*GURU PURNIMA CELEBRATIONS – MESSAGE FROM GURUDEV*

 *GURU PURNIMA CELEBRATIONS – MESSAGE FROM GURUDEV*

July 13, 2022 – AOL Retreat Center, Boone, North Carolina

Jai Gurudev

Hmm?

Guru Purnima is the New Year celebration for a seeker

That’s the time for report card

[laughter]

How you have done in one year, how much you have grown, how much you have moved, and how much you have stabilized.

Three levels of undersetanding are there.

First is through the words.

You learn through words.

When you come to Guru, it’s the word - shabad. Words

And then the next level from words is – you don’t hang on to the words so much; you learn from just the feeling.

You know.

You don’t hang on to the words, but you look beyond the words, the meaning, or the feeling there.

And then the third level is – you transcend the feeling also.

Feeling also is – feeling, meaning they all change.

Then that is through silence, where you don’t have to say anything; in silence you get everything.

[applause]

That’s it.

No doubt Guru gives you comfort.

But you must understand, guru is “sarva dhee saakshi bhootam”.

We say, “sarva”

That means what

Guru is witness to all type of intellect, all type of mind, all type of thoughts.

Good, bad, right, wrong.

Not involved in anything, if you are a witness.

And that is it. That’s it.

You are a witness to all type of things.

See because pleasant experiences have made you grow.

So also the unpleasant experience.

It is the wrong that makes the right right.

If there is no wrong, there can be no right.

So in life there is ups and down.

And every up has brought celebration.

The down had made you deep and wise.

So Guru Tattva is a witness for all that.

Guru is a witness.

Sarva dhee saakshi bhootam

Bhaava teetham - beyond the feelings

Yet it embracess all the gunas, three gunas – sattva, rajas, tamas.

Everything is part.

That is what the Guru’s secret is – secret.

So through words and beyond the words

[eyes closed, gestures, silence]

No words

Silence

And witness to all

Hmm?

See, there is no escape in life.

Don’t think knowlege is a way to escape from life [shakes finger]

Knowledge is – be in it, and being a witness to everything

And above that, staying afloat

[Shakes head, gestures with hands]

[Applause]

From thinking mind to feeling, where you move from question to gratitude

And that gratitude leads you into blissful silence

And we can go on some bhajans now

[pauses for a few seconds]

Know all is done for you, all will be done.

So go with that – everything is taken care.