Session 11 – Verses 79 to 95

Verse 79

हरौ रुष्टे गुरुस्त्राता गुरौ रुष्टे न कश्चन।
तस्मात्सर्वप्रयत्नेन श्रीगुरुं शरणं व्रजेत्॥७९॥

Harau ruṣṭe gurustrātā gurau ruṣṭe na kaścana|
Tasmātsarvaprayatnena śrīguruṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajet||79||

If Viṣṇu is displeased, the Guru is your saviour, but if the Guru is displeased / upset [at your conduct],
there is nobody, therefore with every effort take refuge in Śrī-Guru.  

Exact parallel of the previous version but with Viṣṇu instead of Śiva. 

The Guru could successfully intervene, he can correct your wrong thinking if you think God has something against you. In some branches of the Kaula tradition the Siddhas are more venerated than the deities. 

Verse 80

गुरुरेव जगत्सर्वं ब्रह्मविष्णुशिवात्मकम्।
गुरोः परतरं नास्ति तस्मात्सम्पूजयेद्गुरुम्॥८०॥

Gurureva jagatsarvaṁ brahmaviṣṇuśivātmakam|
Guroḥ parataraṁ nāsti tasmātsampūjayedgurum||80||

The Guru principle is the whole world, consisting of the principle of creation, stasis and dissolution. 
Therefore one should venerate this Guru principle. 

Reality is always a verb, not a noun, everything is a process. With mental constructs we make things into nouns, but there are only processes. 

The principle of creation, stasis and dissolution can all be a teacher as we saw in another verse. You can learn to be more intimate with reality and the nature of the world of phenomena. You are the same processes, too. 

Verse 81

ज्ञानं विज्ञानसहितं लभ्यते गुरुभक्तितः।
गुरोः परतरं नास्ति ध्येयोऽसौ गुरुमार्गिभिः॥८१॥

Jñānaṁ vijñānasahitaṁ labhyate gurubhaktitaḥ|
Guroḥ parataraṁ nāsti dhyeyo ‘sau gurumārgibhiḥ||81||

Through devotion to the Guru principle, one obtains insight (non conceptual) together with mental understanding / analytical understanding. For this reason there is nothing higher than the Guru. 

So he should be an object of meditation by those who walk the path of the Guru. 

Verse 82

यस्मात्परतरं नास्ति नेति नेतीति वै श्रुतिः।
मनसा वचसा चैव नित्यमाराधयेद्गुरुम्॥८२॥

Yasmātparataraṁ nāsti neti netīti vai śrutiḥ|
Manasā vacasā caiva nityamārādhayedgurum||82||

There is nothing higher than he who is described with the words neti neti by the Vedas / the revealed text. One should always venerate the Guru with mind and speech / with thoughts and words. 

Neti neti – not this not that. That that cannot be named, could only be described through negation. 

Verse 83 

गुरोः कृपाप्रसादेन ब्रह्मविष्णुसदाशिवाः।
समर्थाः प्रभवादौ च केवलं गुरुसेवया॥८३॥

Guroḥ kṛpāprasādena brahmaviṣṇusadāśivāḥ|
Samarthāḥ prabhavādau ca kevalaṁ gurusevayā||83||

Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and  Sadāśiva are capable in their respective actions (their acts) only as / only through service to the Guru principle which happens only through compassionate Grace.  

Verse 84

देवकिन्नरगन्धर्वाः पितरो यक्षचारणाः।
मुनयोऽपि न जानन्ति गुरुशुश्रूषणे विधिम्॥८४॥

Devakinnaragandharvāḥ pitaro yakṣacāraṇāḥ|
Munayo ‘api na jānanti guruśuśrūṣaṇe vidhim||84||

Devas, celestials, what-men, ancestors, nature spirits and more celestial musicians,
 sages – all these beings do not necessarily know the right of service. 

What-men are beings with human bodies and horse heads – they are musicians of a kind.  

Śuśrūṣaṇa – the notion here is that service is through the desire to listen because that’s what this word means – service is predicated through the desire to listen. All these beings don’t understand the proper way to be of service which is based on careful listening. Listening to the teachings is listening to the Guru principle. Embodying the teachings is being of service to the Guru principle. Here it’s not just talking about sevā in ashram. 

