All glories to Śrī Śrī Guru & Gauranga
Gauḍīya Goṣṭhī Pati Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda Paramahaṁsa guru said that— “When we can harmonize our heart with guru and Vaiṣṇava then we can become happy in true sense. Whatever arrangements are done by Guru-Vaiṣṇava we should accept gladly without any objection. An intelligent person knows to follow the orders and teachings (vāṇī) of great personalities. By this alone, all of his most cherished spiritual desires are fulfilled. None but those who perform service to Śrī Guru with this mentality can pass even the most difficult test the world puts them through. All the deep and secret truths of the scriptures manifest in their hearts alone and remain situated on the path of their memory forever! Solely by the mercy of Śrī Gurudeva, the highest auspiciousness – service to Śrī Kṛṣṇa – will be obtained.”
My śikṣā Guru Śrīla Bhakti Vijnana Bharati Gosvāmī used to say that— “A person who renders service in a completely independent mood without accepting any guidance does not render true service to the Vaiṣṇavas or Bhagavān; rather, he endeavors only to gratify his own senses. Such a person is known as svecchācāri, or a person who acts only according to his own desires. Before beginning any service, one must understand the moods and desires of the sevya (object of service). It is only after gaining such an understanding that one’s service can truly, please the sevya and even be called sevā. Otherwise, one’s service is simply svecchācāritā (an act of independence). It is often seen that a person repeatedly insists that a Vaiṣṇava accepts his service. Although this person’s service may not be pleasing to the Vaiṣṇava, the Vaiṣṇava allows him to continue performing it, so that the person can fulfill his desire and the Vaiṣṇava can avoid any further disturbance. The person may gain some feeling of acceptance and the chance to perform his desired activity, but this activity can never be considered true service.”
How to recognize a sat śiṣya?
We can recognize a sat śiṣya when all the divine qualities of Śrī Guru-padapadma can be seen manifested inside the heart of the disciple. A disciple when is completely surrendered unto the Lotus Feet of Śrī Guru-padapadma, then he can never reserve any secrecy in front of him. In fact, in front of a snigdha śiṣya Śrī Gurudeva can unveil all the mystery of secrecy relating to deep hari bhajan.
śṛṇuṣvāvahito rājann
api guhyaṁ vadāmi te
brūyuḥ snigdhasya śiṣyasya
guravo guhyam apy uta (ŚB 10.13.3)
O King, kindly hear me with great attention. Although the activities of the Supreme Lord are very confidential, no ordinary man being able to understand them, I shall speak about them to you, for spiritual masters explain to a submissive disciple even subject matters that are very confidential and difficult to understand.
Once Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda wanted to ask to all of his disciples about who prefer what sevā? Then each one of them started expressing their sevā mood one by one in front of Śrīla Prabhupāda. But then Śrīla Haiyagriva Brahmacari (Śrīla Bhakti Daitya Madhava Gosvāmī Mahārāj) replayed with humble mood— “That any sevā whatever you order me, I like to carry out your order immediately without any delay or question irrespective of the type of sevā you like to give me.” That is why he was given the nickname as “VOLCANIC ENERGY” by his Gurudeva Śrīla Prabhupāda.
The preaching procedure of Śrīla Bhakti Daitya Madhava Gosvāmī Mahārāj was so exclusive in nature that really it is impossible for us to realise even in dream. All those remote places in Assam, Māyāvādī effected areas of Panjab-Hariyana-Jammu or those remote South Indian places where nobody used to go for preaching, he used to go there for preaching to deliver them — those fallen souls out of his extremely causeless mercy like Śrīla Prabhupāda.
We also know from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta about the most intimate relationship between Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Caitanya Mahāprabhu
śrī-caitanya-mano-’bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale
svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam
When will Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmīpada, who has established within this material world the mission to fulfil the desire of Lord Caitanya, give me shelter under his lotus feet?
If Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī had not revealed so many mysteries about the Absolute Truth, how could we ever comprehend these subject matters? Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī unravelled Mahāprabhu’s deep moods and made them available to everyone. That is why Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has done more for us than the other associates of Mahāprabhu.
During the Ratha-yātrā period particularly that year when Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī was there at Śrī Nilachal Dham, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu started singing one śloka from Kāvya-prakāśa about the relationship between a hero and heroine. Not understanding His mood, the bewildered people thought – ‘Why is a sannyāsī singing from a mundane poem about an ordinary boy and girl?’ No one could realize the heart of Śrīman Mahāprabhu—why he started singing like that. Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī was the only one who could understand Mahāprabhu’s moods and started singing accordingly to the bhava of Śrīman Mahāprabhu.
When Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī could realize the heart of Śrīman Mahāprabhu about the song He started singing in front of Śrī Jagannath Ratha, then he was able to compose another śloka, which was just similar to the bhava of Śrīman Mahāprabhu. After writing the verse on a palm leaf, Śrī Rūpa kept it to dry on the roof of his cottage at (present day) Siddha-Bakula and went to take bath in the ocean. As per His custom, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu would daily, after taking His bath in the ocean, visit the devotees at Siddha-Bakula. That day, when Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu came there, He saw the palm leaf on the thatched roof. He took it and, reading the composition by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, praised it very much.
When Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī arrived, Mahāprabhu lovingly slapped him on his back. He asked Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, “How did Rūpa know My heart?” Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī said, “It is not possible for anyone to know Your heart unless You have bestowed mercy upon that person.”
Then Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu confirmed, “When I met Rūpa in Prayāga, knowing him to be qualified, I bestowed mercy upon him.” From this, it is evident that whatever Rūpa Gosvāmī wrote, came directly from Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s heart. That is why Rūpa Gosvāmī’s writings are so crucial and indispensable for followers of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. We know from Śrī Cc the following śloka –
priya-svarūpe dayita-svarūpe
prema-svarūpe sahajābhirūpe
nijānurūpe prabhur eka-rūpe
tatāna rūpe sva-vilāsa-rūpe (Cc Madhya 19.121)
“Indeed, the savarūpa of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī was very dear to Śrīman Mahāprabhu, and he was the exact replica of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and he was very, very dear to the Lord. Being the embodiment of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s ecstatic love, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī was naturally very beautiful. He very carefully used to follow the principles enunciated by the Lord, and he was the competent person to explain properly the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu expanded His mercy to Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī just for that reason he could render that kind of exclusive absolute service by writing those transcendental literatures.”
When The Prabhupāda was asked – “Who is a real disciple?” he said that— “One is only a real disciple if he can surrender fully to the lotus feet of Śrī Gurudeva, upon whom the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa has conferred the full responsibility for his well-being. It is incumbent upon me to submissively accept whatever arrangements Śrī Gurudeva makes for my well-being. This is truly the attitude of a real disciple. Without it, inauspiciousness is inevitable. Real disciples are those who constantly serve the Supreme Lord under the guidance of the spiritual master, without becoming enjoyers – that is, without trying to use their senses to enjoy the sense objects. Everything in this world is an instrument for serving Śrī Guru; everything is meant for Kṛṣṇa’s service. If one wishes to enjoy these instruments of service to Śrī Guru, one will never attain any auspiciousness. If we cannot perceive guru in everything, then inauspiciousness is inevitable for us. A true disciple does not see the ordinary objects of this world the way the common man sees them. He has guru-darśana in everything and in every step what he does and sees. Someone who does not have guru-darśana sees mundane reality and looks upon things with a mood of enjoyment. Moreover guru-darśana means to see everything as superior to oneself and meant for Kṛṣṇa’s service. A true disciple realizes this in the core of his heart and makes uninterrupted service to the spiritual master and to Śrī Kṛṣṇa the sole objective of his life. A real disciple constantly has guru-darśana, both internally and externally. Although he regards himself as small and insignificant (laghu) his vision is great and profound, for he does not view anything in relation to his own enjoyment. A sincere disciple always has the perfect awareness that besides his spiritual master, nothing in this world is his own. A real disciple is always situated in his identity as a servant of his spiritual master (guru-dāsa), whom he regards as non-different from the Supreme Lord. He maintains deep faith in his spiritual master and natural love for him. A true disciple regards the spiritual master as the kin of his soul, as very dear to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, as the object of his love and affection, as his eternal master, as eternally worshipful, and as his life and soul. A real disciple knows that Śrī Gurudeva is simultaneously the epitome of bhakti and an embodiment of the Supreme Lord. Śrī Gurudeva is dearer to Śrī Kṛṣṇa than His own life, and is His non-different manifestation (prakāśa-vigraha). There is no possibility of attaining service to Śrī Kṛṣṇa without becoming the servant of the lotus feet of Śrī Gurudeva. Only those who perform service to Śrī Guru are real Vaiṣṇavas, or real disciples. Besides them, everyone else is ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā, ‘bewildered by false ego’. In plain words, they want to become enjoyers.”
