Yasya karana rupasya
karya rüpena bhãti yat
karya karana rupaya
tasmai srigurave namah.
Salutations to Shri Guru, who appears as the effect of which he is the cause. He is the cause as well as the effect of this universe.
Through this shloka, Lord Shiva explains the Karma Siddhanta - or the principle of Karma and the way it works.
Lord Shiva says that the Guru controls the fruition of Karmas. Just as the mother bird protects her little ones from storms under her wings, the Guru protects his disciples.
That is why we must place him in our heart and offer everything to him without fail. He is the cause and effect. He can change the destiny of the disciple.
If our karma has to be fruitful, the Guru is the reason as well as the cause. Those who don’t have a Guru mostly experience karma of their bad or adharmic actions more than the fruits of their dharmic actions. This is because they will not have a Guru to teach them and impart them the wisdom of performing dharmic actions. Many a times, you may not be causing any harm to others, still you may not be following dharma in its full extent and intent. Orienting a soul towards dharma is the utmost duty of the Guru.
Only a Guru can initiate us into dharma. That is why, when souls who do not have a Guru suffer, they wonder why they are suffering despite of not doing anything bad. What they see is only the present life where as Karma considers the actions of our past karmic lives as well. Therefore we need the Guru’s divine shelter in our life. Guru sees us from all angles. He is the only one who sees our past present and our future. But, we must make an effort to seek his shelter through prayers. Then, the Guru stops the fruition of good as well as bad karmas so that we don’t have to take up repeated births to experience the fruits of either.
We have to keep on praying to the Guru and remain connected to the Guru through our prayers even though the Guru actually takes care of everything. When Lord Krishna wanted to leave his body, he sought his Guru Sandeepani’s grace for mukti or liberation. Likewise, in each and every thought, speech and action, we must seek our Guru’s grace.
Without the grace of the Guru, even a blade of grass will not move. This is the golden truth. Today if the sun and the moon exist, the Guru is the cause for it. The Guru is the cause of all causes and the effect of all effects. The entire world’s prayers come only from the prompt of the Guru and it comes to the Lotus Feet of Guru because Guru is the sole representative of God - Ava Dhoota - messenger of God. Everything is the Guru.
The Guru is the reflector, the Guru is the satellite too. The Guru is the transmitter that transmits the signals to the disciple. This is the technical core of the Guru principle. The creation, sustenance, dissolution or deluge is also Guru’s will.
When we become Guru putra, then we become embodiment of dharma, all our actions become dharmic actions. All our karmas are jnana yukta- based on wisdom and discrimination, so it becomes righteous. We will have viveka or discrimination as to what we should do and what we shouldn’t do. We will not do any adharma, so we will not enjoy or suffer fruits of karma as there is no cause and therefore no effect of any karma. Karmas will not affect us.
We are not the cause that will create an effect. There is no greater hell than living in kali yuga as we are constantly experiencing karma. When we follow the Guru’s teachings, it takes us on an expansion mode.
Our mind expands. Nothing pressurizes us, nor anything will bother us anymore, we just become a witness. Thus, in Guru’s path we experience ananda.