My Tribute to Unsung Guru's on the occasion of "Guru Parv"

1. “Gurur-Brahmaa Gurur-Vissnnur-Gururdevo Maheshvarah |
Gurureva Param Brahma Tasmai Shrii-Gurave Namah “
Using this Guru Mantra I am conveying salutations and my gratitude to those entire fraternity of guru’s who
shaped me to be a better person since my birth. Every one of these great souls has given me an ounce of learning
every time I have come in to their contact.
As they say when a “Seeker is genuinely ready, Guru will appear on his own”. Very true, in every situation of our
helplessness and we are seeking some help and solace, with or without our realization, we get to see someone
whom we know or do not know, comes to our help and most of the time either we are out the situation
completely or might have mitigated the situation to a manageable to extent. Every such great soul or the situation
from whom or which I would have learnt even an iota of learning, I would call them as my Guru’s and salute them.
In my twenty one years of studentship and twenty three years of professional sales (?) career, I have witnessed
many great souls, from some I have learnt “What to do and how to do? (Correctly)” and from many others I have
learnt “What not to do & how not to Do? (Correctly)”. Everyone definitely have taught me a lesson or two & to
respect every learning, salutations to all of them again.
I have learnt little from many good men and a great amount of it from others. Few key personnel and learning as
follows:
My mother is the first guru and she kept fortified a good old Kannada saying “Maneye Modala Pathashale, Tayiye
Modala Guru” which means “Home is the First School and Mother is the First Teacher”, by teaching me strong
human values and courage to lead life as it comes.
My Father gave me lessons of hardship and lessons on pressure handling. My first school teacher from village who
taught me how to read, write and comprehend the literature. My high school and college teachers showed me a
world outside the student life. Few good colleagues and seniors in my early career taught me the basics of Sales
and Distribution function. My wife taught me to be a caring husband and my accountability towards my family and
children. My little children showed me a way to be happy and smiling in every kind of situation. My relatives taught
me how to behave in a relationship and my friends shaped my social skills in general.
Apart from these very few people gave me lessons that made me a person of current caliber and substance. I can’t
forget the learning from a choosy consumer, hard a negotiating customer, a slimy distributor, a career oriented,
self-centered smart colleague, Job ticker yes master kind of an associate & a highly sharp, disciplined, process and
result oriented supervisor. Also can’t forget few lethargic ones with humongous potential but never made it to the
next level and few good persons who grew to a limited level only by working thru interpersonal skills. Came across
very few people with a proper balance of both “Functional and Interpersonal Skills” and they are the ones who
have given me a great deal of learning.
Initially I wasted time in search of an appropriate guru based on my confused wants and Perceptions, as I did not
knew what I wanted. I did not know, why I wanted a guru, how a guru should look like, behave like or talk like.
I wanted a fancy guru by talking about him wanted to flaunt my pseudo spiritual, philosophical and
philanthropically inclined and growing self. I searched for them in all religious places, on religious channels; in you
tube posts, in publications and elsewhere too. Too many choices, too much of confusion, whom to choose and
whom not choose.

2. I felt like anyone, in whatever their field is, if he has achieved some better & distinct knowledge, expertise,
experience, way of presentation compared to aam admi in any field have become a guru, of course they will have
followers. One’s weakness is the exploiting point for the other, all sorts of greed laced insecurities of us, our
inabilities to cope up to those situations which are beyond our physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual
abilities make us search for solace in someone’s thought, talk, touch and tenderness. In whom we see the required
quantum solace for these weaknesses, he become guru of our choices. That is what has happened to me. I also
went by the suggestions of few more confused characters like me and try to follow their need sufficing and
recommended Guru’s, of course without realizing everyone is different and everyone’s needs are different and
there by everyone’s choices are different.
Sometimes I feel today’s technology based visibility and mass reach has made many of these kind of guru’s popular
beyond their worth. I am not talking of such guru’s here.
India with its rich intellectual and spirituals heritage has seen many great guru’s Vedavyas, Valmiki, Adi Shankara,
Buddha, Mahaveera, Ramana Maharshi, Nanak Sahib,Vivenkananda, Chinmayananda and many more have true to
put their efforts to build the Intellectual, moral and spiritual India that we live today. I salute such a Gurus &
Parampara.
Similarly, we find a great soul in each and every field who has given a lot of learning to shape ourselves in terms of
Knowledge, Skill and Attitude and I salute them too.
In the end I wanted to say as far as I am concerned anyone in any kind of situation who is giving any kind of
learning for my betterment of myself in terms Physical, Emotional, Intellectual and Spiritual strengths, I will treat
them as my gurus and will keep respecting them and their contributions for ever.
Like in the meaning of shloka “Sahanavatu, Sahanau Bhunaktu, Sahaveeryam karavahai, Tejaswinam
Dheetamastu Ma vdivashavahai, Om Shanti, Shanthi Shanthihi”, let me and my each guru work together, seek
together, learn together, strengthen our knowledge and intellect and grow together. Be better together.
Hope, while reading this you too have remembered your unsung Gurus and saluted their efforts in shaping you and
your career.
Jai Gurubhyonamah.

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