lunes, 29 de agosto de 2011

Seeing the Real Form of Guru

Seeing the Real Form of Guru

His Divine Grace Oṁ Viṣṇupāda paramahaṁsa parivrājakācārya aṣṭottara-śata  Śrī Śrīmad Gour Govinda Gosvāmī Mahārāja

By the supreme causeless mercy of my most revered spiritual master, Śrī Śrīmad A.C Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Prabhupādjī Mahārāja, for these last two days I have had the opportunity to have your divine association and to hear the offerings you are reading and speaking. I think that the good fortune to hear all of this has come only by the mercy of my Guru. I am a most fallen, degraded fellow. I am a worm in the stool. But you are so kind that you have spoken and read so many glorifications of this wretched person. I think it is not for me. It is all for my revered spiritual master, Śrī Śrīmad A. C. Bhaktivedānta Svāmī, and the previous Ācāryas. It is their due. It is not my due. Therefore I am receiving it and offering it to them. I can only do that, nothing else. I think to have your divine association is the kṛpā, mercy, of my Gurudeva and all the previous Ācāryas. They have given us this opportunity to remember them, to glorify them, and to hear about them.

On the appearance and disappearance days of the Gauḍīya-Ācāryas one should observe a festival, remember their pastimes, and glorify their qualities. If we neglect to observe the appearance and disappearance days of such revered spiritual masters, Ācāryas, Gurus, it will be a great offense. We should not be lazy on those days, but should be very active. We should arrange many festivals. We should speak with hundreds and thousands of mouths about their glorious activities and pastimes, and thereby we will get their mercy and Kṛṣṇa will become very pleased with us.

vaiṣṇava guṇa-gāna          karile jīvera trāṇa
śuniāchi sādhu guru mukhe
(Ācārya Vandanā, Vaiṣṇava dāsa)

All sadhus and gurus have said that if you glorify a Vaiṣṇava you will very easily be delivered.

When Kṛṣṇa came in the form of Mahāprabhu, He glorified the merciful activities and wonderful pastimes of the Vaiṣṇavas with hundreds of mouths.
On this special occasion you have arranged for Guru-pūjā. Actually the Guru should be worshiped every day. That is the disciple’s duty. But in our society, ISKCON, the International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, we offer worship to Prabhupāda every day and the grand-disciples offer their worship to their respective Gurus in their house or outside. It is our society’s law.

Real Guru

Before offering this Guru-pūjā, we should first understand who is real Guru. While offering obeisances to Guru we utter this mantra:

oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya
jñānāñjana śalākayā
cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena
tasmai śrī gurave namaḥ
(Prārthanā Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura)

I was born in the darkest ignorance and my spiritual master opened my eyes with the torch of knowledge. I offer my respectful obeisances unto him.

My eyes were not opened. I was groping in dense darkness. He who mercifully opened my eyes with the torchlight of knowledge is Guru. That dense darkness is ignorance. This praṇāma-mantra to Gurudeva means that the Guru is that great personality who, being causelessly merciful, tries to deliver me from this dreadful ocean of material existence.

Cheating

What is that ajñāna-andhakāra, dense darkness of ignorance?

Śrīla Kavirāja Gosvami says:

ajñāna-tamera nāma kahiye ‘kaitava’
dharma-artha-kāma-mokṣa-vāñchā ādi saba
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi 1.90)

The darkness of ignorance is called kaitava, the way of cheating, which begins with religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation.

tāra madhye mokṣa-vāñchā kaitava-pradhāna
yāhā haite kṛṣṇa-bhakti haya antardhāna
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi 1.92)

The foremost process of cheating is to desire to achieve liberation by merging into the Supreme, for this causes the permanent disappearance of loving service to Kṛṣṇa.

In the language of Śrīla Kavirāja Gosvami, this dense darkness is kaitava, cheating. That kaitava is:

Dharma-artha-kāma-mokṣa-vāñchā

Possessing desires in the heart for anyābhilāṣa, so-called religiosity, economic development, material desires and liberation. These are all kaitava, cheating. If you possess these desires in your heart, then your heart is covered with the dense darkness of ignorance. As a result:

Yāhā haite kṛṣṇa-bhakti haya antardhāna

Kṛṣṇa-bhakti will go far, far away from you. You cannot touch it. In our hearts are the desires for:
Bhukti, mukti and siddhi

Desires for material enjoyment, desires for material liberation, desires for mystic perfection, desires for name, fame, prestige, and adoration. These are the varieties of dense darkness prevailing in our heart. They may be there in a very subtle form rather than in a gross form. But as long as they are there in your heart you cannot get even a scent of bhakti.

