Indradyumna das
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Vrindavan, India, 19 November 2001 - Krisna Balaram Mandir
Lecture given by His Divi ne Grace Bhakti Vaibhava Puri Goswami Maharaja
on Bhaktivedanta Swami Tirubhava
Vande ham sri guru sri yuta adakamalam sri gurum vaisnavam ca
Sri rupam sahagrajatam saha gana raghunatamvitams tam sa jivam
Sadvaita savadutam parijana sahitam Caitanya deam
Sri radha Krishna padam saha gana lalita sri vishakamvitams ca
I offer my satastang-dandavat to Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja, the founder of this mission, Iskcon, then I offer my satastang-dandavat to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami who is the founder of this Gaudiya Mission.
Acaryas come to this world only to carry the message of their predecessor. In the slow process they will attract the public and make them Krishna conscious. Now the process of approaching a Vaisnava is that, there are different grades of Vaisnavas: kanishta, madhyama e uttama. We have to serve the uttama bhagavata. What for? For their mercy. What for their mercy? Only for devotion. What is that devotion? Devotion is eternal service. A person who is under the influence of maya, he serve only ordinary materially advanced people.
Suddha bhakata carana renu bajana anukula
Bhaktivinoda Thakur says that we must accept the dust of the Suddha Vaisnava, a pure Vaisnava. And how to get a pure Vaisnava? We must surrender to the Lord, then He will show the path as vartma pradarsaka, and again He will lead to perfection. Now, to know the subject, what is the subject we want? We want to know what? We want to know dadami buddhi yogam tam yena mam upayanti te. If you will surrender to the supreme Lord, He will dictate us that buddhi yoga, that perfect buddhi will lead us always to perfection, and gradually to the process to reach the supreme Lord, through the blessings of a mahatma, or a suddha bhakta. Then we will follow suddha bhakata carana renu bajana anukula, bhakata seva parama siddhi prema latikara mula. To get prema we must do bhakta seva. We may say: "How can we know a bhakta to whom we can dedicate ourselves? If I am sincere, if I am honest, if I want to be pure, the Lord will show us the path. If I am mischievous, if I don’t follow the path of devotion, because our Bhagavatam says "dharma projito kaitava’tra paramo nirmat saranam satam vedyam". Who can understand the Absolute truth, the service to the Absolute truth? "Nirmat saranam". The sadhu must be "nirmat saranam", without malice. If he has got malice in him, he can not lead others, nor he can proceed in the proper way; he is cheated, he is deceived and he will deceive others. Dharma projito, what is our dharma? Dharma must be pure, and that purity will lead to devotion. That devotion can be had through the blessing of a mahatma. Dharma projito… a sadhu who is without malice, he can lead others. This is the beginning of the bhagavata, nirmat Saranam satam. Vaisnavas, they don’t have malice, no matsarya; only those who are karmis and jnani, those who depend upon sction, those who depend upon knowledge, they are of that category. That category will never give you purity. Devotion is pure and that pure devotion is that one does not want anything in return from the Lord, the Guru and the Vaisnavas. This is the devotion of our Bhagavatam. We read Bhagavatam, we understand Bhagavatam, we practice bhakti, but without purita, we can not practice bhakti. Dharma projito kaitava’tra, What is Kaitava? It is cheating (kapatasaha); everybody want dharma, artha, kama, moksa. Kapatasaha, he will be deceived; if he stays in the wrong process, he can not have a glimpse of bhakti. Though he has the fortune of serving a great Vaisnava, a pure Vaisnava but his heart is not pure, he has malice and with that malice he can not understand the teaching of Bhagavatam or the teaching of the Guru and the Vaisnavas. If the Guru speak with malice, his teaching has no value. It may have some value for jnani or karmi, not for the bhaktas. The bhakta does not want anything from the beginning to the end. Nothing he wants, though the Lord wants to give him some boon, he says: "I’m not going to accept your boon" Who says this? Praladha, he was a pure bhakta. Though the Lord wanted to give some boon, he says: "No, I don’t want". He never accepted. There are so many bhaktas in the Bhagavatam like Vrtasura. He says:
"Na naka prstham na ca paramestyam
Na sarva bhaumam na rasadhi patyam
Na yoga siddhir apunar bhavam va
Saman yasya tva virahayya kankse".
I want You, Sir, I don’t want anything except devotion. I want your service. Once Hanuman was presented with a necklace of pearls. Now Hanuman starts to check and crush every pearl and then threw it. Our Sitadevi thought: "It is a monkey, it is doing monkeyt action". Then he could understand: "Mother this is not a monkey action. I must test all the pearls whether in each pearl there is a view of Rama, Laksmana and Sita. If there is no Sita-Rama in that pearl, I give no value.. I don’t want this necklace, I don’t want, I don’t want pearl, I want devotion. You can test me. Then he opened his chest and showed Sita Rama Laksmana. Then everybody could understand "he’s not a monkey, but a great devotee of the Lord". What a devotee wants, he wants only devotion. Unless one wants devotion, he will fight, because he does not want devotion. This institution, Iskcon, Sri Krishna-Caitanya philosophy is pure devotion. Nothing mixed, not even one per cent mixed. Pure. Pure devotion should be taught to others, pure devotion should be practiced, thereby we can be benefited. I come here every year by the mercy of all the Vaisnavas, not to speak but to have darsana of all the devotees. No, I can not speak. This gatherings is the cream. I want to see you all and take your blessings. Svami Maharaja Prabhupada, he blessed me; he was very kind toward me, and that can not be exposed, it is our matter. He is an ideal personality. He went to America, and I saw there in New York those places where he was sitting and doing bajans. We went to Los Angeles, very big palace.
We were very much fortunate to see that opulent place. Lokanath Swami was there to guide us. I’m glad how they are keeping Mahaprabhu and Prabhupada names nicely. Yes, Prabhupada is great, nobody can compete with him. He is great, nobody can become great like him. He is a mahatma, a single person went there without a single penny. He has published so many volumes of books. Thousand of volumes, and you see everywhere Iskcon can be maintained with a income of the books; so much service he has done. Wherever you go, everywhere there are books. Wherever we go, they ask "You are from Iskcon. Are you from Iskcon?Yes, we tell, afterward we may explain it." Now, he had the great ideal that all the people in the world should follow the message of Lord Gauranga. With that aim he has travelled all over the world at that old age. He travelled all over the world. Now wherever we go everybody says "Hare Krishna". Everybody says "Hare Krishna", he does not know what is Hare Krishna. Yes, "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna", everybody laughs. Now we also ask to them to stand and to repeat Hare Krishna. If one does not repeat Hare Krishna , then we ask again to repeat. On the end he will repeat definitely. Then we say: "You go!" Now they are purified and they will go. Since I am an old person, they will not speak or punish me. They can not punish me, they like to repeat nama. That nama was preached by Swami Maharaja Prabhupada. He has single hand done. By the blessing of his Guru Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur and Gauranga he was able to do that. With their blessings he could do wonder in this world. Wherever you go, everybody knows Prabhupada and Harinama sankirtan. But we must be alert. See how it was the time of Prabhupada and how far it is grown up. That we have to see. Because the first and second meeting I came here, ther were hundreds of dandas. But gradually it is reducing, it is going down. Now you have to bring the message of Prabhupada door to door with bigger effort. This is necessary. As Nityananada Mahaprabhu says:
Suno suno nityannada suno haridasa
Sarvatra amara ajnaya koro he prakas
Prati ghare ghare ghiya koroye ei biksa
Bolo Krishna baja Krishna karo Krishna sikkha.
You go to every house and beg the householder "Sir we have come to you to beg you. You don’t know. This western people does not know begging. But begging is a part of vedic culture. A brahmacary shoul beg and a Vaisnava also must beg. He must do to the householder "Sir, we have come to beg youWhat do you want?" Rice, clothes, money? What do you want?No, no, no, bolo Krishna bajo Krishna karo Krishna sikkha. You repeat Krishna nama and baja Krishna, you serve Krishna and follow the teaching of Krishna. If you say that you will follow, we will go to the next door." This is how they were ordered by Mahaprabhu, Nityananda said to Haridasa "Mahaprabhu has ordered us just like a governor or a police officer", "you go, carry My command. If we go everywhere, some will say "yes, yes we will do". Others will say "you yellow, you have no money, nothing to eat, this is the way that you earn. No, you go!" In the evening Nityananda and Haridas were reporting to Mahaprabhu. Once Nityananda saw two great robbers, Jagai and Madhai. They were the terror. Now terrorists are the enemies of the world. At that time also terrorists were there. So He thought (Nityananda): "Let me purify these two terrorists, they are brahmin brothers." And Haridasa said "From tomorrow I don’t want to go with Nityananda to preach. He goes to the drunkards to make them repeat Harinama. They will never hear, instead today they could have taken away our lives. My Lord, You are here to save us. From tomorrow I will not go with him, let him go". But Mahaprabhu said: "Nityananda is determined to purify them. It will be done in three or four days. Just on the third day, in the evening, when he was coming alone on the way, He saw these two brothers, Jagai e Madhai, they were drunk and they were fighting. They asked Nityananda "Who are you?" Nityananda replied "I am avadhutaAhhh!! Avadhuta!!". And with both hands they throw a pot full of liquor, that was like a coconut and broke the head of Nityananda. Then Mahaprabhu was coming running to punish this fellow, because he has committed offences at the feet of the Vaisnavas. "I must kill him" said Mahaprabhu and called the Sudarsana Cakra to come. But Nityananda said: "In this yuga you can not call the Sudarsana, only nama sankirtana. You teach them nama sankirtana, they will be no purified". So Mahaprabhu said "All right, you have beaten Nityananda. But I request you to repeat Krishna nama at least once." Then they immediately say "Krishna!"And all their sins were gone. Then they catch hold the feet of Mahaprabhu requesting Him to bless them. And Mahaprabhu blessed them. Then they were brought to the house of Mahaprabhu. And these two and other Vaisnavas, they started sankirtana for three hours, dancing and singing for three hours. After three hours the colour of Mahaprabhu and Nityananda changed. Now Jagai and Madhai became pure. Then Mahaprabhu ordered to them that they should clean the ghat, Jagai ghat and Madhai ghat, and "food will be given to you daily. Clean the ghat and those who will come to take bath, you raise your hand and beg for excuse to those that you have committed offences." So saying they did this service and this message was scattered through the world and all the people was coming there. Now sarvatra mara ajnaya koro he prakasa, Mahaprabhu says: "You carry to all the corners of the world my message." Swami Maharaja Prabhupada has done this and now we can not forget him. You must sing his glories, you must remember him, think of him always and speak of him always, then only you will be able to conquer maya. Daivi esa guna may mama maya duratiayah.
I have taken much of your valuable time, I beg to excuse me for anything wrong that I have committed. Vancha kalpa tarubhias ca…. (applause)
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Pure devotion and the competitive spirit
If we study the example set by all our previous acharyas, we will find that competition is not a religious principle. Nowadays, however, we see that in the Vaishnava Sampradaya, es-pecially the Sri Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Saraswata Sampradaya, almost every society and acharya is trying to show that they are better than the others. That is one reason explaining all those articles on the Internet that seem to have defeating others as their only purpose.
Every disciple naturally follows his or her spiritual master’s mood and so preaches in the same competitive spirit. If a follower asks his master, “Can I achieve my spiritual goal through chanting the Holy Name and propagating my society and acharya’s glories as much as possible?”, the acharya replies with silence as a sign of his tacit approval – maunaM sammati-lakSaNam. As a result, the Madhva Gaudiya Saraswata world as a whole some-times looks like a battlefield.
We seem to think that our acharya or society’s qualifications are proved by the number of supporters, devotees, or centers they possess, or how much wealth and mundane opulence they have accumulated. As a result, so many devotees in our sampradaya seem to be running after religion, wealth, sense pleasure and liberation in Mahaprabhu’s name, instead of seek-ing Divine Love, the fifth goal of life or Panchama Purushartha that He really came to give.
Mahaprabhu said prithivite ache jata nagaradi gram / sarbatra prachar hoibe mor nam. “My name will be spread in every town and village, everywhere in the world.” This predic-tion has come true and His name has indeed spread to almost every corner of the globe, leaving hardly any place untouched. Even so, most senior devotees in the sampradaya are feeling frustration at the way the present Vaishnava organizations and their acharyas are be-having. They feel that instead of spreading Mahaprabhu’s message, the followers of these groups are engaged in subtle politics against other devotees -- pure or impure -- in order to promote their own society and acharya.
When devotees begin to lose their taste for chanting the Holy-Name after long practice, they naturally want to know why. We have heard from our acharyas that when this happens, it is because from the starting point of our bhajan life, knowingly or unknowingly, we have been committing offences in our devotional life. When this happens, some of us remain ac-tive in our society and follow its acharya without any real hope or enthusiastic mood. Others leave their society with a negative attitude to the Vaishnavas in general. Such former devo-tees are now engaged in some business or work in mundane places for their livelihood. This is a synopsis of the current situation in the Vaishnava world.
Prabhupada Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur once said that we have not come into the association of Vaishnavas in order to become construction workers in brick, wood, and stone. If it is necessary to sell the bricks and other wealth in order to spread Ma-haprabhu’s message of Divine Love, we should do that. We should try to cultivate this atti-tude in the service of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupada, Prabhupadas Rupa, Sanatana and Sri Jiva Goswami, and Sri Krishna Chaitanya Maha-prabhu!
Are we preaching just to increase the mundane wealth of our particular society? If so, what do we achieve? Are we really following the path of the previous spiritual masters? Or are we simply using their name and words to further our own ends of increasing mundane wealth? Is this why Prabhupadas Rupa, Sanatana, and Sri Jiva Goswami set the example of building glorious temples for their Deities, while they themselves spent the rest of their lives under trees, writing books?
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur has sung in one of his kirtans (Kalyana-kalpa-taru) as follows:
mukhe bolo prem prem bastuta tyajiya hem
shunya granthi anchale bandhan
”We are repeatedly speaking and preaching about Divine Love to others, but actually we are far from it. We have lost this diamond by our present activity. Now we have nothing, an absolutely empty pot in the name of full divine pot.”
At an other place in same kirtan, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur wrote as follows:
akaitaba krishna prem jena suvimala hem
ei phal nriloke durlabh
kaitabe vanchana matra hou age jogya patra
tabe prem haibe sulabh
“Divine Love is like a rare piece of bright gold or diamond. When we are absolutely free from hypocritical activities and surrender absolutely to His service, then we will be qualified to get this Divine Love. Actually the diamond of Krishna Prema is very rare on this planet. Rather than taking shelter of hypocrisy to deceive others, we should try to become worthy to receive Divine Love, for though Prema is very rare, it comes very easily to those who have attained eligibility by ridding their hearts of hypocrisy and the desire to deceive others.”
If we examine the essence of the above quote, we see that Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur is explaining that what we are nowadays calling Prema (Divine Love) is actually fakery or de-ceit. My beloved Spiritual Master, His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Goswami Maharaj, explained in one of his discourses that the first symptom of feeling separation is tears at the time of chanting the Holy Name. He himself would ask, “Where are my tears? Tears don’t come easily to me, even if I put hot peppers in my eyes!”
Srila Gurudeva expressed himself in this humble manner just to teach us a lesson, for I of-ten saw him in the middle of the night, secretly crying and lamenting to someone out of separation from Krishna’s service. What is the present condition of our hearts regarding the feeling of separation for Krishna? How can we pretend to have Divine Love (Prem) as long as we maintain selfish goals and are more and more dedicated to achieving them?
According to Srila Narottam Das Thakur, apana bhajana katha na kahiya jatha tatha, ” which means “we should not show or discuss our feelings of separation to anyone and eve-ryone.” We should keep them secret so that they can grow and develop. Nowadays, we are showing off, broadcasting our so-called mood of separation and our secret relation with Krishna to neophyte people in order to attract them to our camp. Furthermore, we are dis-cussing very intimate topics of Radha-Krishna’s conjugal pastimes to those neophyte devo-tees, just to show off that we have full knowledge of Vaishnava siddhanta. But look at Ma-haprabhu’s example: He discussed such matters in a very intimate place, the Gambhira in Jagannath Puri, where He lived for eighteen years along with Swarupa Damodar Prabhu and Ray Ramananda Prabhu, His most intimate associates. Are we really following the above in-structions of Narottam Das Thakur and the example given by Mahaprabhu?
