# Guru: Remover of Darkness - A Personal Reflection

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoN8StdFqh8

[00:03] [Music]
[00:38] in 1981 I lived in Santa Barbara a
[00:43] beautiful little beach community in
[00:46] Southern California I was a young
[00:49] spiritual seeker back then I had been
[00:52] completely turned off by the dogmatism
[00:55] of Western religions and I had become
[00:59] increasingly interested in yoga
[01:02] meditation and the spiritual teachings
[01:05] of Vedanta the local newspaper announced
[01:09] a series of lectures on Vedanta at a
[01:12] nearby community center presented by a
[01:15] guru from India I had never heard of
[01:19] before
[01:19] his name was Swami Dai Ananda for five
[01:25] evenings he taught the central
[01:27] principles of Vedanta to an audience
[01:30] composed mostly of Westerners with each
[01:34] session I became more and more impressed
[01:38] by the tremendous power and clarity of
[01:41] his teaching
[01:43] I also liked his mischievous sense of
[01:46] humor but what amazed me most was to
[01:50] hear him cogently and logically
[01:53] explained the nature of God or Ishwara
[01:57] without even once asking us to accept
[02:00] anything he said as a matter of faith or
[02:04] belief he asserted that Ishwara is a
[02:08] matter for understanding not for belief
[02:14] I was stunned by this radical idea that
[02:19] Ishwara is to be understood that God can
[02:23] be known rationally you see I had
[02:27] developed an allergy so to speak to any
[02:30] kind of religious faith or doctrine long
[02:34] ago I had rejected the religion of my
[02:37] childhood that portrayed God has a
[02:40] fatherly figure who dwelled in heaven
[02:43] seated on a magnificent throne my
[02:47] college education in engineering had
[02:50] trained me to think scientifically if
[02:54] something couldn't be proved then it
[02:57] doesn't exist
[02:58] so when Swami died Ananda used logic and
[03:03] reason to explain the nature of Yeshua I
[03:07] was really intrigued he used this
[03:10] analogy to make a pot a potter needs two
[03:15] things material like clay and knowledge
[03:19] knowledge of the size and shape of pots
[03:22] only with suitable material and
[03:25] knowledge can a pot or anything else be
[03:29] made based on this principle the creator
[03:33] of the universe must necessarily push us
[03:36] to things suitable material out of which
[03:40] the entire universe can be fashioned and
[03:43] knowledge knowledge of the cosmos
[03:47] knowledge of everything Swami died in
[03:51] under clarified that whereas the Potter
[03:54] has an external source of clay he should
[03:57] I had no external source of material so
[04:02] the material for the universe could only
[04:05] have come directly from Ishwara
[04:09] therefore Yeshua is the source of both
[04:13] the knowledge and the material for the
[04:15] universe like a spider who not only
[04:19] knows how to weave a web but is also the
[04:23] source of the silk thread out of which
[04:26] the web is
[04:27] them
[04:29] Swami Dai Ananda was careful and precise
[04:33] in his use of language as he developed
[04:36] these ideas gradually building up what
[04:40] he called the vision of Vedanta
[04:44] listening to his brilliant discourses I
[04:47] was blown away as they say even though I
[04:51] didn't know it at the time
[04:52] Swami Dai Ananda was to become my guru
[04:56] and in due course he would skillfully
[04:59] guide my journey of spiritual growth for
[05:02] decades to come
[05:04] [Music]
[05:19] sadly the word guru has fallen into
[05:23] disrepute in modern times mostly as a
[05:27] result of some well-known gurus whose
[05:30] outrageous acts rightfully attracted a
[05:33] lot of negative publicity shocking
[05:37] reports about their sex scandals and
[05:40] showy lifestyles have poisoned the minds
[05:43] of many of course such people are not
[05:48] gurus at all
[05:49] a traditional definition of the word
[05:52] guru is found in this well-known verse
[05:55] kook artist Juan de carava booko dustin
[06:00] ybarra Takaya under Karan erode at work
[06:06] guru dat Javed he attained the syllable
[06:11] GU represents darkness and Rou
[06:15] represents one who removes it
[06:18] therefore guru means the remover of
[06:22] darkness
