Parviscient guru paramparA

Source: TW

The most important and also difficult insights to internalize are:

  1. A Guru or Ācārya doesn’t have to be omniscient to impart potent metaphysical truths.

  2. He can, in fact, be wrong about historical or other factual issues and yet be able to impart spiritual statements which are potent and can lead one to an obtainable Ādhyātmika end.

  3. There is also no connection between a Guru’s mantrasiddhi and his accuracy in both laukika and atilaukika matters. A guru can have animādi siddhis and still be parviscient.

  4. What enables a Guruparampara to transmit metaphysical truths in an unbroken and intact manner, preserving their spiritual potency for their respective seekers, is Śiva’s/Īśvara’s anugraha. You can have a line of parviscient teachers who flawlessly preserve a certain doctrine and yet can be dead wrong about history of their institution or even basic empirical facts, etc— because it’s Śiva’s limitless grace that endows this transmission with potency, provided that they adhere to the vidhis applicable to them without breakage—brahmacarya, ācāra, śīla (conduct), etc.

  5. Likewise, an institution can have ignoble, confused, controversial or even usurpative origins & yet produce great Gurus/Siddhas, who are able to impart potent teachings and lead their followers to appropriate ends, even from the beyond— This is because it is Śiva who graces this to happen at the right time, allowing the proliferation of Siddhas from a particular guruparampara, no matter their imperfections or defects, with consideration to what certain souls need at that time.

May Śiva bless all of us with Gurubhakti that is subservient to Īśvara/Śāstra bhakti and ever subordinate to the desire for truth (satyakāma) on this Guruvāra.

Hara Hara

Most of the endless arguments and resulting destruction of peace of mind arise from conflating things when there is no reason to do so.

A Guru’s Siddhis/miracles, his knowledge of history/empirical matters, his knowledge of metaphysical matters—these are all unrelated.

Truth first

May Paramaśiva grant us Vajrahṛdaya to be objective and ever devoted to the pursuit of truth and above all, Ādhyātmika-Pauruṣam, spiritual manliness that will help us discriminate between truth & falsehood ruthlessly and will help us avoid conflating those which should not be conflated.

A bhogī who has little discipline & doesn’t pretend to be perfect or enlightened but is resolutely committed to the pursuit of truth in every moment of his life, even if that pursuit may lead to undermine him & his ancestors—That man is vastly superior to a Yogī or Sannyāsī who has renounced worldly desires & may do 20 hours of grueling Sādhana or Pūjā daily but cannot bring himself to pursue truth at the expense of his institution’s or tradition’s anachronistic claims.+++(5)+++

The latter purports to be a renunciant but is deeply attached to the glory of his institution & Gurus.

He asks people to look inward at the Ātmā but when it comes to his Guru, Paramaguru, etc, he is inordinately attached to everything about them that is Anātmā (their words, claims, etc). Unfortunately, most Gurus in such lofty offices have not had the strength to pass this adamantine commitment to truth and objectivity (spiritual manliness/Ādhyātmika-Pumșțvam) to their successors.

“We are not omniscient. We are only qualified to pass to you the teachings we received on otherworldly matters and doctrines that we inherited from our Gurus. You should always be committed to the pursuit of truth, even if it diminishes the glory of this institution”.