Meticulously following the instructions of the Guru is essential. He is one of the four principal Vedas. According to Sadguru Murali Krishna: “If you want to experience the divine faster, you only need follow the examples of the great sages and faithfully obey the guru’s instructions both in letter and spirit. The Guru accelerates this process of learning and consequent enlightenment. Among the four entities of mother, father, guru and god, it is the Master who is the most difficult to find. Only if the kingdom (body) and king (atman) are pure, will the Guru enter the place or appear to the student. The master then imparts knowledge through mantras (combination of mystic syllables), essential medicines that ensure that only positive thoughts enter and block negative thoughts.”
“The student,” Swamiji concludes, “can easily believe the Guru but it is not so easy for the Guru to trust the student, and therefore the guru needs to test the student’s heart and mind. This process is essential to separate rarified butter from milk. Milk by nature provides strength but is unsustainable over longer periods, while rarified butter even though more difficult to obtain, is sustainable and provides knowledge.”
It is for this reason that Sri Sathya Sai Baba says that there are two things we must never remember and there are two things we must always remember in this world.
We must not have memory of (a) people who cause us harm or (b) when we help people in distress. But we must always have memory of (a) the mortality of our bodies and (b) the sweet name of God. If we study Sai’s utterances closely, they provide an excellent example of the need to perform good karmas. In a similar vein, Sathya Sai Baba declared that pain is but an interval between two pleasures, while pleasure is but an interval between two pains. Such is the nature of worldly existence.
If people do not behave properly towards us or do us harm, it is better to ignore them because, by retaliating, we only strengthen our karmic debts. This is the reason why Lord Jesus said: “If somebody slaps you on your right cheek, offer him the left cheek.” Similarly, when we help people, we should not allow our minds to dwell on these acts as it has the danger of strengthening our egos. On the other hand, it is important for us to remember that we are not our bodies and that one day they will perish. And finally, we are asked to never forget the divine name on our lips and hearts.
Finally, the question can well be posed: who is Sadguru Murali Krishna? Is He Babaji, the Guru of Sri Raghavendra Swami? Or is he Kalki, whose arrival is keenly awaited as the last of the ten avatars of Lord Vishnu in the Kali yuga? Or is he Lord Dakshinamurthy? Or is He Prem Sai Baba, whose arrival was long ago predicted by Sri Sathya Sai Baba? Is he Lord Murugan? Is He Ardhanareeshwara who is Sadashiva, half male and half female? Or is he the Supreme Self evoked by Lord Krishna so powerfully in the Bhagavad Gita? While the answer to this question remains a cosmic mystery, it must be pointed out that Swamiji himself has affirmed each one of these identities on several occasions.
The article has taken from the book The Global Mission of Sadguru Sri Sharavana Baba