Page 11 - Vedanta Sandesh_Aug 2020

Sadhana Panchakam

gratify his long lived thirst and help him awaken into a state of

self contentment. When a sadhaka very sincerely and intense-

ly craves for such wisdom the scriptures guide such a student

to give up all actions and go in search of a Master. Thus here
it is said ‘Sad Vidwaan upasarpyataam’- Seek the shelter of a

‘Sad-Vidwaan’ the knower of Truth. A Sadvidwaan alone can

be a ‘Sadguru’. We often find various spiritual teachers around
us. But not all of them can be seen as a Sadguru. A Sadguru

is one who is a Shrotreeya Brahmanishtha Guru. Shrotreeya

Brahmanishtha are two qualities which our scriptures speak of

as the qualities of a Sadguru. Although one must understand

here that we as ignorant seekers are never in a position to eval-
uate a Guru and then decide wheather one should become my

Guru or not. A Sadguru comes in our lives as blessing from God

when we sincerely seek a Guru in our life. Still the scriptures
reveal certain criteria so that we do not go astray. There are

many spiritual Gurus around us who may be authentic or who

may not be. Many of them do not take the Vedas as the valid

means of knowledge. They teach their own individual philos-

ophies. The scriptures are guiding us to follow that lineage of
Masters where Vedas alone are the valid means of knowledge.

From that perspective A Shrotriya Brahmnishtha Guru is one

who has acquired Vedantic knowledge from a Vedantic Master
himself, He is the one who himself whole heartedly lives this

knowledge as an embodiment of Brahma. At the same time he

also has the art of teaching this knowledge to a sadhaka. So

Vedanta Sandesh 11

ñ