found in the scriptures in a passing way. A parallel is also seen in
the Adam concept of Semitic religions, which must have found its way to
Christianity originally from India. Here the Manu or the Adam is portrayed as
the earliest human ancestor or preceptor in earthly terms. However, the reality
of Manu is not so as explained earlier. God, the Formless One (Nirguna Brahman)
projects the human universe through the medium of Manu, the Adi Guru who is
said to be seated in a thousand-petalled Lotus presiding over the spiritual
evolution of humanity. This idea of the Guru-origin of the world is found in the
more ancient Saiva tradition (refer Maha Nirvana Tantra for example) as well as
in the Rig Veda, which mentions that in the beginning there was only the
Purusha or Hiranya Garbha, from whom originated everything. The Purusha, Hiranya Garbha and Isa in the Vedic
and Puranic texts refer to Manu, the First Archetypal Guru.
However, over
the long ages, this cosmology was distorted and presented through the sectarian
lenses of spiritual cults like Saivism, Vaishnavism and Sakteyism and it developed
into the system of soliciting help from the gods through priest-craft and yogic
cults. The powerful league of priests replaced the position of sages from the
center stage and instituted the worship of idols in temples. The priests became
the spiritual mentors in the society claiming exclusive authority over spiritual
functions and divine knowledge. It diluted the role of sages in the wisdom
tradition or jnana path as ordained by Manu. The less fortunate in the society
were left to live in gross ignorance and servitude in a high and low notion of
caste hierarchy instituted by the priests. This has been the cause of the
spiritual downfall and social disintegration of India.
A big array of inimical
forces consisting of evangelists, jihadists, Maoists, Leftists and other
victims of race politics are engaged in a pernicious war with India. Yes, they
want to break India and its religion, which they perceive as a hegemonic social
order of Brahmins and worship of mythical gods instead of the only God. What
could not happen even during the Islamic and British rule is happening now. The
Hindu civilization is crumbling. Unable to find an egalitarian and
philanthropic spiritual leadership, vast sections of vulnerable Hindu
population are falling in the trap of evangelists and leftist ideologies that
would turn the nation into a dirty pig yard. India cannot forsake its wisdom
tradition of the rishis and sages, which is in fact the backbone of all wisdom
traditions in the world. A world without the saving wisdom of the sages is
unimaginable. The mission of Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru is to restore this
lost wisdom tradition to its original status. It is a new spiritual initiative
by the Almighty to save India.
Only a realized
Guru can guide a soul to liberation or mukti. The Liberating Dharma of Guru
provides another God given opportunity for India to reclaim its Guru status and
the long lost egalitarian guru-disciple wisdom or jnana path under a Deergha
Darshi Guru and His Parampara. The Guru-Parampara founded by Navajyotisri
Karunakara Guru transcends all differentiations of race, religion, caste, class
and creed and proclaims the Oneness of God. Through this new initiative of God,
the human race can evolve into an age of goodness and perfection, as envisioned
and dreamt by several mahatmas and sages down the ages.
Mukundan P.R.
