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Itna To Karana Guruji - Bhajan

A satsang discourse analyzing the devotional bhajan "Achal Ram" and its themes of longing for the Guru.

"Gurujī, I don't want to wait. I don't want you to come sometime. I want you to come quickly, now." "The real, deeper meaning of darśana is the inner appearance: that the Guru appears in our heart."

A devotee leads a session exploring the bhajan's "naughty" and demanding tone as a form of intense spiritual longing. He analyzes the lyrics line by line, explaining concepts like darśan, the purification of karma through practice and Guru's grace (Guru Kṛpā), and the transformative power of complete surrender. The talk concludes by connecting the bhajan's urgency to a direct plea for the Guru's presence.

Filming locations: To be determined.

O Gurujī, please do at least this much for me. O Merciful One, please do at least this much for me. Grant me your darśan quickly. Bhāraṁ jāme paṁsīyaṁ prabhu-vīga-sūdhi-leṇā. Tumhāre dārśane pāvaṃ, sapa-pāpa ko naśāvaṃ. Dilaku hamar bhavan, darshan jaldi dena. This bhajan is by Achal Ram. As far as I know, he was not from our Guru Paramparā but was a yogī from Jodhpur. I believe he was an engineer before becoming a yogī. I like this bhajan because it is a little bit naughty, a little bit demanding. When Swāmījī said we should speak about this bhajan, I immediately thought, "Why?" The point with Guru Vākya is always to see it in context. The context now is that we asked Swāmījī, "When will you come?" He mentioned certain reasons why, at the moment, he is not coming. But I guess two sides always count: the obstacles and, how to say, the call of the soul. Why is Swāmījī here at all as an avatāra? We know Swāmījī is an avatāra. Swāmījī himself said it clearly: "I am here because of the call of your soul." He is here for us. He is here to serve us. I think the present situation is a little bit of a test: How strong is our pull actually? By saying we should speak about this bhajan, I think he is encouraging us: "Do you really want me to come?" Let's look at the text. "Gurujī, itnaat karna." This means, "Gurujī, please do so much for me." "Darśan dena" means "please give me your darśan." So far, it's a very humble request. But there are two more words: "itnaat" and "jaldī." "Jaldī" means quickly. That means, "Gurujī, I don't want to wait. I don't want you to come sometime. I want you to come quickly, now." And this word "itnaat" in Hindi also has a special way of expressing something. It is like an implicit statement: "Okay, you don't want to do anything for me, but at least that much, please do." This is what I mean by this naughty approach. It's really a little bit like a naughty disciple saying, "Please don't let me wait. Come, I really need you, you know." Bhāraṁ jāme paṁsīyaṁ prabhu-vīga-sūdhi-leṇā. We are caught in the jāl—the net. And bhrama means doubts, confusion, ignorance. "O Lord, please bring the vega"—that means take care of me, please remember me, take care of me. And vega means quickly, swiftly. So it goes back to the word jaldī; it's a very similar meaning: "please, quickly." So, in the second part of the refrain, there is also a little bit of this really demanding attitude towards the Guru. Jasraj Purījī mentioned this a few days ago when we spoke about "Āp kī merī bārī"—"now it's my turn, please." It's like you have pain, and you sit at the dentist, and he is calling one after the other. Your pain is so strong you cannot wait anymore, and then you say, "Please, now is my turn. I need your help, quickly." So it's a demand for darśan, the presence of the Guru. We usually understand this when Swāmījī physically appears here; then we say we have Swāmījī's darśan. In India, the words darśan and satsaṅg are used quite interchangeably. So, when the saint is there and you come to the saint, they say you have satsaṅg with the saint or you have darśan with the saint. The difference is mainly that darśan means he might not even talk; it is just to be in the presence, to see him. But the main message of the saint, anyway, is not the words. It's the radiance, the energy—sometimes, directly, the energy transmission. There were saints who never talked; they kept mauna for many years, but they had disciples and were teaching them, like Meher Baba, who kept mauna for thirty years. But the real, deeper meaning of darśana is the inner appearance: that the Guru appears in our heart. This is what we have expressed in many bhajans when we say, "My heart is the temple, and you are the God; please come into my heart." The first verse describes this darśan: Tumhāre dārśane pāvaṃ, sapa-pāpa ko naśāvaṃ. Your darśan is holy. Pāpa means the sins or the karmas. So, all the karmas, all the bad karmas, are destroyed. All the bad karmas are destroyed through your darśan. Dilaku hamar bhavan. Dil is the heart. "I offer my heart as the temple for you." Darśana jaldī denā. Now it becomes more clear what he actually means. The disciple is waiting for the darśana of the Guru, for the Guru to appear in his heart. Tumhare Vachan Suhana, Pramroop Ko Lakhaana, Triyataap Ko Bhujhaana. Tumhare vachan. We know it: vachan or vākya is the same—the teachings of the Guru. Suhāne means pleasant, charming, uplifting. Brahma rūpa ko lākhanā: they show the divine form, the form of God. Tri-tāpa ko bujhānā: tri-tāpa—you notice the three ways we experience the results of our karmas. Tāpa literally means 'fire'; it's like we are suffering in different fires. And bujhānā means to cool down, to give relief, or to put out these fires. So, the darśan of the Guru gives us relief and gives us guidance on how to purify the karmas. It gives us guidance, on one hand, on how to purify karma on our own—for example, through mantra, kriyā, or yoga practice. And on the other hand, it shows how to get rid of the karmas completely, which is possible only through the direct mercy of the Guru. This comes in the next verse: Tumhara Charanaku Parse, Dukkhamul Jaya Jarse. Tumhare charan—your feet. By touching your feet... Your feet are like the paras (the philosopher's stone). If we touch the feet of the Guru, then the mercy of the Guru comes to us. Dukha-mūla—the root of our suffering—jaya jarse: jaya means 'victory over,' and