Maharishi on the Glory of Being Near Guru Dev


"...the priceless transcendental nectar in which saints and seekers lose themselves and forget everything during their deep meditations in silent barren places — when that same nectar, that very same experience is had in nearness to the lotus feet of Guru Dev, in an unmoving and stable manner, with the eyes open and in a completely wakeful state, the incomparably blissful transcendental torrent floods the inside and outside, and the mind is drowned in ecstasy.

Certainly this state in the nearness to the lotus feet of Guru Dev is much more desirable and enjoyable than the state where we forgot everything in samadhi. In that state at the lotus feet of Guru Dev, wave upon wave of the bliss of samadhi rises in myriads of forms and channels in complete wakefulness.
That is the experience of jivan mukti, by the grace of the lotus fee of Guru Dev. The experience of the unshakable bliss of samadhi, when we are completely awake, is the jivan mukti, drowned in which the great Mahatmas become Brahman.

At this time in this silence, in the nearness to Guru Dev, that is the experience. There is an inexpressible happiness, a feeling of huge elation, the heart is overwhelmed by ecstatic feeling like the heaving of an ocean of love, an ocean of bliss, as if the blissfulness of pure consciousness is rising in powerful torrents to surface from somewhere deep inside; and outside, Guru Dev's wordless, enchanting, inviting, nectar- like love is an infinitely large ocean.

Torrential waves are rising from this limitless ocean on the outside, and diving deep inside and having struck the deepest depths, are rising outwards again and again, and then falling at the lotus feet of Guru Dev in voiceless ripples softly heaving and vibrating in ecstasy. The hand and feet and ears and all the senses, together with the heart and mind and intellect, are bursting with the fullness of that ecstatic feeling.

Every tiny atom of the body is enveloped in that unbounded transcendental bliss of Brahmananda, and is melting into that experience as if into an indivisible, everlasting union with pure radiant love, untouched by time, space, or any other constraint. The limitless ocean of the heart bursts forth in wave upon torrential wave of invincibility and freedom.

That unchanging, eternally stable, and timeless bliss, which is beyond the senses and transcendental in every way, is being experienced at the surface value of life at one single time simultaneously by all the senses, by every part of the physical body, and by the entire heart, mind, and intellect — all this by the grace and love of Guru Dev.

The whole of life, the gross physical body, the subtle body, the transcendental inner phase of life, is throbbing and heaving with ecstatic feeling that is only bliss, just ecstasy and the nearness of Guru Dev.

Outside on the terrace, it is as if the gentle ripples of the lake are nudging the sides and sleeping vegetation to awaken them to enjoy the tender moonlight. And there, on the terrace, the divine illumination of the lotus feet of Guru Dev is giving the power of life to the brilliant, inexpressible, transcendental sun of pure consciousness, to allow its waves to shake the heart of the ignorant disciple, to bring enlightenment and jivan mukti.

The disciple is awakening from sleep. He is rising up. His ignorance and doubts are being erased. The fog facing him is lifting and the long journey is being quickly completed; the goal is becoming visible;
it is right in front. Reaching it is all that is left. The other shore barely appears, and Guru Dev, the captain of the boat, throws a chain around the docking post to hasten his disciple's arrival.

Great good fortune is needed to be able to experience the unbounded grace of Guru Dev and to continue to drink of that infinite ocean of bliss...

The point being brought out here is the blissfulness experienced in nearness to the true Master. The point to notice is how the Guru, by giving his disciples and other seekers the experience of the different and varied aspects of Brahman strengthens every disciple's progress on the path of evolution and carries him to the pinnacle of perfection.

The thing is the same —pure consciousness — but the Guru gives the disciple experiences of it in such a variety of ways that remove every shadow of doubt that could become an obstacle to the disciple's progress.

This is the glory of being near Guru Dev."
— Maharishi

(From a talk Maharishi gave in Hertenstein, Switzerland around 1974-76)

Painting by Werner Bandel, Uedem, Germany

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