Nowadays, though we belong to the same sampradaya, we criticize each other in order to steal devotees from other camps to make our own bigger, so we can show off our power. And we do it all in the name of preaching abroad! Is this the type of preaching Mahaprabhu showed? We all know what His standards of behavior were. When He converted Praka-shananda Saraswati, the leader of the impersonalist camp, He did not do so in a challenging mood or in order to prove Himself on the field of competition. Though Prakashananda was an impersonalist, Mahaprabhu still displayed the Vaishnava qualities of humility and polite-ness to him.
Once upon a time, when Mahaprabhu was visiting Kashi, Sripad Tapan Mishra and Chandrashekhar Acharya requested Him with great feeling to establish pure devotion in their town, because as devotees they were tired of constantly being insulted by the impersonalists. At that time, Mahaprabhu was invited to a Brahmin’s house where the impersonalists con-gregrated. The leader of the Mayavadis, Prakashananda Saraswati, asked Sri Krishna Chai-tanya Mahaprabhu why He did not associate with them. Mahaprabhu replied with humility, “The instruction of my spiritual master is that foolish persons should only chant the Holy Name, instead of reading Vedanta, the scripture of all religions. I am fool number one ac-cording to my spiritual master’s judgment, so how can I associate with all of you who are giving such learned discourses from the scripture? harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam / kalau nastyeva nastyeva nastyeva gatir anyatha //”
In this way Mahaprabhu tried to say that the essence of Veda and all Scriptures are Sri Holy Name. Then Mahaprabhu went on to make the following statement about Krishna Prema, quoted in Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita:
krishna vishayak prema-- parama purushartha
jar age trina tulya chari purushartha
panchama purushartha premanandamrita sindhu
brahmadi-ananda jar nahe ek bindu
Among the five purushartha, Prema is the best, better than other four purusharthas: relig-ion, wealth, sense pleasures and liberation. Next to the fifth purushartha, these four goals of life are valueless, like a piece of grass. The fifth purushartha, Krishna Prema, is like an ocean of blissful nectarean love. Even Lord Brahma, the son of God and creator of the universe, has not tasted a drop of it.
Then, with proper Vaishnava etiquette, Mahaprabhu defeated Shankararachaya’s com-mentary and established His own siddhanta: God is opulence, full-bliss, eternity, and con-sciousness. After that, Prakashananda, the Mayavadi sannyasi, and his group of followers surrendered to Mahaprabhu’s lotus feet. The point is that Mahaprabhu did not display a competitive or aggressive challenging mood, even to these opponents. Contrast this with our attitude nowadays, when we behave in this manner even with those who are in our own same sampradaya, what to speak of the Mayavadis.
Again, in Srimad Bhagavatam, Lord Krishna shows us that the challenging and competi-tive spirit are not included in devotion through the story of Arjuna, Ugrasena Maharaj and a pious Brahmin whose children had died as soon as they took birth.
Once, there was a Brahmin in Maharaj Ugrasena’s kingdom, whose wife had given birth to nine baby sons. Unfortunately, every time she gave birth, her children would die for no ap-parent reason. The father of these babies widely accused the king, Maharaj Ugrasena, of re-sponsibility for their death. Each year, the Brahmin would come to the King’s palace, carry-ing his dead child, and shout curses at Maharaj Ugrasena, blaming him for the death of his child. The king himself remained silent, showing tolerance as an acharya.
After the ninth such death, Arjuna, the third Pandava happened to be present and heard the Brahmin hurling invective at the king. He asked him what was his complaint. The Brahmin blamed the death of all his children on the sinful activities of the king. Arjuna was aston-ished to hear the Brahmin’s accusation, but was convinced that what he said was true. Ar-juna was filled with false pride and the desire to defeat Maharaj Ugrasena and so told the Brahmin that the next time his wife was ready to give birth, he should call him. He would go and protect the child from the forces of death.
The pious Brahmin felt it was strange that Arjuna was claiming he could succeed where Vasudeva, Sankarshan, Pradyumna and Aniruddha had all failed. “How can you save my children?” He asked. Arjuna immediately replied, “I am Arjuna and I carry the Gandiva bow. I don’t care for all these others. I will show you my power when your wife gives birth.”
The Brahmin still had doubts, but Arjuna very proudly gave his promise that if he was not able to save the Brahmin’s next child, he would enter the fire and destroy his body.
When the time came, the Brahmin remembered Arjuna’s promise and sent for him. Arjuna went to his house equipped with his bow and other weapons. On arriving, he chanted a few mantras to protect the area and sat down in front of the Brahmin’s wife to watch over her.
Unfortunately, Krishna’s beloved friend Arjuna forgot Krishna out of pride on that day. When he chanted the mantra for protection, he did achaman for purification of his body and mind using the mantra namah Shivaya instead of the Krishna Mantra. Arjuna sat in front of Brahmin’s wife with his fighting-bow, awaiting the messenger of death, but as soon as she gave birth, her child died, as had happened every time previously. Arjuna was astonished to see the child die right in front of him.
He set off to find out where the child had gone after death. He searched in so many places without finding the child. Finally, he had to admit his failure and arranged to keep his prom-ise by entering a fire to end his life. Lord Krishna immediately appeared and spoke to Ar-juna, “Please come with me and I will show you where that Brahmin’s children have gone.” Then both went to Mahakalpur and Krishna ordered Karanodashayi Vishnu to give back the Brahmin his ten children.
The teaching to be taken from the above story in the Srimad Bhagavatam is that when we commit offences to the acharya ,Vaishnavas and God, our whole devotional practice is nipped in the bud. Favoring the words of the Brahmin, Arjuna, committed offence to Maha-raj Ugrasena, who was an acharya. Due to that offence, he forgot Vasudeva, Sankarshan, Pradyumna and Aniruddha, i.e., his relation with God. Thus when the Brahmin told Arjuna that Vasudeva, Sankarshan, Pradyumna and Aniruddha had failed to save his children, Ar-juna pretended to be more powerful than them. With his proud answer to the Brahmin, Ar-juna committed an offence to the lotus feet of the Chaturvyuha (God). Therefore at the time of achaman, he uttered namah Shivaya instead of a Krishna mantra. In this way, there are so many examples in the scriptures showing that competitiveness and the challenging mood de-stroy pure devotion.
From the above facts, it is shown that when we commit offences towards the acharyas and Vaishnavas, we are pulled away from the lotus feet of God. Though Arjuna was Krishna’s dearest devotee, his offence caused him to take on a competing mood and to challenge Ma-haraj Ugrasena and Vasudeva, Sankarshan, Pradyumna and Aniruddha.
Please, readers, do not take any offence from me, I am simply expressing my heartfelt wor-ries. Kindly bless me that I may follow the proper devotional path. I wish to continue writing more on this topic, giving more evidence from other scriptures.
Your humble servant,
B.B.Bodhayan
President of Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math
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Pretentious devotion
by Srila B.B.Bodhayan Maharaj, president-acarja of Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math
All glories to Sri Guru, Sri Gauranga
and the Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Saraswata Sampradaya!
It is sad to say that in our contemporary Gaudiya Vaishnava community, many of us are Vaishnavas in name only. We make a show of devotion, but what we are calling devotion is in fact the observance of few rules of moral behavior at best. In essence, it is thus not devotion at all. Moreover, in the name of pure devotion, we are also abusing the ideal of yukta vairagya, renunciation with proper adjustment to time, place and circumstances. We are not supposed to be followers of Ekalavya, who was rejected by even his own guru Dronacharya. We must take stock of our true standing on the bhakti marga?
Service to the spiritual master is based on surrender, and not on just following a few moral codes. Service to the guru means following the pure devotional path according to his instructions. It goes beyond morality. Krishna proved this when He instructed Arjuna to kill his own kinsmen. Krishna told Arjuna: "Do it! You will not incur any sin. I shall protect you." It was not "moral" to kill Dronacharya, Bhishma and all the other great and pious heroes fighting for the Kauravas, but Arjuna surrendered to Krishna, his guru. He thus surpassed the mundane principles of morality, which involve following rules and regulations to keep peace and order in human society.
We must not neglect the instructions of our diksha guru. For, if we are not surrendered, we cannot actually render any true service to Krishna. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada gave us the proper conception of yukta vairagya for our present times. We should try to understand it properly if we are to serve the cause of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
Surrender to Krishna gives life
In the Bhagavad-Gita (18.66), Sri Krishna told Arjuna, "Abandon all varieties of religion (sarva-dharman) and take exclusive shelter of Me. I shall deliver you from the reactions of your sinful activities. Do not fear." Sarva-dharman indicates "all kinds of religious attitudes." This means that we must without hesitation reject all other methods of spiritual advancement other than surrender. Srila Rupa Goswami also recommends that we cultivate devotion free from personal interests (an yabhilasita-synyam) and the tendencies toward karma and jnana (jnana-karmady-anavritam). Surrender is the primary characteristic of bhakti. It cannot be found anywhere else. Other attempts to reach the Absolute by adopting the path of karma yoga or jnana yoga, for example, are destined to disappoint us.
Saranagati, or surrender to Krishna, is the name Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur gave to a collection of wonderful songs of his own composition. In the introductory song of that book, Bhaktivinoda writes,
srI krishna caitanya prabhu jive daya kari
sva-parsada sviya dhama saha avatari
atyanta durlabha prema karibare dana
sikhaya saranagati bhakatera prana
"Out of compassion for the fallen souls, Sri Krishna Chaitanya came to this world with His personal associates and divine abode to teach sharanagati, surrender to Krishna, and to freely distribute ecstatic love (prema) for God, which is ordinarily very difficult to obtain. This sharanagati is the very life (prana) of the true devotee."
This song clearly says that without surrender, a devotee is without life (prana). Surrender to guru, Vaishnavas and Krishna will give us back our life. We have nothing to lose. This is the benefit of the bhakti process. On the other hand, if a person has a good character, but no devotion, he can be considered a moralist at best.
The soul gives life to the body, which is otherwise dead. Similarly, a life of so-called devotion without surrender is like a useless corpse. It is impossible to achieve divine love (prema) without surrender. In this regard, we can learn a good lesson from the famous story of Ekalavya.
The story of Ekalavya
Once, when Arjuna, the celebrated Pandava, was still a boy, he, his brothers and his cousins studied the military sciences from the great master Dronacharya. At that time, Ekalavya, the son of Hiranyadhanu, the king of an aboriginal tribe, was moved by his faith to approach Dronacharya and request him for instruction in archery.
Dronacharya refused to teach his prospective disciple because he wanted to test his faith, but Ekalavya was stubbornly determined to learn archery from the master. So unbeknownst to Drona, Ekalavya went to the forest and fashioned an image of him out of clay. He then began to practice archery in front of this image all day long. Concentrating his mind on Dronacharya in this way, Ekalavya gradually became the most expert archer in the world, more skilful than even Arjuna.
Arjuna was not only Krishna's intimate friend, but also Dronacharya's dearest disciple. The master had once promised him, "No one will ever excel you in this art. You will become the best archer on this earth and so will you remain, I promise you!"
One day, the Kauravas and the Pandavas went together for a walk in the forest when they suddenly saw something quite astonishing. Lying peacefully on the ground was a dog whose mouth had been sewn closed by seven arrows. The boys thought that one who could perform such extraordinary feat was undoubtedly the best archer in the world. They also thought that perhaps he was even better than Arjuna. As they continued to penetrate deeper into the dense forest, they came across an unknown archer tirelessly practicing his marksmanship. It was he who had shot the arrows at the dog because the animal had been barking and disturbing his concentration.
When the boys returned to the palace, they related the incident to Dronacharya in detail. Arjuna humbly reminded Dronacharya of his promise that no one would ever excel him in archery. Dronacharya, who was very surprised to hear of the existence of such an expert bowman, went to the forest with Arjuna to meet him. When they reached Ekalavya's cottage, they saw him sitting down before the clay image of Dronacharya and shooting arrows with great expertise. As soon as Ekalavya saw them, he paid them their due respects, honoring Dronacharya as his master.
When Dronacharya heard that Ekalavya considered him to be his guru, he requested dakshina from him. Dakshina is the donation or gift given to a priest or one's own guru. In ancient times, masters used to demand their due dakshina from their disciples at the time of initiation.
Ekalavya stood with folded palms in front of Dronacharya, and told his master that he was ready to do whatever he ordered. Dronacharya then demanded that Ekalavya give him the thumb of his right hand. Though the loss of the thumb meant that he would no longer be able to shoot, Ekalavya cut it off without hesitation.
A dangerous example
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur explains that Krishna, bhakti and the bhakta partake of the same absolute nature. A devotee enjoys a special position because the Lord is favorably inclined to him. On the other hand, a non-devotee may have many good qualities and moral virtues according to the standards of worldly life, but all these assets have no value in the eyes of the Lord. Any one who thinks that morality surpasses bhakti will fail to catch this subtle point.
Though Ekalavya had initially been rejected by Dronacharya, he was moved by his own faith to make an image of clay of his master. He had then achieved perfection in archery by practising in front of that image. This seems to be an example of devotion to the master.
Indeed, it seems that Ekalavya was completely surrendered to his guru. Otherwise, how could he cut away his thumb without thinking twice? However, it is my humble opinion that a devotee on the path of surrender must dismiss the example of Ekalavya.
When Dronacharya refused to instruct Ekalavya in archery, he had good reasons for not doing so. Ekalavya should have waited for his guru's mercy, but he did not. Instead he concocted his own way of achieving his mercy by moulding the image of clay and training in front of it.
In fact, the mind of Ekalavya was tainted by the desire to become a famous, skilful archer. He wanted to surpass Arjuna's dexterity in bowmanship. This was not at all a good attitude, especially if we consider Arjuna's status as a pure devotee of the Lord. The desire to be "bigger" or more famous than another Vaishnava is not devotion at all. This was also against the desire of Dronacharya. Therefore, Ekalavya committed guru aparadh by neglecting Dronacharya and Vaishnava aparadh by being envious of Arjuna. This is perhaps the reason why later on Ekalavya was killed by Krishna and merged into His brahmajyoti effulgence. This is the way Krishna deals with the demons. They achieve sayujya mukti, the liberation that is always despised by devotees.
Ekalavya's dealings with Dronacharya were also tainted with impersonalism. He really did not take the instructions of his guru to heart. Instead of following the directions of the living guru, he used his guru's clay image as a means to achieving his own cherished ambition. Ekalavya tried to draw his guru's attention to himself instead of surrendering to his guru. This shows that his devotion was artificial. In other words, he outwardly showed the behavior of a disciple, but his heart was consumed by egotism. Similarly, one should not have the outward dress of a Vaishnava while harboring the attitude of a mundaner.
Penances without the sanction of the guru and the Vaishnavas do not fall in the category of bhakti. Materialistic people with a demoniac mentality also perform many austerities, but their aim is to get material benefit and enjoy sense gratification. Although Ekalavya was not interested in gross sensual pleasure, his austerities had not been sanctioned by any senior authority. Thus the expert Dronacharya was able to detect that his devotion was mere pretense.
For these reasons, therefore, Ekalavya's example is a dangerous one, particularly for beginners on the path of bhakti.
Remove Ekalavya from our hearts
We are living in difficult times. We have to face many problems even in the association of other Vaishnavas. Senior members of our Gaudiya Vaishnava community are somewhat puzzled by the nature of these problems. They too confess that they have no idea of how to bring about positive solutions. The subject matter is very intricate and requires more analysis. What must be done?
It is true that if we stick to the instructions of our guru, Krishna will remove the ghost of Ekalavya from our mind. We must surrender and if we are sincere, the Lord will accept our service.
We should not be Vaishnavas in name and dress only. We should stop thinking and acting like Ekalavya. We have to become saragrahi Vaishnavas, not just worshipers of the form like Ekalavya. In the words of Srila Sridhar Maharaj we have to dive deep into reality.
