"So, next is for you to take me as your teacher," Ganesha said to Rudra.
"Focus, Rudra, I'll teach you something before we officially become teacher and student."
"You see, Rudra, taking a student or accepting someone as your teacher is a pretty big deal."
Lord Ganesha looked at Rudra, who was sitting on the rock. They folded their hands behind their backs and began giving Rudra the first lecture of the day.
"First step in accepting someone as your Guru is Inner Readiness; Before performing the ceremony, a student has to be ready and has to prepare himself/herself inwardly."
They paused for a moment and continued,
"Guru, searches for a few qualities in the student who has come to his doorstep to be accepted as a student. And those are:."
They raised their right hand and started counting by fingers,
"First, a sense of humility; for learning is not something that can be done passively, a student must have humility, for if he/she just isn't humble enough, they will keep on interrupting their teacher and always try to find the wrong in every sentence. So, for starters, he/she must wholeheartedly believe that he or she is a blank slate and doesn't know anything, and the one he/she has chosen as the teacher will guide them to a correct path."
They raised their second finger.
"Next is desire, it is the most important and is the driving force behind every action we take. So, for a student to learn actively, he/she must have a driving force to learn, to know and to strive for, without it, you will never be motivated enough to do anything and achieve greatness."
Seeing Rudra paying attention to what they were saying, Ganesha smiled and,
They raised their third finger,
"Next is willingness to live a disciplined life; for if you can't live in discipline, you can't learn and do what must be done to learn and to move forward. You will stop, you will find yourself stuck, and you may even accept loss even before you are actually lost. Discipline gives the shape to desire; this shape gives the vessel to hold the knowledge, and when you hold the vessel in a steady hand, it is impossible for you even to mismanage a drop of liquid in it, and it won't fall from the vessel."
"And after that, I would have tested you. To see if you were showing all these qualities or not, if you were, I would have to accept you as my student; if not, I would have continued to observe you, and wait till you gave up on your own or you achieved those qualities."
After explaining this much to Rudra, who could continue with all these explanations, due to his enhanced mind and spirit the asked him a question,
"So, tell me, Rudra, why do you think I am accepting you as my student this early without any of the wait and patience to check if you have met those required conditions or not?"
And to which Rudra replies,
"Is it because you were asked by Mahadev and you think of me as your brother, so you accepted it?" Rudra guessed as he couldn't think of anything else.
To which Lord Ganesha shook their head,
"No, Rudra, it may have a small factor in play, but the most important reason is that we all, my siblings and I, have already observed you enough, and we can judge your character by seeing that much.
First, we have seen your humility, for you are still humble even knowing that from this point in your life, you are not different from us; you are divine blood, son of Mahadev and Mata Parvati. Even knowing that you are still humble.
Next is your desire, which you have already shown by asking to be given the chance to visit the past and live and see the epics with your own eyes, and so you definitely have a desire too.
Third, you have shown willingness to learn and willingness to live a disciplined life, even if you haven't shown that completely, we can help you in attaining and living in a disciplined life, as that's our role as your teacher and your siblings.
The most important of all, the reason that is enough for us to teach you is your Resolution; even knowing you could live with us in comfort, and we could just show you what you want, you have resolved yourself to visit the past and see everything and more than that, feel it with your own senses. That is the greatest quality any teacher can ask of their student, the resolve to watch it till the end. And that's why we all accepted you as our sibling and, most importantly, as our student."
"So, now that you have proven yourself, it is time you become my official disciple."
"So, stand up and do what I say,
First bow with your body and your presence in mind;
and with your heart say, 'I place myself lower than knowledge… so I can receive it.'
Second bow with your promise that you accept me as your teacher,
Third bow with your belief and ego on line and accept that you don't know anything and will listen to me wholeheartedly, but you are to ask questions when it's due.
Align your body, your words, and your inner state perfectly and accept balance."
"So,
Are you ready, Rudra, for this ceremony? I will give you a mark as a token to be identified as my student, and for you, I have just an item, and I know that you will like it." After saying this much, Ganesha manifested Rudraksh beads one with one face, one with eight faces, and to join them together, they pluck one hair from their golden-brown, matted hair, and with it, a bracelet of Rudraksh beads that was held together by their own hair was created.
