On seeing the Guru as a Buddha.

Today I want to thank our two kundalini shaktipat teachers :

Swami Nardanand from India.

Swami Nardanand comes from a lineage of adepts remarkable for their purity and degree of spiritual realization. These master are pictured below.  Please click on the link on each name to learn more about these highly realized saints.

http://siddhaashramcenter.org/lineage/

Swami Nardanand (also known as Swamiji or “beloved monk”) has a rare presence that radiates peace.  He comes from a long lineage of remarkable spiritual masters, and has been a master of Divine Shakti awakening for more than 25 years.  Able to transmit the bliss of Divine Shakti awakening to his students, Swamiji is an Ayurvedic doctor,  a forest yogi, a global teacher and a self taught architect and builder.  His teachings  blend ancient Vedic and modern scientific understanding. 

 At the age of 14, Swami Nardanand was initiated as a monk in the Vedic tradition. After meditating alone in the forest for many years, Swami Nardanand met and was  initiated into the more esoteric spiritual teachings by his teacher, Swami Shivom Tirtha, a widely recognized adept. Shivom Tirth initiated him into the system of Siddha Maha Yoga. Swami Nardanand then practiced for years in solitude and isolation, deep in the jungle, in secluded caves and sacred places. He thus attained the ability to maintain a permanent state of heightened awareness.

In 1990, he founded the Siddha Ashram in the holy city of Ujjain in central India (www.SiddhaAshram.net).  The ashram is located along the banks of the Shipra River in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India, one of the four major Kumbha Mela sites. During the 2004 Kumbha Mela at Ujjain, Swami Nardanand was appointed as Mahamandaleshwara of Akhand Akhara. Swami Nardanand teaches Yoga, Vedanta, and Tantra in India, Europe, North America, and South America.

Another holy Swami from this lineage - Swami Gangadhar Tirth Maharaj - wrote on the difficulty in this age of Kali to stay on the spiritual path.

Swami Gangadhar Tirth Maharaj lived a very simple, solitary life, yet he was very concerned with the affairs of the world. His only contact with the outside world was through a disciple, a humble man who provided his Guru with food by begging in a nearby village. One day, the yogic powers of Swami Gangadhar Tirth revealed to him that difficult times were ahead for ordinary people because of the effects of the age or era in which we now live. The period in which we now live, as you know, is called the Kali- Yuga, or the Age of Darkness. The Swami knew that the effects of the Kali- Yuga made it very difficult for ordinary people to remain on any spiritual path. He knew people would need help in finding spiritual illumination, since the influence of the Kali-Yuga made it difficult for people to advance spiritually unless they had already progressed to a high state of awareness. A most important aspect of this account is that Swami Gangadhar Tirth Maharaj had been blessed with the discovery of a very special means of awakening spiritual consciousness. This was truly a great discovery, since previously the awakening of spiritual consciousness was very difficult. Few people qualified for receiving help even from very advance souls. Because of the effects of the Kali-Yuga, no means were available to advance the cause of ordinary seekers because of these factors.

Among the great teachings left by this saint, the following teaching is beautiful in its clarity and simplicity:

1. Get up early before sunrise every day without fail. Fold up your bed and sit in meditation after performing the morning bath.
2. Nature is infinite and extravagant. It is capable of giving you anything you need. You should, however, exploit it to the extent you need. The sources of nature should never be wasted.
3. Lead a simple life and cherish high spiritual principles. Remain constant during pleasure or pain. Take your work to be the worship of God.
4. Do not interfere mentally in the movements of Shakti during meditation. Surrender yourself completely to Shakti, and give it liberty to operate upon you. Remain a witness throughout and rejoice while Shakti has its play in you. 

Dr Gabriel Cousens from the United States of America.

Rabbi Gabriel Cousens

M.D., M.D.(H.), N.D.(h.c.), D.D., Diplomate Ayurveda,
Diplomate American Board of Holistic Medicine

Gabriel Cousens functions as a Holistic Physician, Homeopath, Psychiatrist, Family Therapist, Ayurvedic Practitioner and a Chinese Herbalist. In addition, he’s a world leading diabetes researcher, ecological leader, spiritual master, founder and director of the Tree of Life Foundation and Tree of Life Center US.  In addition, he’s a bestselling author of There Is a Cure for Diabetes, Conscious Eating,Spiritual Nutrition: Six Foundations for Spiritual Life and Awakening of Kundalini,Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine, Creating Peace by Being Peace, Torah as a Guide to Enlightenment, and Depression Free for Life. He is considered one of the leading live-food vegan medical doctors, holistic physicians and the world expert on spiritual nutrition. Dr. Cousens is also recognized as “the fasting guru and detoxification expert” by the New York Times.

He graduated A cum laude from Amherst College where he was captain of an undefeated football team, and was selected as an All New England guard and middle linebacker. He was one of eleven National Scholar Athletes inducted into the National Football Hall of Fame. He received an M.D. degree from Columbia Medical School in 1969, and completed a psychiatry residency in 1973. He was one of eight selected for the NIMH Mental Health Career Development program, and served as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Public Health Service. Dr. Cousens was the Chief Mental Health Consultant for the Sonoma County Operation Head Start and a consultant for the California State Department of Mental Health. He is a former member of the Board of Trustees of the American Holistic Medical Association (AHMA).