Lochan Das Thakur stated that we are just chewing a piece of dry wood instead of sugarcane.
ikhu danda bhavi katha cunili man
kemone paibi meoha
How will we taste the sweetness of the sugarcane juice by sucking on a piece of dry wood? Sugarcane looks like dry wood but is sweet and tasty. Vaishnavas in name or dress may put on many programs, but are not able to inspire pure devotion in others. Vaishnavas who are externally oriented are always busy building more temples and expanding their religious organizations. Unfortunately, they have little or no time to cultivate devotional practices such as hearing and chanting in the association of other devotees or counselling devotees in how to strengthen their faith. If we chew the dry wood of false surrender, how can we taste the sweetness of bhakti?
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur explained the symptoms of surrender in Saranagati:
dainya, atma-nivedana, goptritve varana
avasya rakhibe krishna visvasa
palana bhakti-anukula matra karyena
svikara bhakti-pratikula-bhava varjanangikara
"The ways of sharanagati are humility, dedication of the self, acceptance of the Lord as one's only maintainer, faith that Krishna will surely protect, execution of only those acts favorable to pure devotion and renunciation of conduct averse to pure devotion."
sad-anga saranagati haibe jahara
tahara prarthana sune sri-nanda-kumara
"The youthful son of Nanda Maharaj, Sri Krishna, hears the prayers of anyone who takes shelter of Him by this six-fold practice."
Unless we surrender to Krishna, He will not accept any prayer from us. How then will He accept any service?
This is indeed very sad. By nature, we are the eternal servants of Krishna, but as we lack surrender, sincerity, or both, we are unable to serve Him. The sign of sincerity is accepting that Krishna comes to us through our guru. All scriptures confirm this.
My spiritual master, His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Goswami Maharaj, told me that so-called freedom is detrimental on the spiritual path. We should not detach ourselves from the desire of guru and Vaishnavas as Ekalavya did. We should not try to establish moral codes other than surrender to the will of guru and Krishna. We should not feel envious of others' opulence as Ekalavya did with Arjuna.
The example of pretentious devotion set by Ekalavya can infect the heart of any aspirant on the spiritual path. Devotion to guru and Krishna should never be performed with an aim to achieving material benefits. Therefore, we have to keep very alert and remove the weeds of unwanted desires as soon as they sprout.
In conclusion, I request the readers of this piece with folded palms to excuse all my offences and bless me so that I may become a true disciple of my Gurudeva and a true servant of all the Vaishnavas.
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Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja
GURU TATTVA: REAL AND APPARENT
(Moscow, July 30, 2000, am)
I offer my humble obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master, Om Visnupada Sri Srimad Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja; and the same thousands and thousands of humble obeisances unto the lotus feet of my siksa-guru, Om Visnupada Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Svami Maharaja.
Just now we have finished singing the kirtana, 'sri guru-carana-padma, kevala bhakati-sadma vando mui savadhana mate'. What is the meaning? We should try to understand the meaning and realize what Srila Narottama dasa Thakura is telling here - how he is giving honor and how he is presenting his mood to his Gurudeva. 'Sri guru-carana-padma, kevala bhakati-sadma.' Syamarani should explain.
Syamarani dasi: 'Sri guru-carana-padma, kevala bhakati-sadma.' In this song Srila Narottama dasa Thakura is glorifying his Guru Maharaja, Sri Lokanatha dasa Gosvami, and all the gurus in the guru parampara. With one's carana, with one's feet, one takes steps. So our immediate diksa and siksa gurus are the first steps to our connection with the entire guru parampara. Sri guru-carana-padma, kevala bhakati-sadma. Sadma means 'abode', and kevala means 'only'. He is the only abode of bhakti. Of what kind of bhakti is he the abode? There are three kinds of bhakti: sadhana-bhakti, bhava-bhakti, and prema-bhakti. And of what kind of prema-bhakti is he the abode? Madanakya maha-bhava. This is the highest possible prema, and the only prema by which one can serve Sri Radha-Krishna Conjugal. People wonder about the omnipotency and omniscience of the bona fide guru. Here, Srila Narottama dasa Thakura is leaving no doubt about his omnipotency. By his mercy alone one can become free from millions of births of past sins and offenses, and can cross over the ocean of material existence and obtain the abode of Krishna.
Srila Narayana Maharaja: You should understand who is a real guru. He is the abode of bhakti, and he has all kinds of serving moods towards Radha-Krishna Conjugal or Mahaprabhu. He can give sadhana-bhakti, and he can also give rati - a high class of rati. If he is qualified to even give prema-bhakti in Goloka Vrindavana, and the love and affection of Conjugal Radha-Krishna, can he fall down? Never. How much qualified must that guru be, that he can take all ignorant persons to Krishna? If he himself is falling down, then he is actually not guru. You are intelligent enough to reconcile all these things, and to understand who is the real guru.
The scriptures, especially Srimad Bhagavatam, have told, 'tasmad gurun prapadyeta…' What is the meaning? The bona fide guru can give conjugal love to Sri Sri Radha-Krishna. He will be expert and realized in the moods of all the Vedas, Upanisads, Srimad Bhagavatam, Gita, and all Puranas - everything. He will be expert in all kinds of knowledge, and he will have realized all that knowledge. In addition, he will be detached from worldly desires and sense gratification. He will only be engaged in serving Krishna with all his senses - with body, mind, soul, mood, and everything. He is the abode of bhakti and he has no doubts. No doubts at all. Also, he will never go to all these atheistic universities. Never. Why? He has full confidence in his Guru's words, and therefore he will join Srila Haridasa Thakura's University - by always chanting and remembering.
A person like this has full faith in the Name, full faith in his guru's words, and he has full faith in the words of scriptures like Srimad Bhagavatam. How can he join these universities? What would be the use? These universities are nonsense and, in the words of your Gurudeva, their teachers are rascals. Why should we join them? These universities are like slaughter-houses and they are full of mayavadis. Srila Svami Maharaja came and cut down all the arguments of the mayavadis and nirvesesavadis. Why should his disciples join all these things? It is because they have no faith in their Guru's words, and because they themselves are not guru at all. They are fallen from the beginning. There is no position from which they would fall down. Those who cannot chant the Name day and night, those who cannot realize what is the mood of the gopis, the Vrajavasis and Krishna, and those who are not engaging all their senses in the pastimes of Krishna, are actually not guru. They have no qualification to be guru. They cannot help us. They cannot take us to Krishna - never, never and never.
Now we see that persons who had previously taken shelter of a very bona fide Guru, an actual Guru like Srila Bhaktivedanta Svami Maharaja, are now giving him up and are going to Radha Kunda to associate with sahajiya babajis there. These sahajiyas are still greater rascals. They cannot take anyone to Krishna because they are not following the principles of bhakti. They are not detached from worldly desires and sense gratification, they are living with widows and engaging in immoral activities. How can they help real devotees? In this way you should consider what are the qualifications of a guru.
It has been told in sastra that we may have selected any guru before knowing all these qualifications, and thus knowingly, unknowingly, or in ignorance, we have accepted a guru who is not actually guru. Therefore, after hearing from a siksa-guru, from other gurus, and from scriptures, we should decide whether what we have done is wrong or right. If it is wrong, we should give up that guru and come to a realized guru. He can then help you, and you can develop your Krishna consciousness; otherwise it will never be possible. If these bogus gurus cannot give bhakti, then how can such a fallen guru, who is now coming in the bogus ritvic system, help devotees? Fallen gurus are now becoming ritvics. You should do pranama to them from very far away. Don't mix with them, and always boycott them. The ritvic system cannot help because it is only related to performance of sacrifices.
[in Srila Narayana Maharaja's The True Conception of Guru Tattva it is stated: "Beginning from the Vedic period up to Dvapara-yuga, it is seen that many great emperors have obtained their desired fruits by flawless performance of sacrifices… Generally; all of these sacrifices were performed for fulfilling material desires, the chief of which was the attainment of heavenly planets… After the completion of yajnas, the yajman (employer) pays the appropriate remunerations to the ritviks and sends them away. The yajman and the ritvik have no mutual eternal relationships."]
In our line there is guru, there is siksa guru, there is caitya guru, there is sravana guru, there is patha pradarsaka guru - so many gurus. Why go to these bogus ritvics? Be very far away from them. Be careful about them. We should be very careful about mayavadis, sahajiyas, and all nirvesesavadis. You know that in our guru parampara line Brahma has never fallen down, Narada has never fallen down, and Sri Vyasa and Sri Sukadeva Gosvami have also never fallen down. You know Madhavendra Puri and Isvara Puripada; they never fell down. You know that Srila Rupa Gosvami, Srila Sanatana Gosvami, Srila Jiva Gosvami and all the other six Gosvamis, Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, Srila Narottama Dasa Thakura, and after that Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, my Gurudeva Om Visnupada Sri Srimad Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja, and my siksa-guru Srila Bhaktivedanta Svami Maharaja - none of them ever fell down. They cannot fall down. They are actual gurus. One should select a guru like them. However, even if you have not as yet done so, you can think about it more and more.
We have not come for joining any society. We have come to serve Radha-Krishna Conjugal and Mahaprabhu. This is our aim and object. Why remain where the object is not fulfilled? Srila Svami Maharaja came with a mission, and at that time the mission was fulfilled in all ways. All joined, but those who neglected his teachings fell down. We should try to know all these truths.
The real guru is an uttama maha-bhagavata - like Narada Gosvami and Sukadeva Gosvami. They can hold up their hand to bless you with the words, "Bhakti should come at once." And bhakti will come. There are three kinds of uttama bhagavats. The first is Narada in his first stage (in his previous birth, after Lord Visnu gave him His momentary darsana). He realized Krishna in his heart, and at once all kinds of anarthas and imperfections disappeared. He realized Krishna, his relationship with Krishna, and his service to Krishna. However, at that time his body was still composed of past activities. He is therefore known as a murcit kasaya maha-bhagavata. What is the meaning of murcit kasaya? There is some imperfection, but it is now sleeping; not active.
Sri Sukadeva Gosvami is an example of the second kind of uttama bhagavata. He is nirdutta kasaya. What is nirdutta kasaya? All impurities and imperfections have been washed away. Ignorance and anarthas are all gone.
[some devotees were falling asleep, and so Srila Maharaja addressed them.]
Srila Narayana Maharaja: Don't sleep please. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Sit straight like this, old persons and everyone else, and chant: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Chant more loudly. Don't sleep. Otherwise you will lose everything.
[Devotees chanted and then Srila Maharaja resumed the class.]
The third kind of uttama bhagavata is still more elevated. The example is Sri Narada Gosvami in his second stage, when he attained the body of an associate of Krishna. At this stage he has no mortal body. He has a body to serve Krishna - a siddha sarira, transcendental body. If these kinds of gurus will place hands on anyone's head, or somehow they will glance at anyone and bless him, then prema bhakti will come at once and the disciple will go to Goloka Vrindavana. They are so powerful.
You may know that Sri Narada Gosvami has thousands and thousands of disciples: Dhruva, Prahlada, Citraketu, Valmiki, Vyasa, and Rahugana - so many. Just by sprinkling his mercy, they became qualified. And you know Sri Sukadeva Gosvami. Practically everyone in the world was his disciple, but he never initiated anyone. Why? Because he realized that, "All are serving Krishna, but I myself am not." He is a high class of maha-bhagavata. By his mercy, all the persons who were hearing his hari-katha in the assembly of Pariksit Maharaja were liberated and went to Goloka Vrindavana. This is very marvelous; but such gurus are very rare, especially in Kali yuga.
What is then the remedy for us? Who will help us? Only the madhyama adhikari. Sri Gurudeva should actually be acting in the stage of madhyama adhikari. "Prema maitri krpopeksa ya karoti sa madhyama." Madhyama adhikaris are of three categories: madhyama kanistha, madhyama madhyama, and madhyama uttama. The madhyama kanistha cannot act as guru. The madhyama madhyama and madhyama uttama can, however, because they are in the line of their guru, always chanting and remembering the pastimes of Krishna, chanting Hare Krishna with rasa and taste, and their anarthas have practically disappeared. There remains only a very little scent of anarthas, and there is no offense at all: no Vaisnava-aparadha, nama-aparadha, seva-aparadha, or dhama-aparadha. They are chanting and remembering, and always in the line of their own Gurudeva. Though they are not so realized, still they can help us. We have these kinds of devotees in this world, and they can help us. But you should know that a maha-bhagavata can descend in the madhyama adhikari stage, and then he can preach and accept disciples. In this way we can accept two kinds of gurus, and they can help us. The madhyama adhikari gurus will take us to the uttama adhikari, and thus the madhyama gurus and their disciples will develop their Krishna consciousness.
We cannot say that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Thakura is a madhyama adhikari. We cannot say that my Gurudeva was a madhyama adhikari. We cannot accept that Srila Bhaktivedanta Svami Maharaja was a madhyama adhikari. They were really uttama adhikaris. They have simply descended and accepted disciples - only to help devotees. They can come to the level of madhyama adhikari and then they can preach. Otherwise they cannot preach and they cannot initiate anyone. They are therefore very, very kind. Ordered by Srimati Radhika to fulfill the desire of Radhika and Krishna, they have accepted this position; otherwise they never would have done so. None of the gurus in our line who have accepted disciples are madhyama adhikari. All are uttama adhikari, but they have descended for the time being, for the benefit of the whole world.
In sastra it has been told very clearly and strongly what a disciple should do if he has accepted a guru who is not in the line of devotion, who is not a realized soul, and who is not even a madhyama adhikari, and afterwards that disciple realizes that his guru cannot help him in devotion, in the service of Krishna and Radhika Conjugal. If that guru is fallen, not actually chanting and remembering, and if he is not in the line of his Gurudeva, the disciple should give him up at once and accept a real guru. If anyone wants to serve Krishna, and has no other motive than to develop his Krishna consciousness, he should do pranama and say, "O Gurudeva, I want to associate with a high-class Vaisnava. Please allow me." If his gurudeva allows, as did the gurus of Sri Syamananda Prabhu, Sri Narottama dasa Thakura and others, then that guru is a madhyama adhikari. However, if he says, "No, you cannot associate with high-class Vaisnavas. If you do, you will go to hell", then that class of guru is not guru. He is like a kan-guru (kangaroo). He may say, "If you disobey me and go to another high-class Vaisnava, then you will go to hell." I think that such a false guru will go to hell first, and after him the disciple will go.
We have come only for this, and some of the devotees who have come to us have left their wives, wealth, and aristocratic families. And so many are very learned. We should think about this matter and try to develop our Krishna consciousness. If you do not follow this process and you do not know all these truths, you cannot develop your Krishna consciousness in lakhs and lakhs or thousands and thousands of births. You will lose everything. So I think that you should consider what to do about this.
Bhakti is like a river, a current. No one can remain for twenty or thirty years at the same stage. If we think that we are not developing our Krishna consciousness, we should inquire why our current has stopped. I should realize whether anything is wrong in my guru or in me. If guru is right, then there is something wrong in me, and I should try to repair it. And, if there is a hole in guru, then I should do this pranama to him forever: "O gurudeva, I don't want your mercy. I want the mercy of a high-class of devotee."
If a guru does not know the meaning of the mantras, like brahma-gayatri - if he does not know who is the istadeva, deity, of this mantra, if he does not know upon whom we should meditate, who should pracodayat, come in our heart, if he does not know the meaning of gopal-mantra, kama-gayatri, gaura-mantra, and he does not practice it in the morning, at midday, and in the evening, and if he is not realizing anything, how can he be guru? He should realize all these things. If he has bhakti in his heart, he can donate it to others. But if he is not really doing all these things, and there is no bhakti in his heart, then how can he donate that bhakti to others? This is the thing. That is why we are not developing. But for this, the current will go further, further, further to Krishna.
I think that now our class-time is over, and I want you to first digest all these things. Tomorrow we will proceed to explain the other lines of that song, "Sri guru carana-padma".
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Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja
HISTORY OF THE APPEARANCE OF LORD JAGANNATHA
(Wales, UK, July 3, 2000)
[Just before beginning class, Srila Maharaja gave a short talk on the meaning of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura's Introduction to Saranagati.]
Sri krsna caitanya prabhu jive doya kori. What is the essence of this song? You should try to hear very carefully - but not only hear. There was once a guru and a cela, disciple. The guru ordered, "Bring me a glass of water. Are you hearing?" The disciple answered, "Yes, I am hearing." But he did not go to bring the water. The guru asked again, "Bring me a glass of water." The disciple heard this order, but he was still not going to bring the water. The guru then asked the disciple, "Why are you not bringing the water?Because you only asked me, 'Have you heard?' There is no need to be telling me so much; I am not deaf. I am hearing what you want."
