Great Guru - Swami Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda

In the prelude of the great epic Mahabharata, we come across an interesting story. There lived a sage called Dhowmya during the time when Parikshit was ruling the kingdom after the Pandavas. He was running a school in the forest. No one had ever seen him open his mouth and teach his students. Surprisingly, his students, after studying under him for a couple of decades, would become great scholars. The other sages living during that period had given the nickname ‘Ayodanta’ to Dhowmya. Ayodanta means one who has teeth of iron (to indicate that his mouth never opened).

A boy named Upamanyu came to the hermitage to study under Dhowmya. Upamanyu’s parents left after Dhowmya accepted their son as his disciple. Many days passed and still Dhowmya had not taught even a single letter to Upamanyu. After a couple of years passed by without any education, Upamanyu gathered some courage and asked his Guru "Gurudev! Will you please give me some assignment?"

"So you want to do something? Alright. From tomorrow onwards, take the cows for grazing."

© "Bhakti Mala" (July, 2001) published by Sri Bhakti Mala Trust, Mysore at Lakshmi Narasimha Mudrana, Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Ashram, Mysore 570 025. Reprinted with permission.

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