No 001--dt 25nd Dec 2010- OUDAMBER Tree-

GURU TATTVA

Salutations to our Guru Parampara - 

Guruve Sarva Lokaa Naam, Shree Dakshina murtaye Namaha. 

to start this series on Prakruti and with Blessings of  Guru and Ved Mata Shree Gayatri Devi

No 001--dt 25th Dec 2010

GENESIS 
This Prakruti Mother Nature  subject, was initially taken up in emails to a small circle of friends some time back. in mid 2000. .Later it was developed as a Group document  in Face Book by me.. 
At Shree Datta Jayanti in December 2010 it was taken up as a Blog .

Dhyan moolam---  Guru Moorti (Image /Photo)

Pooja Guru ---Guru Padam i.e Feet /Padukas

Mantra Moolam--- Guru Vaakya (Words in mantra form)

Moksha Moola -Guru Kripa (as Anugraha only)

(Pandit Jasraj usually starts any music programe with this slokha)--

NOTE----

Pooja Guru -often father/mother or Grandfather/Grandmother -or an elder, who teaches /initiates us as children to daily Prayer.

Dhyana Guru, Mantra Guru and  Sat guru is mostly only a Math Head - i.e.usually a Spiritual Head- the "Mathadipathi".

In  rare cases-- an elder,a good mentor or teacher..and well wisher -who cares for you and Guides you in Life-So many people help us in life and guide us when in difficulty and when we look back  it all started  in child hood and continued at every stage,

We had a week of Pravachana on  Shree Datta Jayanti &Shree Dakshinamurthy by Sri. V.Rajgopal Bhat, at SA Sabha, Chennai.

EXTRACT-quoted
DATTATREYA-DATTATRAYA: The phrase ‘Datta”actually has the meaning of ‘given' or ‘granted'. The common etomology for Dattatreya's name is ‘he who has given' (Datta) to Atri(Atreya)- as Atri desired a son and the gods were pleased with his penance and austerity, the God Vishnu gave himself up and was born to Anasuya. Another explanation is he was ‘given up' (Datta) the three-traya. “The three” were is a reference to three gunas- Rajo guna, Sattava guna and Tamo guna which is a tripartite scheme for classifying the physical world.”Datta” means not only “that which is given” but also as the ideal of “giving” without desire for reward, i.e., selfless giving. The whole life of Dattatreya shows us that this “giving” selflessly is the true renunciation/sacrifice.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Our Shree Chitrapur Math Guru 

 When do you find a Guru-

Ans: WHEN YOU SEEK & ARE READY & RECEPTIVE

RELEVANCE TO OUDAMBER Tree- Sri Rajgopal Bhat Maam in his Pravachan on DattaJayanti of Dec 2009 at Chennai Sabha SA, referred to the greatness of the Oudamber Tree and Lord Dattatreya - as a Guru and the relationship from Srimad Bhgaavatam. 
This site gives details of the Oudamber tree-in 001 blog post.


Oudamber Tree-also known as Cluster Fig, Cluster Tree, Clustertree, Country Fig, Gular Fig, Redwood Fig . Between 37 and 43 genera and 1100 1400 species: widespread in tropical and subtropical areas, less common in temperate areas; nine genera and 144 species (26 endemic, five introduced ) in China.
Local names--
SANSKRIT- Gular, Hemadugdhaka, Jantuphala, Sadaphalah, Udumbar, Udumbara, Udumbarah, Yajnanga
HINDI----Ambar (Bombay), जािगया डूमर, Domoor, Doomar, Gular, Jagya Dumur, Udumbara, Umar, Umbar
TAMIL---Anai (As F Glomerata), Athi, Attee Marum, Atthi, Atti, Malaiyin Munivan (As F Glomerata), Utumparam (As F Glomerata), Vellaiatthi
Kannada - Alhi, Atthimara, Atti
Telugu- Arri, Athi, Bodda, Maydi, Paidi, Udumbaramu


Oudamber fruit is dear to the Lord Dattatreya -refer this site of fruit trees: 
See Oudumbar fruit sinhagad tree.JPG
www.flowerpicturegallery.com


http://zipcodezoo.com/Plants/F/Ficus_racemosa/
Family Moraceae
Trees, shrubs,vines, or rarely herbs, frequently with milky or watery latex, sometimes spiny Fruit  enveloped by an enlarged calyx and/or immersed in a fleshy receptacle, often joined into a syncarp. Seed solitary; endosperm present or absent.
Regards
TR 

Quote from AOL -(TOI-)
 Life sometimes seems very complicated. There is pleasure, pain, happiness, suffering, generosity, greed, passion and dispassion. When our life is full of such opposing values, our mind sometimes becomes unable to handle these complications and just breaks down.

It is then that you need wisdom to guide you through troubled times. Guru is that wisdom. You might have noticed you give great advice when you are not involved in a situation but the same is not true when you are in trouble. This is because wisdom dawns when you are out of the mess. Guru is one who is out of the mess. He watches the chaos, amidst the chaos.

Guru is like a circuit breaker. When you cannot handle life, your guru comes and saves so that you remain sane and balanced. If there is a compelling desire that bothers you, your guru is there to offer solace. You offer all your desires and pain to your guru. Having a guru means being able to relax and smile all the time, walk with confidence, be fearless and have a vision. That is wisdom.

Guru is a tattva -- an element, a quality inside you. It is not limited to a body or form. Guru comes in your life in spite of your refusing or being rebellious. The guru principle is so vital in life. There is an element of the guru in every human being. That wisdom in each has to be invoked, awakened. When this element is awakened, misery in life disappears. In our consciousness, wisdom comes to life when guru tattva comes to life. When we have no desires of our own, then the guru tattva dawns in our life. Wake up and see that our life is changing every moment and feel grateful for whatever you have received.