Chapter Six — The Three Bodies and the Grace of the Guru

The commentator explains the progressive meaning of verse 30. The mantra received from the guru destroys accumulated karma and loosens identification with the gross body. By understanding the mantra’s meaning, the aspirant recognizes the eternal form of the desired relationship and worships Sita and Rama with steadfastness.

As spontaneous devotion matures in the relation of servant and served, identification with the subtle body comes to an end and the soul’s natural spiritual form becomes manifest. The causal body is finally consumed in the fire of separation from the Divine Beloved. When the three coverings have thus fallen away, the soul becomes fully qualified for its eternal relationship.

Jananī-janakau samyag jñātavyau prathamo vidhiḥ,
Ācāryasya svarūpaṃ ca tathā tat-sevanaṃ mune. (31)

O sage, the first discipline is to know Sita and Rama truly as one’s mother and father, to understand the nature of the ācārya, and then to serve the teacher.

The living being is an imperishable portion of the Lord: conscious, pure, and by nature a treasury of happiness. The guru is the cord of Sita and Rama’s grace, and that cord itself is born from their gracious glance. Their grace is therefore the soul’s true mother and father.

The births and deeds of Bhagavan and of those who have become vessels of his grace are divine. One who understands this abandons bodily bondage and does not return to worldly existence. Entering the spiritual womb of the ācārya, the disciple practises sacred discipline, becomes established in the teaching, and advances toward the supreme union.

Physical parents fashion the body, but the ācārya gives the holy birth that does not decay or die. The beautiful fruit of this divine knowledge is the opportunity to behold and serve the guru, the saints, and those filled with loving attachment to Bhagavan.