 Verse 85

महाहङ्कारगर्वेण तपोविद्याबलान्विताः।
संसारकुहरावर्ते घटयन्त्रे यथा घटाः॥८५॥

Mahāhaṅkāragarveṇa tapovidyābalānvitāḥ|
Saṁsārakuharāvarte ghaṭayantre yathā ghaṭāḥ||85||

Due to grossly inflated ego, even those who are endowed with the power of spiritual discipline and wisdom, they are in the pit of saṁsāra [spinning around] like pots on the potter’s wheel. 

Only service to the Guru principle can accomplish the ego being deflated. 

Verse 86

न मुक्ता देवगन्धर्वाः पितरो यक्षकिन्नराः।
ऋषयः सर्वसिद्धाश्च गुरुसेवापराङ्मुखाः॥८६॥

Na muktā devagandharvāḥ pitaro yakṣakinnarāḥ|
Ṛṣayaḥ sarvasiddhāśca gurusevāparāṅmukhāḥ||86||

These various celestial beings in the heavenly realms, nature spirits here on earth, ancestors, what-men, sages, and all siddhas are not liberated if they are opposed to service to the Guru principle. 

Siddha means a liberated one, unless it means an accomplished human adept with magical powers which can also be a meaning of Siddha. 

Verse 87

ध्यानं शृणु महादेवि सर्वानन्दप्रदायकम्।
सर्वसौख्यकरं नित्यं भुक्तिमुक्तिविधायकम्॥८७॥

Dhyānaṁ śṛṇu mahādevi sarvānandapradāyakam|
Sarvasaukhyakaraṁ nityaṁ bhuktimuktividhāyakam||87||

Listen, oh great Goddess, to this way of meditating / visualising that bestows all bliss, and it grants all sorts of happiness, and which is always the giver of enjoyment and liberation. 

Verse 88

श्रीमत्परब्रह्म गुरुं स्मरामि श्रिमत्परब्रह्म गुरुं वदामि।
श्रीमत्परब्रह्म गुरुं नमामि श्रीमत्परब्रह्म गुरुं भजामि॥८८॥

Śrīmatparabrahma guruṁ smarāmi śrimatparabrahma guruṁ vadāmi|
Śrīmatparabrahma guruṁ namāmi śrīmatparabrahma guruṁ bhajāmi||88||

I remember that the Guru is the venerable supreme Absolute. I speak of the Guru who is the venerable supreme Absolute. I bow to the Guru who is the venerable supreme Absolute, and I honour / revere and worship the Guru who is the venerable supreme Absolute. 

 Verse 89

ब्रह्मानन्दं परमसुखदं केवलं ज्ञानमूर्तिं द्वन्द्वातीतं गगनसदृशं तत्त्वमस्यादिलक्ष्यम्।
एकं नित्यं विमलमचलं सर्वधीसाक्षिभूतं भावातीतं त्रिगुणरहितं सद्गुरुं तं नमामि॥८९॥

Brahmānandaṁ paramasukhadaṁ kevalaṁ jñānamūrtiṁ
dvandvātītaṁ gaganasadṛśaṁ tattvamasyādilakṣyam|

Ekaṁ nityaṁ vimalamacalaṁ sarvadhīsākṣibhūtaṁ
bhāvātītaṁ triguṇarahitaṁ sadguruṁ taṁ namāmi||89||

I bow to that true teacher (Sadguru) who is the bliss of the Absolute (Brahmānanda), who bestows supreme happiness (paramasukhada), whose form is nothing but insight (kevalaṁ jñānamūrtim).

This enlightened insight transcends and subsumes all pairs of opposites, and it is like the sky / space – We are bowing to that Sadguru. This Sadguru is the target of sayings such as ‘you are that’, ‘that’s how you are.’ 

The insight that comes through your teacher and the insight that arises in you. It is non conceptual and expansive.

tattvamasyādilakṣyam – you are that – that’s how you are. 

The Guru is the ‘that’ – that’s how you are, too, in your true nature. You are the source of divine bliss and superlative happiness. You have access to the deepest insight. Your nature transcends all pairs of opposite and is like the sky. 

The Sadguru principle is one, there is only one Sadguru – ekam. It is eternal, absolute, pure, totally steady and is the witness of all thoughts  sarvadhīsākṣibhūtam. It is also beyond all mental and emotional states and is free of the three guṇas – triguṇarahitam. 