This is not hearing. You should not hear like this. If you want to follow me, then bring me water. Gurudeva says, "O, have you brought water?Yes.From where have you brought it?I brought it from there.But it is not drinking water." Suppose it was a very cold day and the disciple brought very cold water; such a disciple is not a sevaka. He is only a baka. What is the meaning of baka? Crane. The crane stands on one leg, and although he appears to be doing austerities, his austerities are only to catch fish. He will see a fish and say, "Oh!" and catch it.
If you are following, then you can hear. When you are doing kirtan, try to think of the meaning of the song and follow it. Then all your problems will go away and you will be happy.
There was a dog, and he surrendered himself to his master. His master was very powerful, very rich and wealthy, and he had two or three guns and pistols. The dog had nothing to do for his meals or anything else. He had no pocket at all. Dogs, and those who have surrendered, have nothing to care about for their meals, for their sleeping, or for their anything. Whenever he went for a walk, his master also went with him. Once, on the way, there were some large and ferocious hound dogs. They wanted to attack him, but he did not fear. Why? Because he knew his master had some guns, and if they would come and attack, what will he do? Shoot. So that dog was jumping and also going to quarrel with them. Why? Because he knew that his master was carrying guns. Similarly, if anyone is surrendered to Krishna, he will know that Krishna is very powerful and thus he will be always happy. He will not have to maintain his life. His maintenance will also depend on Krishna, because he has fully surrendered.
In all ways, therefore, if any devotee surrenders by the six limbs of saranagati, (accepting everything that is favourable and rejecting everything that is unfavourable, having firm conviction that Krishna is his only maintainer and protector, having humility, and fully surrendering), why should he be worried for his maintenance or anything else? He will cut off his pocket, and he will cut off all his attachments to anything other than Krishna.
This dog, however, is not fully surrendered. The master has some chains. Why does he have chains? Although the dog is surrendered in so many ways, there is some defect. If he will be free from his chains, where will he run? To she-dogs. He will then forget his master and go there to enjoy. Therefore the very powerful master is also very clever and intelligent. Sometimes, at night, he lets him free to do night-guard. That dog was not worried at any time for his meals and other things, but if he were not chained, there would be something wrong -- because he is not fully surrendered.
Devotees, however, are superior to that dog, and they should at least be like him regarding their meals, their maintenance, and their bhakti. Everything will depend on the master, and the master is not ordinary. He is Krishna Himself, all-powerful and very merciful. He will protect you, save you, and give you anything you desire. If you are a surrendered soul and still worried about your maintenance, then there is no real saranagati. A person may seem to be surrendered, but when any trouble or sickness comes, he will call out, "Oh, save me! Save me!" to persons other than Krishna. Krishna is so powerful. He can dissolve all your problems. Why worry? If a devotee is like this, always chanting and remembering, he will be always happy. Jayatma samprasidati. If one is doing bhakti he must be happy forever, and therefore he will certainly be detached from worldly desires. This is because he has some taste. Suppose there is sugarcane and a rasagulla. The rasagulla is saturated with a high-class of rasa and a very sweet fragrance. Everywhere it is saturated with rasa. Will a person take the sugarcane or the rasagulla? Param drstva nivartante. (One who experiences a higher taste will naturally give up the lower taste.) Bhakti-yoga means rasa; transcendental rasa. If one is tasting that, why will he be attached to worldly things? He will never be. If you are chanting, remembering and advancing in Krishna consciousness, there will be no problem. Detachment will come and you will be always happy.
At present you are doing all things, but you are always very unhappy; very unhappy. Detachment from wordly desire is not coming. You want to collect all those nonsense things that rascals are collecting. What does this mean? There is no bhakti at all. You are cheating yourself, your Gurudeva, and Krishna. Actually, Krishna and Gurudeva cannot be cheated; they will never be cheated. Only you are cheated.
Bhakti is like a current. It should not be stopped. It should be flowing, flowing, flowing always. Otherwise the water will stagnate and become stale. Bhakti begins from sraddha, nistha, ruci and so on. It is always developing. As much as it will develop, all the qualities of a Vaisnava will come. Detachment from worldly things will also come and you will be much more happy.
THE RATHA-YATRA FESTIVAL
Today is the ratha or cart festival. What is the cart festival? Our heart is like a cart. Pray to Krishna that, "You should come and sit in my heart." The gopis were praying like this to Krishna in Kuruksetra: "You should come and sit in our heart. Our heart is Vrindavana."
From where does this upakyana, history, come? There was once a King named Indradyumna, and his wife was Gundica. He heard from devotees who had been here and there in all the holy places, and who for one night were residing in his kingdom, about the glories of Nila Madhava. He heard that if anyone has darsana of Nila Madhava, he will certainly be liberated and go to Vaikuntha. The King wanted to ask, "How can I reach Him?" They left during the night, however, before he could ask the whereabouts of that Nila Madhava.
The King decided to somehow search for the Deity. He called his priest, or rather the son of his priest, Vidyapati, who was very intelligent. He also called all his officials and commanders, and ordered them to each go in a different direction. He said, "One will go to the east, another to the west, another south, another northeast, another southeast, and so on. In this way he sent them 'to all four corners', up and down, in all ten directions, and told them, "You should return within three months. To he who will really search, and will tell me the whereabouts of the Deity, I will give so much wealth and position." He sent his priest´s son, Vidyapati, who was very young and very beautiful, and possessing all good qualities, to the east. They all started from Madya Pradesh, and he would be going to the eastern side.
After three months all returned except Vidyapati. The king was worried; no one could find out his whereabouts. What was Vidyapati doing? He was travelling continually, up to the ocean, on the east side. One day, while he was searching Nila Madhava, he saw a very beautiful village on the bank of the ocean, and a mountain with so many flowers and trees. The persons there were very high-class. It was now approaching night, and he wanted to stay in that village. He went to someone and said, "Tonight I want to rest somewhere." That person told him, "The commander of this village, Visvavasu, though a sudra, is very qualified. You can go to his house. Whenever any traveller or guest comes, he goes to his house. He is very humble and very liberal. You must go there."
When Vidyapati arrived there, he saw that the owner was not at home. Only his very beautiful 16 year-old daughter was there. She opened the door and said, "You can wait for my father. He is not here. He has gone out. He will come, and then he will arrange everything. So you should wait outside." After some time -- after two, three, four hours -- the father of the girl arrived. A very beautiful, sweet fragrance was coming from his body, and he was wearing very beautiful and fragrant tilaka. When he saw his guest he became ashamed and told him, "Oh, excuse me; I am late. Now you can come." His daughter also came. They both took that guest inside and said, "The arrangements are made for all things -- bath and everything."
He took his meal and rested there, but he was thinking, "Where did that beautiful fragrance come from? I have never smelled anything like that in my whole life. And that girl is also so beautiful."
Vidyapati was also a very beautiful young man, and the girl became attached to him. Her father therefore told her, "You should take care of this young boy. He is very beautiful, intelligent, and qualified, and he is a brahmana by caste. So you should take care of him."
The next morning her father again went out to the same place. He told his daughter, "Do not tell anyone where I go. Keep it secret -- very, very secret. In the evening he again returned, very fresh and very fragrant.
After some time, Vidyapati began to have so much love for that girl. He was married, but still he had so much affection for her. He was so attached that he requested her father, "I want to marry this girl." The father agreed to marry his daughter to him, and now he became his son-in-law. One day Vidyapati secretly told his wife, "O, I want to know where your father is going daily, and from where is this fragrance is coming. Tell me.That I cannot tell.You cannot tell me? You are one with me; you are non-different to me. You must tell me. I am your husband.Then you must promise that you will not tell anyoneA wife should not speak like this. I know you are a very chaste wife, so you must tell me." Then he was silent. "I will tell you," She said, "He is going to worship a Deity." "Which Deity?I promised not to tell, but yet I will tell you because you are my husband. He is going to Nila Madhava."
Hearing this name Vidyapati became very happy, and he began to show his love and affection to his wife in such a way that she told him everything: "My father goes in the morning, comes in the evening, and again goes." Then he asked, "Can you tell me in where he goes? Request your father that, 'You should take your son-in-law with you.'"
That night, when her father returned, she requested him: "Father; O father. I want that you take my husband with you to Nila Madhava. He wants only to take darsana." When he was not willing, she said, "I will take poison. I will die in front of you if you do not take him with you. This means that I am not your loving daughter." She became ready to take the poison. These are the most powerful weapons of ladies: "I will die. I will take poison. I will commit suicide." What, then, will a husband say? "Oh, you can take my everything." This is most powerful.
Her father said, "No; I do not want you to die. I will take him with me, but there is some condition: I will bind his eyes with black cloth." She told him, "Yes, you can bind his eyes with black cloth." When Vidyapati was seated on a bullock cart, Visvavasu put on the black cloth and took his son-in-law with him. Vidyapati's wife was very clever and also very intelligent. She had given him some mustard seeds and said, "Keep this in your pocket. Now it is the rainy season. If you will drop one-one-one-one, one after another, the whole way, after some time the plants of those mustard seeds will blossom into bright yellow flowers, and you will very easily be able to go there yourself. You will not have to ask your father."
Vidyapati took the mustard seeds, and one by one began to drop them on the ground -- and his father never knew.
[At this time Srila Narayana Maharaja noticed some devotees sleeping and said] Don´t sleep. Who is sleeping? Don´t sleep. Sit like this. Always keep your eyes open. When sleep comes, clap. Maya comes especially at the time of chanting Hare Krishna. She becomes so heavy on your eyelids; it is as though 1000's of mounds of stones are there. Maya is very powerful. I have come from so far to give you all these things, and you don´t want to take the nectar. So I will take my nectar and I will return. [He then resumed the class.]
When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, the bullock cart was kept there. Visvavasu took Vidyapati by the hands and brought him to the top of the hill. When they went inside the temple he took off his black cloth and saw the very beautiful Nila Madhava. He was four-handed, and carrying sankha, cakra, gada and padma. He was very beautiful but, unlike Nanda-nandana, He had no flute and no peacock feather. Nila Madhava was like Narayana. Narayana is not less beautiful. He is very beautiful, but Krishna is supermost. In this way Vidyapati saw him, became so much happy, and began to weep. His father-in-law told him, "Wait; I am coming. I am going to pick some flowers and get other paraphernalia. You should wait here."
While he waited, he noticed a very beautiful lake with lotus flowers, humming bees, and some sweetly singing birds. The branches of a mango tree were hanging over the lake, and a crow was sleeping on the branch of that tree. While sleeping, the crow fell down in the lake, and at once he left his body and became four-handed. Then Garuda quickly came, took him on his back, and they both went to Vaikuntha.
Vidyapati began to think, "Oh! Then why should I remain here?" He wanted to also climb a tree, jump in the lake, and thus be four-handed and go to Vaikuntha. When he began to do so, an aerial voice came and said, "Do not do this. No. You will have to do so many important things for the benefit of the whole world; so do not do this!" Thakurji also told Vidyapati, "O, don't commit suicide for becoming liberated and going to Vaikuntha. You should be patient. Everything will be done." In the meantime Vidyapati's father returned with so many flowers and other paraphernalia. He said, "Why you are doing this? You should not do this!"
This boy was now very much charmed with the glories of Nila Madhava. His father made candana and other things, and throughout the entire day he was worshipping, offering prayers, and engaging so many other devotional activities.
Visvavasu was known a dayita-pati, and all the residents of that village were known as dayitas. Dayita means those who are very near and dear to Krishna; very near and dear. Visvavasu was dayita-pati, master of all those who are near and dear. Although he was a sudra, still he was serving in this way, fully surrendered and always calling out, "Nila Madhava!"
When his services were completed, he again put the black cloth on the eyes of Vidyapati and they both left. Visvavasu then practically arrested him in his house. He could not go anywhere, and thus it was as though he was in jail. He told his wife: "You should help me. I want to return very soon. I have promised my king. The king wants to come with his whole family to serve Nila Madhava. Please help me. You are my wife; my half." She gave permission and said, "You can go. I will help you." She somehow made a plan, and he thus came out of his jail and proceeded towards the place from which he had come.
Vidyapati had been gone for six months or more, and now that he returned the king became very happy. The king decided," I must go with my wife, my kingdom, my wealth, and my soldiers and commanders. Proceeding, he reached there in six months. From where? From Sandipani Muni in Ujjain. He was the king of Ujjain, and from there he travelled to Puri, or rather a hundred miles south of Puri. By a miracle, however, he saw that the hill was not there, and there was also no village. The entire village was covered with over a hundred feet of sand. Everything was covered up to the hill, and Nila Madhava was not there.
Then the king began to fast. He took a kusasana, straw mat, and, facing the ocean, he decided, "If I do not get have the darsana of Nila Madhava, I will not take anything to eat and I will die. I came with my whole kingdom, my whole wealth, wife and family, but I did not get the darsana of the Lord. Oh, I must give up my life". An aerial voice then said; "He will not come, but do not worry. Nila Madhava will not be here to give you darsana, but you will be able to see Him. He will manifest in four forms, but now wait. I am sending Brahma. You should come with Brahma to Vaikuntha, and there you can take darsana of Nila Madhava. But Nila Madhava will not go to this world. His four amsas, manifestations, will go."
Brahma quickly came and took the king with him to Vaikuntha, where he could glance at Nila Madhava. He became very attached and began to weep. Brahma told him: "Let us go. He will not go to earth in this form, but He will go in four forms: Jagannatha, Baladeva, Subhadra and Cakra Sudarsana. So we should go there and wait for him." In the meantime, while the king was gone, so many years had passed, and now the whole world was changed. Before going he had made a very big, beautiful and high temple, but now it was also covered. Although the sands had been taken off many times, still it became old and dilapidated. A new king had come and repaired it, and he had declared, "I am the builder of this temple!" When King Indradyumna returned, however, he said, "This is not yours. I have built this. I am the owner of this temple. You have only made repairs." Brahma agreed, "This King has built the temple. You have only repaired it." In this way, King Indradyumna again became the master.
They were now all waiting for the Deities. Somehow the king's wife was there by the mercy of Krishna. He had no child at all, so there was only he and his wife. While waiting, he heard about Bahki Mahana, somewhat north and east of Cakratirtha, on the shore of the ocean. Going to that placethe king saw a red tree-trunk which was marked everywhere with sanka, cakra, gada and padma, and conch, disc, club and lotus flower. He thus went there with his soldiers and elephants, and tried very hard to take it out of the water; but he could not do it.
At last an aerial voice said: "You should bring Vidyapati, your priest´s son, and dayita-pati -- those who first served Nila Madhava. And also bring his daughter." They were thus brought with honour on a chariot, and then Dayita-pati and Vidyapati and his wife began to pray to those logs. "O, please, please be merciful and come on our chariot." The logs now very easily came, and then they were brought to the place near to where the temple was situated.
A big sacrifice was then performed, and I have already explained how these four vigrahas were manifest there. The Deity ordered the king through an aerial voice, "You should make a festival for ten days, beginning from today. You should take this chariot to the Gundica Mandira and we will be there for so many days. Then you should take us back. You should perform many festivals like snana-yatra, candana-yatra, hera-pancami, and so on." During candan-yatra Jagannatha's whole body is covered with candana for many days. In narendra-sarvovara lake a very beautiful boat comes, and then His Deity of Madana-Mohana is brought there and nokara vilasa, boat pastimes, take place. Then comes snana-yatra. The Deity receives abhiseka, bath, from thousands of pitchers of water brought from all the holy places. He takes such a long bath that he becomes sick. His stomach becomes upset and loose motion comes. At that time Laksmiji takes Him to Her palace and closes the door for fifteen days.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu cannot survive without Him, so He goes to Alvarnatha and cries, "Where is Krishna? Where is Krishna?" He becomes mad. He became so mad that when He touched the stones at Alvarnatha they melted. Wherever He did his pranams, wherever His hands, head, and other limbs were placed, their impressions became visible in that piece of stone. It is still kept there, and it is called angavasat. Only the dayitas can serve at that time; no one else. Who are the dayitas? The family of Visvavasu Sabara. Only they can become the servants of Jagannatha. Actually there are two kinds of servants. One is coming from the dynasty of the original brahmana wife, Vidyapatis first wife. These devotees will do arcana and seva. Those who descend from Lalita, the daughter of Visvavasu, are called supa. Supa means cook. Though they are of a very low-class of birth, Jagannatha has accepted them and they can cook. They cook not less than one hundred mounds of rice and dal, and so many various preparations -- very easily and very quickly -- and they are expert in using the many stoves. At least twenty-five earthern pots can be placed on one stove.
