krsna

Let Guru Find You

By Acting and Praying

in Such a Way

as to Bring Krsna

to Send Guru to You.

one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. :pray: :pray:

<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD>Madhya-līlā</TD><TD class=m>Chapter 19: Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu

Instructs Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī

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Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta Madhya 19.151

 

brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva

guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja

 

SYNONYMS

brahmāṇḍa bhramite — wandering in this universe; kona — some; bhāgyavān — most fortunate; jīva — living being; guru — of the spiritual master; kṛṣṇa — of Kṛṣṇa; prasāde — by the mercy; pāya — gets; bhakti-latā — of the creeper of devotional service; bīja — the seed.

 

TRANSLATION

"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.

 

PURPORT

When we speak of brahmāṇḍa, we refer to the whole universe, or to the cluster of many millions of universes. In all the universes there are innumerable planets, and there are innumerable living entities upon those planets — in the air, on land and in the water. There are millions and trillions of living entities everywhere, and they are engaged by māyā in suffering and enjoying the results of their fruitive activity, life after life. This is the position of the materially conditioned living entities. Out of many of these living entities, one who is actually fortunate (bhāgyavān) comes in contact with a bona fide spiritual master by Kṛṣṇa's mercy.

Kṛṣṇa is situated in everyone's heart, and if one desires something, Kṛṣṇa fulfills one's desire. If the living entity by chance or fortune comes in contact with the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and wishes to associate with that movement, Kṛṣṇa, who is situated in everyone's heart, gives him the chance to meet a bona fide spiritual master. This is called guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāda. Kṛṣṇa is prepared to bestow His mercy upon all living entities, and as soon as a living entity desires the Lord's mercy, the Lord immediately gives him an opportunity to meet a bona fide spiritual master. Such a fortunate person is fortified by both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master. He is helped from within by Kṛṣṇa and from without by the spiritual master. Both are prepared to help the sincere living being become free from material bondage.

How one can become this fortunate can be seen in the life of Śrīla Nārada Muni. In his previous life he was born of a maidservant. Although he was not born into a prestigious position, his mother was fortunately engaged in rendering service to some Vaiṣṇavas. When these Vaiṣṇavas were resting during the Cāturmāsya period, the boy Nārada took the opportunity to engage in their service. Taking compassion upon the boy, the Vaiṣṇavas offered him the remnants of their food. By serving these Vaiṣṇavas and obeying their orders, the boy became the object of their sympathy, and by the Vaiṣṇavas' unknown mercy, he gradually became a pure devotee. In the next life he was Nārada Muni, the most exalted of Vaiṣṇavas and the most important guru and ācārya of Vaiṣṇavas.

Following in the footsteps of Nārada Muni, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is rendering service to humanity by giving everyone a chance to come in contact with Kṛṣṇa. If one is fortunate, he becomes intimately related with this movement. Then, by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, one's life becomes successful. Everyone has dormant kṛṣṇa-bhakti — love for Kṛṣṇa — and in the association of good devotees, that love is revealed. As stated in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 22.107):

nitya-siddha-kṛṣṇa-prema 'sādhya' kabhu naya

śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya

Dormant devotional service to Kṛṣṇa is within everyone. Simply by associating with devotees, hearing their good instructions and chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, dormant love for Kṛṣṇa is awakened. In this way one acquires the seed of devotional service. Guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja.

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KRSNA gives you Guru, who then gives you love of KRSNA:)

Eulogy of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura

It is not empiric wisdom that is the object of quest of the devotee. Those who read the scriptures for gathering empiric wisdom will be pursuing the wild goose chase...

The mutual admiration society of dupes does not escape, by the mere weight of their number, the misfortunes due to the deliberate pursuit of the wrong course in accordance with the suggestions of our lower selves...

Thakura Bhaktivinoda is acknowledged by all his sincere followers as possessing the powers of the pure devotee of Godhead.

His words have to be received from the lips of a pure devotee. If his words are listened from the lips of a non-devotee they will certainly deceive. If his works are studied in the light of one's own worldly experience their meaning will refuse to disclose itself to such readers.

