theist 1 Report post Posted November 18, 2002 Subj: Krsna Talk 40-1 - Theist 11/17/02 8:25:44 PM SA Pacific Standard Time options@in.optinpro.com Sent from the Internet (Details) I'll post pt. 2 when it arrives. ____ November 18, 2002, Gaura-caturdasi, is the Disappearance Day of Om Visnupada Paramahamsa Parivrajakacarya Sri Srimad Bhakti Pramoda Puri Gosvami Maharaja. The True Spirit of Separation (Part One) by Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Gosvami Maharaja After Gaura Hari, who descended to purify this age of Kali, made Himself invisible to the eyes of the world, the preaching of His religion of love carried on more or less uninterruptedly up until the time of Baladeva Vidyabhushan. In the time that followed, though there were still many advanced devotees present on the planet, a period of darkness descended on Mahaprabhu's school of devotion. Many heterodox sects came into existence that vocally claimed to be following Mahaprabhu, but in fact were simply using His name to promote their own false doctrines. The Lord Himself could not tolerate deviation from the truths of the Gaudiya Vaishnava doctrine and He would be greatly pained by misrepresentations of the divine relations between the Lord and His devotees. For this reason, Svarupa Damodar and Rupa Goswami appeared again at the desire of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu through Srila Saccidananda Bhaktivinoda Thakur and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada, to preserve and protect the doctrines taught by Srila Rupa Goswami. Preaching these doctrines of pure devotion, these two great souls gave great joy to the Lord Himself and to all of his followers in the Gaudiya Vaishnava school. A Vaishnava poet wrote the following verse about Srila Prabhupada: suddha-bhakti-mata jata upadharma kavalita heriya lokera mane trasa hani susiddhanta bana upadharma khana khana sajjanera barala ullasa "People were disturbed to see that heterodox sects had swallowed up all the doctrines of pure devotion. Srila Prabhupada came along and fired the arrows of proper theological conclusions, thus bringing all the pious people joy." Between them, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur and Srila Prabhupada wrote more than a hundred books on devotional subjects, including translations and commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, Chaitanya Charitamrita, Chaitanya Bhagavata, etc. By doing so, they performed an indescribable service for Gaudiya Vaishnava society. Today, those who are free from prejudice, who recognize and approve the truth and good qualities in others, lament the absence of these two great acharyas, what to speak of their disciples and grand-disciples. Those who follow the teachings and example of these two great acharyas sense their absence sorely. Nevertheless, those who truly feel their separation are fairly rare, for it is beyond the capacity of those who wish to equate materialistic activities with the spiritual to understand the contribution they made-namely their propagation and bestowal of pure devotional service consisting of the culture of those activities that are pleasing to Krishna, without any desire for liberation or sense gratification. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur appeared in this world in the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 2, 1834 (Bhadra 18, 1245 Bengali), 352 years after the advent of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. His disappearance took place just before midday on June 23, 1914 (Asharh 9, 1305 Bengali year), which also happened to be the disappearance day of Gadadhar Pandit Goswami. I never had the good fortune to personally see Bhaktivinoda Thakur, though I did have the opportunity to hear of his superhuman glories directly from Srila Prabhupada, both through his spoken word and his writings. On the other hand, it is far beyond my finite capacities to adequately describe all the wonderful things that I heard and witnessed of Srila Prabhupada's glories during my personal association with him. I saw that he would not tolerate even the slightest disrespect to the names of Lord Krishna, to His devotees, to His deity form, nor to His person. Once, he was staying as a guest at the house of a famous personality, yet he fasted for three days without his host's knowledge, refusing even to take water out of protest to such disrespect. On another occasion, he was greatly disturbed when he heard a hereditary Goswami speak of Raghunath Das Goswami in terms