Two Types of Guru

Śrīman Mahāprabhu is Prema-puruṣottama. He gives kṛṣṇa-prema indiscriminately. If we are serious and very eager to enter into the Prema-rājya, the kingdom of love of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, first we have to dispel the darkness of ignorance prevailing in our heart.

The question is, who can do so?

For this, mercy is required. Śrīman Mahāprabhu is the incarnation of wonderful mercy. He is so wonderfully merciful towards us. Guru-pāda-padma is His chief devotee, Mahā-bhāgavata, and whatever he says is Grantha-bhāgavata. There are two types of Guru, one is Grantha-bhāgavata, the scriptural incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, and the other is Bhakta-bhāgavata, the pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa.

Dui sthāne bhāgavata-nāma śuni-mātra
(Caitanya-bhāgavata Antya 3.532)

In two places we hear the name bhāgavata.

Grantha-bhāgavata, the scriptural incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, is recorded in the heart of the Bhakta-bhāgavatas. Bhāgavata-kathā, kṛṣṇa-kathā, in the form of śabda-brahma is recorded in their heart. Their heart is the tape recorder and that Bhāgavata-kathā, kṛṣṇa-kathā, is recorded there. It cannot be recorded through these material tape recorders.

No.

How can transcendental sound vibration be recorded through a material instrument?

We have to serve both Grantha-bhāgavata and Bhakta-bhāgavata daily:

Nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā.
(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.18)

It is a daily activity — nitya-karma. There are so many daily activities, eating, sleeping, bathing, cleansing the body, etc. Similarly, every day you should serve Grantha-bhāgavata and Bhakta-bhāgavata. Our Guru-vargas set the example for us, they were doing this daily. We have to render service to Bhakta-bhāgavata and Grantha-bhāgavata without duplicity, niṣkapaṭa-seva, with a simple heart. All of our previous Ācāryas, Gurus, have taught us this. If you render service with duplicity you cannot get their mercy. You will get only vañcana, cheating, and your service will not be accepted.

Association

What is the dense darkness prevailing in our heart?
How do we dispel it?

Duḥsaṅga-tyāga

We must give up the association of non-devotees. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says:

tato duḥsaṅgam utsṛjya
satsu sajjeta buddhimān
santa evāsya chindanti
mano-vyāsaṅgam uktibhiḥ
(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.26.26)

An intelligent person should therefore reject all bad association and instead take up the association of saintly devotees, whose words cut off the excessive attachment of one’s mind.

If you are very greedy, very eager to have Sādhu-saṅga, Sat-saṅga, the association of Grantha-bhāgavata and Bhakta-bhāgavata, first of all you have to give up duḥsaṅga or asat-saṅga.

What is association?

One may say that to come in close proximity to a person is association. But that is not the fact. Association takes place in the mind, in the heart. As long as there are desires for material enjoyment, desires for liberation, desires for mystic perfections, and other desires in your heart, then you are doing asat-saṅga. Even though you may come and sit here, and even though you may be staying in the temple, if all these thoughts and desires are in your mind, you are doing asat-saṅga, duḥsaṅga. You are not doing real Sādhu-saṅga.

If your heart is not crying how to have the real association of Grantha-bhāgavata and Bhakta-bhāgavata, then you cannot get their association. Even if you don’t go anywhere, if you just sit in one place, still you will have duḥsaṅga. The example is Saubhari Muni. He entered into the water of the Yamuna and stayed there for thousands of years, but still he had duḥsaṅga. In our minds there are hundreds and thousands of desires giving duḥsaṅga to us.

Is your stupid mind thinking about Kṛṣṇa?
Is your stupid mind thinking about the instructions of Sādhu-Guru-Vaiṣṇava?
Is your stupid mind thinking about the instructions of Mahāprabhu and His dear devotees?

If the stupid mind is not thinking these things, then you are doing duḥsaṅga, asat-saṅga. You are not doing Sādhu-saṅga at all. Externally or apparently you are staying in the temple, but you are really doing asat-saṅga.

We should think about it:

Are these thoughts pleasing to Kṛṣṇa?
Are these thoughts pleasing to Guru and Gaurāṅga?

Kṛṣṇa gave His most confidential instruction:

Man-manā bhava
(Bhagavad-gīta 9.34&18.65)

“Only think of Me.”

 Śrīman Mahāprabhu gave the same instruction:

ki śayane ki bhojane, kibā jāgarane
aharniśa cinta kṛṣṇa, balaha vadane
(Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya 20.28)

Whether asleep, awake, or eating your meals, think only of Lord Kṛṣṇa day and night. With your mouths speak only of Him.