[06:24] obviously darkness here refers to
[06:28] ignorance specifically the ignorance
[06:32] that covers or obscures your true nature
[06:35] and prevents you from recognizing the
[06:39] divinity within a guru helps remove that
[06:43] veil of ignorance and leads you to
[06:45] discover your essence as pure
[06:48] consciousness unborn uncreated vast full
[06:53] and complete the true source of peace
[06:57] and contentment as the remover of
[07:01] ignorance a guru is a teacher a
[07:04] spiritual teacher but spiritual teachers
[07:08] must not be confused with religious
[07:12] preachers the goal of a preacher is
[07:16] basically to inculcate religious beliefs
[07:19] in the minds of listeners for example a
[07:23] preacher might try to convince you that
[07:26] by accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord
[07:29] and Savior you
[07:31] we'll be saved from eternal damnation
[07:34] teachers on the other hand don't tell
[07:38] you what to believe your arithmetic
[07:41] teacher never told you to believe that
[07:44] 2+2 is 4 a professor of physics would
[07:48] never implore his students to believe in
[07:52] protons and neutrons he would teach them
[07:57] teachers impart knowledge not beliefs
[08:01] the role of a spiritual teacher a guru
[08:05] is to help you gain knowledge of your
[08:08] true nature and to teach this it's not
[08:13] at all necessary for a guru to tell you
[08:16] how to live your life where to live what
[08:19] job to take or who to marry the role of
[08:24] a guru is to teach you not to manipulate
[08:27] your control your life this point is
[08:31] nicely illustrated in the bhagavad-gita
[08:34] where Shri Krishna assumes the role of
[08:38] Arjuna's teacher Arjuna's guru on the
[08:42] battlefield Arjuna became so depressed
[08:46] that he couldn't fulfill his duties as a
[08:49] warrior his emotional turmoil was so
[08:53] intense that it actually incapacitated
[08:56] him it knocked him out of action as you
[09:00] might say even before the first arrow
[09:03] was shot for this reason Shri Krishna
[09:07] taught the principles of Vedanta to
[09:10] Arjuna in order to dispel his depression
[09:13] and empower him to fight towards the
[09:18] beginning of the Gita Shri Krishna said
[09:21] Oh tish-tosh kaunteya get up Arjuna and
[09:25] prepare for war but at the very end of
[09:29] the Gita after Shri Krishna concluded
[09:33] his teachings he did not tell Arjuna to
[09:36] fight the war instead he told Arjuna yet
[09:41] h SE totaku who
[09:44] do whatever you want do as you wish
[09:48] shri krishna did not order arjuna to
[09:52] fight sri krishna's role was to teach
[09:55] arjuna not to control his life this
[09:59] example from the bhagavad-gita is
[10:02] probably relevant for teachers of all
[10:05] kinds
[10:06] [Music]
[10:23] before meeting Swami Dai Anandi in
[10:25] California I had read several
[10:28] translations of the bhagavad-gita as
[10:31] well as many other books on Vedanta I
[10:34] had also attended lectures on Vedanta
[10:37] taught by other Swami's from India yet
[10:41] in spite of these efforts I completely
[10:44] failed to grasp the profound vision of
[10:48] reality taught by the ancient sages only
[10:52] years later did I learn why my efforts
[10:56] had failed something was missing and the
[11:00] missing element was a special teaching
[11:03] methodology meant to be employed
[11:06] whenever Vedanta is taught the technique
[11:10] involves using language in a particular
[11:13] manner that can actually lead listeners
[11:16] to personally discover the highest
[11:20] truths this is completely different from
[11:23] using language merely to impart
[11:26] information as is typically done in a
[11:30] school or college classroom this non
[11:34] academic approach is well understood and
[11:38] properly wielded only by those who have
[11:42] been traditionally trained obviously I
[11:47] didn't have the benefit of that
[11:48] methodology when I read the
[11:51] bhagavad-gita on my own and as a result
[11:54] my comprehension was superficial when I
[11:59] later studied the bhagavad-gita with
[12:02] Swami Dai Anandi I was able to
[12:04] personally grasp the life-changing
[12:08] truths that Shri Krishna imparted to
[12:11] Arjuna the special methodology needed to
