Guru is The GPS of Your Life to Navigate Successfully

A teacher, a guru or a mentor is just like the GPS of your life who helps you navigate successfully and broaden your vision and wisdom to distinguish between good and bad, real and unreal, knowledge and ignorance and truth and myth. Indubitably, a guru gifts you life changing inspiration and thus, is worshipped with high reverence, equal to God. Right from the relationship of Sadashiv and Adi Shankara to Sachin Tendulkar and Ajit Acharekar, teacher-disciple tradition is not just a part of Indian Vedic culture but it’s all-pervading since the beginning of human civilization on earth. It is the Guru who elevates the pupil to his maximum potential and helps him rendezvous with his real Self, his core. A Guru teaches how to brave the storms of life while maintaining equipoise and a composed state of mind. A Guru’s Teachings not necessarily determine your accomplishments or awards but will certainly guide you to wade through all ups and downs, highs and lows, and the gaiety and glooms of your life.

Let the Guru Guide You How to Navigate Your Life

It’s very surprising to realize that sometimes it takes just a moment to find the Guru who takes you to the turning point of your life while sometimes it requires whole life to identify one such inspiring figure. The person may or not be with you in a long companionship or any elder, an experienced preacher or highly revered and knowledgeable person; he/she may be just a person next door or an acquaintance that can change the entire course of your life.

Today, at Eduemeralds let’s discuss the story of Alexander and his Guru who helped him develop an inclination to self-control, spiritual enlightenment and detachment towards material might.

Alexander the Great, one of the greatest rulers of the world, who conquered one-third of the known world at the age of 32, expressed three unusual wishes on his deathbed. These three wishes were:

·                      My physicians should carry my body for the burial.

·                    The path leading to my grave must be strewn with gold, silver and all precious stones from my treasury.

·                    Both my hands should be dangling out of the coffin and palms towards the sky.

The generals were confused, they wondered what could be the reason behind their emperor’s last wishes and here the story begins how Alexander the Great found a real Guru in his life who transformed him completely.

Alexander, in his pursuit to change and unite the world with his ideas, inspired by Greek philosophers, established many cities called Alexandrias along the way of conquest. When he reached the North Western borders of India, he happened to meet a group of naked ascetic, called gymnosophist in Greek. They were Jain saints and didn’t flee at the sight of Alexander’s fierce army. They remained firm and fearless and replied when asked, “Every man possesses as much of the land as we are standing here right now, but you are only an over-ambitious and arrogant man who’s travelling for the sake of troubling both thyself and others.”

Alexander was stunned and spellbound to hear this, he had never met such a person who could talk to him like that, and that very moment, he decided to bow down and make the saint his new Guru. He requested them to accompany him to Macedonia but all refused as it was against their code of conduct. Finally, despite the vehement disagreement of the senior mendicants, Kalyan Muni, later known as Calanus, agreed to go with them. Alexander took Calanus as his mentor, his new Guru in replacement of his boyhood tutor Aristotle in 325 BC, as estimated, two years before Alexander’s death.  While marching back, the Macedonian army lost an Indian battle and was compelled to march through Makran- a deadly desert. This retreat cost three quarters of Alexander’s forces and Calanus grew severely ill. He didn’t want to burden his fellow travelers so he decided to embrace death by self-immolation as per the traditional manner of his sect. Calanus taught all the rare skills and LIFE lessons to Alexander. The bond and affection between the naked Guru and the hunter warrior was inexplicable for the people around as described by Lysimachus, the penultimate survivor of Alexander’s marshals. Despite his debilitating condition he kept giving lessons and illustrations of life rules, even on his funeral pyre he did not leave the opportunity to teach his avid pupil, the great admirer of wisdom and philosophy.

While bidding adieu to the rest of his entourage and moving towards the pile of wood he kissed everyone’s hands except Alexander and said, “I will meet you soon in Babylon”. This was his last prophecy which came true in a matter of days when Alexander died due to some unknown and incurable disease in Babylon. His sudden demise has remained an unraveled mystery till today. But his death became even larger than his life after his realization of the true essence of life, after he had learnt the most important lesson of his life under the precious guidance of his Guru, Calanus. He learnt that running after power and wealth is a complete waste of life as none can carry even an iota of that treasure to their journey to heaven. What’s more important is –living your life to its fullest and attaining happiness and contentment in whatever you do. He wanted both his hands dangling out of his coffin because he wanted his people to know that everyone comes empty-handed and goes the same, so accumulation of anything is sheer waste of one’s precious life.

Alexander the Great, who conquered the whole world, found his Guru just a couple of years before his death, but the teachings of his Guru helped him turning a new leaf of his life with a complete transformation from an ambitious conqueror to a spiritual seeker. Finding and appreciating the presence of a mentor is always intellectually stimulating and plays a predominant role in our life. But most often, it is we who waste a lot of time to identify one. It might be due to the wide ambit of influences we have in this fast-paced era, leading us to the Conundrum of what’s right and what’s the best for us. Let’s identify the Guru, the GPS of our life to navigate successfully.

Hope you find your Guru, who can take you to the turning point of your life.