Sadhana Sangama Trust

BASKING IN THE WARMTH OF GURU

Mahamahopadhyay Dr R Satyanarayana, Padmashri Awardee, Mysuru Gurugalu

Sitting at his feet and looking up to his benevolent face like a small child looking at its mother, tears of gratitude and love would stream from my eyes. The silent shower of blessings bestowed by him through that kind loving gaze, would invariably  bring to mind Basaveshwara’s vachana ‘Neenolidare koraDu konaruvudayya…’,in Kannada, meaning, ‘with the Lord’s blessings, even a log would sprout shoots’.

Yes, I will miss his physical presence – the familiar sight of that cherished figure sitting in his rotating chair and reading or writing at his table by the side of the window, will no longer be seen. Yet, I know he is with us. Just thinking of him makes me feel his presence.

Guruji Pattabhiram, our first Guru, to whom we are ever indebted, was instrumental in connecting us – my husband Suri and me, with Gurugalu. We were hugely in awe of Gurugalu. To our worldly eyes, Mahamahopadhyaya Dr. R. Satyanarayana was an imposing and erudite scholar, a towering personality in the field of music and dance and author of an immense number of books (and so much more that our limited minds are even to this day unable to describe his greatness). We also knew him as the Srividya Guru of Guruji and Jyothima. Escorting Gurugalu to Sadhana Sangama programmes gave us opportunities for frequent interactions with him.

Gurugalu called us up one day in the year 2006 and said he would initiate us both into Srividya. To us who were just dimly aware of Srividya as an esoteric practice and supposed that it was taught only to a few chosen, exceptional sadhakas (like Guruji and Jyothima), Gurugalu’s call came as a pleasant shock! He was going to initiate us – two ignoramuses!  Thus, we were initiated in the Srividyaranya tradition of Srividya and he took us into his fold – for life.

A stern taskmaster, his words were gentle, but in effect, a whip lash of sorts for a lazy student. His compassion though, was overwhelming. He made us understand that initiation into the tradition meant installing the Guru tattva within a disciple; that an entire lineage of Gurus would watch over; that MIRACLE is nothing but knowing and being aware at all times that the Guru is within you; that Guru takes care of the disciple in totality; that this vidya bestowed a sadhaka with bhoga and moksha both; that commitment and sincerity alone is important for sadhana  – one can sit in the confines of one’s home and do sadhana without seeking or needing to go to far off holy places.

He blessed us with experiences to show what it feels to transcend the mind. His explanation of Srividya was simple. He would say, when one performs any task with total awareness and unwavering one-pointed  focus, it is Srividya – and whoever could bring such focus in whatever he does is indeed a Srividya upasaka!

In the mundane world, he taught us how to maintain healthy relationships with different circles of people in our life. He also shared how we need to skilfully keep shifting people between our inner and outer circles so that conflict in the external world can be avoided. He also said ‘don’t compete with the world, compete only with yourself’. He took care of us at all levels, seeing us through many personal crises, both in the external world and internal.

As an individual, he was humility personified. ‘I am too small’ he would say! He was the perfect host and saw to it that we (or anyone, who came to see him) were comforted with a refreshing cup of aromatic coffee during our visits to his home in Mysuru. He had a fine sense of humour too, and would have us in splits during the course of conversations with him.

Gurugalu led his life in non-attachment. Not that he was not affected by emotions; we saw him grieving like anyone else during sorrowful events in his life, but we also saw how he could drop the emotion totally at will and continue with life anew. When he was conferred the Padmashri award, all disciples were overjoyed and were celebrating the proud moment. Congratulating him we said ‘Gurugale, we are so happy, we feel as if we have ourselves received the award!’. To this, he said, with the characteristic twinkle in his eye, ‘Is it so? Does the award interest you so much? Then you may keep it… I shall be glad to give it to you’. A Guru always, he taught by example.

Towards the end, Jyothima and a few of us were blessed to have very frequent interactions with him. Though the physical body was ravaged by illness and old age, the Guru in him was spot on. Through the years we could see him turning into total divinity. He was nothing but pure compassion. He was none other than the effulgent Mother Divine herself, full of love, full of light, the grace flowing through her, encompassing and soaking the disciple.

