Characteristics of good Guru, and good disciple

As per Shankaracharya, a good Sadguru is the one who talks nothing but only spiritual subjects and whose sole goal is to promote spirituality.

In the history and even now there are many examples of good Sadgurus. We will visit examples of two Sadgurus.

First is Sage Vyasa. Known for his most famous book in the history, none other than Mahabharata. He collated 18 puranas. He also wrote Brahmasutras to explain in easy language the great Brahma tatvas. He divided Vedas into four parts. For such a gigantic work that he accomplished, he achieved the title of Jagadguru. In fact Gurupournima that we celebrate every year is also known as Vyasapournima primarily to remember Sage Vyasa and his work and pay homage to him.

Sage Vyasa is like a root of a tree of Hindu dharma. We call ourselves as followers of Hindu dharma because we attempt to follow at least some principles of Hindu dharma. All these principles are branches of Hindu dharma. And the root of all these principles can be found in scriptures written by Sage Vyasa.

They say Guru protects those who completely surrender to him. Whether it is material world or spiritual world, one attains security because the knowledge that one achieves. Do we not see the examples of people who survive through ups and downs of market because of the mere strength of knowledge they possess? Similarly to survive in life, whether here or hereafter, one needs a knowledge. And this knowledge can be achieved by serving Guru.

Guru-Shishya parampara (tradition) is a very important part of Indian culture. As per Indian culture the knowledge is subtle and it is transferred as well through subtle methods.

Let’s take an example of Sage Dhoumya from the age of Dwapara Yuga. He had three disciples – Arun, Baidra and Upamanyu.

Sage Dhoumya was a good Guru, as per definition by Shanakaracharya that we learned previously i.e. he was only interested in spiritual subject and his sole goal was to promote spirituality. Shankaracarya also defines characteristics of good disciple. A good disciple is the one who is only interested in nothing but spiritual upliftment.

In those days the knowledge was not transferred through books. Disciples used to serve Guru in his house. Disciple used to do all household chores in Guru’s house. At the end of their stay in Guru’s house, Guru used to transfer or implant the knowledge to disciple by merely placing his right hand on disciple’s head. Disciple received knowledge as per his capacity. It is the intensity of devotion of disciple that decides how much and what knowledge received.

Lets visit the stories of three disciples of Sage Dhoumya.

First is Arun. Sage Dhoumya asked Arun to water the farms. The farms were not receiving water. Water had to be stopped so that it could be directed to farms. Arun tried all the ways he could to stop and direct the water, but when finally he could not stop water, he himself lied down in canal to stop water and direct it to farm. Sage Dhoumya was moved by this devotion of Arun and implanted all knowledge in him and sent him back to his home.

He asked his second disciple Baidra to bring grains collected from farms back to home.  Baidra collected all grains, filled them in bullock cart and started back to home. On his way back, one of the wheels of the cart got stuck in the mud. One of the bullock could not pull the cart and so finally Baidra replaced that bullock and he himself pulled the cart. Sage Dhoumya was also moved by this devotion of Baidra and he implanted all knowledge in him and sent him back home.

To his third disciple Upamanyu, Sage Dhoumya asked to take cows to the forest for grazing. While in forest, when Upamanyu became hungry he asked for bhiksha from nearby village. This was not approved by his Guru i.e. Sage Dhoumya. Sage came to know about this Upamanyu's act, of asking bhiksha, through his divine vision. He asked Upamanyu to bring back bhiksha to home. Baidra followed that instruction and started bringing back bhiksha to ashram. However, while out in the forest, unable to control his hunger Upmanyu started asking two bhikshas. One to bring back home and one for himself. Sage again came to know this through his divine vision.Upamanyu And he asked Upamanyu to bring back home both bhikshas. Again Upamanyu followed instruction and started bringing back both bhikshas to home. However still he could not control his hunger while he was out in the forest. He saw some calves drinking milk from cow’s udder. While calves were  drinking milk few drops were falling on ground. Hungry Upamanyu collected those drops and satisfied his hunger. Sage again came to know this and scolded Upamanyu and asked him to stop this. Upamanyu followed instruction and stopped drinking milk. On his next visit he found one juicy plant and he started drinking juice of that plant taking it as milk. Unfortunately while drinking juice some drops fell in his eyes. He could not see anything. Still, in this condition he went searching for grazing cows. On his way he fell in a well. With great intensity he called his Guru for help. When Guru came to know the condition of Upamanyu through his divine vision he immediately came to rescue Upamanyu and not only he rescued him but cured his eye vision as well. The story shows that Sage was always scolding Upamanyu. But in reality Sage was very pleased by Upamanyu as he never rebelled against his Guru. Upamanyu found news ideas of satisfying his hunger but he never disregarded his Guru. That’s why Sage was very pleased with Upamanyu and sent back him home after implanting all knowledge in him.

These stories show how a real Guru is only interested in nothing but spiritual upliftment of his disciples and how real disciples are only interested in nothing but spiritual upliftment.