"This Rudra will signify our bond as Teacher and Student. The one-faced bead represents our bond as teacher and student because of the direction of Mahadev, our father, the two-faced Rudraksh represent our bond as sibling and son of father and mother, and eight faced bead represents our bond as teacher and student. I have joined them together with my matted hair, for I hope that the intelligence and wisdom never leave you, and your powers and your belief are held together steadfast with wisdom that you will gain from me."
"Now, close your eyes and extend your hand forward and accept this bracelet and finally become my disciple and from you I will need a promise, promise me that as i have hope for you, you will always stay true to your belief and won't do anything without knowing and understanding the wisdom behind it, and asking yourself a question, that for why must that be done if it is needed to be done."
Rudra, with a touched heart, stood up and, with three bows, accepted Ganesha as his teacher,
One physical bow of humility and alignment.
One verbal bow of acceptance.
One mental bow of ego lessness and selflessness.
For he accepted Ganesha as his teacher in all aspects, from
Body, Speech, and Mind.
"Good, wear it and be my disciple in time to come."
Rudra wears the bracelet and, with this, accepts his first teacher.
With a nod of acceptance, Ganesha asks Rudra,
"Now come forward"
Rudra comes forward and with that,
Ganesha put his right hand on his head, leaned in and whispered into his right ear,
"Rudra, we have chosen a mantra for you, your siblings, and me. Together, we will give you one syllable each, and after completing it, you will have your mantra, your core around which your belief and your whole being and psyche will focus on,
From me, I give you the base, for what I represent, that is Earth, the first element of the five elements, and that is.
'Na', this is the second word of your belief, your Mantra.
This element stands for,
Stability, structure, foundation.
The body… the tangible.
What holds you in place and doesn't let you stray away from your way."
They whispered the word and its place three times in his ear,
'NA' (2nd word) _'NA' (2nd word) _'NA' (2nd word)
After hearing the word, the part of Mantra Rudra repeats in his heart with closed eyes and accepts it as his base and makes it the foundation of his belief.
"Good, now that you have your part of the whole Mantra, keep it in your mind and spirit and always stay true to it." Ganesha, with a smile on their face and a nod, says to Rudra.
"Now sit back on the stone. And we will begin your first official lesson.
First, as I said, I am stability, I am base, and so you must learn how to be stable and firm.
First, we will learn how to sit and how to stay focused on one thing.
Before touching energy…
Actions must be steady, Habits must be clean, Mind should not be constantly scattered.
Because whatever you amplify later… this is what will get amplified.
So, you must learn to be steady."
"Now open up and sit with a steady mind, you have already been given the greatest boons, the spirit and fire with the grace of nature and calm of water. So, it shouldn't be difficult. So go on, Rudra, sit, don't close your eyes now, take one thing in front of you as your Centre and keep your focus centered on it. And till Karthikeya arrives, you must achieve basic stability."
"Yes, teacher." Rudra gave a firm nod and sat comfortably, and to focus, he chose to focus on the waves of the pond.
For those waves were not like the ocean; the vast and out-of-control pond was structured.
A pond isn't chaotic like the ocean.It's contained… quiet… almost obedient.
And yet… one small disturbance, and the whole surface responds.
Seeing what Rudra has chosen as his focus centre, Ganesha was truly happy.
'Good Rudra, you have chosen the perfect focus centre,
Waves are not far from the mind.
They form… without your control, they spread… whether you like it or not, they fade… on their own.' Ganesha gave him a nod of acceptance,
'But waves are more of a movement rather than stillness, so would you stay focused and not take one wave as your focus point, as that wave will take your focus with it and when it fades away, so will your focus.
And when you try to follow one ripple,
Another may catch your eye, this is a distracting pattern, show me, Rudra, can your mind, blessed by divines comes to an answer, and can you achieve the focus you want to achieve. Or will you get lost in the waves in your distracting thoughts?