of his caste of birth. There were many incidents of this type. He could be as fierce as thunder when arguing against heretical doctrines, but when relishing the flavors of pure devotion, he revealed a greater softness than that of a flower, shedding tears of ecstasy. Both these characteristics were seen in his dealings with his disciples, in which he proved his affectionate feelings for them. Srila Prabhupada was the personification of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's message. Those who have deep love for their spiritual master remained immersed in the ocean of his divine instructions for as long as he was present in this world. They did everything they could to preach and act in a way that fulfilled his desires and experienced the great joy of associating with him directly in the most personal way. Now, however, in his absence, they are overwhelmed by most painful feelings of separation. The pain bursts out from their heart and tears flow from their eyes and onto their chest like the torrents of rain in the month of Shravan. Their minds are disturbed by the desire, never to be again fulfilled, of hearing their guru speak the nectarean topics of Krishna. They repeatedly sing the verses written by Narottama in which he reveals the depth of his loss at being separated from the company of the great Vaishnavas. je anila prema-dhana karuna pracura hena prabhu kotha gela vaisnava thakura "My lord, the worshipable Vaishnava, brought us the wealth of love for Krishna out of his unlimited compassion. Alas, where has he gone?" (Prarthana) svarupa sanatana rupa raghunatha bhatta-yuga lokanatha siddhanta-sagara sunitam se saba katha ghucita manera vyatha tabe bhala haita antara "When I heard the divine words of Svarup Damodar, Sanatan, Rupa, Raghunath Das, Raghunath Bhatta and Gopal Bhatta, as well as Lokanath Goswami, the ocean of spiritual knowledge, the anguish of my mind would disappear and my heart would feel restored." (Prema-bhakti-candrika) Lost in this mood of separation, how can any consideration based on worldly competition be of interest to them? How can the witches of the desire for liberation or sense gratification remain hidden in their hearts? Our mundane feelings of attraction and aversion for material objects light the fire of envy, egoism, and hatred so much so that it seems they have the ability to destroy this world. If even a drop of pure affection arises in our hearts for the incarnation of Mahaprabhu's magninimity, then no place will remain for these animal propensities like hatred, jealousy, or violence to others. harsamarsadibhir bhavair akrantam yasya manasam katham tatra mukundasya sphurti-sambhavana bhavet "And those who are either overcome or bewildered by the pleasures of union with the objects of sense in terms of facades of physical beauty, fine food, beautiful music, delightful odors and sensual touch, or the anxiety that comes from their non-attainment, can never experience Mukunda, the one who gives (da) us prema, i.e., that which makes a mockery (ku from kutsita) of liberation (mu or mukti). They can never experience Mukunda, whose beautiful smile is like the white kunda flower (mu for mukha, or mouth, and kunda)." (Padma-purana, BRS 1.2.114) In the twelfth chapter of the Gita, the Lord also says: yasman nodvijate loko lokan nodvijate ca yah harsamarsa-bhayodvegair mukto yah sa ca me priyah "The devotee who is neither disturbed by the world nor causes the world any disturbance, who is free from the pull of euphoria, anger and fear, is most dear to Me." (Bg 12.15) yo na hrsyati na dvesti na socati na kanksati subhasubha-parityagi bhaktiman yah sa me priyah "The devoted person who is free from elation, anger, sorrow and craving, who neither seeks the pleasant nor shuns the unpleasant, is ever dear to Me." (Gita 12.17) How can any attachment or hatred for material objects find a place in the heart where attachment to the guru, the eternal associate of Srimati Radharani, has awakened? In such a heart, there is constant awareness of the absolute necessity of attaining the supreme goal of life, loving service to Sri Krishna. This alone is the ultimate purpose of life for every single living entity. Srila Prabhupada himself said: "The ultimate object of our desires is to become specks of dust at the lotus feet of the followers of Rupa Goswami. Remain united in following the asraya-vigraha in order to satisfy the transcendental senses of the one, non-dual supreme truth... May we never under any circumstances become indifferent to the