The Sacredness of the Feet of the Guru

This afternoon when I went to Bhagavan, I found someone singing a song, “Guru pada mahima”. After the singing was over, looking at me, Bhagavan said: “These songs have been written by Tatvarayaswami. You have heard of the sacredness of the feet of the Guru, haven’t you?” “Yes.

This afternoon when I went to Bhagavan, I found someone singing a song, “Guru pada mahima”. After the singing was over, looking at me, Bhagavan said: “These songs have been written by Tatvarayaswami. You have heard of the sacredness of the feet of the Guru, haven’t you?” “Yes. I have heard the songs. As the meaning of the songs is profound I thought some great personage must have written them,” I said. “Yes. There is a story behind it,” remarked Bhagavan. When I enquired what it was, Bhagavan leisurely related to us the story as follows:

“Both Tatvarayar and Swarupanandar decided to go in search of a Sadguru in two different directions. Before

they started they came to an understanding. Whoever finds a Sadguru first should show him to the other. However much Tatvarayar searched he could not find a Sadguru. Swarupanandar, who was the uncle of Tatvarayar was naturally an older man. He went about for some time, got tired, and rested in a place. Feeling he could no longer go about in search, he prayed to the Lord, ‘Oh Ishwara! I can no longer move about. So you yourself should send me a Sadguru’. Having placed the burden on the Lord, he sat down in silence. By God’s grace, a Sadguru came there by himself, and gave him tatva upadesa (Instruction for Self-Realization). It is the gist of that upadesa that got composed as a song, named Tatva-saram. That book has been published with a commentary and is very famous. The understanding arrived at by the uncle and his nephew, could not be implemented as the Guru passed away soon after. Under the circumstances, the uncle himself gave upadesa (instruction) to his nephew. Swarupanandar wrote only one book but Tatvarayar sang innumerable songs; amongst them “Gurupada mahima” is one. Though many other songs also are available, now several have been lost.”