The king prayed, "O Thakuraji. I am serving you. I want a boon.What boon do you want?I want that in my dynasty there should be neither sons nor daughters. I do not want any child. I know that you will give what I want.Why don´t you want children?They will quarrel for money. They will have no interest in serving. So much money will come and they will think, 'This property is mine' 'Jagannatha is my property.'" Nowadays we see this all over India, and everywhere else. The disciples of my siksa-guru also think, "This is my property."
The King continued, "So I do not want that any one of my family members thinks 'Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra are my property, and all money that is coming as pranami is therefore mine to enjoy.'" These days devotees go to others and tell them, "Give me some money to serve my Gurudeva. I want to serve Thakuraji, Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra. I want to serve Radha and Krishna. So donate something." Then, when they get that donation, they do not give a single percent to Gurudeva or to Thakuraji. They think, "Now I am the enjoyer!" and they keep the money in their pockets. Then they think, "Where is the bank so that I can make a deposit?You can go to Switzerland, it is the very best.No, I want to keep it in India because I want to live there. So can you tell me which is the safest bank in India to keep my money?" They forget that they collected this money for Gurudeva. Would anyone give the money if they thought it was for you? And what will be the punishment? As yet Krishna has no hell that is good enough to give. He will have to create a new hellish planet where such persons can suffer even more. Krishna is therefore somewhat worried about where to make such a hell for them to be sent. This is a very big problem for Krishna. So you should be always careful about this. Otherwise bhakti will not come. She will know that, "This person is very selfish. He wants to be the master of his Gurudeva and Krishna also."
The king therefore requested, "I want that in my family there should be no child at all who will say, "I am the owner. I am the master of Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra", and who will take even a single paisa. The managers should always be changed. There should be a servant, like a trustee. What is a trustee? He who you can trust to serve without any self-gain. The king of Orissa is always the trustee, and he has no child. After him someone else is selected. They are not actually king. They cannot take even a farthing or a paisa. If they will take anything they will be ruined.
The king then said, 'The dynasty of Vidyapati´s first wife will be the priests, and the dynasty of his second wife will cook. They will especially serve during the ten days of ratha-yatra. Nobody besides them can serve.
There are so many teachings in this. This evening I will tell you about Prataparudra Maharaja; how Caitanya Mahaprabhu rejected him and how he then accepted him due to his bhakti, and what was going on between Svarupa Damodara and Srivasa Pandita when Mahaprabhu was the mediator. So many questions were raised and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu solved them in a very good way. If you hear this, you will get the benefit of hearing the whole Srimad Bhagavatam and the essence of the whole Vedic literature. Love and affection will come, and thus your life will be successful. That is why my siksa-guru, Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja, took this cart festival here, there and everywhere -- because in the beginning we are only qualified to serve Jagannatha. He is patita-pavana. So you should discuss all these teachings and try to listen and follow them, and you will very quickly become a high class of devotees. There will be no doubt at all.
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All Glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga
Guru And Sisya
By Tridandi Swami Srila Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayan Maharaj - Acarya Of Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math
(Rendered into English by Sri Gaurgopal Sarkar, retired Headmaster of Mayapur Thakur Bhaktivinode Institute)
The meaning of the word, Guru (Spiritual master), is very grave. If the word is analyzed it's only two parts ‘Gu’ and ‘ru’ are obtained. Here ‘Gu’ signifies ‘Darkness’ and ‘ru’ means ‘Light’. It simply indicates that he who is able to save forever illusioned persons from the clutches of darkened maya (illusion) and is able to make them reach the sun or light-like God will be considered to be described as a ‘Guru’. Similarly the meaning of the word, ‘Sisya’ (Dis-ciple), has its own speciality. A disciple promptly places on his head every order of all known as spiritual masters. He carries out the order in question with responsibility, regularity and pleasure and adds to the happiness of Krishna, the original Guru of all, and his Diksha Guru and Siksa Guru and all other Vaisnavas. The inherent meaning of the word Sisya, is associated with a person who always joyfully follows without any question the rules of all sorts of preceptors. In this age the difference between a preceptor and a disciple is going to be abolished forever. This article is presented in this context.
In the Gita Krishna, the Supreme Godhead, taught lessons to all living in the world by address-ing Arjuna. In the very way, the saviour from Kali and the apostle of love, Sri Krishna Chai-tanya Mahaprabhu, addressed Sri Rupa Goswami and his brother, Anupam, when He was seated with them at Dasaswamedh Ghat in Prayag, and taught us that innumerable bounded up jiva souls wonder through 8 400 000 species in the fourteen worlds. There are two classes of jiva: mobile and immobile. Mobile creatures are of three types: aquatic, terrestrial and flying creatures. Among them terrestrial class is the best. Man is the best in this class. Among them the human beings are very small in number. There are many persons who are devoid of civili-zation and virtue and are atheists. One-half of those who are called virtuous, have reverence for the Vedas and accepts them verbally. Most of these religious persons who have attachment to the Vedas are workers. On analysis one wise person is found among many thousands of work-ers. In the same way one liberated persons will be detected among thousands of wise men. Similarly, one devotee of Sri Krishna is very scarce among one crore liberated persons.
According to Sriman Mahaprabhu, the apostle of love, devotee of Sri Krishna is very rare. But, in recent days so many rare devotees of Krishna are found all around. Is the utterance of the Lord a false one then? No, it can never be so. His words will never be false. Devotees of Krishna are truly very rare.
Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu instructed Nityananda Prabhu and Namacharya Haridas Thakur after observing the troubles of jivas struck by Kali:
suna suna nityananda suna haridas
sarbatra amara ajna karaha prachar
prati ghare ghare giya kara ei bhiksha
bala krishna bhaja krishna kara krishna siksa
[My dear Nityananda and Haridas, please, give ample publicity of my order to all places. Go to every house and beg for uttering Krishna, worshiping Krishna and learning Krishna.]
In order to follow the instruction and to place on high positions the flag signifying the conquest over all views in the foreign countries my Param Gurudev Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur, at first sent there his three competent disciples: Tridandi Swami Srimad Bhakti Pradip Tirtha Maharaj, Tridandi Swami Srimad Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj and Srimad Bhakti Hriday Bon Maharaj, for propagating in every house the way to make lives sig-nificant by pronouncing the Name of Krishna, taking part in the service of Krishna and going through the books having bearings on Krishna. He also wanted to overflow the world by the Holy love of Lord Krishna through the above requests. After that Srila Prabhupada disappeared. In his absence nobody came actively to the foreign countries for a long time for preaching the lessons of Sriman Mahaprabhu. In 1965 Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Maharaj, my siksha Guru blessed by Srila Prabhupada and the Founder Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, preached with the vigour given by Srila Prabhupada almost everywhere in the world as per the following desire of Srila Prabhupada and instruction of Sriman Mahaprabhu ‘Harer-nama harer-nama harer-namaiva kevalam’ (The Name of Hari, The Name of Hari, only the Name of Hari). He did so with the desire and grace of Sriman Mahaprabhu and Srila Prabhupada to make the following saying of Sriman Mahaprabhu a true one:
prithivite ache yata nagaradi gram
sarvatra prachar haive mor nam
[My name will be preached to all towns and villages in the world.]
He made it known to all that Hari-nam only is the natural faculty of the people struck by Kali. It is the only means to get peace by giving up quarrel and enviousness. As a result, at least a number of people having devotion to Mahaprabhu can be found out.
During the time of the prakasa-lila (life-time) of Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Maharaja, the founder of ISKCON, many enthusiastic foreign devotees of Sriman Mahaprabhu were avail-able. In course of time with the disappearance of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja and his class-fellows all Vaisnavas belonging to Sri Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Saraswat Sampradaya (community) and all other so called Vaisnava sects were griped by the awful seizure of Kali.
Men living in this material world lost their awareness about their abode and became devoid of religion. They believe in the so called worldly affairs, disregard the rules of religion and almost all of them are entangled in transgression. Now in the name of religion we, the devotees in the eyes of the worldly people have made the very flow of the preaching of the message of Sriman Mahaprabhu the way to earn our livelihood. Each jiva is after enjoying sensual pleasures. He never gave us the chance of such an enjoyment. The entrance of the British in India about 254 years ago with measuring instrument of a businessman can be taken up as an instance. They found that the hearts of the Indians are soft like flowers. Their measuring instrument gradually broke the said hearts by a magic power and they took over the ruling power in their hands with the aid of their enjoyment tendency.
In this way the religious arena is actually devoid of a true Guru today. We neglected the rules of the scriptures in the name of religion and like the British we made our religion a way to earn our livelihood. As a result, people living in this country and the foreign lands United them-selves in the foreign lands and in this country respectively in the beguile of accepting Guru and preaching religion. By the attraction of Mahamaya we are detached from our religion and Var-nasrama and gave religion an ugly form in connection with the relation of Guru and his disci-ples. Guru is the container and conveyer of religion. It makes us describe our Guru as the iden-tical revelation of God. Previously we were proud of the judgment and characteristic of the practice of pure devotion by my Param Gurudev Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur. Afterwards my Gurudev, Om Vishnupad 108 Sri Srimad Bhakti Promode Puri Goswami Maharaj and his godbrothers showed the same ideal of Srila Prabhupada and taught us that the real home of every jiva is Bhagavatdham, Golok, where the Supreme Godhead Him-self is engaged in lila (Pastimes) in company with His associates. Jiva is forever related with Him as His servant. They taught us this matter and showed us the way to return to our real home, Bhagavatdham.
‘Asakti rahita, sambandha sahita kara ucchaisvare Harinam.’ — ‘Pronounce loudely the Name of Hari by discarding attachment and embracing relation with Him.’ It is a matter of great re-gret that we have down-trodden those ideals of the mahajanas (Great saints) as very insignifi-cant ones and have used their great names. On the other hand we bade good bye from the core of our hearts to the land of religion, India and came to the foreign countries to earn money by hook or by crook in the name of the service of God and Guru-Vaisnava. By getting money in this way we saved it giving birth to attachment and leaving our ideal of detachment. Finally we are very much engaged in fulfilling our greed for the enjoyment of our senses.
Some persons disclose, ‘after earning money in the foreign countries we shall go back to our Dham and accept strict Bhajan like Rupa and Sanatana.’ In the words of Srila Viswanath Tha-kur this type of alternative thinking is called byudhavikalpa. It means a plea to enjoy worldly possessions in the name of service to God by forgetting Saranagati. In fact, only Saranagati (complete surrender) and nothing else is the stair to reach to the door of the knowledge of Bha-gavata. At the time of composing the kirtan ‘Vaisnava ke’ — ‘Who is the Vaisnava?’, Srila Prabhupada said ‘Kanaka, Kamini Pratistha baghini chariache yare, sei to vaisnava’ — ‘He who has discarded gold, female sex and the tigress, reputation is the Vaisnava’. Yet we being his prasisya (followers of the next generation) are worshiping the three hindrances to Hari Bhajan: gold, female sex and reputation. In fact, most of us made Srila Prabhupada and His initiated personalities the capital of our business, entrapped ourselves in the guise of Vaisnavas and after accepting materialistic views we are in the look out for making the number of Apasampradaya so many in place of only thirteen.
Srila Prabhupada always said ‘The condition of so called Guru and Sisya is very miserable. The condition of all Gurus is more regrettable than Sisyas’. In the words of Srila Prabhupada both Guru and Sisya of this type are blind while they follow the path to devotion. Gurudev is the pathfinder to the Bhagavat-dham. A blind can not show the way to another blind. If a person plays the role of a guru without practicing pure devotion and shows negligence to the scriptures he will receive two pushes at the time of trying to show the way to his sisya and his sisya will get one. His venture of this type will bring to him the first push. He will fall down in a ditch. His second push will come when his sisya will fall flat on him from behind having the first push.
In recent days another problem appeared very prominently. On getting in touch with different posts in religious organizations Guru and sisya both are now busy with these positions. When-ever they are asked of pure devotion, they being burdened with the posts say with wonder ‘What is that?! Now we are very busy.’ Srila Sukadeva Goswami told us to chant the Name of Hari for sixteen rounds on the beads and look after the property as the one belonging to Krishna. The exact time for taking Hari Nama sixteen times on the beads is not found out in view of the malice of property. Practically when a property is taken as one belonging to me in-stead of Krishna, jiva by unbiased strength of Krishna goes far away from Him and gets a burning sensation as a separate entity.
Now gold, female sex and reputation are our necessity in place of love to Krishna. What will be the consequence? Will our taking shelter of the lotus feet of Guru and endeavour or service be proved futile? Our taking shelter of the lotus feet of Guru will then be meaningful when we shall be able to follow with pleasure all the principles laid down by him instead of imitating them and chant the Name of Hari whole-heartedly. In this way, our venture to be united with the soul of our Guru chanting of Harinam everyday and measures to serve the Vaisnavas and the Lord will make us follow Bhakti-anga instead of playing the role of accepting pure devo-tion. If a Guru is engaged in the robbing of the wealth of his sisya instead of removing his mis-eries and a sisya is entangled in enjoying his Guru instead of rendering devotional service to him (that was described previously at the time of showing the attempt of Guru to earn his live-lihood by making the Name as the capital and his engagement in enjoying the senses) then Yamaraj will construct a special naraka (hell) for both the Guru and his said sisya.
This dasadhama prays with a piece of cloth fastened around his neck to Srila Guru Padapadma, Srila Prabhupada and the Acharyas following the footsteps of Rupa ‘Please, wake every one living in the world, making them detached from Anyabhilasa (other aspirations) by defeating the two hindrances to pure devotion — knowledge and work, and give them that is conducive to the nourishment of pure devotion and allow them to be the eternal devotees of the Lord Krishna Chandra.’ They are also requested by him to allow the boat of his human body to serve the lotus feet of the pilot who takes us to the opposite bank of the ocean in the form of this world, to res-cue us by creating the chance for establishing an eternal relation with the Lord and to make us liberated from our condition of confinement in Maya.
This Dasadhama politely submit to the readers to kindly forgive the Aparadha (offences) for his faults.
Vaisnava-Dasanudasa Bhaktibibudha Bodhayan
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Guru-Tattva
A Lecture of Srila Bhakti Kumud Santa Maharaja*
My respected bhaktas (listeners),
I was invited by my beloved Nandanandana to attend the celebration on the occasion of the Abirbhava (appearance) of Sripad Vamana Maharaja, the Acharya of Sri Gaudiya Vedanta Samity.
In recent days some persons present themselves as the initiated ones of Gaudiya Math and speak of many matters full of apasidhanta (contrary to established decisions). As an instance, they say that the birthday of the Acharya will not be observed. The day of his initiation will be observed. It is a fully wrong decision. It can never be. According to the shastras:
ishwarer janmathithi je hano pabitra,
vaisnavaro janmatithi se hano pavitra
("The appearance of God is holy. The birthday of Vaishnava is also holy").
Those who think that the birth of their guru is birth only are unfortunates. Birth is of the jivas bounded by the results of their karma (works). If the God or Vaishnava appear in the world, then this is not an ordinary birth, but their Abirbhava (appearance). Whenever they go away from this world it means it is their Tirobhava (disappearance). The tithis (days) of their appearance in the world are very holy for their sisyas and are to be observed. On their observation Hari Bhakti (devotion to Hari) will be resulted. If they are not observed violation will be inevitable as per the Mahajanas:
abirbhava tirobhava veda matrakai
("The Vedas speak of Abirbhava and Tirobhava only").