Day and night, twenty-four hours:

Cinta-kṛṣṇa, balaha vadane

Think of Kṛṣṇa and utter His name — in all conditions, whether sleeping, waking, or even when taking food. This is Mahāprabhu’s instruction. So we should analyse what we are thinking about. Śrīla Kavirāja Gosvami describes what is duḥsaṅga:

‘duḥsaṅga’ kahiye — ‘kaitava’, ‘ātma-vañcanā’
kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa-bhakti vinu anya kāmanā
(Caitanya-Caritāmṛta Madhya 24.99)

Cheating oneself and cheating others is called kaitava. Associating with those who cheat in this way is called duḥsaṅga, bad association. Those who desire things other than Kṛṣṇa’s service are also called duḥsaṅga, bad association.

Duḥsaṅga means desiring things other than Kṛṣṇa and kṛṣṇa-bhakti. That is kaitava, cheating. It is ātma-vañcanā, cheating yourself, not cheating anyone else. If we don’t think of the happiness and pleasure of Kṛṣṇa, if we don’t think of kṛṣṇa-bhakti, if we think of something else and try to fulfil that desire, then even though we may be staying in the temple it is duḥsaṅga. With this frame of mind or heart one cannot have the association of Bhakta-bhāgavata or Grantha-bhāgavata and one cannot render service unto Guru, Bhakta-bhāgavata, or Grantha-bhāgavata.

Pretending

Guru-pāda-padma is very heavy, not light. Guru means heavy. He is gambhīra-vastu — very grave. We cannot approach him. We cannot go to him. If we are fortunate and we can go, then it is to be understood that there will be no more material attachment, no more material world. Thereby we will enter into Vaikuṇṭha. There will be no more dense darkness in our hearts, no more of these other thoughts in our minds, no more contamination. There will be no more duplicity, crookedness, and desire for name, fame, and prestige.

We should think deeply about it. We should make a self-inquiry:

“Have we reached Guru-pāda-padma?
Have we entered into his heart?
Is he really merciful towards us?
Is he really giving his darśana to us?”

If he gives his darśana, then there will be no more duḥsaṅga!

We are only pretending that we have done ātma-nivedanam, that we have surrendered. But we have not really surrendered. We have only been pretending, pretending, pretending for so many years, and also for so many years to come in the future. As long as we continue to act artificially we cannot approach Guru, Sadhu or Vaiṣṇava. We cannot get their mercy at all and therefore we cannot see their real form. We will be cheated. We will get all external things.

Faith with Taste

brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
(Caitanya-Caritāmṛta Madhya 19.151)

According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.

Wandering and wandering in lakhs of brahmāṇḍas, universes, one bhāgyavān jīva, a fortunate soul, by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa and Guru, gets the seed of bhakti creeper.

What is that seed?

It is śraddhā, faith. However, this śraddhā is not ordinary śraddhā. A karmī also has some śraddhā, a jñānī has śraddhā, and a bhakta has śraddhā. If you merely say śraddhā, it is not enough. In the words of Sadhu, Śāstra, and Guru there is an adjective to it:

Ruci-yukta-śraddhā

Faith with taste. This kind of faith is not available even after wandering in lakhs of brahmāṇḍas, but it is very easily available by the mercy of a Sadhu. If Guru-pāda-padma becomes very, very merciful and if he wants to give some fortunate jīva his most beloved beautiful Śyāmasundara, then by his merciful will that seed is available. Otherwise it will never be available. Just by his mere desire, that Guru-pāda-padma, Bhakta-Bhāgavata-Vaiṣṇava, can give that seed. Those who are very fortunate, bhāgyavān, they get it. Those who are ill-fated, hata-bhāga, they cannot get it. One should develop a very intense desire how to render loving service unto the lotus feet of Guru-Vaiṣṇava. Kṛṣṇa is the object of love, and His dear devotees, Sādhu-Guru-Vaiṣṇavas, are also the objects of love. Only one who has developed a keen desire or is inquiring in his heart gets it. Otherwise no one can get it. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says:

naiṣāṁ matis tāvad urukramāṅghriṁ
spṛśaty anarthāpagamo yad-arthaḥ
mahīyasāṁ pāda-rajo-’bhiṣekaṁ
niṣkiñcanānāṁ na vṛṇīta yāvat
(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.9.17)

Unless they smear upon their bodies the dust of the lotus feet of a Vaiṣṇava completely freed from material contamination, persons very much inclined toward materialistic life cannot be attached to the lotus feet of the Lord, who is glorified for His uncommon activities. Only by becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious and taking shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord in this way can one be freed from material contamination.

