GURUS

Guru

In the word गुरु Guru, the sound गु Gu echoes the darkness of a cave in which we find ourselves, and the word रु Ru means to get rid of, and indeed these Gurus have helped us immensely in getting rid of the darkness in our lives.

Guru also indicates that which is heavy, and another name for Jupiter, the most massive planet, and thus in this case the Guru means dense with knowledge.

Rishis

These Rishis have crafted such enduring stories in lyrically expressive form that even the stars in the night sky are named after them, for in as much the latter guide adventurers to navigate their journey on the Earth's surface (and now in outer space too), the former as human Gurus help us to navigate our own life journeys by shining a light on our inner space.

We present here a select few Rishis from this pantheon of past masters who have shown us the light in our treasure hunt through Life.

Vedic Rishis

These are the original Seers of the nature of the Universe and humanity’s place in it, whose deep explorations into the uncharted territory of the Mind gave us the world’s oldest recorded literature of the Veda and the illuminating commentary known as the Vedānta Upanishads.

The greatest of these Rishis are those whom we call the Maha-Rishis.

Maharishi Pānini

The Sanskrit grammarian after whom is named the Pānini-Backus-Naur form of computer science grammars for being the first in recorded history, from millennia ago, to formalize a linguistic grammar capable of generating well-formed words and linguistic phrases in the manner of today’s intelligent machines, which wisdom has guided all subsequent linguists of any stripe across human evolution.

Maharishi Patanjali

The master of the Mind Sciences of Yoga, also from millennia ago, who documented precisely the processes of the Mind and how to transcend its limiting concepts, develop psychic powers without getting psyched up about it (for these are mere side-effects of the practice), and attain enlightenment bereft of mental conditioning with perfect clarity of vision of the world around us, and consequently become a living embodiment of the Universe itself!

Maharishi Vālmiki

The first earthly scribe and poet of the Rāmāyana which is probably the most widely read and living epic of mankind, who wrote in lyrical and precise Sanskrit a grand tale of a human’s journey through life and, most importantly in our context, many techniques of Yoga that have been cleverly coded in plain sight which we have surfaced in this book.

Recent exemplars

J Krishnamurthy

JK through his guided meditation talks, which most view naively as mere monologues of evidently a very intelligent man, showed us with unshaken determination how to observe the fragments of our Mind that have been created through the movement of Thought, and in that complete & total attention have these fragments be put into their place so that a natural order spontaneously emerges, like a jigsaw puzzle that self-assembles with no effort at all. 

As a profound poet & raconteur JK’s writings had a lyrical quality to them, and he was also pointedly ruthless in his observations 

JK at a young age was transported across the oceans by the Theosophists for an English upbringing, so uprooted from his Indian roots he could not benefit from a pre-existing Yogic/Vedāntic Cosmology to frame his insights to present his teachings - yet despite that he figured out how the Mind precisely works is a remarkable feat.

Dr. David Bohm

The unassuming (personally & scientifically), charming, genius physicist that contributed to the fundamentals of quantum Physics and had many insightful conversations with JK as well as promoted the art of dialog in groups to understand the nature of Thought as a System, and posited that the Universe, apart from being constituted of Matter & Energy, is also rooted in Meaning, in the sense that there is an intent by which this Universe unfolds so although objects and events may seem unrelated they are actually deeply connected in an implicate order beyond apparent causality of space-time. 

Bohm as a physical scientist was systematic & methodical yet he was unfailingly accommodating of his audience’s persistent questions.

Bohm in his dialogs with JK was thus able to bring a scientific formalism with which to systematically probe and detail JK’s genius.

Extending JK & Bohm

In both cases though, their approach was not so much to teach as much as it was a joint exploration with their audience of the nebulous & pernicious behavioral patterns of the Human Mind. 

Attempting to compress and teach their monumental work in a few scant pages may seem outlandish but we have the benefit of weaving their knowledge into a larger systematic framework of Yoga Mind Science that helps us to contextualize their wisdom with some ease.

One major place we have extended beyond JK & Bohm is the observation that not all Thought is fragmented.

There is a different type of Thought, one aligned and integrated in Wholeness, that springs from Sanskrit, Veda, Vedānta, and Yoga, which enables expansion of human potential to its maximum, also reflected in the aspirational tone of this book.

Lineage

Swāmi Desikan

One notable Āchārya in our lineage is the genius Swāmi Desikan who rigorously re-established Rāmanujāchārya's Vishishta Advaita Vedānta as the most humane approach to inclusivity, the perfect vision of the Universe as a Conscious Being. This lineage stretches all the way to नाथमुनि Nāthamūni and his once-hidden secrets of Yoga-Rahasya.

Tirumalai Krishnamāchārya

A recent grand master who stands out in the pantheon of Yoga is Tirumalai Krishnamāchārya who combines the best practices of Hatha Yoga and Sri-Vaishnava tradition, equivalent to Shakti-Shiva practices, by merging Rādhe-Krishna Bhakti.

He would breathe in Radha and breathe out Krishna in each sequence, and if at times he was distracted from this, he would repeat the entire sequence mindfully.

Thus, Sri Aurobindo

The title paraphrases the first sutra of Patanjali.

Without any prior exposure to SriA's writings, yet every aspect of this site maps well to SriA's revelations, as in these examples:

Speaking of dreams, SriA presented himself veiled in Nidra, with pointed advice to practice pratyāhāra, watching what energies one consumes.

He needed only 100 students it is said. We need only 1 Guru. Which is easier to find ? Maybe they are the same, if we are all but reflections ?

The Mother's Auroville beckons too, albeit faintly for now, for it surely holds promise as the seed community for all humanity. Given its bounty of myriad experiences though, pratyāhāra is essential, drawing the Indriyas inwards.