seven-tongued sacrificial flame of the Holy Name. If our attraction to it remains ever-increasing, we will achieve all perfection." We pray that our commitment to these last instructions of his manifest presence in this world be unfailing. May we never interpret these words to elicit secondary meanings that allow us to engage in sense gratification, but rather, single-mindedly dedicating all our energies and working together, aim for the pleasure of "the senses of the one, non-dual Supreme Truth," making it the one and only goal of our lives. If we wish to show our love and faith for our spiritual master, it will be by following these teachings. However, rather than giving full attention to the desires of the spiritual master, we may focus on serving his body or the extensions of his body represented by temples and ashrams. If we do so, we will never be free of the pitfall of seeing the guru in purely human terms (martyasad-dhih). The Lord can only be seen through the path of transcendental sound (sruteksita-pathah) and the spiritual master, being his manifest representative, is also perceptible through divine sound vibration. The words sruteksita-pathah (SB 3.9.11) are broken down as follows: sruta means "through hearing" or "revelation"; iksita means "seen" or "perceived"; pathah means "the way" or "the path." This compound word thus means, "He to whom the way is perceived through hearing revealed knowledge." For this reason we offer our respects to the guru with the words: tat-padam darsitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah "I pay my humble obeisance to the spiritual master who has shown me that supreme truth." Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur interprets the words sruteksita-pathah in a slightly different manner in his Sarartha-darsini commentary: adau guru-mukhat srutah pascad iksitah saksat-krtas ca pantha yasya sah | yena patha tvam hrt-sarojam ayato 'si tam | panthanah sadhana-bhakti-prakarah ta eva susthu paricinvantiiti dhvanih | ato yasya tat-prapticcha vartate sa tata eva panthanam paricinotv ity anudhvanih | "'O Lord, the way to reach you must first be heard from the guru; then it can be seen and directly realized. You then enter the lotus of our hearts by taking this path.' The suggestion is that these devotees perfectly recognize the ways and means of the devotional path. The further suggestion is that if we wish to attain the Supreme Lord, then we too must try to gain knowledge of that path." Remember the words of the great authority Narottama Thakur: guru-mukha-padma-vakya cittete kariya aikya ara na kariha mane asa sri guru carane rati, ei se uttama gati je prasade pure sarva asa "Fix your mind on the words emanating from the lotus mouth of the spiritual master. Place your hopes in nothing else. Affection for the guru's lotus feet is the ultimate goal, for by his mercy all of one's aspirations are realized." (Narottama Das, Prema-bhakti-candrika) From faith in the words of the spiritual master, affection for his service increases. Someone who becomes a powerful preacher or learned writer but makes no effort to put the spiritual master's words into practice shows no actual love for him. The spiritual master can see through those who only make a show of affection for him and will surely crown with success the sincere attempts of the disciple who genuinely follows his directions. The guru is the personification of Lord Gauranga's magninimity, therefore he will mercifully transfer power or strength to his sincere disciple. With his blessings, the blessings of the Lord are not long to follow, for the mercy of the Lord comes through that of His intimate associates. Yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasadah. If we make no effort to seek out the blessings of the spiritual master, we may worship the Lord for millions of lifetimes without His ever becoming satisfied with us. Krishna Himself distributes His mercy to the living beings by taking the form of the spiritual master. For this reason, the Vedic scriptures have clearly stated that there is no means of attaining Krishna's blessings other than by following the spiritual master. The Upanishads have stated: yasya deve para bhaktir yatha deve tatha gurau tasyaite kathita hy arthah prakasante mahatmanah "Only unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master, who is His manifestation and not different from Him, are all the imports of Vedic knowledge automatically revealed." (Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.23) My most