jarse implies it becomes inert, dead, lifeless. So, there is a difference in working on our karmas. When we work through our mantra and other yoga practices on our karmas, that has an effect. Every practice, every satsaṅg, works on our karmas—especially when we do, for example, a Kriyā Anuṣṭhān seminar: strong, concentrated sādhanā, disciplined sādhanā. This is very important. Swāmījī once said in one seminar: "You don't know which storm, karmic storm, is maybe in front of you. It could be so strong that it will completely blow out the fire of your Jijñāsū." These are exactly Swāmījī's words, as I remember them. Jijñāsū means the spiritual seeker. That means there could be some karma in our future which we don't know, but it's already there—maybe in 10 or 20 years—and that suddenly would be so strong it would blow off this fire of Jijñāsā. That means, practically, we would give up our spiritual path and fall into māyā. Now, through our yoga practice, we can work on that. With every practice, this stone which is in the way becomes smaller and smaller. Then, in 10 or 20 years, when we really reach that point and that karma becomes active, instead of completely blowing us off from the spiritual path, it's just a small disturbance. Or you can say, instead of a stone falling on your head and killing you, it's just a small pebble: "pop," hurting. "What was that? Okay," and you go on. So this is the influence our practice has. But there is a "but": always something remains. We can never completely eradicate our karmas on our own. And here comes now the importance of this verse: Dukkhamūla jaya jarse. That says the root of your suffering, these karmas, are taken out, removed with the root. Nothing, nothing remains from your karma. It is completely purified. But how is this possible? Not through our effort. Only through Guru Kṛpā. This is what is happening here: Tumhara charanaku parse—we touch your feet. That means bhakti, that means seva, that means complete surrender and faith in the Guru. When our heart is so open, then this touch becomes a touch with the paras, and the Guru can bestow his full mercy on us. But it depends on us if it's a real touch. It depends on us if we are really completely surrendered and not making, for example, conditions or having doubts. To take a practical example: someone goes to Swāmījī and asks for a yoga name. Swāmījī is so merciful; he gives you a yoga name. And then you say, "But I don't like that." So what? So then, is the distance there? This is not complete touch. Complete surrender means also complete acceptance. Ātmā māra darśī darśan jālidena. Ātmā mārā—our Ātmā. And darśī is basically the same as darśan. It comes from the root dṛṣṭi—the view, to see. So, our Ātmā becomes visible. Through the mercy of the Guru, he shows us the Divine, shows us our own true nature. Sumiran Tumharnika. Sarva Dhyanaka Hrtika. Sumiran comes from smṛti—memory—and means to think on the Guru: thinking, remembering, and the sense of repeating God's name. You know also the sumiran—that is the small mālā to repeat the mantra. "To think on you, to repeat your name, this is nīkā." Nīkā means divine, uplifting. "I would like to repeat your name," meaning something that is lifting us up. Tika most probably means tilaka—that is a point on the forehead in the area of the Ājñā Chakra. You have seen Swāmījī's tilaka today. A point for concentration, a point for meditation. So, "your name is my point of concentration." With every breath, thinking on the Guru, meditating on the Guru. The more we think on the Divine, the more this energy arises in us. And the more we have this experience, then other joys—we don't desire them anymore. And then, whatever this world has to offer you is like tasteless. Fikā means literally in India, without spices; it has no taste. So when we experience the Ānanda, what other joy would still be a temptation for us? The principle of meditation is that on what you meditate, you awaken these energies in yourself. When you meditate on the Guru, then the qualities of the Guru, the wisdom of the Guru, and the love of the Guru awaken in us, so that more and more we actually become one. Here is the word guṇa. Guṇa is used in two different ways: either in the sense of the three guṇas—tamas, rajas, sattva—or here it is used in another way. We would have guṇa and avaguṇa. So guṇa means the good qualities, and avaguṇa the negative qualities. Satguru ke guṇa jagāve bhavasindhu nāve. Satguru ke guṇa jogāvā would mean "those who praise the Guru." Bhavasindhu—they will not fall in this ocean of the world. Somehow, the law of karma is also valid for the Guru. The Guru is acting here; the Guru is here in physical form. And because he has come to help, to teach, to serve, he is creating lots of good karmas. But sometimes it might also happen that a Guru steps, by mistake, on a worm and kills it. Now the problem is the Guru has no ego. This karma is there, but where should it go? So this karma is a special karma. It has to go somewhere. The principle is very simple: those who think positively of their Guru and praise the Guru, they actually get from the good karma of the Guru. And those who criticize the Guru, backbite the Guru, they attract automatically, like a magnet, these really existing certain negative karmas. So this is the scientific background for this verse. When you think on the good qualities of the Guru—which are definitely 99.9%—that makes you like a magnet, absorbing the good karmas of the Guru. And in bhakti, we would say that is then the Guru Kṛpā. Basically, it means we just have to open ourselves so that we can receive it. It works so naturally, like a magnet attracting iron. The more we open our heart, the more this mercy naturally flows to us. The more and more we are transformed, we need not come back anymore. Therefore, in the last line comes now very naturally the word mokṣa. Ācārām mokṣa pāve darśana jaldī dena. Ācārya says, "I achieved the mokṣa." And still he asks, "Darśana jaldī dena—please give me quickly your darśan." So I understand that we shouldn't be shy towards Swāmījī. We should say clearly and loudly, "Swāmījī, we need you. Please come."

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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