Kaula Sūtras 

There is only one Guru, the unbroken transmission of awakened awareness that comes to us through lineage. 
There is only one God, the (tattva) reality realised through / by virtue of that transmission. 
God has only significant consort, Śakti, sahajāhambhāva-bhūmiś cit-śaktiḥ, the power of awareness which is the ground of the I-sense, the ground of your own being. 

avicchinnam ovalli-kramāyāta-marīci-saṁkrāmaṇam evaiko guruḥ

1. There is only one Guru, the unbroken transmission of the shining rays of awakened awareness passed on to us through lineage. 

tad-upalabdham eva tattvam eko devaḥ

2. There is only one God: the Reality one perceives through that awakened awareness. 

tasyaikā sahajāhambhāva-bhūmiś cit-śaktiḥ

3. It has [only] one [significant] Śakti: the Power of Awareness that is the ‘ground’ of the innate & natural I-sense. 

Verse 90 

नित्यं शुद्धं निराभासं निराकारं निरञ्जनम्।
नित्यबोधं चिदानन्दं गुरुं ब्रह्म नमाम्यहम्॥९०॥

Nityaṁ śuddhaṁ nirābhāsaṁ nirākāraṁ nirañjanam|
Nityabodhaṁ cidānandaṁ guruṁ brahma namāmyaham||90||

I bow to the Guru principle who is the Absolute, and which is eternal, pure, free of illusion, formless, stainless, eternally awake or eternal awakeness, and the joy of awareness (cidānandaṁ).

The joy of being aware. The fundamental joy of embodied consciousness. You can say grateful as well, to exist and perceive everything that you are perceiving.

Verse 91 

हृदम्बुजे कर्णिकमध्यसंस्थे सिंहासने संस्थितदिव्यमूर्तिम्।
ध्यायेद्गुरुं चन्द्रकलाप्रकाशं चित्पुस्तकाभीष्टवरं दधानम्॥९१॥

Hṛdambuje karṇikamadhyasaṁsthe siṁhāsane saṁsthitadivyamūrtim|
Dhyāyedguruṁ candrakalāprakāśaṁ citpustakābhīṣṭavaraṁ dadhānam||91||

One should meditatively visualise the Guru as having a divine form (divyamūrti) which is situated on a glorious throne which itself is situated in the middle of the pericarp of the heart lotus. The Guru is radiant like the crescent moon / like the power of the moon. The Guru is displaying the gesture of consciousness, the book and the desired boon-granting gesture (citpustakābhīṣṭavaraṁ dadhānam). 

This verse is a dhyāna-śloka, it is teaching us how to do the visualization. 

The first word is heart, hṛdambuje, the innermost center of the text is the heart. Hṛdambuje is the heart lotus. Siṁhāsana literally means lion’s throne. 

The lotus grows in mud, but the petals are incredibly clean, because of the oil they produce. 

The Guru is visualized on a throne positioned on the pericarp in the heart. The pericarp is the little helipad to the bee (the center in yellow).   

See verses 58 and 92 for an explanation of the visualisation. 

Verse 92 

श्वेताम्बरं श्वेतविलेपपुष्पं मुक्ताविभूषं मुदितं द्विनेत्रम्।
वामाङ्कपीठस्थितदिव्यशक्तिं मन्दस्मितं सान्द्रकृपानिधानम्॥९२॥

Śvetāmbaraṁ śvetavilepapuṣpaṁ muktāvibhūṣaṁ muditaṁ dvinetram|
Vāmāṅkapīṭhasthitadivyaśaktiṁ mandasmitaṁ sāndrakṛpānidhānam||92||

They are wearing white clothes. They have white flowers adorning them and white paste. They are adorned with pearls. They are joyful. They have two eyes. They are smiling gently, and they are a treasure house / a store house of abundant grace / compassion. And they have their consort, the divine Śakti, seated on the sacred throne of their left thigh. 

This is the archetypal of all Gurus. The paste is the three lines of the forehead. 

They have two eyes = they are human. 

The imagery is a combination of the tantrik form of Sarasvatī, Parādevī, she is doing the gesture of consciousness and holding the manuscript. 