The dust of the lotus feet of a Mahātmā-Vaiṣṇava is our shower. As long as we have not showered with the dust of a Mahātmā-Sādhu-Vaiṣṇava, we cannot develop bhakti. Their mercy is the root cause of Śraddhā, faith. Obtaining it we will be able to develop Śraddhā, then Rati, and finally Prema.

Otherwise how can we get such a thing?

Even if one occupies the position of Brahma, still one cannot get that Prema. But a sādhaka, one practicing sādhana-bhakti, can very easily get Prema by the mercy of the dust of the lotus feet of a Sādhu-Mahātmā. We have gotten it because of the mercy of our revered spiritual master and masters. We have understood it because of their mercy.

“I Pray to You All”

Today on this auspicious occasion I have gotten this opportunity to offer my prayers at the lotus feet of such Gurus and Guru-vargas. I don’t know if their mercy will be available for me or not. I don’t know if I have good fortune or ill fate. Still, I have a very strong desire to get their mercy. I am a greatly greedy person for that.

For these last two days you have arranged this Guru-pūjā and spent much valuable time. As a friend I must tell you, I have many frailties, weaknesses, and disqualifications in me. I am telling you the truth. We have all come here being attracted to the lotus feet of Guru-pāda-padma, our revered spiritual master Śrī Śrīmad A. C. Bhaktivedānta Svami Prabhupāda and the previous Ācāryas. Those Gurus are very rich people. They are not materially rich, but their wealth is Prema-dhana‚ love of God. We have come here with the greed how to get that wealth, that Prema-dhana. That is our purpose in coming here.
For the last two days you have all offered śraddhāñjali, homages, unto me. Although I am a most fallen and wretched worm in the stool, you have glorified me. Indirectly, by your glorification, you have given me a hint of how I can possess all these good qualities. Therefore, bowing my head with folded hands I offer prayers to you one and all. Today we have gotten an opportunity to make our offerings from the core of our hearts to the lotus feet of such Ācārya-Guru-vargas.

But how can I offer such pūjā?

I am not Guru, I am aguru, laghu. In Sanskrit, laghu, light, is the opposite of Guru, heavy.

For one who is laghu, how will he be able to see Guru?

By some of the very small and insignificant portion of mercy that I have gotten from my Guru Mahārāja, I am trying my best to render service to his lotus feet. On this day I request you, one and all, please help me in this effort. I request your heartfelt love, help, and cooperation. I consider this my asset. Otherwise I cannot render such service.

Quadruped

Many people have doubt in Guru-pāda-padma. If you have doubt then you cannot make advancement. In the Gītā, Kṛṣṇa says:

Saṁśayātmā vinaśyati
(Bhagavad-gītā 4.40)

“A doubtful person perishes.”

Criticism and doubt are not bhakti. In bhakti there is only sevya and sevaka — the relationship of servant and master. One who is real Guru never says:

“I am Guru.”

He sees everyone according to:

Jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya 20.18)

He sees their svarūpa; he sees that all are servants of Kṛṣṇa.

The Guru has such vision. His vision is not material vision, therefore he is Guru. Through him we get Bhagavan Kṛṣṇa. Guru says:

Tṛṇād api sunīcena
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi 17.31)

“I am lower than the straw in the street.”

He is so humble. He has no pride in being a Guru:

“Don’t you know who I am?

I am a great Guru! Great Ācārya!”

This is dambha, pride. It is a demoniac characteristic, not a divine characteristic. It is not a characteristic of a Vaiṣṇava-Sādhu-Guru. A real Guru has such humility. If one thinks:

“I am Guru.”

Then he is not Guru. He is goru, a quadruped, a cow or a bull.

Great Danger

I have no qualification to become Guru. I have no desire to become Guru. That was not the purpose for which I left my home. My Guru said:

“Accept disciples. Give them training.

Otherwise how can you do this project?
You should have your own men, otherwise how can you manage it?”

He told me again and again. He also wrote me a letter:

“Under your leadership this project will be done.”

At that time I said: “

My dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, I don’t want to be the head. I want to be the tail.”

But he said:

“I want!”

That means that my Gurudeva wants that I become Guru and accept disciples. To accept disciples means to welcome very great danger. You should understand that I am in a very, very dangerous situation. I cannot eat. I cannot sleep at night. You will never find a more distressed person than myself, a person who is in a more dangerous situation than I am. So with folded hands I request you, please protect me. This is my request at your feet today. This is the desire of my Guru that I remain in such a dangerous situation. By this he will be happy and pleased. Therefore for his pleasure I have accepted this dangerous situation to become Guru and accept disciples. I think my Guru has sent all of you to me just to give me protection, not to put me in a more dangerous situation. Therefore my request to you is to please protect me. To accept disciples means to keep up the missionary activities that Guru has started. We are goṣṭhyānandī’S, preachers. So we have to keep up the missionary activities that our Guru has started. Not that we just occupy the āsana, the seat of Guru.

