The desire to achieve recognition or status and the fights for our entitlements depict a laukik or an alaukik stage - any desire or competition with others for humble service portrays Akshardham - Pappa

All forms of life, human or animal hold a burning desire to flaunt and exhibit their own status and achievements and go to extreme lengths to do so. The matter they endeavour to show off may be a wife, wealth, fame, some possession or some power that they hold. It may be their virtuous character, the depths of their knowledge, their power of omniscience - an alaukik characteristic, which they wish the world to witness, acknowledge and admire. Their whole life is spent in an endeavour to amplify their ego - thus they become conceited and egocentric.

When the sadhak makes an affiliation with a Gunatit Guru, from the outset, the guru endeavours to remove the ego and its negative connotations. The guru begins to obliterate the sadhak’s skills, aptitude, intelligence, pride, fame, wealth and status - all matters which lead to the augmentation of his ego. The guru devises circumstances which effect the obliteration, making the sadhak immune from the forces of lok, bhog, déha and paksh - eventually he attains the status of a Gunatit; where he experiences the following: “I am nothing.”
The guru perseveres for the day the sadhak reaches this ultimate goal. Everything the guru does, his prayers, sankalpas, all his endeavours, all incidents are instigated in order to purify the chitta (emotional mind) and obliterate any intense desires, ambitions, ideals therein, and to instil a state of spiritual tranquillity and equilibrium in the sadhak. Thus according to the Gunatit Gnan, the guru endeavours to help us realise and acknowledge that worldly recognition is a hindrance in our sadhana - it is a vice. The sadhak holds a desire for alaukik recognition and endeavours to attain powers of omniscience, other supernatural powers, enjoys worldly pleasures and seeks to attain the status equivalent to a God. The guru perseveres to get the sadhak to recognise this stage - known as the laukik or alaukik stage. The guru may explain via spiritual discourses, if the sadhak fails to recognise it and steer clear from this stage, he may have to experience its pitfalls first-hand. The guru will pursue this until the sadhak no longer desires such recognition. The guru will continue praying and instigating incidents via his sankalpas, until the day when the sadhak whole-heartedly seeks nothing but altruistic worship of the Lord, until he desires nothing but to remain in brahm-bhav and he sincerely believes that he is nothing but a slave of the Lord. Then the sadhak will receive clear inspiration of the Lord, through the divine inspiration he will become an altruistic devotee and will remain constantly in Gunatit-bhav. This is the service the gurus perform for the Lord; the purification of the sadhak’s chitta.

Thus according to our religion, the worldly forces influence and corrupt the sadhak, thus the beliefs, convictions and ideals are actually self-deceptive. Due to these self-deceptions, the sadhak convinces himself that whatever he does is in fact the worship of the Lord and it leads to his eventual downfall. If the sadhak is affiliated with a Gunatit Guru, then the guru will never abandon him and will endeavour to reveal his self-deceptions. This is the greatest grace and compassion that can be bestowed upon the sadhak, thus it is stated that the whole burden of our sadhanas is borne by our gurus. Even if we are apt to make mistakes, we are saved from making them, by whatever means, the gurus lead us onto the righteous path.

Glossary