The Sun rises. It does not mean that it takes birth. It is faulty. On the other hand the sun has set. It does not mean that it is no more. It is a faulty deduction. Whenever it comes to us it is its Abirbhava. With its disappearance Tirobhava is meant. They do not come by birth. They do not also breathe their last. Thus it is said in the Gita:
janma karma ca me divyam
evam yo vetti tavttvatah
tyaktva deham punar janma
naiti mameti so 'rjuna
(Srimad Bhagavad Gita, 4.9)
("One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna").
Krishna said that "My birth and work are divya". Divya means transcendental and it is not materialistic. One is customary — material. The other is spiritual. It will be an aparadha (offence) if customary and materials matters are united with spiritualism.
Now the initiated persons of Sripad Vamana Maharaja are fortunate ones.
What is Guru-Tattva (knowledge about the guru)? First of all understand it and then proceed. Do not pay hate to what is being said by others. I am old now. I do not see, sometimes I can not remember thing known by me. So, with an urge for a discussion I came here after jotting down so points one after another. I shall try to speak of that matter by its reading. Please, try to understand me.
According to shastra:
guru-padashrayas tasmat
krishna-dikshadi-shikshanam
vishrambhena guroh seva
sadhu vartanuvartamanam
(Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, 1.2.74)
["[1] Accepting the shelter of the lotus feet of a bona fide spiritual master, [2] becoming initiated by the spiritual master and learning how to discharge devotional service from him, [3] obeying the orders of the spiritual master with faith and devotion, and [4] following in the footsteps of great acaryas [teachers] under the direction of the spiritual master"].**
("First of all, the lotus feet of a guru are to be taken shelter of. Diksha guru and siksha guru are to be followed. The guru is to be served with faith in him. The path of a saints should be followed"). If one desires to be a pathfinder of the spiritual realm and is willing of going to the Lord, he has to take shelter of the lotus feet of a guru: "guru-padashrayas". What is the meaning of "ashraya"? "Ashraya" means "taking diksha". Diksha is to be taken. One will have to take from him not only diksha but also siksha. What is more? He is to be served the guru with faith in him. Yes, he will have to bear in mind that if I serve him (guru) I shall have welfare. Not only that, he has to give up maintaining material dealings. He has to posses a spiritual faith. What is spoken of by "vishvasa"?
shraddha-shabde vishvasa kahe sudridha nishcaya,
krishne-bhakti kaile sarva karma krita haya
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.62)
[“Shraddha is confident, firm faith that by rendering transcendental loving service to Krishna one automatically performs all subsidiary activities. Such faith is favorable to the discharge of devotional service].
("The word "sraddha" means "strong faith". If Krishna is shown bhakti all works will be done").
It is described as "vishvasa". "Sraddha" means vishvasa point. How is this vishvasa. I shall give you one instance: Krishna is returning after tending the cows. Sridham, Sudhama, Vasudhama and other companions began to drink water of Kaliyadaha. He came running to them, slept each and asked, "What are you doing? This water is poisoned. If a birth flights over the water it will die. And you are drinking it, you will surely die". What did the companions answer? "Kanai, Your companions do not love You with this sort of insignificant faith. We know that the water we are drinking is not poisoned — it is nectar. We can not drink poison", — Krishna sees from behind that they are drinking the poisoned nectar. — "Our death can not happen". This is faith. Therefore, if the order of a guru is carried out after placing faith in his lotus feet and then he is worshipped and served, my welfare will come forth. The sisya who will go forward with this faith will be rewarded with self welfare. What is this? The honest way we shall follow will be shown by him. He will show the way. This is guru-tattva. It has to be understood properly. Further:
tasmad gurum prapadyeta
jijnasuh sreya uttamam
sabde pare ca nisnatam
brahamany upasamasrayam
(Srimad Bhagavatam, 11.3.21)
["Therefore any person who seriously desires real happiness must seek a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of the bona fide guru is that he has realized the conclusions of the scriptures by deliberation and is able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personality, who has taken shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, should be understood to be bona fide spiritual master"].
("A guru will have to be accepted for the best benefit"). Why should we accept a guru? Is the acceptance of a guru customary or materialistic? No, it is not customary. "Jijnasuh sreya uttamam", ("being inquisitive about the highest good" — note of proofreader) — here two words 'sreya" and "uttamam" have been used. What type of sreya is it? It is the best sreya. General sreya for obtaining materialistic welfare is not worthy of the name. Uttama sreya is to be obtained. And so the lotus feet of a guru are to be taken shelter of. What sort of guru is he? "Sabde pare ca nisnatam" — he is well acquainted with sabda brahman and para brahman. Sabda brahman and para brahman is one thing — thus identical. The sound of this world is a material one. It is not sabda brahman. It is only sound. The sound of the Supreme World is the transcendental one. It is transcendental. That is sabda brahman.
So, he (guru) is equipped with sabda brahman and para brahman. We can not understand. But he is living very near to God. This feeling should be there. Taking shelter of the lotus feet of a guru is for this. It is for nothing else. What are the sings of such a guru? There are many signs of a guru. I shall discuss it with you. How is he? He is kripa sindhu (an ocean of kindness) and doya sagar (sea of piety). He is full-fledged. A sisya should not have a feeling about anything, one thing in his guru or any incompleteness of his guru. He (guru) is full-fledged and a benefactor of all beings.
He who will go to him will be benefited. This animate object will get welfare by coming in touch with him. Even inanimate objects will be in possession of such a benefit. Here is the paduka (shoe) of my guru. Is it material or animate? But we are offering it pranam. Because it has gone to the touch of the gurudeva and has been turned to be an object of our pranam. Gurudeva is disinterested in anything. He has no attachment, no hope or aspiration.
He is always siddha (perfect), well versed in all matters and expert in everything. He can cease all doubts — he has the power to cut down all the doubts of his sisyas. One who cannot make answer to any question of his sisya is not a guru. Guru is not idle — he has no idleness. He is called guru. He is described as a guru. So, he is an exact guru. All can not be gurus. It is opined by many that diksha guru and siksha guru are equal. It is not my opinion. It is mentioned according to the scriptures. Yes, they (some people) take the two as equal. What is the inference? As par as Sri Chaitanya Caritamrita:
naivopayanty apacitim kavayas tavesha
brahmayusapi kritam riddha-mudah smarantah
yo ‘ntar bahis tanu-bhritam ashubham vidhunvann
acarya-caittya-vapusha sva-gatim vyanakti
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, Adi-lila, 1.48)
("O my Lord! Transcendental poets and experts in spiritual science could not fully express their indebtedness to You, even if they were endowed with the prolonged lifetime of Brahma, for You appear in two features — externally as the acarya and internally as the Supersoul — to deliver the embodied living being by directing him how to come to You").
He is within me as the caita guru. He Himself appears in the world as the Mahanta guru.
shiksha guruke ta’ jani krishnera svarupa
antaryami, bhakta shreshtha - ei dui rupa
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, Adi-lila, 1.47)
("One should know the instructing spiritual master to be the Personality of Krishna. Lord Krishna manifests Himself as the Supersoul and as the greatest devotee of the Lord").
As the antaryami (dweller of the heart) He is caitya guru and as the bhakta shreshtha (best devotee) He is Mahanta guru or diksha guru. These are His two appearances. He who is there as the dweller in the heart is in the show as the best devotee. He is the diksha guru. So, some people say that a siksha guru more worshipable than a diksha guru. It is a wrong inference. Why? The matter should be understood properly. According to the scriptures:
mantra-guru ara yata shiksha-guru-gana
tahara-carana age kariye vandana
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, Adi-lila, 1.35)
("I first offer my respectful obeisances at the lotus feet of my initiating spiritual master and all my instructing spiritual masters").
First of all diksha guru is mentioned. Thereafter siksha guru is indicated. Diksha guru is only one. Siksha gurus are many. They (siksha gurus) may be innumerable. Will everyone of them be accepted as a diksha guru? No, on no occasion it can be done.
I was initiated at Bagh Bazaar (Harinama was given to me at Sri Mayapur). Then all began to address me as "Prabhu". My name in my Brahmachari life was Sri Radharaman. So, all called me "Radharaman Prabhu". I was then in my boyhood. I went to my gurudeva, Srila Prabhupada. I said to Him, "Prabhu, previously all addressed me as Radharaman. Why are they calling me as Radharaman Prabhu?" Prabhupada laughed and said "Just see, you are addressed as a prabhu, you consider yourself as "prabhu" This is an example and teaching. Vanity and pride may capture. In order to make that pride weaker the following teaching has been imparted.
gurur sewak moi mano aponar
("The servitor of a guru is to be your respected one").
One of my brother disciples asked me thus, “Îne sisya of Bon Maharaja is seated. Your one sisya has also taken his seat. If a sisya of your brother's sisya comes here, will he offer pranam to you or Bon Maharaja?" I said, "No, he will offer pranam to his guru. But the duty of his guru will be to direct him thus our guru-varga are seated here. Offer your pranam to them". Whenever he (sisya) caries out the order he will have no aparadha. But he will commit aparadha if he does not offer pranam to his guru at first. The duty of the guru will be to direct his sisya to make obeisances to my guru-varga at first. It is the rule and system. Learn it that diksha is the best.
diksha guru ara yata shiksha-guru-gana
It has a hidden side. Great sisyas of Sri Kesava Maharaja are seated here. One of the said sisyas is younger in age. Will he get the honor offer to the great sisyas? Will there be the fault for making an exception? He will not get the honor like the senior brothers.
Who is accepted as the siksha guru? He who is teaching the service to guru, Vaishnava and God is siksha guru. The person not making the above task will not be accepted as a siksha guru. He has vanity only. In fact, no welfare will be done by him. Other siksha gurus do not deserve honor from their sisyas.
Shastras assert thus diksha guru is the siksha guru. When he initiates he teaches also. In this matter diksha guru and siksha guru are identical. Diksha guru and siksha guru are both seated. Diksha guru is to be offered pranam at first. After that siksha gurus turn will come. Father and uncle are standing. Should one offer his pranam to his uncle at first? It can never be so. First of all father is to be offered pranam. After that uncle can be honored. This is the teaching. This inference is to be obeyed.
From the point of view of this material world, Srila Sanatana Goswami and Srila Rupa Goswami are brothers. Srila Jiva Goswami is their nephew. Vallabha Acharya went to Srila Rupa Goswami in Vrindavana. On reaching there he said, “Sri Rupa, Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, written by you, is very nice. But there is a thing of misery. I have felt unhappy. You wrote thus:
bhukti-mukti- spriha yavat
pishaci hridi vartate
tavad bhakti-sukhasyatra
katham abhyudayo bhavet
(Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, 1.2.22)
("The material desire to enjoy the material world and the desire to become liberated from material bondage are considered to be two witches, and they haunt one like ghosts. As long as these witches remain within the heart, how can one feel transcendental bliss? As long as these two witches remain in the heart, there is no possibility of enjoying the transcendental bliss of devotional service").
You met bhukti and mukti “pisaci” (a evil spirit). There are many persons who are in quest of moksa (salvation of the soul). Will not they take your words as abuse? A great personality like you are abusing". Srila Rupa Goswami said then, "I accept what you say". Vallabha Acharya was satisfied and went to the bank of the Yamuna. Vallabha Acharya was superior to him in respect of age. Just mark who Vaishnava is. Where is our attachment signifying a Vaishnava?
When Vallabha Acharya came to Rupa Goswami, Jiva Goswami was seated there. He followed Vallabha Acharya and went on the bank of the Yamuna. He offered him pranam. Vallabha Acharya asked:
— My dear son, who are you?
— I am a sisya of demand to whom you had gone. — Jiva Goswami said.
— What is your name?
— My name is Sri Jiva.
— What do you want to say?
— You refuted the inference of my guru. It is not a matter for refutation. He has written the right thing.
— How is it?
— He wrote thus:
bhukti-mukti- spriha yavat
pishaci hridi vartate
tavad bhakti-sukhasyatra
katham abhyudayo bhavet
(Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, 1.2.22)
["The material desire to enjoy the material world and the desire to become liberated from material bondage are considered to be two witches, and they haunt one like ghosts. As long as these witches remain within the heart, how can one feel transcendental bliss? As long as these two witches remain in the heart, there is no possibility of enjoying the transcendental bliss of devotional service".]
He marked this spriha (aspiration) for bhukti and mukti as an evil spirit. How to understand this properly? I can give you one example. We don't have to hate a female. If one says that female sex is a thing to be hated it will not be allowed. But a bad attraction to a female is to be hated. This has been given to understand. How do you say that it is not proper?
Vallabha Acharya wondered. He came back to Rupa Goswami and said:
— Sri Rupa, what you have written is correct. There is no need for excluding it.
— Why do you say so, Prabhu?! You just told me thus that "this is wrong”.
— I made the mistake and my fault is now corrected by a handsome boy.
— Who is that boy?
— His name is Sri Jiva.
— You asked to say goodbye to "bhukti mukti spriha…".
— The aspirations for enjoyment and liberation are described as a bad thing.
Sri Rupa uttered previously thus "Yes". Now he said thus, "Yes". See how fine is the dealing.
Vallabha Acharya went away. Rupa Goswami then addressed to Jiva Goswami, "I shall not look at you. You are not fit for living in Vrindavana. Your vanity has not been ended. What a bad person you are: You have gone to refer the matter to him". Jiva Goswami is his own sisya and nephew. He (Jiva Goswami) didn't utter a single word like this — “Prabhu, this is unjust”. He started his bhajan at Nandagrama by the side of the Yamuna. At first he lived on madhukari (one hand full of food). Afterwards he gave it up. He sat at a place and took Hari Nama only. He did not eat any food. Sanatana Goswami was then traveling dvadash vana (twelve forests). He came to Nandagrama. The residents of the Vraja said, “Please come and see. A handsome boy came here. He always utters the Name of Hari. But he does not eat any food. He will perhaps leave his life". Sanatana Goswami went to the place. When he saw Sri Jiva, he said him, "What is this, Sri Jiva?! Why are you doing so?! Your life will be finished". Sri Jiva answered, "Prabhu (he never utters the word father), my life is nothing without the kindness of my guru. What is the value of this life of the person who did not receive the kripa of his guru and whom the guru has left? His dead is preferable. I think that dead is the best for me". "What is the matter?" — Sanatana Goswami asked him. Jiva Goswami told him the whole story. Finally he said, "I can not bear any condemnation of my guru. As my gurudeva is displeased with me I prefer this separation. I am now separated. I did not want to worry my gurudeva".
Sanatana Goswami did not tell Sri Jiva anything. He came back to Sri Rupa and said, "Sri Rupa, Sri Jiva is going to leave his life. You, please, show piety and kindness to him". Sri Rupa Goswami said, "Yes, I shall do it". He went running to him (Sri Jiva) and said, "My dear son, come to me". It is called the great devotion to a guru. Srila Prabhupada directly told us all this inferences. We have to obey them. That will bring to us welfare. So, it is said in the scriptures:
acaryam mam vigyaniyan
navamanyeta karhicit
na martya-buddhyasueta
sarva-devamayo guruh
(Srimad Bhagavatam, 11.17.27)
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, Adi-lila, 1.46)
("One should know the acarya to be Myself and never disrespect him in any way. One should not envy him, thinking him an ordinary man, for he is the representative of all the demigods").
What is guru-tattva? "Know it that the Acharya is similar to Me". "Mam vigyaniyan" — "know it that he is like Me". "Navamanyeta", – one should never disrespect. Why? “Sarva-deva-mayo guruh”, — "representative of all the demigods". It is not in possession of those demigods. By the grace of the Lord he gets the power to show kindness. He learned to be all powerful. Why? He can give the All Powerful Lord. This can not be given by any other person — even the demigods fail. They have not such an ability. He should be considered from this point of view. So, diksha guru has been given the importance:
adou guru puja
("First of all a guru has to be worshiped"). Who has to be worshiped first? Does the diksha guru or the siksha guru has to be worshipped first? First of all diksha guru should be worshiped. Siksha guru will not come first. Diksha guru is the one to be worshiped first. Tulsi Dasa said:
guru aur govinda do kore hai kisko laghu paya
yo guru go lake usko boli hari jaya
("Guru and Govinda are standing. Whom shall I offer my pranam? I shall praise him who will offer obeisances to his guru at first"). Guru and Govinda are standing in front of me. Whom shall I offer my pranam at first? Guru is to be offered pranam first of all. Then Govinda is to be offered obeisances. If the inference is that will the siksha guru be offered pranam first? This judgment can not be a proper one. The characteristics of siksha guru can not be more then that of diksha guru. The only characteristic remaining is that diksha guru is the siksha guru. This judgment should be learned. Guru-tattva is such a thing, so it is said:
sad-guru pabe veda batave gyana kore upadesha
tou kailaki maila chote jou aga kore parevesha
("If you get a sad guru, he will show you the right path and will give you proper knowledge. It is just like a fire destroying all dirtiness"). Who is spoken of as the sad guru? He who shows the Veda or the way. "Jnana kore upadeshà" — he gives tattva jnana:
agyana-timirandhasya
gyananjana-shalakaya
cakshur unmilitam yena
tasmai shri-gurave namah
(Gautamiya-tantra)
("I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, who with the torchlight of knowledge has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance").