No.

Topmost Guru

Kṛṣṇa is gopī-Guru, Guru-vallabha, and Guru-nātha.

 If you go up and up in the Guru-paramparā, where will you reach?

You will reach Kṛṣṇa. The Guru-paramparā begins from Kṛṣṇa. But Kṛṣṇa says:

rādhikāra prema Guru, āmi śiṣya naṭa
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi 4.124)

“Rādhārāṇī is My Guru, I am Her disciple.”

That means that in the Guru-paramparā the topmost position is occupied by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. She is gopī-śreṣṭha, the topmost gopī. Therefore in Guru-tattva you will find, Gopī-Guru, Guru-vallabha, Guru-nātha, the master or husband of the gopīs is Kṛṣṇa. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, a famous Guru, ācārya, in the Gauḍīya line, says:

gopīnātha, kemone śodhibe more
(Kalyāṇa-kalpataru, Upalabdhi vijñapti 1)

“O Gopinath! How can You purify me?”

I am a disciple and I will always remain a disciple of my Guru. This is śiṣya-abhimāna, the attitude of a disciple. O Gurudeva, I am a speck of dust at your lotus feet. I am not equal to you. I cannot sit on equal āsana with you. I am your servant. Let my heart be always tinged with this dāsya-bhāva — mood of servitor-ship. This is the prayer of the true disciple. He never says:

“I am Guru.”

He always remains as the disciple of the Guru.

Accept Discipline

One should be very eager to see Guru. If one wants to see Guru or see his Guru-ship, how he is Guru, then he should always remain as a disciple and give opportunity to his Guru to inflict discipline on him. He is a true disciple. He will see the real form of Guru. Otherwise you cannot see the real form of Guru. Unless you remain under strict discipline you cannot have the darśana of Guru. Śiṣya, disciple, does not mean to just pose or dress a certain way. That is not śiṣya. There are many who are śiṣya in name only. One is a real śiṣya who gives opportunity to his Guru to inflict punishment on him and who accepts the punishment and discipline inflicted on him very gladly. Otherwise he is not a śiṣya at all. The true Guru is he who engages his disciples and who inflicts discipline on them to help them give enjoyment to Kṛṣṇa.

Agastya-saṁhitā describes who cannot be a disciple:

akṛtyebhyo ‘nivāryāś ca
Guru-śikṣā sahiṣnavaḥ
evam-bhūtāḥ parityājyāḥ
śiṣyatve nopakalpitāḥ
(Śrī Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, 1.68)

Those disciples who do not turn away from what should not be done and who cannot bear to follow the spiritual master’s teachings should be rejected. They are not fit to be disciples.

He who is incorrigible, who cannot be corrected in spite of repeated punishment, who cannot tolerate the discipline of Guru, cannot be a disciple. He should be rejected.

Get out from here!

What is the duty of the śiṣya, disciple?

In Viṣṇu-smṛti it is said:

na guror apriyaṁ kuryāt
tāditaḥ pīḍito ‘pi vā
nāvamanyeta tad-vākyaṁ
nāpriyaṁ hi samācaret
(Śrī Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, 1.99)

Even if the spiritual master hits him or gives him trouble, the disciple should not act to displease him. The disciple should never disrespect his spiritual master’s words. The disciple should never act to displease his spiritual master.

ācāryasya priyaṁ kuryāt
prāṇair api dhanair api
karmaṇā manasā vācā
sa yāti paramaṁ gatim
(Śrī Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, 1.10)


A disciple who with his life, wealth, actions, mind, and words pleases his spiritual master goes to the supreme destination.

These are the qualities of a ṣaṭ-śiṣya, a true disciple. Although he may be persecuted and harassed by Guru, still he will never think ill of Guru. He will never do anything that will give distress or pain to Guru. He should have unflinching faith in the words of Guru. He should not disregard the Guru’s words at any time. He always offers respect to his Guru within his heart — not externally, duplicitously. He engages whatever intelligence, knowledge, or wealth he has received through his body, mind, or speech in always rendering loving service to Guru. Such a disciple will definitely go back to home, back to Godhead, and get Kṛṣṇa. One who gives opportunity to the Guru to inflict discipline on him is a disciple. In the Gītā Arjuna tells Kṛṣṇa:

Śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam
(Bhagavad-gītā 2.7)
“I surrender unto You, Gurudeva, please purify me and inflict discipline on me.”

