Learned a lot more about Gurus, Divine Geneaology, Guru's feet/big toe, touching the feet, individual styles of the Gurus, pranam, their heart capacity/desire to open the heart for service, and more. AMAZING!!! Not too many Beings can field these topics/questions from firsthand experience. I was hoping to leave India without having such a phobia around Gurudev's feet and to better understand why people want to touch them Almost every time that I have touched them, there has been some vision or download that results. Nothing bad, but a bit shocking at times. I have now learned that not all Guru's let you touch their feet or them personally at all, so it is a a privilege for those who have the desire. For now, pranam from a distance is fine with me. Just being in his energy field and physical presence is grace beyond words for me.
FROM GURUDEV'S POSTER:
Beloved Self,
Have you ever seen the Sun's rays differentiate between the different species on Earth?
Does the wind, which is the main source of life on Earth, differentiate between large or small species?
When has the Earth ever refused taking the weight of any being?
Where has the Sky said that it will give shade only to one species and not to another?
When you go to a stream or river will it ever refuse to share its pure water?
Flames always point upwards, little drops of water make the mighty ocean.
You may try to douse the volcano from the outside but it will continue to bubble within. It gives heat, it inspires us to go ahead and not be cowed down by external elements.
Whenever we are very close to Nature we discover that all the elements mentioned above co-exist. We find the five elements are not 'artificial' but present always and there is always energy.
We find these qualities in sages and saints. The simple flow of love energy runs through every nerve in their body and mind and flows endlessly from them. It is not forbidden to anyone. The only fact to be realized is that the receiver gets only as much as he has the capacity to receive love, but he definitely receives!
When the seed is sown it becomes a sapling, then a plant, then a tree. Then it becomes a fruit, and effortlessly the seed is formed which is inherent in the fruit because the seed is ever-present.
From the very beginning of the Universe, it is an uncontested fact that sages and saints are full of love for every being. It is inborn. The desire to do things that are beneficial to all is very natural. This desire becomes life-giving energy like the wave, the wind and the Sun's rays.
The saints are personified as the tree under whose shade (leaves) all beings find peace. They (the saints and sages) are like the trees which give us fuel and also light those trees which are around them, just as only a flame can light a wick and thus spread the fire.
These saints never had any ego-sense as the giver of strength and energy to others. It is like an ornament that adorns them - the ever-kindling light they spread among humanity.
The worthy, holy Baba is born just for this - it does seem so to all of us who visit him and feel like they have had a dip in the river-like nectar of love. He makes each one feel that all have these qualities within their physical bodies. This is praise-worthy.
Whatever one's nature is, calm down and think, pause and each one will realize that this natural truth is memorable. One should prostrate oneself on such a realization. May you experience his pure simplicity, divinity and loving nature when he embraces you.
Shri Bhuvaneshvaranand
(Pahari Baba Ashram)