He communicated through single words or short, heavily coded sentences, but made sure that we understood the messages of the sages (through Jyothima at times, for she has totally identified herself with the Guru in him). In those final months before his departure, Gurugalu worked on us silently, bestowing bountiful blessings and assigned a task to each of us for life. Every word he uttered became a mantra, to be followed in toto.

As for me, he made me realize that devoting oneself to the service of the Guru is the true objective of one’s life. He holds my hand firmly while I take my baby steps.

Basking in the warmth of the Guru’s infinite Grace, the log has started sprouting.

May we all be blessed by the Guru Parampara.

Smt. Nandini Suryanarayana

7 responses to “BASKING IN THE WARMTH OF GURU”

  1. Shilpa Karanth says:

    After reading the article, i just feel like bowing to the guru lineage. I am too small to comment on this but just feel so gratitude towards the parampara.
    Jai Gurudeva 🙏

  2. ASHOK BHATT says:

    Thanks Nandiniji for transporting many of us to Mysuru, sitting at the feet of Gurugalu.
    You have shared your inner thoughts which have motivated me (i am sure many others too) to contemplate on few important mentions in the blog
    1)With Divine blessings even a log would sprout shoots .What a blessing in the form of words ..so energizing .Guru is always very compassionate one .It is our duty to keep working on the deservedness for such a blessing
    2)MIRACLE is nothing but knowing and being aware at all times that the Guru is within you; that Guru takes care of the disciple in totality. What a definition of Miracle. Being a disciple to a great Guru is the biggest blessing one can have during this life
    3)don’t compete with the world, compete only with yourself’.What a profound statement from the Gurugalu.We have to work on ourselves every moment and see to it that we are better than the one we were the previous day .
    Nandini ji i am also contemplatingly basking in the warmth of your ,thoughts on our great master .Thanks for sharing

    ध्यानमूलं गुरुर्मूर्तिः
    पूजामूलं गुरुर्पदम् ।
    मन्त्रमूलं गुरुर्वाक्यं
    मोक्षमूलं गुरूर्कृपा ॥

  3. Savitha says:

    I just adore the title given by Nandhini, basking in the warmth of
    guru- his unconditional love, peacefulness in his presence, motherly love in his eyes, still something transcendental which can not be hold on to words ……. his memories are most cherishing moments of life! Basking the warmth again and again…..

    I am feeling so connected with him but trying hard could not able to write anything.

    Thank you Nandhini for the wonderful writeup…

  4. Shwetal says:

    A very beautiful article about the Guru and the Guru -shishya relationship. Very well written. Though I did not have the fortune of meeting him, I could feel Gurugalu’s presence through your words.
    Vande Guru Parampara.

  5. Meena Pandey says:

    Wonderful article Nandini ji.

    Yes, my morning too became vibrant with love n affection of Gurugalu, as I am reading this article, as if I am sitting in front of Gurugalu in Mysuru, and it’s raining here, as it always rained in Mysuru, whenever I visited Him, reminding me the feel of Mysuru, Gurugalu’s abode.

    Very truely you have described about him, exactly whatever I saw and felt during my short period of interaction of about two and a half years, with Him. But I feel, this period is so short for this life only, actually the connection may be from previous lives. He is truely Mother Divine, full of compassion and love, who takes care of his disciples in every aspect. No words to express gratitude towards his love and compassion and the Vidya, he blessed upon to many of us.

    My humble pranams at the lotus feet of Sri Gurugalu. And to Guruma Jyothi Pattabhiram ji also, who only put me on to the lap of Sri Gurugalu.

    Thank you Nandini ji for this well penned article.

  6. Rama Swaminathan says:

    For a while I felt it was me in ur place and I felt the vibes of Gurugalu’s presence in my heart.Thank u fr this wonderful article.each line walks us thru to our Gurugalu.

    . I’m too feeling blessed.
    🙏🙏

  7. N Narayanan says:

    Madam,

    What a great start !!

    I’m too small to comment on this. But I can tell you that I was not reading your article but was transported to the world of Gurugalu and was literally living the article as I was going through it. Such is the power and personality of Gurugalu. It got enhanced with your Bhava and its expression.

    Feeling blessed and thank you for the same.

    Narayanan

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