Treasure in the Heart

When this mentality is there then one is really surrendered, śaraṇāgati. He will then inquire, he will put forward questions on tattva, and he will engage in loving service to Guru:

praṇipāta, paripraśna, sevayā
(Bhagavad-gītā 4.34)

If there is no true surrender, there will be no inquiry and no service rendered. These three things will simultaneously arise in someone who follows Guru. Then he will get the mercy of Guru and he will see the svarūpa, the eternal transcendental form of Guru, Guru-darśana. Whatever laghu-tva, lightness, is there in him, whatever is opposite to Guru-tva, will completely vanish. Then there will be no laghu-darśana. He must have Guru-darśana. If one develops this mentality, then any contamination in the heart or mind will immediately vanish. The real śiṣya will be able to enter into the heart of Guru and get the treasure of prema-dhana. As in the hereditary process the son receives the wealth that the father possesses, similarly, spiritual father and spiritual son. One who is a genuine disciple will be able to get the prema-dhana, the real asset in the heart of Guru.

My heart is a desert. Still, my Gurudeva is so merciful that he put the bhakti-latā-bīja, the creeper of devotion, in this desert-like heart and is trying to nurture it so that it will grow, produce flowers, and bloom. I am a most insignificant creature. I am a worm in the stool. I have no strength, no capability at all to glorify the qualities of my Guru. Still, getting your love and affection, your association, whatever my Guru and Gaurāṅga have prompted in my heart I have expressed before you today.

In Sanskrit, chatra means student.

Āchādaye eti chatra

The student always covers up the bad things of Guru. We should only see the good things in Guru. It is said that although the Ganges water looks muddy and has bubbles, still it is transcendentally pure. So the instruction is, don’t see the mud and bubbles in Ganges water. It is transparently pure because it has emanated from the lotus feet of Lord Hari. Similarly, sādhu-Vaiṣṇava-Guru is always in a transcendental position. It is our defective vision that sometimes we see some fault in them. We are conditioned souls. As there is an instruction not to see the mud and bubbles in Ganges water, similarly we should not see any flaws that are apparently there in sādhu-Guru-Vaiṣṇavas. My request to you all is that although I have many flaws, many defects, you should not see all these things. Please don’t find fault with me. If you can just accept the essence and excuse my flaws and defects, then that will be your great love and affection for me.

The Speculator Disciple

It is most important to accept the essence. Those who are speculators, who cannot accept the essence, are known as bhāravāhī, only carrying a heavy load, like asses. They are not sāragrahi, understanding the essence. In this connection, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda Mahārāja tells a story. One guru-bruba was there. Guru-bruba means a pseudo-guru. He accepts disciples only to get praṇāma and praṇāmī, obeisances and money.

This guru-bruba once went to the house of his disciple, who, like his guru, was also a great speculator, mano-dharmī. The disciple cooked nice palatable dishes for the guru. After the guru ate, the disciple brought a harītakī. Śāstra describes that after eating a meal the skin of the harītakī helps digestion and prevents bad odour from coming out of the mouth. It also purifies the blood.
The Guru said:

“All right, peel it and bring it to me.”

This disciple was a speculator, a bhāravāhī, not a sāragrahi. Therefore he thought:

“The outside skin of the harītakī is useless, asāra, whereas the inside seed is useful, sāra. So he threw away the outside skin and brought the hard inner seed.”

The Guru said:

“You are so foolish. Don’t you know that the outside skin of the harītakī is useful and the inside seeds are useless?”

The disciple replied:

“Yes, Gurudeva, now I understand. Henceforward I will do like this.”

The next day the Guru again ate at the disciple’s house. After eating, the disciple brought a cardamom to his Guru. He thought:

“Yesterday Gurudeva told me that the outside is useful and the inside is useless. Therefore he took the cardamom and threw away the inner seeds and brought only the skin to his Guru.”

The Guru said:

“What is this?

The outside of a cardamom is useless, the inside is useful.”

“Oh. Only yesterday you said the outside is useful and the inside is useless.”

This is the nature of speculators. They cannot accept the essence. They are bhāravāhīs, not sāragrahis. Don’t become a speculator. Don’t become bhāravāhī, become sāragrahi. Try to understand the essence of what I say. That will be the real sign of your love and affection for me.

Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda Mahārāja Kī jaya!
Paramārādhya Gurudeva Śrīla Prabhupāda Mahārāja Kī jaya!
ISKCON founder-ācārya Śrīla Prabhupādaji Mahārāja Kī jaya!
Jaya Gauḍīya-Guru-Varga kī jaya!
Samavetā bhakta-vṛnda kī jaya! 

  • Dinasharan Das Dima le gusta esto.
  • Rama Kānta Dāsa Association

    What is the dense darkness prevailing in our heart?
    How do we dispel it?

