By Yogi Ashwini

There is pyramidal structure to creation. Your position in the pyramid is determined by your desire.

Every being is born with a specific desire and matching to that desire finds a Guru. As one holds the hand of the Guru, he/she moves to that level of the pyramid and the desire manifests. The problem begins after, as then, usually the person gets caught in the desire and is unable to move further. So he/she slips, and begins the downwards journey.

The problem of kalyug is that our desires are embedded into the physical, physical is what the majority understands, so even when one sets on a search for Guru, he/she measures him on physical yardsticks – how big is his ashram, how many factories does he own, etc. Beyond that, one is unable to comprehend, missing out on the essence of what the Guru is. In present times one would give more respect to a Math’s teacher than a Guru, for the thought pattern is – ‘At least he will teach me something which I can use”. What the Guru has to offer, hardly anyone can comprehend or has the desire to receive.

Its ok to be embedded in the physical because for majority that is the starting point, but if you have found a guru and are walking his path and over a period of time your desires are still as they were, then you need to think, whether you are wrong or you are in the wrong place.

Long back, a Babaji had come to meet me from Gyanganj (it’s a village enroute Kailash Mansarovar, where many yogis dwell, and who are apparently taken care of by the Chinese government). He was in Delhi for treatment of cancer which was yet to manifest in his body, but which had been intimated to him by his Guru. He told me, that in the forests of Madhya Pradesh, there is a lake of crocodiles where a Mata ji does her sadhna. She is among the few, who in present age has some state in yoga. She lives with the crocodiles who do her no harm, such is her sadhna. I told him, “Ok, then I will go to meet her.”

Babaji replied, “What will you achieve by meeting her? Her sadhna is her state of mind, the level you are at, you will not be able to understand it. It’s her sadhna, if you want to achieve it then just go and sit there. Anything short of that would amount to disturbing her and you will achieve nothing.”

Yoga is not about achieving more in the physical, it is the journey of leaving the physical and achieving sidhhis to go beyond. You need not leave immediately, but the desire to leave should be there in you, then as you walk the path automatically things will leave you and you will realise the ultimate.

Rahim in a couplet explains that bishop, a powerful piece in the game of chess, can never become the queen, he walks diagonally. Even though he kills a lot of powerful pieces, achieves a lot of physical feats, he cannot achieve the ultimate (which is the queen in game of chess). An ordinary pawn on the other hand, only walks straight and has capacity to achieve little in the physical, but if its focus is fixed on the last square, it becomes the queen. Similarly in life, if you have focus and desire for the last square, you too will achieve that. It is Guru and focus on desire for the Ultimate that will take you up the pyramid of evolution, else you will keep going in circles, achieving physical.

When you meet a Guru gradually desires change from lower to higher...As you move up the pyramid of spirituality, the accommodating power at every subsequent level reduces. So there are lesser and lesser number of people around. Like you find very few people in the upper reaches of Himalayas, only a few bodies can survive in that environment. A move up the pyramid is a move away from the base which symbolises physical desire and physical creation. So if you are looking for networking, building contacts, collecting assets, expansion of business, showing off your position in an organization etc, you are actually working on the reverse principle and moving towards the base of pyramid.

The present understanding of the term guru is rooted in the physical with innovative terms like ‘love guru’, ‘business guru’, ‘management guru’ etc becoming popular. Earlier there was just Guru. This is indicative of the wrong thought process and desire pattern of people. Even pilgrimages have turned into picnic spots in present times, where people go in the hope of fulfilling material aspirations. If your desires are rested in the physical, then you need not go to a Guru. Simple charity and service and following the laws of creation is enough to achieve physical desires. Guru is needed when you want to understand what lies beyond, and desire for siddhis of yoga to go out of the ambit of life and death.

The higher you are in the pyramid of spirituality, the greater is the impact of the fall and the more you hurt yourself. The fall takes you to lower dimensions and births, and you fall only if you lose focus and guru’s hand slips away from you. Kabir has said, Kabira Te Nar Andh Hai Jo Guru Kahate Aur. Hari Ruthe Guru Thor Hai Guru Ruthe Nahi Thor.

Gurus don’t ask you for wealth, so it is a risky proposition. When you go to them, you go for your evolution, not to fill their coffers. There has to be a reason to find a Guru, desire should be firm to achieve the ultimate and siddhis of yoga, not for physical gratification and pleasures, but for going beyond.

Guru Purnima is on July 8th. To become a part of Guru Purnima Celebrations at Dhyan Ashram with Yogi Ashwini ji, visit www.dhyanfoundation.com.