Today, let us understand the significance of the divya drishti or a glance of the divine beings. We have come across numerous instances in our Puranas about the transformative glance of the rishis and gods on the devotees.
We have heard how miraculously it turned the life around, along with the perception of the devotee.
One mere divine glance has
Burnt ignorance of devotees to ashes
Transformed a beggar into a king
Cured a sick person
We all know about these instances. However, we are not sure how it works. Sloka 60 of Shri Guru Gita, Skanda Purana explains:
Sakala bhuvana ranga sthapana stambhayastih;
Sakaruna rasa vrstis tattva malasamastih;
Sakala samaya srstih saccidananda drstir;
Nivasatu mayi nityam sriguror divyadrstih
May the divine glance of the guru ever dwell upon me. It creates all the worlds. It brings all nourishment. It has the view point of all the holy scriptures. It regards wealth as transient. It removes faults. It remains focussed on the ultimate. It is the highest ruler of the three gunas, which constitute the world. Its only goal is to lead others on the path of liberation. It is the central pillar supporting the stage of all the worlds. It showers the nectar of compassion. It is the aggregate of all tattvas—principles of creation. It creates all time. It is the truth. It is bliss.
When the guru drishti is always on us, we become highly aware of all our thoughts and feelings. We become steadfast, sharp, stable, firm, precise, determined and pin-pointed. This phenomenon is known as dhriti. With dhriti, we start seeing life with clarity of mind and love for all. This is the key to open the lock of internal world within us.
Till now we only knew kali loka, which consists of materialism, name, fame, powerplay and ego. The guru now shows us the seven higher worlds within us which are the main source of inner nourishment for us. Guru’s drishti supports all worlds, it is like a central column of a spiral staircase, all departments of life come from this central column. We can access all the internal worlds by using the guru’s ladder. The seven higher worlds tapoloka, mahaloka, janaloka, suvhloka, bhuvarloka and satyaloka supply divine vibrations, vitality, energy to our body, mind and intellect.
At this stage, we realise that now our perception is filtered through the lens of scriptures. All our mistakes and faults are corrected. We become aware that we are auspicious and precious. We transcend the three gunas or attributes of rajas, tamas and sattva. Now, our only goal will be to follow the path laid by the guru to attain liberation.
But for all this to happen, we must behave in such a way that the guru’s glance is always on us. We must always remember that whatever we do, god can see. In Kali yuga, the guru is equivalent to the 33,000 crore forms of god. So, the guru’s glance will always be on his disciple’s welfare.
He is protecting us as our primordial father and mother. He protects us from negativities. On the other side, he practices sama, bheda, danda. Sama is pointing out mistakes softly but with conviction. Bheda is gently correcting with discrimination of what is right and what is wrong. Danda is severe reprimand. We must remember we are here for guru kripa and it is only in our best interest that the guru corrects us and thereby connects us to our inner world.
By revealing our inner world, he is connecting us to the sages from these worlds who will lead us to meditation. Until now, our inner world was veiled by maya. The guru’s glance unveils the ignorance or maya and takes us to our inner world—the world of bliss. So, every morning, have a prayer on your lips that the divine glance of the guru may always be on you and your family for your peace, liberation and bliss.
ashram-india@shrinimishamba.org