Unconditional love,regard&bhakti ....we very often get to hear these words in different contexts though.
A mother's love for her child they say is unconditional .Nothing is expected in return from the child for all that the mother does for her child.
We get to read and hear about many great souls who had such Love and devotion for their Guru.
I had the good fortune of listening to an extremely splendid lecture series on Sri Adi Sankara by Brahmasri Nochur Venkatraman.
I have become a very big fan of Sri NV.He is simply superb.Have been listening to his lectures on Baghavath Geeta and Srimad Baghavatham the last few months and I must say it is certainly addictive. It is like you need the daily dose of Sri NV.
Coming back to his lecture series Shankara Vaibhavam,the life of Sri Adi Sankara.
Here Sri NV tells us about the chief disciples of Sri Adi Sankara.
There were four chief disciples PadmaPada,Sureshwara,Hastamalaka and Thotakacharya.
Each of these was very special and had only devotion and bhakti for their Guru.Nothing came in the way of their bhakti for their Guru.
Padmapada was the first disciple.Once when he was on the other side of the ganges his master calls out to him and without any hesitation or thought the disciple walks on the water to reach his Master.Every step of his on the water opens out into a lotus and thus the name Padmapada.
Giri was another disciple who was very dear to Sri Adi Sankara.Giri had so much love for his master,he went about serving his master all day with a smile.He was said to be not as knowledgeable as the others and did not many times understand what the others were talking.But this did not affect him in any way.He was a very loyal servant of his Master.
One day, Giri was washing his Guru's clothes, when Adi Shankara sat down to begin a lesson on Advaita Vedanta. He however did not start the lesson saying he was waiting for Giri to come back from his chores. At this, Padmapada pointed to a wall and said that it would be the same if Adi Shankara taught to this dumb object as he taught to Giri. Now, Adi Shankara wanted to reward Giri for his loyalty and devotion. Thus he mentally granted Giri the complete knowledge of all the śāstras (sciences). The enlightened Giri composed extempore the Totakashtakam, a Sanskrit poem in praise of the Guru Adi Shankara. Thus the dumb disciple Giri became Totakacharya.
These are just the few things that I managed to remember from the wonderful lecture.The Grace of the Guru can do wonders. The faith and love we have is of utmost importance.Just believe in the Almighty and trust that everything will be taken care of.
Jai Guru Deva!!!