    Duḥsaṅga-tyāga

    We must give up the association of non-devotees. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says:

    tato duḥsaṅgam utsṛjya
    satsu sajjeta buddhimān
    santa evāsya chindanti
    mano-vyāsaṅgam uktibhiḥ
    (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.26.26)

    An intelligent person should therefore reject all bad association and instead take up the association of saintly devotees, whose words cut off the excessive attachment of one’s mind.

    If you are very greedy, very eager to have Sādhu-saṅga, Sat-saṅga, the association of Grantha-bhāgavata and Bhakta-bhāgavata, first of all you have to give up duḥsaṅga or asat-saṅga.

    What is association?

    One may say that to come in close proximity to a person is association. But that is not the fact. Association takes place in the mind, in the heart. As long as there are desires for material enjoyment, desires for liberation, desires for mystic perfections, and other desires in your heart, then you are doing asat-saṅga. Even though you may come and sit here, and even though you may be staying in the temple, if all these thoughts and desires are in your mind, you are doing asat-saṅga, duḥsaṅga. You are not doing real Sādhu-saṅga.

    If your heart is not crying how to have the real association of Grantha-bhāgavata and Bhakta-bhāgavata, then you cannot get their association. Even if you don’t go anywhere, if you just sit in one place, still you will have duḥsaṅga. The example is Saubhari Muni. He entered into the water of the Yamuna and stayed there for thousands of years, but still he had duḥsaṅga. In our minds there are hundreds and thousands of desires giving duḥsaṅga to us.

    Is your stupid mind thinking about Kṛṣṇa?
    Is your stupid mind thinking about the instructions of Sādhu-Guru-Vaiṣṇava?
    Is your stupid mind thinking about the instructions of Mahāprabhu and His dear devotees?

    If the stupid mind is not thinking these things, then you are doing duḥsaṅga, asat-saṅga. You are not doing Sādhu-saṅga at all. Externally or apparently you are staying in the temple, but you are really doing asat-saṅga.

    We should think about it:

    Are these thoughts pleasing to Kṛṣṇa?
    Are these thoughts pleasing to Guru and Gaurāṅga?

    Kṛṣṇa gave His most confidential instruction:

    Man-manā bhava
    (Bhagavad-gīta 9.34&18.65)

    “Only think of Me.”

    Śrīman Mahāprabhu gave the same instruction:

    ki śayane ki bhojane, kibā jāgarane
    aharniśa cinta kṛṣṇa, balaha vadane
    (Caitanya-bhāgavata Madhya 20.28)

    Whether asleep, awake, or eating your meals, think only of Lord Kṛṣṇa day and night. With your mouths speak only of Him.

    Day and night, twenty-four hours:

    Cinta-kṛṣṇa, balaha vadane

    Think of Kṛṣṇa and utter His name — in all conditions, whether sleeping, waking, or even when taking food. This is Mahāprabhu’s instruction. So we should analyse what we are thinking about. Śrīla Kavirāja Gosvami describes what is duḥsaṅga:

    ‘duḥsaṅga’ kahiye — ‘kaitava’, ‘ātma-vañcanā’
    kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa-bhakti vinu anya kāmanā
    (Caitanya-Caritāmṛta Madhya 24.99)

    Cheating oneself and cheating others is called kaitava. Associating with those who cheat in this way is called duḥsaṅga, bad association. Those who desire things other than Kṛṣṇa’s service are also called duḥsaṅga, bad association.

    Duḥsaṅga means desiring things other than Kṛṣṇa and kṛṣṇa-bhakti. That is kaitava, cheating. It is ātma-vañcanā, cheating yourself, not cheating anyone else. If we don’t think of the happiness and pleasure of Kṛṣṇa, if we don’t think of kṛṣṇa-bhakti, if we think of something else and try to fulfil that desire, then even though we may be staying in the temple it is duḥsaṅga. With this frame of mind or heart one cannot have the association of Bhakta-bhāgavata or Grantha-bhāgavata and one cannot render service unto Guru, Bhakta-bhāgavata, or Grantha-bhāgavata.

    Pretending

    Guru-pāda-padma is very heavy, not light. Guru means heavy. He is gambhīra-vastu — very grave. We cannot approach him. We cannot go to him. If we are fortunate and we can go, then it is to be understood that there will be no more material attachment, no more material world. Thereby we will enter into Vaikuṇṭha. There will be no more dense darkness in our hearts, no more of these other thoughts in our minds, no more contamination. There will be no more duplicity, crookedness, and desire for name, fame, and prestige.

    We should think deeply about it. We should make a self-inquiry:

    “Have we reached Guru-pāda-padma?
    Have we entered into his heart?
    Is he really merciful towards us?
    Is he really giving his darśana to us?”

