I was watching a programme of religious tours on TV last week and the place of interest in the episode that I watched was Kaladi. Kaladi is a beautiful place in Kerala, India. It is so beautiful that I was totally mesmerized by its beauty and felt an extreme urge to visit the place some day. Kaladi is special because it is the birthplace of Adi Shankara, the famous Religious Guru and Hindu Philosopher. He was born in the 7th Century AD and attained Samadhi at the young age of 32, though accomplishing a lot in the short span of time. Visit this page for a short life history of Adi Shankara.
As I listened to the commentary by the programme anchor, it dawned upon me that all the ‘Gurus’ – be it in the field of religion, science, philosophy or business – are those that have shared the knowledge that they obtained. They are people who’ve brought the ‘unknown’ into the realm of the known for the benefit of laymen. Adi Shankara, for example, shared his insights with laymen and disciples by translating and adding commentaries to the principal Upanishads (Hindu scriptures), and the Bhagavad-Gita so that the common man could gain more wisdom and lead a better life. That was the very essence of his life! Knowledge sharing is indeed a divine objective. It appears that many religious (and science/music/literary) Gurus have shown up just to contribute to this divine objective.
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