Written Messages

Jenny’s house in Desio/Monza

Italy, 10 Dec. 2015

About 20 years ago, an erudite chartered accountant came to see Shibendu Lahiri when he visited Chennai at the invitation of devotees. He was just curious to meet a “Guru from Varanasi”. He introduced himself as a disciple of a wonderful local Guru, who was connected with him from his past life! He then narrated his story:  

“I was a very lucky person to have my Guru as he was very special. I still remember, when I first met him, how he gave me a half rupee coin and said, ‘We met in the past life! You were a rickshaw puller in Varanasi and once, after I visited the Vishwanath Temple, I hired you to take me to the place where I was staying. After reaching, I walked in without paying you. A normal rickshaw puller would have got very angry, but you did nothing of the sort.  You just waited for some time and then went away. You had suffered because of the income lost, but your meritorious behavior in your past life has made you to be so successful in this life! I have been waiting for you and when I saw you coming, I remembered my debt and have now repaid it.’”

As Shibendu Lahiri said nothing, the chartered accountant continued his story: “I was very surprised to hear what my Guru said and asked him, ‘Is it true that powerful Gurus attract lucky disciples to bless them for welfare & prosperity?’”

‘Of course, they do!’ my Guru responded.”

Shibendu Lahiri remained silent, for what was there to say? Though highly educated, the chartered accountant had remained in the stranglehold of his heavy conditioning. Unfortunately, an uneducated stupid becomes just an educated one. The stupidity continues unabated! He did not have the energy of understanding to see the deceiving game that his mind and the mind of his Guru were playing. The Guru was exploiting the cravings of the disciple’s mind for solace and security provided by the theory of reincarnation.  Life is all pervading eternal, existential & vital virtue. It is never born, It never dies, It is thus not interested in any past or future Life! It is the conspiracy of “I”, the ego, which gives itself continuity and a complicated permanency through stories and surmises. The ego of the chartered accountant was gratified by the privilege of becoming the disciple of such a ‘very special’ Guru. 

***

Twenty years later during the week of Lahiri Mahasaya Day celebrations in October 2015, Shibendu Lahiri was out for his afternoon walk with a group of devotees in Varanasi.  Among them, a young chartered accountant, who was not yet initiated but who had come to hear the pre-initiation talk, asked the following question:

“I heard that Gurus have the power to attract Shishyas (disciples) to them.  Is this true?”

Shibendu Lahiri responded spontaneously:

“There are three ‘D’s - Destiny, Death and Divinity which are neither known nor unknown because they are un-knowable. Speculating on these, is a self-centered activity of the mind-ego structure. Power is profane and the guru who talks about it is not a Satguru because he only spreads pollution in the name of Divinity. The shoddy little mind can never touch the Otherness and any speculation thereabout desecrates the sanctity of the Guru-process. Why do you need the gratification of the thought that “This Guru has attracted ‘Me’; ‘Me’ - the great chartered accountant!”? Something very special has brought us together! Let us be available to the dimension of trust where the Guru-process and Disciple-process share the Energy of Understanding and where there is only flowering together without any following. In the technical world, this following is required to learn a new job; for example a junior doctor must follow a senior doctor to acquire the necessary knowledge. However, in the inner world there is no following, only flowering; there is no belief, only trust. Belief belongs to mind, while trust belongs to ‘No-mind’, to Life, to Truth!”

“This is so beautiful!” uttered the Disciple-process which was dawning in the body of this young chartered accountant of Varanasi.

Jai Energy of Understanding