Thread by @AhammBrahmaasmi

🧵Mysore Maharaja on the role of 'Guru' in one's life & their Guru Bhakti towards Sringeri Guru Parampara.
(Heartening to read that our ErstwhileRulers set aside their time for #AtmaVidya inspite of having umpteen things to do,while we mere mortals forever appear to be busy!)
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H. H. Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar Bahadur
(The below was written when HH was the Governor Of Madras)
I remember that while I was yet a novice in spiritual learning, I read #Sureswaracharya's "Manasollasa", the commentary on the #Dakshinamurti Stotra, and what impressed me was

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a quotation found in it, which is contained in the Swetaswatara Upanishad :
यस्य देवे परा भक्तिः यथा..
This sloka has had a salutary effect on me so much that it has remained ever fresh in my mind. Its significance is that they who have as much reverence for the Guru as

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for God, they attain the greatest good and they are the real Mahatmas. The scriptures say that the Guru is one who removes the darkness of ignorance in the Sishya and bestows illumination.
गुशब्दस्त्वन्धकारः स्यात् ..
This is the very essence of the Vedas. It is the Guru

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who illumines the mind and acts as a proper guide. In this age of spiritual bankruptcy in which we live, it is such Mahatmas who alone guide the destinies of mankind, and show the way to salvation. The Guru takes us from the clutches of ignorance or "Avidya", interprets the

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many problems of life, and teaches us what is real and what is not. From times eternal, man has identified himself with his body and is ignorant of his real self. With his attachment to the body, he experiences untold miseries in the chain of births and deaths which is a

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continuous process. To be liberated and to cross the ocean of Samsara, the Guru has to be relied upon. He alone can dispel this Avidya, which acts as a deterrent in the path of the realisation of the Self. One has to meditate on the teachings of the Guru, and to cultivate

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the power to differentiate what is unreal from the real Self. Thus, the Guru guides him to search within himself leaving out all external objects which are unreal and realise the Atman in him, which is a part of the Supreme Brahman.
With this realisation, the Guru inculcates

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the Truth of "Tat Tvam Asi", wherein is the quintessence of all the Upanishads-that the Atma in us, is Brahman. This final realisation can come only through the grace of the Guru. In this, we have to win a struggle.The Guru will set us right. He is the physician who imparts

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the great truths, like sugar-coated pills. This भिषक् cures the maladies of ignorance & gives us the health of salvation.
I am what I am today because of the blessings of my Guru. It is fortunate that since I became the #Governor of this great State, my Guru also has been

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touring in this State, and this has enabled me to have his Darshan on several occasions. In the history of the Mysore Kingdom, my ancestors have all been Sishyas of the Sri Sringeri Math and have received the Blessings of the subsequent #Jagadguru #Shankaracharyas.
#sanatandharma