Guru-tattva: What Is the Position of the Guru? Guru-bhakti

Transcript

3:27As the Lord is, so are His devotees

Today we also sang a bhajan dedicated to the spiritual master. It says: out of the hopelessness of material existence, out of the hopelessness of the sufferings that press in on my soul—O Lord Nityananda! Dear Lord Nityananda, You are always in bliss, You always taste the sweetness of prema, love for God, for Krishna. Please cast Your merciful glance on me, this unfortunate one.

4:31Dear Lord Nityananda… And as the Lord is, so are His devotees. Lord Nityananda is one of the associates of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, but any manifestation of the Lord can also be called Nityananda, because “Nityananda” means “He who is always in bliss.” And as the Lord is, so are the devotees: if Lord Nityananda is always in bliss, then His pure devotees are always in bliss too.

5:15Dear devotees, has any of you ever seen such a devotee not in bliss, even once? It happens that we neophytes cannot recognize a devotee’s ecstasy. There is a well-known story about the photo in Srila Prabhupada’s passport. Devotees in America asked him, “Why do you look so stern here?” He answered, “Here I am in transcendental ecstasy, because I got the chance to fulfill the will of my spiritual master. I got a visa to America; I got the chance to serve my guru.”

5:57I wanted to say a few words on this topic. There were other plans: the kirtan was supposed to end at 7:30, but because blissful sages arrived, the schedule fell apart. There are still so many hours ahead… but we have to finish at eight, since some of the brahmacharis go to rest. Still, I will read something of what I wanted to bring to your hearts, dear devotees, so that you can relish this krishna-katha, and in particular the commentaries of our acharyas on the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Most beautiful texts.

7:15As I wrote on Telegram, we had a discussion with some devotees. Since that discussion I have been reflecting a lot, thinking about what we discussed. And of course, “by chance,” I began coming across shlokas in the Bhagavatam and in the commentaries of the acharyas, who quote texts on guru-tattva abundantly. We should at least know in theory how things ought to be. Perhaps not yet on the level of the heart, but in theory: to reflect, to hear, to speak, to discuss questions connected with the guru. When we accept a guru, whom are we accepting? On what basis? How should we relate to him properly? Who is a qualified guru, and who is not?

8:22Very often Srila Prabhupada wrote not simply “guru”—in English he wrote bona fide spiritual master, that is, a qualified one. One must accept a qualified guru; that is the idea. And what is the position of the spiritual master? That is why the word “tattva” is used. There is bhagavat-tattva, for example: the position of the Lord, the concept of the Lord, the understanding of the Lord. Tattva is the fundamental principle. To understand tattva means to understand how everything is arranged. The word has many meanings. The idea is that we say “bhagavat-tattva,” or, for example, in the Bhagavatam God is called “tattva,” the Absolute Truth—that is how Srila Prabhupada translates it. And as the knowers of the Absolute Truth speak about the Absolute Truth: vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam.

9:50A tattva-vit is one who has deeply realized who the Lord is. It means he has grasped the tattva of the Lord. Or he has deeply realized who the guru is, what the guru is. What the Lord is—that is bhagavat-tattva; what the guru is—that is guru-tattva: it means he has understood it. So the guru is a person, but the guru is also a principle, a philosophical principle. And this is the one condition that cannot be avoided in spiritual life, in bhakti, in developing one’s relationship with the Lord. The one condition that can in no way be taken out of the equation. You can not chant japa and reach perfection. You can not read the Bhagavatam and reach perfection. You can not worship the Deities and reach perfection. You can leave many things undone and reach perfection.

11:17Without the guru’s guidance, everything loses its meaning

You can chant japa, you can study the Bhagavatam, you can worship the Deities, but if you do it without the guru, without the guru’s guidance, without meditation on the guru, without a relationship with the guru, then everything completely loses its meaning. That is why guru-tattva is a fundamental philosophical subject for all sincere souls who are striving for the Lord. It cannot be ignored. We should speak about it, we should hear about it, we should remember it. Because today we also sang this bhajan: sri-guru-carane rati, ei se uttama-gati—the lotus feet of Sri Guru are the highest goal. Amazing words from Narottama Dasa Thakura! He does not write “the lotus feet of Krishna”; he writes “the lotus feet of Sri Guru.” Sri-guru-carane rati: rati means attachment, heartfelt attachment to the lotus feet of the guru. That is what sri-guru-carane rati means. Why to the feet? Because we are attached to the guru in a humble position: in a mood of humility, reverence, blissful awe and respect. That is what the feet signify.

12:52Heartfelt attachment to the guru’s feet is the highest goal

So sri-guru-carane rati—loving, strong, emotional, heartfelt attachment to the guru—is the highest goal of life, says Narottama Dasa Thakura in this bhajan. And here in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, in the Seventh Canto, in chapter 15, which is called “Instructions for Civilized Human Beings,” there are the most amazing texts. I would like to read them to you. Simply astonishing. The Bhagavatam is astonishing.

13:46Notice that another prayer, a shloka we sang today—nasta-prayesv abhadresu—says that devotion becomes unshakable, very steady: naisthiki. Nishtha-bhakti means firm bhakti. Like cement: when a foundation is poured, at first it is liquid, and then it becomes nishtha, very hard, and on it you can build, you can raise a temple. It is the same here. At first it goes “blub-blub, blub-blub”—bhakti bubbles: sometimes something, somewhere, somehow. But at some point it becomes nishtha-bhakti: firm bhakti, steady bhakti. You can’t just pick it up and pour it out—you have to break it, hammer at it with a crowbar. A crowbar can break it, and nishtha-bhakti can also be broken, but it is much harder than breaking anishthita—there is such a term—that is, immature, unstable, unsteady devotion.