"Kailaki maila chote", — coal is dirty, but at the time of its being burned by fire the dirtiness of coal is abolishes. In the same way, when the fire in the form of an advice of a gurudeva will enter in the ears of a sisya, the dirty things, darkness and the bad tendencies remaining in the sisya will be burned to ashes. There after the Lord will be observed. There are two words in English — transparent and opaque. No picture will be reflected so long there is invisibility. Whenever the transparent medium is established pictures will be reflected.
I went to Dakka, Narayanaconch, Moimansing, Dinachpur, Koelna, Jessore and other places in Bangladesh for preaching. A Muslim asked me, “Sir, you are saying “Bhagavan” and “Hari” several times. We are uttering “Allah”. But He is not visible. Where is He? How can I identify Him? Have you ever seen Him?” What should I answer? I answered thus, “Yes, I saw Him. A play is staged in London. Here is a TV Box in front of you. How do you see the picture? How could the pictures reach here? It is with the help of ether. An arrangement has been made there. As a result you see the pictures here. You also make your mind like TV. Then you will see that the Lord comes to you from Goloka. You will be able to see Him. At that time you can realize. You can not realize without this arrangement. For example, someone loves a young lady. She is not here. She lives in Bombay. Though she is in Bombay she lives in his heart. If the Lord can be loved in that way He will take His seat in your heart in spite of His staying in Goloka. He Himself said:
sadhavo hrdayam mahyam
sadhunam hrdayam tv aham
mad-anyat te na jananti
naham tebhyo manag api
(Srimad Bhagavatam, 9.4.68)
("The pure devotee is always within the core of My heart, and I am always in the heart of the pure devotee. My devotees do not know anything else but Me, and I do not know anyone else but them").
"What is this? You say that You are in the hearts of the devotees. But You also say that You are aware of every jiva". — "Yes, I take my seat in every heart and am aware of it. While a person suffers from miseries I also suffer. Living in the heart of a devotee I do not suffer from miseries. I get pleasure by doing so. I feel happy by observing his serving attitude". The shastra says:
yasya deve para bhaktir
yatha deve tatha gurau
tasyaite kathita hy arthah
prakashante mahatmanah
(Shvetashvatara Upanishad, 6.23)
("Unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master, all the imports of Vedic knowledge are automatically revealed".)
Guru will have to be seen in the same form as we see in the Lord. He is no way inferior.
brahmanda bhramite kono bhagyavan jiva
guru-krishna-prasade paya bhakti lata bija
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, Madhya-lila, 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 Krishna. By the mercy of both Krishna and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service"].
("By the grace of Guru and Krishna a fortunate person gets the seed of devotion when he goes around the universe. If he worships Krishna and serves his Guru, his curtain of maya will disappear and he will get the lotus feet of Krishna").
tate krishna bhaje kore guru sevana
maya chote pai shri krishna carana
("If he worships Krishna and serves His guru, his curtain of maya will disappear and he will get the lotus feet of Krishna").
Go on taking bhajan of Krishna. If anybody goes on doing bhajan the offering of maya will be vanished. He will then get the lotus feet of Krishna. Otherwise there is no way to get it. The aim will not be reached at without the mercy of a guru. Whom can we accept as guru? The shastra says:
vaco vegam manasah krodha-vegam
jihva-vegam udaropastha-vegam
etan vegan yo vishaheta dhirah
sarvam apimam prithivim sa shishyat
(Upadeshamrita, 1)
("A sober person who can tolerate the urge to speak, the mind's demands, the actions of anger and the urges of the tongue, belly and genitals is qualified to make disciples all over the world").
ey chay vegajar sada vase ray
shad gosvami, tare prithive pujay
("He who gives this six in control is a Goswami. He is worshipped by the world").
There are two meanings of the word "Goswami". "Go" means "cow". The husband of a cow is an ox. He is lustful. Again, "go" means "senses". He who is the husband of the senses or has controlled them is a Goswami. He is not a servant of the senses. He conquered the world. Our well-being will appear when we come in touch with him.
achinoti ya sastrartam acare staparat api
sayam achar jate jasmat acharya stena kitita
apani achari dharma jivere shikhaya
apani na koile dharma shikhama najaya
("He who acts himself and teaches others knows that without doing so religion can not be taught").
He who acts himself in his life with proper dealings and teaches others the lesson is an acharya or guru. In the scriptures guru have been given more importance than the Lord. Our gurudeva said, "If the Lord Himself comes and says, "I am the Supreme Godhead", I shall say to Him, "You may go away". When my gurudeva will come and say, "See, He is the Lord". — I shall then bow down my head". There is a saying:
kabe anguli nidesha kori more adakaibe
(“When will you show by indicating your finger?”)
Why is it sung:
sri rupa manjari pada, sei more sampada
("The feet of Sri Rupa Manjari are my wealth”)?
Is it not concerned with guru-tattva? The matter should be understood in good state.
Now a day there is a difference of opinion concerning diksha guru and siksha guru. Many persons observe that diksha guru and siksha guru are to be honored on the same platform. I admit that a siksha guru is to be honored but it should not be done in the presence of a diksha guru. Caita guru has made himself double figured. How has he done so? Siksha guru and mahanta guru. A mahanta guru is also a siksha guru. Is he a guru free from all responsibilities after initiating his sisya? He teaches his sisya thus: "My dear son, follow this path. You should process your life in this way". So, caitya guru, Sri Vyasadeva is the diksha guru and diksha guru is a siksha guru if he is present.
Will not other siksha gurus impart lessons? They will teach how to serve the Lord after obeying the diksha gurus. If a siksha guru fails to teach how to obey a diksha guru he is not a siksha guru. He can never be a siksha guru. What will he teach? What welfare will come to the world through him? Nothing will be actualized. He will show the procedure, "My dear son, follow this way". He will show the way, "Go to him (diksha guru)". If he (guru) is merciful then he (sisya) will see the Lord afterwards. Otherwise he will fail to get Him. So, shastras enjoined:
guru krishna-rupa hana shastrera pramane
guru-rupe krishna kripa karena bhakta gane
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, Adi-lila, 1.45)
["According to the deliberate opinion of all revealed scriptures, the spiritual master is non-different from Krishna. Lord Krishna in the form of the spiritual master delivers His devotees"].
("A Guru turns to be Krishna on the support of the scriptures. Krishna shows His mercy as a Guru").
Why are the lines written? There is a judgment in them. One group of people sees a guru as an embodiment of the bhagavad kripa (mercy of the Lord). Another says that a guru is God Himself. They are of the opinion — there is no need of a Deity of the Lord. They say: "We make our guru taking the position". We do not admit it. The inference is to be understood. A king and the representative of the king are two persons. The representative of the king is not a king. The assent of the king has come. He will get his due honor. As the king has not come, his representative, the vice-raja, gets the honor due to the king. But the vice-raja is not the king. In the same way, the representative of the Lord is gurudeva. God Himself says:
tasmai deham tato grayam satya puca yata aham
("He is to be taken and worshiped like Me").
This means: "Guru is to be worshipped like Me. Because you will not get Me without His mercy". So, this Lord, gurudeva, is the sevak bhagavan (servitor of God). On the other hand the Lord is the seva bhagavan (the Lord who is been served). If the guru has turned to be the Lord the following verse could not been written:
akhanda mandala karan bhavtan yeno cara-caran
tat padam dar****am yena tasmai shri guruve namah
("The Lord is unbroken and rounded. He is spread everywhere. The guru who shows Him is to be offered pranam").
He who shows the lotus feet of Him is Sri Gurudeva. Will the guru makes his feet forwards and says, "I am the Lord. Bend your head here?" He will never do so. We look at a guru from this point of view. He is the sevak of Bhagavan. He will make me reach the lotus feet of the Lord. He who has not the capacity to make us reach the lotus feet of the Lord is not to be accepted by us as guru.
There is an example. Once Vamanadeva had gone to Baliraja. He was going to ask alms. The offering would be made by Baliraja. Vamanadeva had been walking in front of all. Brahmins were very greedy. They said, "A child is walking ahead. He will beg for this or that. Then we shall not get anything". So, they took hold of Him and made Him walk behind. When the brahmins reached Baliraja they found out that the short figured man was already standing near him. They said, "Alas! We placed Him behind. But now He is in front of us. What is the matter?" Baliraja said to Vamanadeva, "What do you want?" Vamanadeva replied, "I do not require anything. I want only the pieces of land for the three steps of my feet". The Brahmins felt relieved, "You beg for more things. On the contrary you are eager to get three pieces of land for your footsteps. How long are the pieces of land for your three footsteps? What a fool he is!" Baliraja says, "You do not think of your interest. You ask something more. I shall give it up". "No, I am not in need of anything more. The pieces of land for my three footsteps will suffice", — answered Vamanadeva.
At that time guru Sukra Acharya came there. He was not a guru of less importance. He had the proper ability. He said, "What are you doing, Bali?" Bali replied, "I am making offerings. Do you know this man?No, I do not know him. But I think that He is the Lord Himself. He will take off everything you belong. Nothing will be left", — replied Sucra Acharya. It implies the following words of a modern guru — If he takes up all of you what shall I eat? How will he maintain him? Bali Maharaja said, "What did you say? Is He the Lord?” The answer was — "Yes". "Then it is very good. I shall be benefited from both sides. If He is the Lord Himself, He will take off everything. If he is not so, he will accept three pieces of land for his footsteps. I shall not be deprived from any corner", — thought Bali Maharaja.
There was a rule then. At the time of donating anything the word "Om" was to be pronounced by taking water from the water pot used for religious purposes. Baliraja was trying to take water from such a pot. No water comes out. Then Vamanadeva said, "Clear the pipe by a pin". After the use of a pin Sukra Acharya comes out from the pipe as a blind person.
Why is he described here as a blind one? As far as the verse "sruti smriti upa netre", — Sri Vamanadeva has two eyes: Sruti and Smriti (hearing capacity and memory). Sruti is a mother. The mother of a son makes his father know to him — that is your father. He (son) has not seen his father. What will he (son) guess about his father? His mother tells him everything. In the same way Sruti is the mother, Veda. Smriti discloses how to serve a father. Sukra Acharya said that Vamanadeva is the Lord. But he restrained the king from rendering service to Him. So, he is described as a "blind" man. Baliraja does not obey the acharya. He said, "I shall disobey you. I shall make a offering". By saying so he abandoned his guru.
Vamanadeva took over the position of the Heaven, the Earth and the Nether worlds by His two feet. Is there a guru who after refuting to set up a Deity of the Lord and declaring himself as the almighty can place his leg from this spot to the temple of Puri? If he can do so, I shall be a sisya of him after giving up everything. Not only this happened. Vamanadeva told Bali to offer Him the place were he could set up his another foot. It was not known where His third feet was then. He showed His third foot at that time. Where is that guru who has described himself as the Lord and is in the capacity of reducing his third leg publicly? Is he capable of doing so?
Our inference is that a guru is the Lord. But he is the sevak of Bhagavan. He is there to give the seva to Bhagavan. No other person than a guru can give the Lord. None has this capacity. This is the judgment and the inference. We have to accept this. So:
guru rupe krishna kripa koren bhakta gane
("Krishna shows His mercy on devotees as a guru").
Now some persons may speak of a siksa guru and his importance.
shiksha guruke ta' jani krishnera svarupa
antaryami, bhakta shreshtha, — ei dui rupa
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, Adi-lila, 1.47)
("One should know the instructing spiritual master (siksha guru) to be the Personality of Krishna. Lord Krishna manifests Himself as the Supersoul and as the greatest devotee of the Lord").
A siksha guru has been divided in two parts. As the dweller in the hearts He is ñaitya guru. As the best devotee he is mahanta guru or diksha guru. The teachings of other siksha gurus to the effect that they are better than diksha gurus is not acceptable.
What type of guru is Sukra Acharya? He is not a proper guru just like Parasurama. Bhismadeva abandoned his guru Parasurama. Why did he do so? He is a sakta-avatar of the Lord. Bhismadeva is His sisya. Bhisma brought Amba, Ambika and Ambalika after he had conquered a country. Ambika and Ambalika where married to his brother Vichitrairya. Amba loved Salwa, who was the king. By permission of Bhishma she leaved the Kuru's kingdom and went to king Salwa's palace. Amba was praying Salwa to marry her but he did not do so. Then Amba decided to inhabit the forest and practice austerities and penances for the rest of her life.
In her wanderings, she came upon the ashrama of some great rishis, and she informed them of her plight. It so happened that among those great sages was her maternal grandfather Hotravahana. The royal sage felt despondent for what had befallen her and told her that on the following day, Parashurama, the martial teacher of Bhishma, would come to the ashrama. He was sure Parashurama would influence Bhishma to accept her hand in marriage.
The next day Parashurama arrived at the ashrama and Amba related to him the events of her abduction by Bhishma and her rejection by king Salwa. She requested the great sage to kill Bhishma. Parashurama felt sorry for the girl and gave her hope by saying, "O daughter of Kashi, I will not take up weapons except to protect those that follow the Vedas. Tell me, therefore, what can I do for you? Both Bhishma and Salwa are obedient to me. Do not lament. I will fulfill your desire". But when He came to Hastinapura to speak with Bhisma, Bhishma said, "I promised to remain unmarried". If the guru directs — "gururaka abhicaranya" – the order of him must be obeyed without making any judgment. He directed Bhisma to marry her. But Bhisma said, "What is this gurudeva?! I have promised to remain unmarried during my life. I shall not marry in my life. Being my guru you know it. But what are you saying for my marriage?" Parasurama said, "I am your guru. I direct you to marry".
guror apy avaliptasya
karyakaryam agyanatash
utpatha-pratipannasya
parityago vidhyyate
(Mahabharata, Udyoga Parva, 179.25)
("The order of a guru is to be obeyed on its marriages").
If the guru goes astray, he is to be forsaken as far the rules. The rule is to abandon a guru following a contrary path. Bhisma left his guru. Then his guru said, "Yutam dehi" ("start a fight"). Bhisma fought against his guru for twenty four days. This outward suitability of a guru is not his duty.
Who is a guru? He who can show the lotus feet of the Lord is a real guru. I gained some power and I shall be a guru by virtue of this. It will not be possible. Yogis attain divine grace through the austere religious practices. They achieve such mystical perfections as anima-siddhi (power of becoming small like a particle), laghima-siddhi (power of becoming lighter than a soft feather), isitva-siddhi (power to act freely even to create something wonderful or to annihilate anything at will), vasitva-siddhi (power to control all material elements) etc. but the Lord can not be available through this austere practices.
jive shakshat nahi tate guru caittya-rupe
shiksha-guru haya krishna-mahanta-svarupe
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, Adi-lila, 1.58)
["Since one cannot visually experience the presence of the Supersoul, He appears before us as a liberated devotee. Such a spiritual master is none other than Krishna Himself"].
("Guru is there in the form of caita guru. He can not be visible. Krishna becomes a siksha guru in the shape of a mahanta guru").
Jivas do not have any perceptible presence of the caita guru. "Caitya guru hon krishna mahanta swarupe". So, He becomes a guru by taking the form of a mahanta. A mahanta guru is diksha guru. A siksha guru has never been described anywhere as a mahanta guru. It is clearly spoken here. Anyone desires of defending it may do so.
