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One of the major challenges that many practitioners run into, when they take on Guruji’s teachings, is the existence of many variations of the same teaching, idea or practice. For instance, in the practice of ṣaṭcakra japa one may find number of different ways to position the cakras in the body (i.e. symmetrical, centred and mixed). By going through his teachings on yantra pujas one may notice different variations of the same mantra or different sequence of steps. This can be quite challenging for a person who is looking for consistency and logic to be present in his writings.
All of this stems from Guruji’s unique free spirited nature, his intellectual curiosity and the incessant drive for experimentation which can be seen in many facets of his life.
Physics: Guruji thoroughly enjoyed pure physics and fondly remembered the free experimentation environment at TIFR early on in his career. “‘The motivation came from inside, and once it came there was no stopping us,’ Guruji said. ‘We were at it from 6 o’clock in the morning until 12 o’clock midnight, and then coming back for more.’ His direct supervisor Professor B.V. Thoson was… a staunch advocate of complete intellectual freedom for his scientists. Without it, he believed, they would devolve into mere wage-earners doing their bosses’ bidding. He wanted his scientists to break boundaries, not submit to them.”
Food: Guruji was a major foodie. "He possessed no natural culinary talent but loved experimenting in the kitchen, trying to discover new flavors by “combining the most bizarre ingredients”—while often forgetting the most common ones, such as salt. “Dad would constantly pester us to sample his latest creations,” [his daughter] Radha laughed. 'Needless to say, we were less than enthusiastic to do so!' At one point he was researching and experimenting with the art of baking pakodas rather than frying them."
Social Projects: "One project that particularly captures the breadth of Guruji’s intellectual curiosity—as well as his willingness to experiment with real-world techniques and get his hands dirty applying them—was his design and construction of 'low-cost, fire-retardant geodesic dome houses for pilgrims and other visitors at Devipuram,' with the underlying goal of demonstrating the viability of such designs in rural India.'"
Sri Vidya: "Guruji took radical attempts to popularize Sri Vidya and conservative practitioners continually questioned the legitimacy of his efforts. They complained that his lack of secrecy, his openness to other traditions, and his free mixing of eclectic influences (from nuclear physics to Reiki) created an ungainly, unholy hybrid that was no longer truly Sri Vidya at all. Indeed, Guruji’s open-minded ease with hybridization often surprised even Western seekers—many of whom had, after all, sought him out precisely because he was an acknowledged guru in an ancient, authentic Hindu lineage, and his teachings carried a corresponding authority. But Guruji was not interested in preserving some abstract conception of “purity” for its own sake—his criteria for any practice always focused primarily on the question of what worked and why. In an effort to popularise Sri Vidya and bring it to the masses, he constantly looked to distill and simplify rituals. He went through numerous versions of a simplified Sri Chakra puja ritual (i.e. Triveni Kalpam) before eventually coming to one called Kalavahana, which itself had number of different variations.
sources: "Goddess and the Guru"