worshipable Gurudeva, Srila Prabhupada, did not see the faults in anyone; he was most compassionate. We who aspire to become the servants of his servants and to partake of the remnants of his plate, pray to him with all the sincerity at our command that by his causeless mercy he will give us the worthiness to serve him. We pray to him to please make our hearts simple and free from deception; may he forgive us of our offenses, and consider us the servants of his servants, birth after birth. May he free us from the attractions and aversions of this world and keep us fixed in service to his lotus feet. Raghunath Das lamented the disappearance of Srila Rupa Goswami with such intensity that stones could have melted. In Rupa's absence, he felt the entire land of Vraja to be completely empty: Govardhana was like a great python, Radha Kunda the wide open mouth of a tiger, and he felt his own self to be void of life. Can we ordinary mortals imitate the eternal associates of the Lord in their feelings of separation? Narottama Das Thakur also cried and prayed fervently to his diksha guru Lokanath Goswami to attain the lotus feet of Sri Rupa Goswami, who had actualised Sriman Mahaprabhu's heartfelt desires on this earth. Narottama Das sang that Sri Rupa was the worshipable object of his devotion, the treasure of his life, his jeweled ornament, the very source of his life, the perfection of his desire, the ocean of ecstatic feeling, his Vedic religion, his vow, his penance, his prayer and his duty. Rupa Goswami was everything to Narottama Thakur, and therefore he almost went mad out of his feelings of separation, crying day and night in the hope of receiving his mercy. If we could even feel a millionth part of what he did, our lives would be perfect; we would attain the greatest fortune. I do not know how many more lifetimes I will have to wait for this good fortune to be mine. Devotion to the spiritual master is the only way to reach our Divine Lord. The spiritual master is the personal companion of Lord Krishna or Sri Gauranga; he is most dear to Him. Krishna Das Kaviraja writes: diksa-kale bhakta kare atma-samarpana sei-kale krsna tare kare atma-sama sei deha kare tara cid-ananda-maya aprakrta-dehe tanra carana bhajaya "At the time of initiation, when a devotee surrenders to the spiritual master, Krishna makes him equal to Himself. He transforms the devotee's body into spiritual substance; the devotee then worships the Lord in that spiritualized body." (CC 3.4.192-3) Krishna accepts us as a part of his own entourage to the extent that we surrender ourselves in body, mind and words to the spiritual master. He takes possession of us, as it were, transforming our bodies and making them spiritual so that we will be able to serve him directly. Krishna once embraced his friend Sudama and said, nanv artha-kovida brahman varnasramavatam iha ye maya guruna vaca taranty anjo bhavarnavam "O brahmin, of all people within the four orders and castes of Vedic society, are not the real knowers of value those who cross over the material ocean by taking shelter of My words, as taught by the spiritual master?" (SB 10.80.33) naham ijya-prajatibhyam tapasopasamena ca tusyeyam sarva-bhutatma guru-susrusaya yatha "I, the soul of all beings, am not as pleased by the performance of the prescribed duties of the four ashrams, i.e., sacrifices, service to the family, austerities and renunciation, as I am by service to the guru." (SB 10.80.34) When asked how love for God develops, Prahlad Maharaj told the other boys in his school: guru-susrusaya bhaktya sarva-labdharpanena ca, "through serving the guru, being devoted to him and by offering him all of one's gains." (SB 7.7.30) Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur comments on this verse as follows: guroh susrusaya snapana-samvahanadikaya tatha sarvesam labdhanam vastunam arpanena ca tac carpanam bhaktyaiva, na tu pratisthadina hetuna "Service to the guru means serving him through such things as bathing and massaging him; offering the guru all of one's gains should be done with devotion and not out of personal motivations, such as the desire for personal prestige, etc." In the Bhagavatam, after telling Yudhisthira how to conquer over various character defects, Narada summarizes by saying: etat sarvam gurau bhaktya puruso hy anjasa jayet "We can conquer over all these defects by rendering devotional service to the spiritual master." (SB 7.15.25) In other words, the only way to conquer over lust, anger, greed, fear, lamentation, bewilderment, pride, envy, the