His works belong to the class of the eternal revealed literature of the world and must be approached for their right understanding through their exposition by the pure devotee. If no help from the pure devotee is sought, the works of Thakura Bhaktivinoda will be grossly misunderstood by their readers. The attentive reader of those works will find that he is always directed to throw himself upon the mercy of the pure devotee if he is not to remain unwarrantably self-satisfied by the deluding results of his wrong method of study.

The writings of Thakura Bhaktivinoda are valuable because they demolish all empiric objections against accepting the only method of approaching the Absolute in the right way. They cannot and were never intended to give access to the Absolute without help from the pure devotee of Krishna. They direct the sincere enquirer of the truth, as all the revealed scriptures do, to the pure devotee of Krishna to learn about Him by submitting to listen with an open mind to the transcendental sound appearing on his lips.

Before we open any of the books penned by Thakura Bhaktivinoda, we should do well to reflect a little on the attitude which serves as the indispensable prerequisite to approach its study. It is by neglecting to remember this fundamental principle that the empiric pedants find themselves so hopelessly puzzled in their vain endeavor to reconcile the statements of the different texts of the scriptures. The same difficulty is already in process of overtaking many of the so-called followers of Thakura Bhaktivinoda and for the same reason...

Those who want to understand the contents of the volumes penned by the piecemeal acquisitive method applicable to deluding knowledge available to the mind on the mundane plane, are bound to be self- deceived. Those who are sincere seekers of the truth are alone eligible to find Him, in and through the proper method of His quest.

In order to be put on the track of the Absolute, listening to the words of the pure devotee is absolutely necessary. The spoken word of the Absolute is the Absolute. It is only the Absolute Who can give Himself away to the constituents of His power. The Absolute appears to the listening ear of the conditioned soul in the form of the name on the lips of the sadhu. This is the key to the whole position.

The words of Thakura Bhaktivinode direct the empiric pedant to discard his wrong method and inclination on the threshold of the real quest of the Absolute.

If the pedant still chooses to carry his errors into the realm of the Absolute Truth he only marches by the deceptive by-path into the regions of darker ignorance by his arrogant study of the scriptures.

The method offered by Thakura Bhaktivinoda is identical with the object of the quest. The method is not really grasped except by the grace of the pure devotee. The arguments, indeed, are these. But they can only corroborate, but can never be a substitute for, the word from the living source of the Truth who is no other than the pure devotee of Krishna, the concrete Personal Absolute. :pray: :pray:

Source: The Harmonist, Dec. 1931, vol. XXIX No. 6

In an airplane he was reading his Bhagavad-gita As It Is and he turned to Pradyumna and I and said, ‘Who reads their own books? Who do you know who reads their own books? No-one reads their own books. When an author makes a book he puts it down. He reads other people’s books. He doesn’t read his own book once its finished. But here I am reading this Bhagavad-gita As It Is. Why?’

He was on the airplane going to the next temple, and we looked…he said, ‘Because these are not my words. They’re Krsna’s words.’ So this is Srila Prabhupada. Everything he gave us is just coming from Krsna, directly in his books....

Sruta-kirti Prabhu

Jaiva Dharma

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura

Chapt. Four,

Babaji: When you abandon all material doubts and mundane logic, and constantly apply yourself to sri-nama, spiritual realization will quickly arise within you of its own accord. The more you resort to mundane logic, the more you will subjugate your mind to material bondage. The more you strive to initiate the flow of nama-rasa, the more your material shackles will become loosened. The spiritual dimension will then manifest in your heart.

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Lahiri: Please be merciful and explain what that spiritual experience is.

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Babaji: The mind is brought to a standstill when it tries to understand that truth through words. The truth can be realized only through culture of spiritual bliss (cid-ananda). Give up all argumentation and simply chant sri-nama for several days. Then the power of nama will automatically dispel all of your doubts and you will not have to inquire further from anyone in this regard. :pray: :pray:

Sri Guru-vandana

The Worship of Sri Guru

(from Prema-bhakti-candrika)

sri-guru-carana-padma, kevala-bhakati-sadma,

bando mui savadhana mate

jahara prasade bhai, e bhava toriya jai,

krsna-prapti hoy jaha hoy 'te

2

guru-mukha-padma-vakya, cittete koriya aikya,

ar na koriho mane asa

sri-guru-carane rati, ei se uttama-gati,

je prasade pure sarv asa

3

cakhu-dan dilo jei, janme janme prabhu sei,

divya-jnan hrde prokasito

prema-bhakti jaha hoite, avidya vinasa jate,

vede gay jahara carito

4

sri-guru karuna-sindhu, adhama janara bandhu,

lokanath lokera jivana

ha ha prabhu koro doya, deho more pada-chaya,

ebe jasa ghusuk tribhuvana

1) The lotus feet of our spiritual master are the only way by which we can attain pure devotional service. I bow to his lotus feet with great awe and reverence. By his grace one can cross the ocean of material suffering and obtain the mercy of Krsna.

2) My only wish is to have my consciousness purified by the words emanating from his lotus mouth. Attachment to his lotus feet is the perfection that fulfills all desires.

3) He opens my darkened eyes and fills my heart with transcendental knowledge. He is my Lord birth after birth. From him ecstatic prema emanates; by him ignorance is destroyed. The Vedic scriptures sing of his character.

4) Our spiritual master is the ocean of mercy, the friend of the poor, and the lord and master of the devotees. O master! Be merciful unto me. Give me the shade of your lotus feet. Your fame is spread all over the three worlds!

guru, not 'no guru'

sincerity , not 'insincerity'

KRSNA, not 'no KRSNA'

mercy, not 'no mercy'

yasman nodvijate loko lokan nodvijate ca yau |

harsamarsa-bhayodvegair mukto yah sa ca me priyah || 12.15

ya idam paramam guhyam mad-bhaktesv abhidhasyati |

bhaktim mayi param krtva mam evaisyaty asamsayah || 18.68

na ca tasman manusyesu kascin me priya-krttamah |

bhavita na ca me tasmad anyah priyataro bhuvi || 18.69

"He for whom no one is put into difficulty and who is not disturbed by anyone, who is equipoised in happiness and distress, fear and anxiety, is very dear to Me."

"For one who explains this supreme secret to the devotees, pure devotional service is guaranteed, and at the end he will come back to Me."

"There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than he, nor will there ever be one more dear.":pray:

guru is the most genuine person you'll ever meet in this life

guru will give you the ultimate reality -KRSNA Conciousness

The spiritual master is not an ordinary living entity, he is master of all living entities. The spiritual master is the supreme consciousness, the plenary manifestation of the Lord's potency, his internal potency. We ordinary jivas on the other hand are atomic particles of consciousness, Krishna's marginal potency and separated parts. :namaskar:

From Bhaktisiddhanta Sarawati Thakura on how to see guru:

Even though the spiritual master is the reservoir of love, he is Krishna himself; at the same time he is the most beloved of Krishna. This is the inconceivable paradox of guru tattva. Krishna is the complete omnipotent and the spiritual master is his complete potency. The spiritual master is not an ordinary living entity, he is master of all living entities. The spiritual master is the supreme consciousness, the plenary manifestation of the Lord's potency, his internal potency. We ordinary jivas on the other hand are atomic particles of consciousness, Krishna's marginal potency and separated parts.

From Bhaktisiddhanta Sarawati Thakura on how to see guru:

One has to be devoted to the spiritual master in the same way one is devoted to Krishna. One should think of the spiritual master in the same way that one thinks of Krishna, for he is in no way less than or inferior to Krishna. It is the duty of a pious person to recognize the spiritual master as equal to Krishna and to worship him and serve him in that way. If one does not do so, then is destituted of his status as a disciple.

Those who see the guru and Krishna as the same will be able to understand the essence of the scriptures. They alone will be able to chant the Holy Names and they alone will be able to speak on Krishna.

Sri Krishna himself has descended in the form of the spiritual master in order to teach service to himself. Those on whom fortune smiles will be able to understand this spotless scriptural truth. If not, their doubting minds will plunge them into the ocean of samsara.