Here by saying that the Guru has a partner, it clearly indicates that they are a tantrik Guru. This is not a monastic Guru, it is a Guru who has a partner, a life partner who is also a sexual partner, and sometimes a teaching partner, too.  

It makes us think of Amṛteśvara: 

Śiva as the Lord of Nectar, who is pictured with his divine Śakti enthroned on his left. Both Amṛteśvara and Parādevī are traditionally visualized as having a white light body. 

The image of the Guru is being assimilated to these deities’ archetypes.  

By invoking the primordial Guru principle, you are invoking the one Guru who is the transmission of awakened awareness through any and all lineages. 

If you have a mantra transmission you can imagine the mantra in letters of fire rotating around the Guru seated in the lotus in the heart. It’s a complex visualization that gives the mind enough to do so that you can’t think too much. 

You have the lotus of the heart, the stoke goes down into the belly, the image of the white Guru figure seated on a throne in the heart (on the pericarp) of heart lotus, then you take your initiation mantra (if you have one) and imagine it in letters of fire rotating around the throne. You can imagine a consort or not. It’s a way to say this is a tantrik Guru and not a renunciate. 

 Verse 93

आनन्दमानन्दकरं प्रसन्नं ज्ञानस्वरूपं निजबोधयुक्तम्।
योगीन्द्रमीड्यं भवरोगवैद्यं श्रीमद्गुरुं नित्यमहं नमामि॥९३॥

Ānandamānandakaraṁ prasannaṁ jñānasvarūpaṁ nijabodhayuktam|
Yogīndramīḍyaṁ bhavarogavaidyaṁ śrīmadguruṁ nityamahaṁ namāmi||93||

I bow / venerate that eternal blessed Guru principle which is bliss / the power of bliss, and it makes bliss. 
It is peaceful and clear, it has insight as its essence, 
and it is inseparable from one’s very own Awareness at the deepest level. 
It’s the praiseworthy best of yogis, and it’s the doctor for the disease of worldliness / of saṁsāra. 

Out of a Śrī Vidyā text. Verses 87 and 88 preface this part of the text. 

‘It makes bliss’ means that bliss generates more bliss. 

The Guru is joined with his / her own awareness, but we have read verses where Guru is the archetype so it makes more sense that it’s inseparable with your own awareness. 

Verse 94

यस्मिन्सृष्टिस्थितिध्वंसनिग्रहानुग्रहात्मकम्।
कृत्यं पञ्चविधं शश्वद्भासते तं नमाम्यहम्॥९४॥

Yasminsṛṣṭisthitidhvaṁsanigrahānugrahātmakam|
Kṛtyaṁ pañcavidhaṁ śaśvadbhāsate taṁ namāmyaham||94||

I bow to that one (the Guru) who eternally shines as the 5 acts, 
which consist of creation, stasis, dissolution, concealment and grace.

This verse is the verse 1 of the Subhagodaya (The Arising of Great Blessing) by Śivānanda (c. 1250) – it shows that the Guru Gītā is indebted to  thoroughly Sanskrit sources. The A-KA-THA also is contained in the Subhagodaya. Śivānanda was a Mahā-Guru of the Śrī Vidyā lineage. The invocation verse of the Subhagodaya is here as verse 94. Also very close to the start of The Recognition Sūtras. 

The original verse has been edited to fit the Guru Gītā better, from ‘we praise that Śiva’ to ‘I praise him’ meaning the Guru. 

See the translation of the Subhagodaya.   

Verse 95 

प्रातः शिरसि शुक्लाब्जे द्विनेत्रं द्विभुजं गुरुम्।
वराभययुतं शान्तं स्मरेत्तं नामपूर्वकम्॥९५॥

Prātaḥ śirasi śuklābje dvinetraṁ dvibhujaṁ gurum|
Varābhayayutaṁ śāntaṁ smarettaṁ nāmapūrvakam||95||

In the morning, before repeating the divine name, one should remember / visualize the Guru 
in a white lotus on top of one’s head, having two eyes and two arms, 
and holding these two mudrās, and who is looking peaceful. 

Verse 2 of the Subhagodaya.

References:

The Mahārtha-Mañjarī
Subhagodaya and Subhagodayavāsanā

Terms:

dhyāna-śloka – visualization verses, describing how to visualize a deity
paddhati – a practice manual