[12:16] properly unfold the teachings of Vedanta
[12:19] seems to be absent from many popular
[12:23] books and present-day lectures on the
[12:25] subject this apparent neglect isn't
[12:29] surprising at all because this
[12:32] methodology
[12:33] isn't explicitly taught in any scripture
[12:37] or text it has to be learned directly
[12:41] from a traditional guru a guru who
[12:44] learned it through an oral tradition
[12:46] which passed it down from teacher to
[12:49] student for generation after generation
[12:54] unfortunately this oral tradition has
[12:57] grown somewhat weak in modern times
[13:00] there seems to have been a decline in
[13:04] traditional scholarship among
[13:06] contemporary teachers of Vedanta for
[13:10] this reason a number of modern teachers
[13:13] never had the opportunity to learn this
[13:17] special approach but the use of this
[13:21] traditional teaching methodology is
[13:24] absolutely crucial without it the
[13:28] teachings of Vedanta become academic and
[13:31] philosophical they're reduced to mere
[13:34] theories and lofty concepts while the
[13:38] actual vision of the ancient Rishi's
[13:40] remains securely hidden but when Vedanta
[13:45] is taught using the traditional
[13:48] methodology it's possible for a student
[13:51] to gain immediate direct knowledge and
[13:55] personally discover the truth of oneself
[13:59] the importance of this methodology
[14:01] cannot be overstated the great 8th
[14:05] century Vedanta Shankar Acharya in his
[14:09] commentary on the bhagavad-gita was
[14:11] emphatic when he said a sampradaya vut
[14:16] sarvesh Ostrava tepee more covered ava
[14:19] who paid Shawnee aha someone who doesn't
[14:24] know the traditional methodology should
[14:26] be avoided like a fool even if he knows
[14:31] the Scriptures thoroughly
[14:33] [Music]
[14:47] before concluding I'd like to share with
[14:50] you a highly instructive story about my
[14:54] guru several years after I first met
[14:57] Swami Dai Anandi he returned to Santa
[15:01] Barbara to give another lecture series a
[15:03] lecture series that I helped organize in
[15:06] the very same hall where he spoke before
[15:09] on the first evening of the program he
[15:14] walked to the front of the hall and sat
[15:16] before the audience for two or three
[15:19] minutes without saying anything
[15:22] several times he opened his mouth as if
[15:25] he were about to begin
[15:27] but then he remained silent when he
[15:31] finally got started he gave a great
[15:33] lecture captivating us all with his wit
[15:37] and wisdom after the lecture was over I
[15:42] asked him why it took so long for him to
[15:45] get started his answer surprised me he
[15:50] said when I look at everyone gathered
[15:53] here I don't see any problem everyone is
[15:57] just fine the way they are so I don't
[16:01] see any reason to teach Swami Dai Ananda
[16:06] understood the true nature of everyone
[16:09] there to be eternally limitless full and
[16:12] complete in his vision each person is a
[16:17] flawless creation of Ishwara a perfect
[16:21] expression or manifestation of what he
[16:24] calls issue --is order or the
[16:28] intelligent nature of the universe
[16:31] seeing this perfect order he saw no need
[16:35] to teach Vedanta of course he also knew
[16:40] that everyone's true nature was covered
[16:43] by a veil of ignorance which can be
[16:46] removed with the help of Vedanta
[16:48] teachings only after shifting to this
[16:52] perspective could he begin to teach
[16:56] Swami died Ananda
[16:58] often said you already possess that what
[17:02] you want you already are
[17:05] that what you want to become from the
[17:09] standpoint of your true self you really
[17:12] don't need anything at all including the
[17:16] teachings of Vedanta therefore a guru
[17:19] has nothing to give you but in fact a
[17:24] Goodis role is not to give you something
[17:27] it is to remove something to remove the
[17:31] veil of ignorance so you can forever
[17:35] appreciate your innate fullness and
[17:39] completeness in this way a guru is
[17:43] indeed the remover of darkness one who
[17:47] dispels ignorance removing the veil that
[17:51] covers your true nature to reveal the
[17:55] exquisite divinity within boundaries
[17:59] limitless complete
[18:07] [Music]