The spiritual master is neither the ultimate object of devotion, viSaya-vigraha, nor the original reservoir of devotion, Azraya-vigraha. He is a manifestation or prakAza-vigraha of the original reservoir of devotion. Sri Krishna is the supreme object of all love, whereas the guru is the reservoir of divine love. Krishna is the predominating absolute, the bhoktA bhagavAn, while the guru is the predominated absolute, or sevaka-bhagavAn; he is God as worshiper or servant. Even though the spiritual master is the reservoir of love, he is Krishna himself; at the same time he is the most beloved of Krishna. This is the inconceivable paradox of guru tattva. Krishna is the complete omnipotent and the spiritual master is his complete potency. The spiritual master is not an ordinary living entity, he is master of all living entities. The spiritual master is the supreme consciousness, the plenary manifestation of the Lord's potency, his internal potency. We ordinary jivas on the other hand are atomic particles of consciousness, Krishna's marginal potency and separated parts.

What is a real guru?

"Even though we may not have the fortune to contact the Supreme Lord personally, the Lord’s representative is as good as the Lord Himself because such a representative does not say anything unless it is spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore gives a definition of guru. Yare dekha, tare kaha ‘krsna’-upadesa: [Cc. Madhya 7.128] the bona fide guru is he who advises his disciples exactly in accordance with the principles spoken by Krsna. The bona fide guru is he who has accepted Krsna as guru.

This is the guru-parampara system. The original guru is Vyasadeva because he is the speaker of Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam, wherein everything spoken relates to Krsna. Therefore guru-puja is known as Vyasa-puja. In the final analysis, the original guru is Krsna, His disciple is Narada, whose disciple is Vyasa, and in this way we gradually come in touch with the guru-parampara. One cannot become a guru if he does not know what the Personality of Godhead Krsna or His incarnation wants. The mission of the guru is the mission of the Supreme Personality of Godhead: to spread Krsna consciousness all over the world."

[Srimad Bhagavatam 8.24.48, purport]

guru walks the walk

and talks the talk.

The Guru Debate Within our Movement

BY: KULA-PAVANA DASA

Mar 27, USA (SUN) — I have been following the guru debate within our Movement for quite a few years now. Since I am involved in a day-to-day contact with both new and old devotees, as well as with people who are simply curious about our Movement, I would like to share a few observations related to this debate.

It seems to me that the tone, content, and form of the guru debate within our Movement are directly leading to an overall devaluation of the concept of guru in general, as well as to a marked decline in overall faith in the Krishna Consciousness process as presented to us by Srila Prabhupada.

Of course other events, such as the numerous fall downs of ISKCON gurus or their abuses of power, did not help in that regard. Still, the way we discuss the guru issue in our Movement has a lot to do with how people perceive the legitimacy of our Movement in general, as well as with how such regrettable fall-downs are understood by both devotees and those who merely observe our society.

Seems to me, that there are four basic camps in this discussion. What are they and what are their "sins" in this debate?

One camp -- those aligned with the GBC - usually presents a patronizing attitude of "we know better", mixed with a long history of withholding relevant information and frequent outright misrepresentation of the facts (read: telling lies), combined with habitual covering-up of serious abuses of power and substandard behavior of ISKCON gurus.

The ritvik camp "sins" are personified by the "Final Order thumpers" who basically call anybody involved in the current ISKCON power system a crook, traitor, liar and pretender. They unabashedly build great sand castles on single words or single sentences attributed to their guru. These are the two main camps.

The third camp consists of ex- ISKCON devotees who took shelter of Gaudiya Vaishnavas from post-Gaudiya Matha organizations or those representing traditional Gaudiya parivars. This camp often looks with complete disdain at the first two groups, considering both of them to be apa-sampradayas of the worst sort.

The fourth camp is those devotees who do not care very much for debating such issues and who do not have a clearly formed opinion about which party is right. Their "sin" is often just being passive when it comes to understanding and addressing one of the most important issues facing Lord Caitanya's movement today.

The good news is that despite all the accusations, mud slinging, shoddy logic, out of context, twisted and/or contradictory quotations often used in these guru debates, people are still interested in hearing from a spiritual authority. The bad news is that people usually do not look to our movement to find that authority.

Many former devotees have completely lost faith in the process Srila Prabhupada brought West with such effort and self-sacrifice, to a large extent due to the way devotees conduct themselves. It is a fact that people tend to judge the guru by observing the quality of his disciples. For example, if the disciples claim that their guru's words are to be the 'law books for mankind for the next 10,000 years', they better be able to at least agree among themselves as to what that law is saying. Otherwise nobody will take them seriously.

