The first paragraph of the “Autobiography
of a Yogi” reads as follows:
“The
characteristic features of Indian culture have long been a search for ultimate
verities and the concomitant disciple-guru relationship. My own path led me to
a Christlike sage whose beautiful life was chiseled for the ages. He was one of
the great masters who are India’s sole remaining wealth. Emerging in every
generation, they have bulwarked their land against the fate of Babylon and
Egypt.”
When was the last time you – in a
casual conversation – used the word “concomitant?” I assume you know its
meaning as “that which necessarily follows.” Being rarely employed, it must have, therefore, a special power.
When the first translations of the
Indian scriptures such as the Vedas, Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita arrived
at America’s shores in the early 19th century, sensitive readers
were profoundly stirred by the cosmic verities averred in those great and
impossibly ancient texts. So large was the view of reality offered that the
term “religion” was simply too small. Though the word “philosophy” was pinned
to these eastern thoughts long ago in the English language, it is far too speculative and dry a description of what is essentially
revelation from higher states of consciousness.
So whence cometh the “concomitant”
disciple-guru relationship? I’m not sure this relationship was all that “concomitant”
to those early readers nor yet to those millions of westeners who have studied
these texts ever since.
We are used to scientific truths which
have no “concomitant,” relationship to our
personal lives. Well, ok, gravity
definitely is personal every time we fall down or drop something that breaks. But
it is so whether or not we have a personal relationship with it beyond its unconscious impact upon us. Our dry, abstract, philosophical and speculative use of reason is such that we are accustomed to precepts having no impact or motivation in our personal lives.
Paramhansa Yogananda’s assertion,
therefore, that the disciple-guru relationship is concomitant to the search for
those ultimate verities is worth, then, examining.
I once heard Swami Kriyananda (see his
marvelous text, “Promise of Immortality”) comment that a true scripture must
indeed link the eternal verities with our own personal realities. He cites the
example of the Bible, Genesis, Chapters 1 and 2. Chapter One describes the
creation of the world and Chapter Two descends quickly to Adam and Eve. It
doesn’t get more personal: I mean, gee whiz, a snake that talks and a man and woman, naked, walking around a garden paradise!
This, then, is what Yogananda is
pointing to: that a truth, though stated impersonally and abstractly, must inspire personal expression and commitment in our own lives. And what could be more personal than
to have a divine personage, a true guru, guiding one’s life? What is "revelation" if it is not intended to change one's life? The revelation needs appear to one fit to receive it; and fit to transmit it. This is the power of a true guru. The history of religion is the history of the spiritual power of true masters and many saints in each tradition.
Few of our six or seven billion people
will ever meet a God-realized master. But millions, even billions, can take
heart in the life, example, and precepts of such masters as Jesus Christ, Buddha, Krishna,
Yogananda, just to name a few. The appearance of a true "savior" is, statistically at least, rare in the personal lives of most humans. Rare, in part, because most people are indifferent to, or, ignorant of, the possibility. Were there more "eyes to see" and "ears to hear" there would surely be avatars to go around. Nonetheless, their legacy, life and teachings abound for sincere truth seekers. It may take a few lifetimes before an individual's consciousness is refined sufficiently to magnetize such a one into his life.
In the latter part of the quotation
above (which constitutes the first paragraph of the entire “Autobiography of a
Yogi”), he makes two interesting comments. One, somewhat mundane, is that he
describes the masters as India’s “sole remaining wealth.” This is, so far as I
can determine, a barb at the English masters who had ruled India for several centuries.
It is well known that at one time prior to conquest by England India was among the wealthiest nations of the
earth.
More importantly is the link he
establishes in the last sentence between India’s status as the world’s longest,
continuously living culture in the world and the presence of great masters in
every generation. Reminiscent of Genesis’ story of the destruction of Sodom and
Gomorrah in which not even ten good (righteous) men could be found, we see here
averred the fate of nations linked with a people's support of truth-seeking as that which produces the conditions for the appearance of a prophet.
The second president of India, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, commented
to Swami Kriyananda that “a nation can be known by those whom it admires.”
Swamiji noted that in America it is mostly Hollywood celebrities, pop
musicians, and sports figures who are the most admired. What does that tell us?
Even if, as in the case of India, a nation by its own
laxity it loses its material wealth for a time, its culture will continue if “ultimate
verities and the concomitant disciple-guru relationship” remain treasured by her people.
When we wonder why we lack inspired and courageous leaders in our country (your country.....any country... today), look no further than those whom your countrymen admire.
Summarizing, then, we can state that "truth must be lived; it must become personal." The highest form of this is found in the lives of true saints but for these even to appear among us, they must be cultured like pearls by the aspirations of at least a recognizable and accepted minority.
Finishing now with this excerpt from the inspired Sunday Service ceremony at Ananda (written by Swami Kriyananda), called the Festival of Light:
A
prayer of love went up from earth, and You responded.
A
ray of Your light flashed out from the heart of Infinity,
Burst
downward through night skies of consciousness,
And
was born on earth for the redemption of mankind
In
human form.
Many
times has that light descended,
Drawn
to earth by the call of aspiring love.
Your
“chosen people” have always been those of every race and nation
Who,
with deep love, chose Thee.
May the "Autobiography" be a light unto your life,
Swami Hrimananda
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