Hari
Om
'Freedays' are the 'gather our thoughts' days;
Q&As; a general review of the week so far…
Today
is Guru Purnima. It is the day to honour all true teachers and, in particular,
the parampara - the lineage - by which the torch of knowledge is passed. If you
go to a University, you want firstly to know that the establishment as a whole
has a good reputation; then you also wish to know that the professor who leads
the department of your area of study has not only academic credentials, but
that those qualifications themselves are from a worthy institution, and that
the Prof was himself inspired by a great teacher. This is quite normal in
regular education.
How
much more, then, does this apply within the field of spiritual philosophy?!
There is great importance attached to such parampara in the Sanskrit
tradition. That said, one cannot of
course account for each and every individual - for each student will do with
the learning as is his or her capability and this may, or may not, come up to
the standard expected of the parampara.
It
is not for lack of vision by the Guru, but the Satgurus, the true teachers of
the world, recognise those among their students who are weak and find ways to
direct them, even if it is not to the fullest call of the tradition. Such are
the teachers found in the Saraswati Maharaj parampara from which arose Swami
Chinmayananda and our present Guru-ji, Swami Tejoymayananda.
Throughout
August, the weekend focus will be on the Guru and devotion to same.