Will one be a diksha guru by teaching Bhagavat (God)? A siksha guru will teach to render services with a faith of adherence to a diksha guru. If siksha guru excludes a diksha guru and becomes "brahman" by uttering "aham brahmasmi" ("I am brahman") it will be a total massacre.
A diksha guru is a mahanta guru. He has come to deliver jivas. Guru are of two types: nitya-siddha and sadhana-siddha. The Lord sends a guru after making him nitya-siddha. Sometimes He sends sadhana-siddha guru. If a diksha guru is sent by the Lord, he will make sisyas for deliverance. So, he is described as mahanta guru. He obeys the order of the Lord. The matter should be understood in good state.
When Buddhism pervaded the world and the religion of kindness was preached by the Buddhist, the Lord Himself called Siva and said to Him:
svagamaih kalpitais tvam ca janan mad-vimukhan-kuru
mam ca gopaya yena syat shrishtir eshottarottara
(Shiva-purana)
("[Addressing Lord Shiva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead said:] "Please, make the general populace averse to Me by imagining your own interpretation of the Vedas. Also, cover Me in such a way that people will take more interest in advancing material civilization just to propagate a population bereft of spiritual knowledge".).
Lord said that, "Exclude Me and make jivas conscious only of impersonal brahman". "Mam ca gopaya", — leave the secret about Me untold. "Shrishtir eshottarottara", — the outer creation will have to be gradually progressed. Siva said with folded hands, "My Lord, I shall not be able to do this. I shall not be able to leave the secret about You untold". Then the Lord said, "This can not be done by anyone else except You. Now it is needed. Mayavada — Nirveshvada has to be giving effect to. You will have to speak of hidden Buddhism".
In order to obey the Lord Siva came here as Shankara Acharya. But in the long run he could not totally conceal Him from people in his performances. In his birthplace Kerala, the Acharya set up the Deity of Ekal Krishna. He said afterwards, “Bhaja govindam, bhaja govindam, govindam bhaja mura mate” (Fools, you go on worshiping Govinda). The followers of Shankara of Kantipuram do not admit it.
There is another example. When Siva was in Kasi, one day Shankara Acharya was passing by the side of the Muni Kanika Ghat. Durga Devi was lying on the way and She had Siva lying on Her lap. Shankara Acharya came there and said, "What are you doing? You are lying with the dead body. Leave the place. How shall I go if you would not do that?" The lady answered, "What is your inference? You said, "Jiva is brahman". "Sarva brahma idam jagat” ("this world is full of brahman"). If that is the case how do you see a dead body? How does your inference stand?" Shankara was wondered. He thought, "A lady is telling me this". Uttering the words the lady disappeared with her husband. Siva and Durga appeared for bringing to light the philosophical knowledge. So, Nirvishes theory — Advaitavad will not be enforced. There is no irrefutable argument in it. So, Advaitavad is not proved.
How can the theories of siksa guru and diksha guru be known?
krishna yadi kripa kare kono bhagyavane
guru-antaryami-rupe shikhaya apane
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.47)
("Krishna is situated in everyone's heart as the caitya guru, the spiritual master within. When He is kind (extends His kripa — mercy) to some fortunate conditioned soul, He personally gives him lessons so he can progress in devotional service, instructing the person as the Supersoul (antaryami) within and the spiritual master without").
Will it be known by a debate? No, “krishna yadi kripa kare kono bhagyavane” — when Krishna is kind to some fortunate soul. All will not be fortunate. “Guru-antaryami-rupe shikhaya apane” — He will teach as the antaryami. Krishna has kindly sent a guru. If He did not do so, how could you get His kripa? A guru is thus sent to you. Then if you prepare your store, His kripa will appear there automatically. Srila Jiva Goswami wrote:
bhagavat kripa bhakta kripa gamini
bhakta kripa bhagavad kripa gamini
("The kripa of the Lord will be available by the grace of a guru and kripa of the guru will come down from the Lord").
It is inseparatably related. If the Lord shows His mercy I shall get the kripa of a guru. When a guru is merciful, the kripa of the Lord will be available. If some siksha guru is speaking proudly, "I am equally honorable like a diksha guru", — it is described as improper. Why is siksha desirous of getting the honor of a diksha guru? One of your brother-sisya is the best, you must offer your pranam to him. But it should not been done in the presence of your gurudeva. — It is the matter. A brother-sisya of a guru is standing. Shall I offer my pranam to the brother-sisya or to him? The inference is that I shall bow down to my guru. If he direct to offer pranam to the Maharaja, you may do so. It will not be improper. We get from a Mahajana Padavali:
shri-guru-carana-padma, kevala bhakati-sadma,
bando mui savadhana mate
jahara prasade bhai, e bhava toriya jai,
krishna-prapti hoy jaha hate
guru-mukha-padma-vakya, cittete koriya aikya,
ar na koriho mane asha
shri-guru-carane rati, ei se uttama gati,
je prasade pure sarva asha
cakhu-dan dilo jei, janme janme prabhu sei,
divya gyan hride proka****o
prema-bhakti jaha hoite, avidya vinasha jate,
vede gay jahara carito
shri-guru karuna-sindhu, adhama janara bandhu,
lokanath lokera jivana
ha ha prabhu koro doya, deho more pada-chaya,
ebe jasha ghushuk tribhuvana
(Sri Guru-vandana from Prema-bhakti-candrika)
[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 Krishna.
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.]
The lotus feet of Sri Guru is the dwelling house of devotion. I worship them with reverence. By his grace one can cross the ocean of material suffering and obtain the mercy of Krishna. The words coming out of the lotus mouth of the guru are to be preserved in the mind. Nothing else is to be aspired after. Attachment to the lotus feet of Sri Guru feet is the best goti (way) that fulfills all desires. He who has donated me the eyes is my Prabhu (for times and immemorial) in my different births. Divya jnana is revealed in my mind. Prema bhakti (loving devotion) is derived from it. Avidhya (ignorance) is destroyed by it. His merits are described in the Vedas.
What is told here about guru-tattva?
sei se parama bandhu, se pita mata
shri krishna carane ye prema bhakti data
("He who gives me the ability to express my loving devotion to the lotus feet of Sri Krishna is my best friend and parents").
So, the real father in this world is Sri Gurudeva:
tvameva matta ca pitta tvameva
tvameva bandhusya sakha tvameva
tvameva vidya dravinang tvameva
tvameva sarvang mama deva deva
("You are my mother, father, friend and companion. You are knowledge, means, everything and all demigods and demigoddesses").
During the British regime I went to Rangun, Bhirma, for preaching. Then Sripad Yajak Maharaja and I were companions. One day I read:
jivera 'svarupa' haya — krishnera 'nitya-dasa'
krishnera 'tatastha-shakti' 'bhedabheda-prakasha'
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, Madhya-lila, 20.108)
(“It is the living entity's constitutional position (svarupa) to be an eternal servant (nitya dasa) of Krishna because he is the marginal energy (tatastha sakti) of Krishna and a manifestation simultaneously one with and different from the Lord (bhedabheda-prakasha)").
I told Yajak Maharaja, "Maharaja, I do not admit it". "What is this?! Srila Krishna Dasa Kaviraja has written it and you do not admit", — he said. I wrote an essay and send it to Delhi, "Nadiya Prakas". Then Srila Bhakti Pramode Puri Maharaja and Bhakti Kusum Sraman Maharaja (Sri Krishna Kanti Brahmachari) were its writer and publisher respectively. Then I wrote the essay "Write paritjaya" ("Signs of a servant"). I wrote there, "Krishnera dasata haya mora paricaya (My signs lie in the services of the Lord)".
It is rightly written. But now I do not admit it. Why? I have no acquaintance with Krishna. I did not see Him. I do not know Him, I do not understand Him and I do not get Him. I wrote at last, "My signs are available from the services of my guru". If I have any identity than — "I am a servant of my guru". Prabhupada read the essay and said with tears in his eyes, "What a great thing has been wrote down by such a little boy!" He said to Krishna Kanti Prabhu, "Please, write it to him (the boy) that his gurudeva has blessed him after going to it". It is exactly the truth. Where have we seen Krishna? We have seen Him as a stone. He who will take away my material understanding after cutting down the cataract of my eyes is Sri Gurudeva. I shall see the Lord by His Grace. Therefore, whom shall I keep importance? How shall I bless importance to others? I shall do that with a view to getting the mercy of my guru. In this life devoid of guru-kripa I am not agreed to admit any other person whoever he may be.
Garuda went to Sri Ramachandra. What did He say? "Vamshi dhariye chariye danurvan" (gets hold of Your flute and leave Your bow and arrows)". Garuda was not bowing down to Ramachandra. He said, "You, please, give up Your bow and arrows and gets hold of Your flute then I shall offer You my pranam". Hanuman went to Krishna. He said to Him, “Cariye vamsi dhare doriye dhanur vana” ("Leave the sounds of Your flute and take Your bow and arrows"). Where is the deep attachment?
shri nathe janaki nathe ca vede paramatmani
tathapi mama sarvasva rama kamala locana
("Sri Natha and Janiki Natha are identical and Supreme. Yet my all in all is the Lotus Eyed Rama"). My total position is Sri Rama — Kamala Locana. I have no one else. So, a sisya have deep attachment for his guru. By such a deep attachment for a guru the lotus feet of the Lord can be obtained. Without firm faith in a guru nobody can attain His lotus feet. As a sisya of Srila Saraswati Prabhupada I am bringing it to light — if any other person takes a sisya and this sisya does not show proper honor to him, the proceedings of his religious life can not be maintained. This is the conclusion.
* the style of the author was not changed — note of Indradyumna dasa
** [in square brackets] — translation of slokas according to the available scriptures.
Proofreading:
Indradyumna das
Consultant:
Madana Gopal das
Srila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji
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gauravirbhava-bhumes tvam, nirdestha saj-jana-priyah
vaishnava-sarvabhaumah shri-jagannathaya te namah
"I offer my respectful obeisances to Jagannatha dasa Babaji Maharaja, who is respected by the entire Vaishnava
community and who discovered the place where Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared."
Sri Jagannatha Dasa Babaji Maharaja was born in the Mayamansingh district of West Bengal. Gaudiya
Vedanta-acharya Sri Baladeva Vidyabhushana had a disciple named Uddhava das. His disciple was Sri
Madhusudana Dasa Babaji who lived in Suryakunda. Madhusudana Dasa Babaji's disciple was Jagannatha Dasa Babaji Maharaja.
Jagannatha Dasa Babaji lived in Vrindavan and performed his bhajan there for quite some time. He became
famous among the devotees there as one who was perfect in Krishna-bhakti. In 1880, Srimad Bhaktivinoda
Thakura went to Vrindavan and saw his lotus feet for the first time. While there, he received many divine
instructions on Hari-bhakti from Jagannatha Dasa. Some time later, Babaji Maharaja visited the Barddhaman
district during the month of Phalgun. He stayed at a town called Amalajorha. At that time, Bhaktivinoda Thakura again had the good fortune to take darshan of his holy feet.
Seeing Bhaktivinoda Thakur's enthusiasm for preaching the holy name of Krishna, Srila Babaji Maharaja was very happy. He stayed in Amalajorha during ekadashi, and that night there was kirtan and Hari-katha. Later, at
Amalajorha, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura established his Prappana-Ashram.
In 1893, Srila Babaji Maharaja went from Koladwip (the part of Nabadwipa where Srila Sridhara Maharaja's
temple is presently located) to Surabhi-kunja in Godrumadwipa. There he took his seat. His arrival in
Surabhi-kunja was a wonderful event. Sri Jagannatha Dasa Babaji revealed many lost holy places in Mayapura,
including the Yogapith, Srivasa Angana and others. It is said that when he came upon the holy place of
Mahaprabhu's birth he danced, although he was very old and walked with difficulty. For some time he remained in Nadia and performed his bhajan on the banks of the Ganges. His bhajan kutir and samadhi mandir are still there at present. He ordered Bhaktivinoda Thakura to build a hut so devotees could stay near his bhajan kutir, and Bhaktivinoda did so.
When Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura was twelve years old, he was an expert in the Jyoti-shastras
explaining Vedic astrology. Hearing this, Srila Babaji Maharaja one day called upon him to prepare the Vaishnava calendar in accordance with the proper siddhanta. He did so and Babaji Maharaja was very pleased. With this, the Nabadwipa Panjika, the Vaisnava calendar recording the dates of the appearance and disappearance of important Vaishnava saints and the celebration of important festivals, began.
Srila Babaji Maharaja always had great enthusiasm for kirtan and Vaishnava seva. Even when he was nearly 135 years old, he went on preaching the message of Sri Chaitanya throughout the world for the benefit of the fallen masses. In his old age, although he was almost paralyzed by infirmity, whenever it was time for kirtana he would still raise his arms in ecstasy.
Jagannatha Dasa Babaji Maharaja was the veda or Babaji guru of Bhagavat dasa Babaji Maharaja. Bhagavat dasa in turn gave the dress of a babaji Gaurakisora dasa Babaji. Jagannatha dasa Babaji's servant's name was Bihari dasa. He was extremely strong and powerful. In his old age, Babaji Maharaja could not walk. Bihari dasa used to carry him in a basket on his shoulders so that Babaji Maharaja could move from place to place.
When he went to Calcutta, Babaji Maharaja would stay at the house of Bhaktivinoda Thakura on Manikatala
Street. Bhaktivinoda was always very eager to invite him to his house for prasada, but Babaji Maharaja was very renounced and would come only occasionally.
When he was in his old age, Babaji Maharaja was nearly blind. Many people would come to see him and to offer him donations for the service of Sri Krsna. His servant Bihari dasa would keep all these donations in a bag. One day, Babaji Maharaja said, ‘Bihari! How many rupees have I got?'
Bihari dasa had put some rupees aside for some service he had planned to render Babaji Maharaja. When asked
by Jagannatha dasa Babaji about how many rupees were on hand, Bihari placed some rupees in his hand and kept twelve Rupees aside. Even though his eyesight was failing, however, Babaji Maharaja detected the discrepancy. ‘Bihari!’, he said, ?Why have you kept twelve Rupees aside? Give me all the rupees!?
Smiling at this fun, Bihari surrendered the remaining coins to his guru. At that time, Babaji Maharaja made his
wishes known as to how the money should be spent. The total came to two hundred rupees. Babaji Maharaja
ordered Birari dasa to take the money at once and buy sweetballs, rasagolas, to feed all the cows in Nabadwipa
dhama.
Once Babaji Maharaja was on the banks of the Ganges, living under a makeshift canvas tent. Nearby that place
there lived a dog with five puppies. Whenever Babaji Maharaja would take prasada, the dogs would come around and lick the food from his plate. When Bihari dasa caught hold of one of the dogs to drive it off, Babaji Maharaja told him, ‘Bihari! If you wish to drive these dogs off, you may take my plate away as well. I shall not eat today? When Bihari complained, ?But guru maharaja - these dogs are unclean!? Babaji Maharaja remarked, ?No. These dogs are residents of the holy dhama. You may not abuse them!’
Many people used to come and beg alms from Jagannatha Dasa Babaji. He did not want to give them alms, but
told them to do service. One day a man named Sri Gaura Hari dasa came and asked Jagannatha Dasa Babaji
Maharaja for alms, but Babaji Maharaja would give him nothing. When the man persisted for three days, fasting outside Babaji Maharaja's tent, Babaji Maharaja finally relented. He tore off a piece of his kaupina, his
undergarment and gave it to Bihari dasa, his servant, with the instruction to present it to the beggar as alms,
thereby informing the beggar that he must first learn to control his senses before taking up the profession of a
saint.
One day, Sri Babaji Maharaja remarked about the professional readers of Srimad-Bhagavatam, ?This kind of
professional Bhagavata kirtana is simply prostitution. Those who make their living by reading
Srimad-Bhagavatam are offenders to the holy name of Krsna. No one should listen to the kirtana and Bhagavatam readings that they produce. And one who listens to such offensive readings and thus commits offenses against the holy name of Krsna certainly go to hell. Those who are involved in this professional reading should immediately give it up. Such a person should worship the residents of Vrndavan with great care and attention, considering himself most fallen, and thus pray for forgiveness.’
Srimad Bhaktivinoda Thakura remarked of Srila Jagannatha dasa Babaji Maharaja that he was the topmost general among Gaudiya Vaisnavas.