Sri Ganeshaya Namaha
Sri Saraswatheyeh Namaha
Sri Pada Vallabha Narasimha Saraswathi Sri Guru Dattatreya Namaha
Jaya Guru Datta Sri Guru Datta
One can ask is it really possible to get the blessings of appaji in any easy way. Definetly not, because visiting a Guru is not possible, until and unless they themselves give the permission to visit them. It is rather a round way of they calling us to visit them, rather than we thinking that we are visiting him(her). So for visiting itself, when we dont have the strength or power, then what about getting the blessings. From a guru, we cant demand for blessings, and also it is not the one to be given on demand. It is nothing but the sheer love of Guru on his disciples, devotees etc that he shower his blessings and give permission to visit him. Then the question arises when the key is with guru itself for visiting him as well giving blessings, then what is the role of us in this entire episode. Our role lies in making ourselves eligible to get his darshan, blessings. When nothing is in our hands, in what way can we make ourselves eligible so that he can call us to him and shower his blessings on us, or if necessary he only come to us like in case of sabari, sri rama himself came to her.
One main thing is because of our forefathers punya , secondly our individual punya basing on our previous births and present birth. What all good we have done, where we are standing in the school of spirituality. Let us assume that in the university of life, we are in the class 2, then we need to make ourselves eligible that we are ready to progress to class 3 and so for which, guru tests us in various ways. Though some times, it appears that guru is punishing us in some manner, it is for our good only, because his anger, and his punishment is for our spiritual progress only, because he is nothing but the ocean of mercy. So the question which arises is, in our day to day life when we are entangled with so many desires, and committing so many mistakes how we can make ourselves eligible to receive the grace of guru. In our day to day life itself, we have so many tests to cross check ourselves, and upon clearing the test only we move to the next level, what needs to be said in the path of spirituality.
In the school, we have books, class room sessions, unit tests, assignment tests, quarterly exams, half yearly exams, pre final exams and final exams to test the student , verify his progress and promote him to next class. Similarly in the spiritual class, we have teachings, tests etc. Guru will check at every level, the progress of his disciple and basing on his eligibility he is promoted to next level, till he reaches the final of knowing the self. The day when disciple knows the self, then there will not be two known as disciple and guru, but only one like a river after merging in sea is not known as river.
As everyone knows, there are no shortcuts on the road to success, similarly there are no shortcuts on the road to success in spirituality. Then how can we get the blessings of sadguru easily. Guru will guide us, but we need to traverse the path. Thats Ok. But how will we become eligible to get the blessings of guru. In case of Appaji, if one wants to get his blessings easily, one has to visit Mata Jayalakshmi mata , before visiting him. That is the easiest way to become eligible to get his blessings. Jayalakshmi mata both his mother and as well as his guru. So visiting holy mother before visiting him, will make us eligible to seek his blessings.
As a personal experience - way back in 1996, when Swamiji, never used to grant interviews for the first time visitors at mysore, we got the interview on the very first visit. This was simply because we first visited jayalakshmi puram near anantapur before visiting mysore. Every one was astonished how come we could get the interview on the very first visit, as everyone said that after atleast 2 or 3 visits only sri swamiji used to grant with interview. It was not our individual speciality, but the blessings of visiting mother, which made us eligible in getting the interview (darshana, sambhashana) and blessings of sri appaji. So the secret lies in visiting mother first to make our path easier in reaching and getting blessings of Appaji.
This first thing is like getting connection with guru,and later to reach the goal, we need to follow the master with utmost faith. The day we doubt or question without being humble, the day when we start finding fault with guru, or start suggesting him, or feel that he is not doing correctly or acting correctly, that is the end of our goal and our progress. We have forgotten ourselves and we are thinking that we know better than him, instead of cross checking ourselves for our ego and our mistakes, we are trying to find fault with him. The Guru out of his love and mercy may forgive us, but we are losing our eligibility for next classes on our path and postponing our goal to further births. We are losing time, we need to take births again and again till we become eligible to receive his grace and blessings. At this stage itself we need tools like introspection, retrospection, self analysis, our goal, our beginning etc. We need to be very careful in not leaving the Guru what may happen, let the distractions not distract us from reaching our goal. At this juncture if we are careless, we are bound to slip to much lower classes, and it takes a lot of time to climb back until and unless the Guru helps us back.
But the mistake is with us, instead of accepting,and correcting ourselves we are trying to act smart and push it onto others. The intelligent thing is to focus on the goal and leave the distractions. The one who is focused on the goal will never leave his guru till he reaches his goal, whereas all the others are bound to fall prey to this illusions. Definetly guru is there to help us and make us reach our goal, but the question is are we ready to follow him with faith and have patience till we reach our goal without getting distracted. It is a question to be answered by individual self.
For example, if a person finds some thing shining, then the intelligent one verifies it before concluding that it is a mere glass piece rather than a diamond. A person who is not that intelligent will come to conclusion that is a mere glass piece. Similar is the case of guru, we should not just go by his mere external appearance, we should experience ourselves to find out whether he is a real diamond or a glass piece. Because in this age of kaliyuga, there are duplicates in every sphere of life, similar is the case with guru's there are some duplicate ones, because of whom the real guru also has to undergo test to prove his real identity, but it will be only for those who are sincere in their approach. Always the test will be there, not only for disciples, but also for gurus. The guru has to show his capability to his disciple for him to believe him and follow him. So our role lies in testing before accepting him as our guru, but once we accept, we dont have any right to test again or change him. Once we accept him as our guru, then our entire responsibility is taken by him, we need to follow him with utmost faith to reach our goal. Follow the master is the key to success.
By the grace of appaji, whoever is reading this understand this secret and be successful in reaching their goal.
Loka Samastha Sukhinobavanthu, sarve jana sukhinobavanthu.
Om Santi Santi Santi
