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Bhagavan explained the meaning of  “Guru Vandana,” a famous hymn from the Guru Gita, and which is sung in IVS every day. It begins, "Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Maheshwara........." click here for video

Bhagavan said:

We sing this hymn every day, but we do it unconsciously, without knowing what it means. Brahma is the lord of creation, Maheshwar (another name for Shiva or Rudra) is the lord of destruction. So Brahma is not Shiva, and maheshwar is not Brahma, the guru is Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwar. Three powers in one. The guru is so powerful that, if Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwar are angry, he can save you, but if you injure the guru, it will be dangerous for you. Therefore, always keep him pleased.

How does the guru help us? He leads us to Truth. He makes us realise that the world is not real. It is the apparent projection of the Self. God is the only truth.

We meditate on the idol of the guru. We worship his feet. We realise ourselves when he wants. His words are the mantras. His word is the Veda. When he speaks spiritual words, they are his blessings, and when he discusses mundane things, it means that he is avoiding you.

The taste of having realised Brahman is the original pleasure. He shows you the path to the inner world. He takes you out of the materialistic world. He takes you beyond everything, beyond pleasure and sorrow.

The Vedas, the Upanishads, explain the power of the guru.

Commentary by Koji:

Ishwara is all the power that exists in One; Brahma, the power that creates, Vishnu, the power that directs, and Maheshwara, the power that destroys, in One. The guru is an incarnation of That.

What is the world? Who am I? These are questions that the guru causes to be answered from our own hearts. If we receive the answers to them, we will know what the relationship between ourselves and the world is, we will know what the goal of life is, and we will fulfil it. There cannot exist anything more important in existence real or apparent. it is the only thing that can be truly important as it is the only achievement that has permanent results, so the guru is the key to everything.

What are mantras? Words that dissolve the ignorance of our own identity. When someone with sufficient realisation speaks to us about spirituality, the power with which his words are uttered dissolve the ignorance on the subject about which he is speaking, guided as they are by his thought, which manifests as his words. Even if we do not understand the words, the power contained in them will do its work.

What is Veda? It is what is said by that voice that comes from the heart. That Knowledge does not come from the intellect. It is not the product of the mentations of the individual. It is intuitive knowledge, which comes from the omnipresent and omniscient soul, the Holy Spirit. As the entire universe is only a modification of that Spirit, and there is no second, it is omniscient, and cannot be wrong. If we listen well to the heart, we are hearing the Veda. If another person says something from realisation, or we read an Upanishad or other revelation, that too is Veda, and it does not come from the intellect of the person that said it. His words are not his own, but merely a reflection of the Truth in your own heart. We do not know how to listen to our hearts, therefore we need the guru to pass on to us the necessary knowledge and instructions. His words do not come from his ego, for he has no ego, but from the Omniscient. When the guru speaks to us, God speaks to us.

Worldly pleasure is second-hand pleasure. That pleasure is mixed up with the attachment to a name and form outside, so a part at least comes from the world outside, therefore it cannot be pure. True pleasure, the original pleasure, comes solely from the heart, and shines from within, onto the world.