Dr. Cousens has published scientific papers “Ureide Carbon of Citruline, A Precursor in Pryimidine Synthesis” in Crithedia Fasciculate; “Citrulline Utilization in Crithedia” in Biochemical & Biophysics; “Child Health in a Harlem Elementary School” in Journal of School Health; “THC as an Hypnotic” inPsychopharacologia; and “Report of Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease with Alphanae Klamathomenon Flos-Aqua” in Orthomedicine.

Since 1973 Dr. Cousens has presented seminars on topics including health and nutrition, psycho-spiritual healing, meditation and spiritual awareness. He’s been part of the yoga world since 1973, and received much of his training and experience as a spiritual master and kundalini expert (he organized the first “Kundalini Crisis Clinic” in the world with Dr. Lee Sannella in 1976) during his seven-year sadhana with Swami Muktananda and his eleven-year sadhana with Swami Prakashananda. In 1981, Swami Prakashananda, Muktananda’s first liberated disciple, publicly recognized him as a “yogi of real spiritual attainment” who has “realized the innate perfection.” He was also acknowledged by Swami Muktananda just prior to his death in 1982.

Dr. Cousens is internationally celebrated as a spiritual master, a rabbi (ordained by Rabbi Gerson Winkler in 2008), founder of the Modern Essene Order of Light in 1993 and a Kabbalah student of since 1970. He is also a 4-year Native American Sundancer, Eagle Dancer, and Spirit Dance clan chief in the High Horse Lakota clan into which he has been adopted. Dr. Cousens’ spiritual background involves extensive study and personal  experience in three major traditions that have given him a unique, authentic, interfaith and unified worldview. In addition to the three major lineage traditions he carries, Dr. Cousens has a background in Taoism and has studied at the main Shaolin Temple in China. His many designations attest to a dynamic, eclectic, comprehensive body of practical knowledge that creates the foundation for his unique teachings on Holistic Liberation and Live Food Veganism.

In 1986, Gabriel Cousens, M.D. planted the seed for the Cousens’ School of Holistic Wellness, which now offers the world’s first live food vegan Masters program in organic, veganic farming in blue-green architecture and building intra-disciplinary technology for creating fully holistic infrastructures for communities. He is the director and founder of the Tree of Life Foundation, which now has thirty-two centers throughout the world. His Tree of Life Center US, located in pristine Patagonia, AZ, has been called by Harper’s Magazine, “One of the world’s best ten yoga and detoxification retreats”.

Dr. Cousens has taught in forty countries around the world including the United States, England, Canada, Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, Greece, Morocco, Lebanon, Egypt, Israel, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa, Ethiopia, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Italy, Spain, Amsterdam, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Croatia, India, Bali, Thailand, and Hong Kong and has spoken on diabetes treatment and prevention at medical schools in many of these countries. He is a co-founder of a West African NGO called WARES (West African Rural Health Empowerment Society), and has established health and diabetes prevention programs, children’s schools, and orphanages in 13 countries where over 1,200 children are being fed vegan food each week. He received the Cesar Chavez Award in 2013 for his nutritional and diabetes education of migrant farm workers in the U.S.  As a world peace worker, holistic physician, and highly trained spiritual teacher, Dr. Cousens weaves his comprehensive, unique background into his holistic healing and writing approach to support and inspire people into the sacred joy of being free and fully alive.

For information about Dr. Cousens’ work and his programs and to sign up for his newsletter visit: www.drcousens.com

Miraculous wisdom-emanation of the fearless realization of Kuntuzangpo,

Jikmé Tenpé Nyima, ‘Sun of the Teaching’ and great bodhisattva,

Glorious one whose enlightened activity pervades the universe,

Supreme in learning, discipline, and nobility, to you I pray!

Lotsawa House presents the following works from one of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama's favouritewriters, the Third Dodrupchen, Jigme Tenpe Nyima (rdo grub chen 'jigs med bstan pa'i nyi ma, 1865–1926):

On Seeing the Guru as a Buddha 

by Dodrupchen Jigme Tenpe Nyima

There are many ways of seeing the guru as a buddha, but the most important point is as follows. Whenever the guru explains the meaning of the Buddha’s words, his or her wisdom mind is infused by the Buddha. After all, it is impossible to explain the Buddha’s teachings without being inspired by the Buddha’s blessings. Thus, irrespective of whether the guru is actually enlightened, the imparting of instructions is certainly buddha activity. In this respect, the guru is comparable to a medium and the Buddha to an oracle-deity who is channelled. It suffices to understand the principle in this way.
In addition however, on account of our negative temperament and ill fortune, we have been left behind by thousands upon thousands of buddhas in the past. Yet the guru, by explaining the Dharma and imparting instructions to us with great kindness, is like someone who brings in a dog from the wild to live among human beings.
A perfectly enlightened buddha is truly a friend to all the world, even if those with impure karma are incapable of perceiving him as such. Hence the famous expression, “the Teacher, an excellent friend.” Yet gurus are exceptionally kind, because, just like someone who offers us food when we are hungry, they act as spiritual guides during the degenerate age.
Moreover, it is said: “For some who have this aim, I myself abide in their physical form.” There are many such statements, which indicate that all the buddhas enter the body of the vajra master in order to receive offerings and so on. It is thus reasonable to treat the guru as a yidam deity in devotional guru yoga practice.
By the one called Jigme.| Translated by Adam Pearcey, 2018.

Source : http://www.lotsawahouse.org/ 

Further reading : A Guide to Shaktipath by Swami Shivom Tirtha