Vis'vamitra is the name given to me by Guru Dev when he accepted responsibility for my evolution and existence in September, 1994. It is common for the Guru to give the new disciple a name as an ideal to become. Since Guru Dev desires that I become Vis'vamitra, which means "friend to everyone", I wholeheartedly embrace the adventure.
Last night I asked Guru Dev what changes I should make to better cooperate with him, and what if anything could I do to serve him? He said that I should tell the story of how I came to know him and become his disciple, so I have embarked on that project today.
There is a story about how
Maharishi came to know his Guru Dev. All of his life he had made it a practice to visit saints and holy men whenever he could, because he deeply desired to find his Guru. One day he went to visit Swami Brahmanda Sarasvati who was the Sankaracharya of Jyotir Math. He arrived late at night and as he was approaching the home of Guru Dev a passing automobile's headlights illuminated the front of the house and for a moment he saw him sitting on the porch. At that moment he knew his search was over and there was his Guru Dev. He immediately surrendered his life to him.
Maharishi said that Guru Dev asked him about his life and what he was presently engaged in. Maharishi told him about his current occupation as a university student and Guru Dev sent him back to finish his education. When he returned to Guru Dev after graduation from university, he began to look for ways to be of service to him. Out of love and devotion and wanting to be of service to one who spoke very infrequently, and who had spent 50 years in silence in the forrest, Maharishi resolved to watch and study Guru Dev and come to know his mind.
Maharishi felt that he must anticipate what Guru Dev wanted and do it without being asked. He knew it must be possible to know the mind of Guru Dev if Guru Dev would allow it, so he began to worship him every day with a puja that he made up from the Guru Gita. It took Maharishi about three years of daily puja to Guru Dev before the fruit of his devotion came. After puja one day Guru Dev appeared to him in consciousness and said that from this point, "you may know my mind".
Maharishi used to do things that he knew, in consciousness, that Guru Dev wanted to be done, then he would tell Guru Dev (physically) of what he had done and Guru Dev would say "yes that is correct - I wanted you to do that". Like this, Maharishi's experience with Guru Dev in his heart was validated.
In time Guru Dev dropped the body and Maharishi keenly felt the loss. It is one thing to know that the Guru is in the heart and that he could know his mind on anything at anytime when the Guru is also physically alive and can validate the experience, but quite another to trust this experience when the Guru is no longer physically around. Maharishi grew in intimacy with Guru Dev and soon came to understand in consciousness that Guru Dev wanted him to embark on a project to create Heaven on Earth. It was at that point that Maharishi left the ashram to go into the world and teach what was to be known as Transcendental Meditation.
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