R.L.Kaith
Guru Gyagi was one of the greatest humanists born. He regarded all human beings as belonging to a single family and there was no question with him as to who was better or worse. He believed in the doctrine of Fatherhood of God and brotherhood of Man. All persons are equal in the eyes of God and all those who believe in Him as the Supreme Truth. There may be several paths to reach the Truth but it is essential to follow the path correctly.
Guru Gyagi did not place before people any different thing and religious dogmas. His teachings were simple and could be understood by the ordinary men in the street. It did not require any Pandit to explain the intricacies of the Guru. The Guru lived among the people and preached in their own language. The main principles of Guru Gyagi’s teachings were the following:
Belief in one True God-According to Gyagi, there is one and only one God and there is none that can claim equality with Him. He is all powerful and omnipresent. He used to say, God is merciful and kind to all the living being, one should have true faith in Him.”
Worship of True Name – Guru Gyagi laid emphasis on the True Name. The true Name is nothing else but God Himself, the creator and preserver. There is nothing true in the world except God Himself and so one should only worship Him and none else.
Importance of Guru in the Realization of God -The word Guru is coined by two letters ‘Gu’ means ‘amalgamation’ and ‘Ru’ means ‘Soul’. An organism amalgamated with soul is called Guru. According to Hindi version ‘Gu’ means ‘Dark’ and ‘Ru’ means ‘Light’. A person leading the pupil from dark to light is called Guru. The soul has no colour, no shape, size, no flesh, blood no smell. Soul never requires water, food and air. Soul is an inexplicable gift of God to living being. Soul is a chetana and free from the pangs of birth, winter, summer and other phenomenon. To whom an alive person loves, after death the soul goes to him. It is an exact faith of all the religions of the world. The job of the Guru ends not even after death. The Guru works like cukoo bird. The egg of cukoo resembles with egg of crow in shape, size and colour. Cukoo lays egg in the nest of crow and crow assumes his own egg and helps in hatching it. When the tiny cukoo comes out, the parental cukoo every time watches the situation and knows the tiny cukoo has come out. The parental cukoo produces his sound. The tiny cukoo immediately gets attracted towards parental cukoo with the help of sound. Thus parental cukoo flies keeping in claws the tiny cukoo towards his desired place. Similarly, when the body dies, invisible soul wanders around the guru who watches his pupil every where, produces special sound. The soul has love for guru, get attracted towards guru and then flies towards Satguru.
Emphasis on Good Actions -Guru Gyagi thoroughly believed in the theory of karma. Only one’s own actions make or mar one’s future. If actions are bad, then the sins cannot be washed away by all the waters of the Ganges and if actions are good, not a drop of holy water is required by any man for his purity.
Condemnation of the Caste System – Guru Gyagi condemned the caste system in the severest terms. The narrow division of men into different castes in Hinduism did not appeal to him and he ridiculed it. According to him, “Castes are folly, names are folly. There is no Hindu and no Mussalman.” No one is born high or low. Man makes himself high or low according to his own actions. Thus Guru Gyagi preached universal brotherhood and in this new faith caste did not have any place.
Not in favour of Asceticism or Remuneration of Home Life – Guru Gyagi was not in favour of asceticism and leaving one’s own family life. There is no use of hard penance and giving trouble to one’s own life. One should remain in the world but should not indulge in the evils of the world. It was with the aim in mind that all the gurus led normal family lives and discharged all functions as house holders. The idea of righteous living is meaningless except in the context of the community.
Condemnation of Idol Worship – Guru Gyagi was also not in favour of idol worship because according to him God has no shape and no limit and hence he cannot be found in any form whatsoever. He cannot be worshipped in human form and Avtars are not the incarnations of God. Guru Gyagi, therefore, did no idol worship of any sort.
Attainment of the Supreme Bliss – According to Guru Gyagi, the chief aim of man’s life on earth is to achieve ‘Moksha’ or the highest bliss. One should try to achieve a state of mind where there is neither pain nor happiness-a state from where the soul of man does not come to this world again.