Why should we worship Guru as God? And How should that worship be? This is beautifully explained by the Master Himself, Swami Chinmayananda. Let us read and be ever grateful to Him.

Guru and God

The teacher is none other than the Supreme, who manifested Himself to bless the struggling aspirant, in the divine form of Sri Dakshinamurti – the form of the supreme and compassionate Lord Siva.

Even today, it is an unwritten tradition in the Himalayas that all the Mahatmas there, during the time of brahma-muhurta (just before dawn), meditate facing the south, and all the seekers in the country are expected to meditate at the same auspicious hour, sitting down facing the north, towards the Himalayas.

Thus, by this suggestion, the Teacher and the Lord are considered as one. The Guru is the manifest symbol of the primordial truth. To Him, our prostrations, Salutations to that Guru, who is ever pure and ever calm, the embodiment of pure Knowledge and the indicative meaning of “Om”, the Supreme.

Guru Puja

Devotees are not to mistake the container for the contained, the body for the self – Narayana. This mistake is ignorance. But as a technique of developing power Atma Drishti, we can take, and most of us must, in the early stages, an Alambanam (support) for our concentration and steady Vicara (reflection), a form suggestive of the divine, the internal. Maybe a Guru can be an Istam (the favourite deity). Either see the Guru in the Istam or the Istam in the Guru: the former is safe, the latter somewhat dangerous. 

The real Istam in the Guru is the self of the Guru – the sparkle of joy in his eyes, the aura of cheer around him, the scent of purity that he spreads in his life. This has nothing to do with the form, the word, the shape and the dress of the Guru.

If this is understood, and Guru Puja is undertaken by any devotee with real devotion and true faith, the Guru can certainly serve as a more efficient Alambanam than even the best representations of the Istam. Afterall, the Guru lies, moves, notes and explains. His language is known to us. This Guru Puja can be taken up if correctly understood.

Significance of Guru’s Feet

In Indian tradition, a lot of importance is given to the expression of respect and reverence at the Feet of the Lord, and again at the feet of those we love and respect; “touching the feet” of the elders is very common. The Teacher stands rooted in the Truth. Since the student cannot directly reach this subtle and transcendental Reality, the best he can do is worship the Truth upon a symbol nearest to it, the Teacher’s Feet, upon which he stands, just as he stands rooted in the Truth. Sri Rama’s Feet are the object of contemplation for every devoted seeker in his seat of meditation.

Time is the medium in which the world of plurality comes to play. The equipment of experience, the body-mind-intellect; our fields of experience, objects-emotions-thoughts; and even the very experiencer, the perceiver-feeler-thinker – all exist and function in time. Time is ever-changing and therefore everything in time must also constantly change. Caught up as we are in the present state of consciousness, we can exist and function only in the realm of time in the world of change. Nothing is permanent; every experience is ephemeral. Thus, as individual selves, we are tossed about mercilessly in this endless tide of time. To establish ourselves in contemplation upon the Lord’s Feet is to enter into a harbour safely away from the tyranny of time. 

Reference: Chinmaya Lahari – Tapovan Prasad