Śrīla Bhakti Rakshak Śrīdhar Dev Gosvāmī said that— “Sevā must originate from above. If we thrust something on the higher authority then that is karma-kāṇḍa. The origin of our motivation must not be within. That must come from Hari, guru and Vaiṣṇava. And we must carry it out. We should not be creators of the wave of command. We must carry out the news that comes through the wave from above, from Hari, guru or Vaiṣṇava. We are only to carry out orders and not to make any such order.”
He further said that–
viracaya mayi daṇḍaṁ dīna-bandho dayāmī vā
gatir iha na bhavattaḥ kācid anyā mamāsti
nipatatu śata-koṭi-nirbharaṁ vā navāmbhaḥ
tad api kila-payodaḥ stūyate cātakena
“The bird known as caṭaka always looks above for rainwater, but it will never take any water from the ground even if there is an abundance there. He waits only for whatever water will come from above. Sufficient rain may come, or thunder may come, yet he will not take even a single drop from the earth. Our attitude should be like that. We must follow whatever instruction and direction comes from above, and never try to fulfil any plan from the mundane world. “The Director, the Master, the Lord above -I am connected with Him.” This sort of practice is conducive. We may chant the name, hear the musical kīrtana, etc., but the very life will be present only as much as our activity is on the order descending from the plane above, and as much as that order is earnestly being carried out by us. In that way, we may be taken above. We may be promoted to the higher layer by preparing ourselves only to carry out the order from above, without question. If we are certain that the order is coming from the higher layer, we should surrender without question. By living at the disposal of the higher, we learn selfless service of the higher, which is not of any mundane source. This is our necessity: vaiṣṇava-sevā and guru-sevā – service to the Vaiṣṇava and guru. By guru-bhakti alone – devotion to the service of Śrī Gurudeva – in one stroke, all desirable pursuits will be accomplished (etat sarvaṁ gurau bhaktyā puruṣo hy añjasā jayet, Bha: 7.15.25). There are also many symptoms by which to recognise the genuine Guru, and by obeying the directions of the higher, we can make progress towards the higher; we may hope to be selected by the higher and be taken up to that layer if we are considered sufficiently qualified. This attitude will be the main tenure of our lives if we want to go to the high, super-conscious region.”
Very often we can see that there are some people who can take decision fancifully to teach others, or they like to build temples or they like to write books or they want to go for open preaching field, but they never try to understand the desires of Guru-Vaiṣṇava-Bhagavān to serve them exact way. If we are not authorised by guru-Vaiṣṇava to do any particular sevā than surely this cannot be treated as sevā, rather it becomes karma. We have to become one with the desire of Śrī Guru. How best possible way we can adjust ourselves with Guru-Vaiṣṇava that is the main thing.
Śrī Gurudeva is the centre point in our bhajan life and it is our duty to harmonize ourselves with that centre point. The more we are near to that centre point, the more we are successful in our bhajan. Complete harmony with Guru-padapadma can prove our complete success in our bhajan.
Many of us have observed a harmonious wave formation when stones are thrown into the same place on the surface of a lake. But if stones are thrown into different places on the surface of the water, then all those wave formations will intersect with each other and it will create disharmony.
Actually, our life is one kind of musical instrument as was spoken by Śrī Rāya Rāmānanda (please consult Rāya Rāmānanda Samvad from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta) in front of Śrīman Mahāprabhu. We must set the reed or tune of the musical instrument to reconcile exactly with the original song being sung by the Supreme Lord. Actually, our bhajan is nothing but an honest effort to reconcile our centre point of life with the original common centre point of the Supreme Lord, to seek the complete satisfaction of the Supreme Lord without any smell of self-interest.
Śrīla Bhakti Rakshak Śrīdhar Deva Gosvāmī said that— “While falling flat at His Holy Feet, we are to surrender. If not, then I am continuing the war against the Absolute. This world of experience I am living in – it means, “I am at war with the absolute vibration by creating different types of vibrations against the universal vibration.” These vibrations are coming in contact with one another and are being crushed and evaporated into nowhere – they cannot stand. When coming to clash with the absolute vibration, then everything – anything – is reduced to ashes.” He further says that—“Fear comes only when we lose our centre point. If there is a separate interest, then this creates disharmony, and from disharmony fear arises””.
From Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we can find the following śloka—
bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād
īśād apetasya viparyayo ’smṛtiḥ
tan-māyayāto budha ābhajet taṁ
bhaktyaikayeśaṁ guru-devatātmā (ŚB 11.2.37)
Fear arises when a living entity misidentifies himself as the material body because of absorption in the external, illusory energy of the Lord. When the living entity thus turns away from the Supreme Lord, he also forgets his own constitutional position as a servant of the Lord. This bewildering, fearful condition is affected by the potency for illusion, called Māyā. Therefore, an intelligent person should engage unflinchingly in the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord, under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, whom he should accept as his worshipable deity and as his very life and soul.
In this material world everybody likes to control others, but we want to be controlled by guru-Vaiṣṇava-Bhagavān. When our ears are no more going to cooperating with our dirty material mind, when our eyes are no more going to cooperate with our dirty material mind, when our tongues are no more going to cooperate with our dirty material mind, then in that case we can get the scope to do hari-bhajana. It is our wicked mind which is always putting us in trouble. We cannot concentrate in bhajan unless we sell our head to guru-Vaiṣṇava. We hear from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that there are two types of minds, one is sati mati (chaste mind) and the other one is the mind like a prostitute (asati mati).”
A chaste mind is explained in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. According to the following śloka from SB we can have a clear idea about this vichar—
yatrottamaśloka-guṇānuvādaḥ
prastūyate grāmya-kathā-vighātaḥ
niṣevyamāṇo ’nudinaṁ mumukṣor
matiṁ satīṁ yacchati vāsudeve (ŚB 5.12.13)
Who are the pure devotees mentioned here? In an assembly of pure devotees, there is no question of discussing material subjects like politics and sociology. In an assembly of pure devotees, there is discussion only of the qualities, forms and pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is praised and worshiped with full attention. In the association of pure devotees, by constantly hearing such topics respectfully, even a person who wants to merge into the existence of the Absolute Truth abandons this idea, I mean the chaste mind gradually becomes attached to the service of Vāsudeva.
When the mind is running towards her husband (the Absolute Husband Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa) than it is called a chaste mind, because a chaste lady always thinking about her husband, not about any other man or any enjoyment. Śrīla Prabhupāda told that, when all our sense organs running towards the Supreme Lord by the kṛpā of Sad Guru that is called bhakti. And when our mind is running towards material shape and design (material objects), that is called Māyā (material enjoyment). Māyā is providing us with sparkling toys to test our chastity, and as long we are attracted to those things, we are no more than a prostitute who is betraying her own husband (Śrī Kṛṣṇa).
To come out of this material illusionary energy two things are very much necessary. Śrīla Bhakti Hridoy Bon Gosvāmī Mahārāj said that— “The soul awakens when she gives up her enjoying and renouncing temperament and hears with submission the Divine Word, identical with God. Transcendental Words, entering the ears, regulate her dominant mind and other physical senses and remove the obstacles and impediments that stand in the way of her awakening.”
As soon as this transcendental pure śabda-brahma can enter through the ear and starts to dominate and to regulate our mind and physical senses, then sooner or later all the lower waves or vibration of the material energy will be washed away, and that is like a green signal for us, the road is clear now.
That is why Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has written in his Guru Vandana—
guru-mukha-padma-vākya, cittete kariyā aikya, āra nā kariha mane āśā
Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura advises everyone to stick to the principle of carrying out the orders of the spiritual master. One should not desire anything else. If all the rules and regulations ordered by the spiritual master are followed perfectly, then in that case the mind will gradually adjust, so that finally nothing else is left than the desire to serve Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Such an adjustment is the perfection of life.
Actually, new devotees in the beginning having no idea about guru-tattva should be under the guidance of such a great devotee who can explain all in details about guru-tattva so that they can never develop any aparādha, so they should maintain some save distance from Śrī Gurudeva at present, but finally they should develop the mood of Gurudev-attma.
Śrīla Prabhupāda said that— “At the lotus feet of Śrī Guru there is no search for the defects of other people. Yet there is no other function of submission at the lotus feet of Śrī Guru than to be constantly made aware of my hundreds of thousands of defects and to be cautioned constantly against any evil that is likely to befall me. May we not be deprived of the ideal of sitting at the lotus feet of Śrī Guru.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda further said that— “As long as someone maintains the mentality that he can fully depend on his own strength and abilities, his own self-confidence and his own understanding, he will be unable to surrender unto the lotus feet of Śrī Bhagavān. And he will have great regard for the notion of argument and reasoning (ārohavāda) as long as the notion of surrender has not manifested in his heart. Only when someone realizes the insignificance of his own ability to support himself, the worthlessness of his proud self-conception and the ineffectiveness of his own endeavours, can he surrender himself and accept the path of receiving help from above (avarohavāda).
Gaura Hari Hari Bol