“That’s
it my friend. I lost everything and took me a lot to get back to normal. I
still love my family but, now with matters related to business and money, I
don’t take their advice”, declared the cheerful, happy looking African brother
driving the Taxi.
This
is the story of a Taxi driver I met recently. I was on my way to the Melbourne
Airport and here are some excerpts of our talk.
He
is in his early thirty’s and told me that he came to Australia about 7 years
ago. He worked hard, did lot of odd jobs, drove taxi and earned some hard
bucks. He took the advice of his family members and relatives and invested in a
business. Unfortunately,
It
turned out to be a wrong choice and he literally lost everything.
“It’s
not that they wanted me to cheat me, lose my money or something but, they
simply don’t know the proper details. They heard from someone in a gathering or
dinner and believed the words and passed on the message. In fact forced me to
do it. It’s like one blind man leading the other blind and we both fell in the
ditch”.Hahaha, he laughed heartily.
I
looked at him with admiration and empathy. I appreciated his courage and
strength that he had in overcoming the disaster. What is more impressive is
that, he is not being resentful, fretting, fuming or cursing anyone.
 |
| Who is a Guru |
I
started thinking. Yes, there could be so many people trying to give us advice
on so many things based on their own experiences and situations they came
across in life.”Atmavan Manyatae Jagat –“Everyone looks at the world with their
own eyes and their own way. Basing on their nature, temperament they perceive things
differently. It’s as if, if one has a color film on his eyes say, yellow – the
whole world looks yellow to them. Do this, do that, I know it did wonders etc.
So, it is so important to take advice from right people and right sources. If
you want to invest in shares, real estate or stock market, you do your own research,
learn about the subject and then approach the people who are right and
qualified people in that field. But, then there are so many people in the
market, out there claiming to be experts, authentic and genuine? We need to use
our intelligence, find out what qualifications so and so person has, what is
his affiliation or firm that he is working with, what about the other subject
matter books, magazines talk about this subject. And, does it all match up? Like,
our own research through books, qualifications of the person, the organisation
that he is associated with and then, the personal behavior or the qualities the
person exhibits in real life. And, it becomes even more important in and
matters related to spiritual life. It is said that spiritual life is compared
to walking on a razors edge. We cannot do it whimsically and because, someone
else your friend is doing it. It’s interesting that, same things that needs to
be looked at while dealing with matters like investing in a business etc. It’s
called the three point check of spiritual life – Guru, Sadhu and Shastra.
The
most important step in spiritual life is taking shelter of a Spiritual Master
who is coming in a line of bonafide discipilic succession. What this means is
that someone who is claiming to be a Guru is a genuine and has qualifications
like, always engaged in the service of God, who speaks from the Vedic scriptures
and words of other spiritual Masters above him. If he speaks anything
different, they need to be reconciled with the words of Vedic scriptures and
other Gurus above him called as Sadhus.
I have some interesting feedback of why or how
someone follow or accepted a certain Guru. Because, lives in Himalayas for six
months in a year, because he speaks very logically, because of his attire so on.
As stated in Bhagavad Gita,4.34
tad
viddhi pranipatena
pariprasnena
sevaya
upadeksyanti
te jnanam
jnaninas
tattva-darsinah . Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual
master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The
self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.
“Hi Mate, which terminal you need to go
to”? The words of my taxi driver friend brought me back to the senses. I took
my luggage hurriedly, paid the fare and with real feelings in my heart, thanked
the driver for the drive and sharing his story. For the last 30 mins or so, we
talked about so many things starting from, weather, footy, cricket, stock
market, real estate etc. but, out of all the things, I last conversation about
taking advice from the right people, right source touched my heart. Ultimately,
we are accountable for our actions and the results that come.
It
is said that, there are three types of people.
One
who learns by hearing – considered first class.
One
who learns by experience – considered second class.
One who does not
learn even after experiencing – the Third class. I guess, I am a mix of all
these classes, sometimes first, second and third.
