Tribute To Guru

He visited Guru in his ashram at Sivagiri on 22nd November 1922 and paid homage. He recorded that “I have been touring different parts of the world. During these travels, I have had the fortune to come into contact with several saints and maharshis. But I have frankly to admit that I have never seen one who is spiritually greater than Swamy Narayana Guru of Kerala, a person who is on par with him in spiritual attainment. I am sure, I shall never forget that radiant face illuminated by the self-effulgent light of divine glory and those majestic eyes fixing their gaze on far remote point in the distant horizon.

He visited Gurudev on 13th March 1925 and remarked:” I feel it as the greatest privilege in my life to have visited the beautiful state of Travancore and to have Darshan of venerable sage, Sree Narayana Guru. I had the fortune to stay one day in his holy Ashram. His Excellency the Regent Empress also spoke to me about the greatness of Guruswamy. I fervently hope that you would enforce his lofty ideals.

After meeting Guru, He said:” Sree Narayana Guru had not much to talk to me. For, he was the Mahatma of high intellectual supremacy. – (1916)

During recent centuries no one in India has enjoyed so much reverence as Sree Narayana Gurudev commanded, reverence so glorious so enduring, so comprehensive, so universal and so pure. Like the sun, by mere presence, he spread his light and love…. His life of renunciation has shown to numerous people the secret of the path of dedicated service or karmayoga. Rishi Narayana who has awakened Kerala is Pathangali in Yoga, Shankara in wisdom, Manu in the art of governance, Buddha in renunciation, Muhammad in strength of spirituality and Christ in humility, after 72 years spent in the dharma of human life has gone to whence he came…. For future generations he will be one of the divine personalities among the incarnations of God and the superhuman being of India’s Religious Lore.

I had a vision of God in human form, Sree Narayana Guru who was renowned in the southern-most part of India was that “supreme being”.

Sree narayana Guru is considered as one of the five or ten avatars that have appeared in India during the last hundred years. I had an opportunity to meet him when I had been to Kerala for Vaikkom Satyagraha. In those days he was residing at Varkala. There I had talk to him for an hour or two. My humble respect to the memory of this great sage.

Glasenapp does not say anything regarding the new religious manifestations in south India which are not negligible: such for example is the great Guru, Sree Narayana, whose beneficent spiritual activity has been exercising its influence during the past forty years in the state of Travancore on nearly two millions of his followers. His teaching, permeated with the philosophy of Sankara, shows evidence of a striking difference of temperament compared with the mysticism of Bengal, of which the effusions of love(bhakti) inspire in him a certain mistrust. He was, one might say, a Jnanin of action, a grand religious intellectual, who had a keen living sense of the people and of social necessities. He has contributed greatly to the elevation of the oppressed classes in south India, and his work has been associated at certain times with that of Gandhi.

It is natural that Kerala expresses its gratitude for the great service rendered by Sree Narayana Guru in the cause of religion and education and social uplift of the handicapped communities of Kerala. I was deeply impressed by him when I had the privilege of paying my respects to him in his Ashram at Sivagiri in Varkala.

I feel very happy to have come to a place where a great man lived and gave his message to the people. Where great men lived, that place becomes a holly ground something like a temple, because of their thoughts and prayers that lie enshrined there. Sree Narayana Guru lived here and from here radiated his message – the message of no caste, no division and he wanted to build up a casteless and classless society. That message is still very much needed in these days. In order to get a casteless, classless society, what are we to do? Many things have to be done. But the general approach which I presume is Sree Narayana Guru’s approach – the approach through the mind and heart and not of a compulsion and coercion. Where there is not this turning of the heart and mind, all other changes are likely to be superficial. I am most happy to have come to this place, to pay my tribute of this great man who lived here and spread his message from here

Sree Narayana Guru, the great social reformer and philosopher who raised the clarion call, onecaste, one religion, One God for man, is not an asset of Kerala alone but of the entire India.

A great social reformer, a staunch promoter of HinduReligion, and a true philosopher Sree Narayana Guru was a revolutionary yogi of Kerala, who showed, chopping of heads and certain of chaos and confusion are not necessary ingredients of revolution. Any sincere effort to transform the image of civilised life his revolution.

Among the galaxy of erudite saints who ennobled and enriched India’s cultural heritage, Sree Narayana Guru occupies a pride of place by sheer dint of his lofty ideals, unflinching loyalty to the canons of humanity, justice, truthfulness, “Bhakti” and his utter selflessness, transparent sincerity, humility, total renunciation of mundane desires and a commanding grip over spiritual knowledge. Sree Narayana Guru acquired a halo of his own and endeared himself to all strata of his devotees. Nothing gave him greater joy than to witness the amelioration of the deplorable plight of the “havenot and the underdogs of human society. He was peerless in compassion for the poorer sections of the community. A purely materialistic existence divorced from the ethical and spiritual elevation of the individual is inimical to the development of a harmoniously balanced, integrated human society. The spiritual leaders like Sree Narayana Guru have made valiant efforts towards focusing the attention of our people on these vital facts of deriving spiritual solace and blissful joy.

Sree Narayana Guru who felt the presence of God in all the living beings of the universe is the philosopher of Adwaita-Vedanda of the 20th century. It is said that sanyasins by virtue of their indomitable spiritual fervor and power of meditation protect the world to sustain itself. Sree Narayana Guru has proved the above statement beyond suspicion. Viewing from the above perspectives, Sree Narayana Guru is none other than the true reflection of the term “divinity”. His sublime philosophy has enlightened the humanity beyond the frontiers of India. The message of Sree Narayana Guru is all the more important in the present world than anything else.