Gurukula Dhyana Manjusa (A Bouquet of Meditations)

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Everyone aspires to be happy. One cannot be happy without gaining knowledge. Knowledge does not come by itself. One has to seek diligently for that. It is not because there is no knowledge in us. In fact our own true nature is knowledge par excellence. But it is veiled by ignorance. There should be a way to remove this veiling ne-science. One has to go into the deeper resources of one’s own self for that. That is not very easy.

From time immemorial the Indians have had a way to dispel the darkness of ignorance. They approach a Guru. The word Guru literally means ‘one who destroys darkness’. The aspirant to wisdom goes to a Guru and takes refuge at his feet. Getting formally initiated by a Guru and going away muttering a mantra may not bring the desired effect. One should live with one’s Guru. The home’ or family of the Guru is called gurukula. Traditionally it is held that one should be under the instruction of a Guru for at least twelve years, to discipline the body, mind and the self. This is possible only if the seeker has patience and perseverance in his search. Knowledge can dawn even on the very first day, but there is no guarantee about it.

The ego is the stumbling block on one’s path to wisdom. To control the ego the aspirant should keep the body and mind in the service of the Guru. Entering into a bipolar relationship with a Guru is called gurubhakti. The Guru and disciple should not be of rival interests. They should be able to love each other and appreciate each other's stand. As the disciple becomes more and more mature he or she will be led into higher realms of knowledge. We find such examples in the Upanisads. The Upanisads are a’priori texts of wisdom. They are also called sruti (verbal testimony).

This volume, A Bouquet of Meditations, is a collection of excerpts from the major Upanisads and other wisdom texts, studied with great reverence in India. The only recent works included in this volume are the Héma Mantra (chant for fire ceremony) in Sanskrit and the Universal Prayer of Narayana Guru, Daiva Dasakam in Malayalam, both composed by Narayana Guru.

These texts are studied with great attention in the various centres of the Narayana Gurukula. Now people living outside India also want to take advantage of this book. Hence this tri-lingual edition has become necessary. The Sanskrit and the Malayalam texts are given in Romanized script with diacritical marks for easy reading, and the meaning given in simple English. We hope this will be of use to a wider range of our students in the English speaking parts of the world.

**Contents and Sample Pages**