My plea to you, dear devotees, who debate the guru issues in public:

Please act like true Vaishnavas and cultured human beings so you will be seen as a credit to your guru's greatness and an asset to his mission. Please study the issues you debate in the way our acharyas recommended and please listen to the opposing arguments like it is customary in a philosophical debate (as opposed to a common quarrel).

Thank you for your time.

Your servant

Kula-pavana dasa

!Viva el Guru!

A bonafide Guru is no ordinary Human being, if you are sincere, he will find you. Most of us never went to India to find Prabhupada, he came to us in our Western Cities in the 1960s and found us.

 

YOU HAVE TO BE 100% GENUIN to attract or find a bonafide Guru who is a representive of Krsna and NOT an ordinary human being - it all depends on you

Guru must come from the paramparä system by disciplic succession. Five thousand years or five millions of years, what was spoken by the supreme God or guru, the present guru also will say the same thing. That is guru. That is bona fide guru. Otherwise, he's not guru. Simple definition. Guru cannot change any word of the predecessor.

Srila Prabhupada 22 Aug, 1973

guru can take you by the hand to KRSNA:pray:

Guru is in your heart inside as the caitya-guru, the spiritual master within, the Overseer God (supersoul)

Guru manifests in human form outside as the Super-human form as His Divine Grace, the spiritual master (external representation of supersoul)

Omniscience

BY: ASAMORDHVA DASA

Mar 25, USA (SUN) — I was prompted to write by reading a comment by one devotee who had noticed a book about Nityananda published by Isvara das, stating that the Lord granted omniscience to some of his associates. Very interesting.

However, if we look at our own Srimad Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada in the 5th Canto, chapter 13, verse 26 quotes Maharaja Parikshit speaking to Shukadeva in regard to his quality of omniscience as follows:

• TEXT
  rajovaca yo ha va iha bahu-vida maha-bhagavata tvayabhihitah paroksena vacasa jiva-loka-bhavadhva sa hy arya-manisaya kalpita-visayo nanjasavyutpannaloka- samadhigamah; atha tad evaitad duravagamam samavetanukalpena nirdisyatam iti.
  
  SYNONYMS
  raja uvaca--King Pariksit said; yah--which; ha--certainly; va--or; iha--in this narration; bahu-vida--who are aware of many incidents of transcendental knowledge; maha-bhagavata--O great devotee sage; tvaya--by you; abhihitah--described; paroksena--figuratively; vacasa--by words; jiva-loka-bhava-adhva--the path of material existence of the conditioned soul; sah--that; hi--indeed; arya-manisaya--by the intelligence of advanced devotees; kalpita-visayah--the subject matter is imagined; na-- not; anjasa--directly; avyutpanna-loka--of persons who are not very experienced or intelligent; samadhigamah--the complete understanding; atha--therefore; tat eva--because of that; etat--this matter; duravagamam--which is difficult to understand; samaveta-anukalpena--by substituting the direct meaning of such incidents; nirdisyatam--let it be described; iti--thus.
  TRANSLATION
  King Pariksit then told Sukadeva Gosvami: My dear lord, O great devotee sage, you are omniscient. You have very nicely described the position of the conditioned soul, who is compared to a merchant in the forest. From these instructions intelligent men can understand that the senses of a person in the bodily conception are like rogues and thieves in that forest, and one's wife and children are like jackals and other ferocious animals. However, it is not very easy for the unintelligent to understand the purport of this story because it is difficult to extricate the exact meaning from the allegory. I therefore request Your Holiness to give the direct meaning.

O holy living master please bless me withe power of KRSNA's divine grace

O holy personality, I behold your most blessed form and seek your causeless mercy in order to chant the pure holy name divine.

O divine master, I hold the dust of your lotus feet on my head and honor your prasad remanants so that I too can thereby taste the love of KRSNA in chanting the Holy Names

Thank you guru for all your heavy words of reprimand

without which I could never see the true light of KRSNA.

Thank you guru for you seeing right through me in my feigned stance

of psuedo-intellectuallism which is no good in approaching KRSNA.