To have darshana is
to have a look at. This is a great blessing. To see a flower,
tree, a person. For that flower, tree, person, is living for us,
and we drink in its attainments as well as our own. In Yoga, Darshana
of the guru is considered in itself precious. Even though the
aspirant can only see what he/she can, nevertheless his/her mood of respect
and indeed reverence for all things is the exercise of his/her "can-ing,"
and provides for its growth, and as he/she progresses he/she my
be able to see more the "master-ness" in the master, and be less taken
up with the human-ness of him/her.
But in this there must be no ulterior motive; the growth is only through
the happiness which is in the seeing. The rishis (seers) had, and have,
much of this.
The term Darshana in course of time came to mean an outlook, hence a
system of philosophy. The great Darshanas of old India are given as
six: the Vaisheshika (analysis of the universe), Nyaya (laws and facts
of logic), Sankhya (classification of the universe), Yoga (practice
of union), Mimansa (laws of formal religion), and Vedanta (knowledge
of God).