three miseries and the three modes of material nature is by surrendering to the spiritual master. But if a disciple thinks the spiritual master to be nothing more than an ordinary mortal, then all his spiritual practices and worship of the Lord are simply a wasted effort. yasya saksad bhagavati jnana-dipa-prade gurau martyasad-dhih srutam tasya sarvam kunjara-saucavat "We should consider the spiritual master to be directly the Supreme Lord because he bestows transcendental knowledge for our enlightenment. Consequently, for one who maintains the material conception that the spiritual master is an ordinary human being, everything is frustrated. His enlightenment and his Vedic studies and knowledge are all like the bathing of an elephant." (SB 7.15.26) In the commentary to this verse, Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur writes the following: kim ca satyam bhuyasyam api bhaktau, gurau manusya-buddhitve sarvam eva vyartham bhavatity aha yasyeti | saksad bhagavatiti bhagavad-amsa-buddhir api gurau na karyeti bhavah | yad va, upasye bhagavaty eva saksad-vidyamane martyasad-dhih martya iti durbuddhis tasya srutam bhagavan-mantradikam sravana-mananadikam ca vyartham ity arthah | "It is essential to note that even though someone engages in intense practices of devotion to the Lord, it is all useless if he thinks the spiritual master is an ordinary man. This is being pointed out in this verse. The words saksad bhagavati clearly indicate that one must think of the guru as the Supreme Lord Himself, and not even as a mere expansion of the Lord. [He, who is the source of all expansions and the object of all devotional service, has become incarnate in the form of a servant to Himself. This is expressed in the words of the Gurvastaka: kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya - "his identity with Krishna is due to his being most dear to Him."] Alternatively, even if the Lord, the supreme object of worship, is personally present as the spiritual master, if one has the demented intelligence to think of him as an ordinary mortal, then whatever he has heard from him-the mantras received at the time of initiation or instructions on the scripture and devotional practice-cease to have any effect. This is the intention of this verse." Narada follows this statement by giving an example in the subsequent verse (7.15.27): esa vai bhagavan saksat pradhana-purusesvarah yogesvarair vimrgyanghrir loko yam manyate naram "The Supreme Person Sri Krishna personally appeared in this world. He is the supreme lord, the master of all the universes, and the master of yoga. His lotus feet are the ultimate goal of all life, yet the people of this world think of Him as an ordinary man." (SB 7.15.27) Though people may think of Krishna as an ordinary man, this does not make it an actuality. Similarly, a spiritual master's parents, children or neighbors may see him as just another person, but a good disciple recognizes him as the visible manifestation of the Supreme Lord Himself. Therefore, in the following two verses from the Visnu-smrti quoted in the Hari-bhakti-vilasa, we are advised: na guror apriyam kuryat taòitah piòito 'pi va navamanyeta tad-vakyam napriyam hi samacaret "Never do anything unpleasant to your spiritual master, even if you are humiliated and beaten. Never disregard his words, and never act in a way that is displeasing to him." (HBV 1.99, from Visnu-smrti) acaryasya priyam kuryat pranair api dhanair api karmana manasa vaca sa yati paramam gatim "Do things that are pleasing to your spiritual master with your life and your wealth, with your work, your thoughts and your speech, and you will go to the supreme destination." (HBV 1.100, from Visnu-smrti) It is never appropriate to criticize the words or deeds of the spiritual master by saying things like, "My spiritual master should not have said that, or it was improper for him to have done some particular thing." By doing so, we reveal our mundane concept of the guru and ultimately we become offensive by showing disrespect to him. This is the offense known as gurv-avajna. End of Part One Part Two to follow ------ Krsna Talk Questions & Answers: SWAMI B. G. NARASINGHA http://www.gosai.com/chaitanya/saranagati/html/nmj_articles/indexna.html KRSNA TALK INDEX http://www.gosai.com/krishnatalk_fs.html SUBSCRIBE KRSNA TALK http://www.gosai.com/krishnatalk_fs.html Tape Archives: Audio Recordings of Swami Narasingha available here http://www.gosai.com/audio_fs.html Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
