Significance of Gurubhakthi...

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

As mentioned in the first slokam above, Guru (teacher) is God personified. There have been innumerable incidents and examples as to what Gurubhakthi can make a Guru do to the disciple. Baala Kaanda of Sri Raamayanam has multiple incidents of how Brahmarshi Viswamitra bestowed Sri Rama with so many things, just because of the Gurubhakthi that Sri Rama has shown. Needless to mention, all of those have been passed on to Lakshmana who treats Sri Rama as Guru, amongst multiple other things.

But in this, I would like to mention couple of incidents related to Sri Adi Sankaraachaarya related to Gurubhakthi.

Sri Adi Sankaraachaarya is always seen with 4 disciples. Check out any of his photographs (non solo) and you would see 4 disciples seated around him. They are Sri Padmapaadaachaarya, Sri Sureswaraachaarya, Sri Hastamalakachaarya & Sri Totakaachaarya (not sure about the order). I would like to mention about two incidents related to these disciples.

Once Sri Padmapaadacharya was on the other side of a small lake (could be a river too) and Sri Adi Sankaraachaarya called him. Hearing his guru’s voice Padmapaadaachaarya without thinking twice, rushed towards his Guru in a straight line without thinking about the water separating them. Because of his great devotion to his Guru, wherever he stepped on the water a lotus flower sprung up supporting his feet. Padmapaadaacharya could cross that lake easily and reach his guru. Such was his focus and dedication, that he did not realize where he was walking. Because Lotus (Padma) supported his Paada (Feet), he was named Padmapaadaachaarya.

Amongst the four disciples of Sri Adi Sankara, Totakaachaarya was relatively less talented. But he always kept himself busy in doing great seva to his guru. The following incident is a small showcase.

Once a jealous, but learned, person cast a spell on Sri Adi Sankara to see him die. Because of that Sri Adi Sankara suffered from a problem similar to Piles (Hemorrhoids). Sri Adi Sankara knew about that and he was capable of getting himself out of that problem, but still he did not bother about it. When he used to sit for teaching, within half hour to 45 minutes, the cloth on the bottom part of his body (Dhoti) would become completely wet with blood. Immediately Totakaachaarya would get up, get a fresh Dhoti for his guru. Then he would take the soiled one, wash it, dry it and keep it ready for the next change. During this time, he was not bothered whether he would be missing his Guru’s lecture or not.

For the ones who are curious as to how Sri Adi Sankara got out of that - Padmapaadaachaarya when he came to know about this, he used his power and figured out as to who had cast this spell on his Guru and became very angry. He is a great Nrusimha (Narasimha swamy) upaasakudu. Immediately he ensured that the spell got reversed and had Narasimha Swamy kill that person.

Coming back to our main topic – Once the class was about to start and Totakaachaarya was busy doing something and the other three disciples were waiting for the class to start. But Sri Adi Sankara was waiting for Totakaachaarya before starting the class. The other disciples felt that a bit strange because Totakaachaarya was anyway not much talented and why is it that their guru was waiting for him. Realizing this, Sri Adi Sankara called Totakaachaarya and as soon as he entered, Totakaachaarya started reciting Slokas on Sri Adi Sankara. Hearing this, the other disciples were surprised.

శంకరుల అనుగ్రహం వల్ల అతను అది చెప్ప గలిగారు.

Even today to perform any pooja for Sri Adi Sankara Totakaashtakam is recited. Sri Totakaachaarya has been blessed so because of his Gurubhakthi. So, a Guru can give anything to the disciple, provided the disciple does service to his/her guru diligently.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.