    If he gives his darśana, then there will be no more duḥsaṅga!

    We are only pretending that we have done ātma-nivedanam, that we have surrendered. But we have not really surrendered. We have only been pretending, pretending, pretending for so many years, and also for so many years to come in the future. As long as we continue to act artificially we cannot approach Guru, Sadhu or Vaiṣṇava. We cannot get their mercy at all and therefore we cannot see their real form. We will be cheated. We will get all external things
  • Rama Kānta Dāsa Faith with Taste

    brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
    guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
    (Caitanya-Caritāmṛta Madhya 19.151)

    According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.

    Wandering and wandering in lakhs of brahmāṇḍas, universes, one bhāgyavān jīva, a fortunate soul, by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa and Guru, gets the seed of bhakti creeper.

    What is that seed?

    It is śraddhā, faith. However, this śraddhā is not ordinary śraddhā. A karmī also has some śraddhā, a jñānī has śraddhā, and a bhakta has śraddhā. If you merely say śraddhā, it is not enough. In the words of Sadhu, Śāstra, and Guru there is an adjective to it:

    Ruci-yukta-śraddhā

    Faith with taste. This kind of faith is not available even after wandering in lakhs of brahmāṇḍas, but it is very easily available by the mercy of a Sadhu. If Guru-pāda-padma becomes very, very merciful and if he wants to give some fortunate jīva his most beloved beautiful Śyāmasundara, then by his merciful will that seed is available. Otherwise it will never be available. Just by his mere desire, that Guru-pāda-padma, Bhakta-Bhāgavata-Vaiṣṇava, can give that seed. Those who are very fortunate, bhāgyavān, they get it. Those who are ill-fated, hata-bhāga, they cannot get it. One should develop a very intense desire how to render loving service unto the lotus feet of Guru-Vaiṣṇava. Kṛṣṇa is the object of love, and His dear devotees, Sādhu-Guru-Vaiṣṇavas, are also the objects of love. Only one who has developed a keen desire or is inquiring in his heart gets it. Otherwise no one can get it. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says:

    naiṣāṁ matis tāvad urukramāṅghriṁ
    spṛśaty anarthāpagamo yad-arthaḥ
    mahīyasāṁ pāda-rajo-’bhiṣekaṁ
    niṣkiñcanānāṁ na vṛṇīta yāvat
    (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.9.17)

    Unless they smear upon their bodies the dust of the lotus feet of a Vaiṣṇava completely freed from material contamination, persons very much inclined toward materialistic life cannot be attached to the lotus feet of the Lord, who is glorified for His uncommon activities. Only by becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious and taking shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord in this way can one be freed from material contamination.

    The dust of the lotus feet of a Mahātmā-Vaiṣṇava is our shower. As long as we have not showered with the dust of a Mahātmā-Sādhu-Vaiṣṇava, we cannot develop bhakti. Their mercy is the root cause of Śraddhā, faith. Obtaining it we will be able to develop Śraddhā, then Rati, and finally Prema.

    Otherwise how can we get such a thing?

    Even if one occupies the position of Brahma, still one cannot get that Prema. But a sādhaka, one practicing sādhana-bhakti, can very easily get Prema by the mercy of the dust of the lotus feet of a Sādhu-Mahātmā. We have gotten it because of the mercy of our revered spiritual master and masters. We have understood it because of their mercy
  • Rama Kānta Dāsa Quadruped

    Many people have doubt in Guru-pāda-padma. If you have doubt then you cannot make advancement. In the Gītā, Kṛṣṇa says:

    Saṁśayātmā vinaśyati
    (Bhagavad-gītā 4.40)

    “A doubtful person perishes.”

    Criticism and doubt are not bhakti. In bhakti there is only sevya and sevaka — the relationship of servant and master. One who is real Guru never says:

    “I am Guru.”

    He sees everyone according to:

    Jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’
    (Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya 20.18)

    He sees their svarūpa; he sees that all are servants of Kṛṣṇa.

    The Guru has such vision. His vision is not material vision, therefore he is Guru. Through him we get Bhagavan Kṛṣṇa. Guru says:

    Tṛṇād api sunīcena
    (Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi 17.31)

    “I am lower than the straw in the street.”

    He is so humble. He has no pride in being a Guru:

    “Don’t you know who I am?

    I am a great Guru! Great Ācārya!”

    This is dambha, pride. It is a demoniac characteristic, not a divine characteristic. It is not a characteristic of a Vaiṣṇava-Sādhu-Guru. A real Guru has such humility. If one thinks:

    “I am Guru.”

    Then he is not Guru. He is goru, a quadruped, a cow or a bull.

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