So bhakti becomes firm and steady if a person regularly serves the bhagavata. “Bhagavata” can mean the Lord, Bhagavan. “Bhagavata” can mean the Bhagavatam, the book, the Bhagavata Purana, the Srimad-Bhagavatam, which again describes the Lord. But Srila Prabhupada, following in the footsteps of the acharyas, also writes in his purport that “bhagavata” means the person bhagavata: regularly serving the person bhagavata, an advanced devotee.

16:27Inquiring in a spirit of humility

Realization of tattva has to come sevaya—through service, through humble service; pranipatena—very humbly, at the lotus feet of Sri Guru. If a person serves and inquires—not simply inquires, but inquires in a spirit of humility, respect and reverence—then there will be a result. Again: you must be at the lotus feet of a tattva-darshi. Tattva-darshi and tattva-vit are one and the same: one who has realized the Absolute Truth, one who has understood the meaning of life wholly, absolutely. That is what tattva-darshi means. Darshi literally means one who sees, and vit one who knows: vid—from it comes the word “Veda,” and also “to see.” Tattva-vit, tattva-darshi.

16:57So this is possible only through nityam bhagavata-sevaya—serving the book-bhagavata, the Bhagavatam, and the person-bhagavata. Without the person-bhagavata, that is, without an advanced devotee, our progress in spiritual life will be, let us say, very difficult. It will be possible in theory, as it were, but in essence it will be marking time. It will be a path toward accepting guidance from a person-bhagavata, and precisely a bhagavata.

18:03The guru must be qualified

The guru must be bona fide, which means qualified to lead us to the spiritual world. And to choose the guru who will lead us to the spiritual world—that is the meaning of our life. Not to make a mistake! Because in Kali-yuga everything is arranged so that people make mistakes. They marry a sweet gulab jamun and then eat bitter karela all their lives. What is bitter karela? It is an Indian cucumber—wormwood. They simply chew wormwood instead of a sweet gulab jamun.

18:44People often make all sorts of plans: the career ladder, I’ll earn money, I’ll get married, I’ll have children, raise them, get them into school, the war will end… Many different plans. And every time certain goals are reached, it turns out that everything is different, that it works differently. That is natural.

19:27We live in illusion

19:28Because we live in illusion. Illusion means that we make mistakes—mostly not consciously. Where it is conscious, where it is deliberate, is another question, but mostly it is simply a mistake. If a person becomes the world’s number one terrorist and kills hundreds of thousands of people, it is simply a mistake in perceiving reality. That is how sadhus see it, and so sadhus feel pity even for such a person: he will have to suffer in hell, and in essence such a life is already nothing but suffering. We make mistakes. And in just the same way we can make a mistake in choosing a guru, in taking shelter.

20:26We must make this choice ourselves

And the most interesting thing is that here no one will help us. This is a choice we have to make ourselves. Because if someone recommends a certain guru, it means that I have accepted as my guru the one who advised me to accept a guru. Such options are possible. But accepting this guru who advised me to accept a guru is also my choice. It’s hardly likely that someone will advise me to accept the one who will advise me to accept a guru—do you follow? Either way, I choose for myself. I make the choice. And who this “I” is—that is also a question: the mind, the intelligence, the false ego.

21:14So it is important not to make a mistake and to accept a truly qualified guru who is able to bring me to the lotus feet of Radha and Krishna and engage me in service. Not just bring me to Their feet, but engage me in service. To whom do I dedicate the words I sing in the morning? What do I meditate on? That is my choice, mine.

21:46And when I become a follower of a religious organization that has a list of particular spiritual masters—they live in different countries, speak different languages, are of different ages; one sings beautifully, another gives good lectures, one is a philosopher, another an organizer, but on the whole they are all devotees—the problem is that devotees fall into two categories: devotees who can fall and devotees who cannot fall. Why? Because the guru is in a position that cannot fall. According to all the shastras—this is the conclusion of the scriptures.

22:53As they say, all the shastras state that the guru is non-different from the Personality of Godhead. How he is non-different and at the same time different is another question. With us, everything is acintya-bheda-abheda-tattva. Krishna and Balarama are also both different and non-different. Krishna and Narayana are both different and non-different. Krishna and the guru are different and non-different. I will now read these amazing texts and the commentaries of Vishvanatha Chakravarti. But the idea is that there are two categories of devotees.

23:35And to put it in more detail, there are three categories of devotees: kanishtha-adhikari, madhyama-adhikari and uttama-adhikari. A kanishtha will most likely fall. A madhyama will most likely not fall. An uttama-adhikari will not fall. Hare Krishna. History knows no examples of falling from the level of bhava, not to speak of prema. One could cite the example of Bharata Maharaja, who was on the level of bhava and fell. But if you look at Vishvanatha’s commentaries, he says that Bharata Maharaja did not fall: it was lila, it was only external. One could look at Jaya and Vijaya, who fell. But if you look at Vishvanatha’s commentaries, he says: Jaya and Vijaya did not fall.

24:20And not only in Vishvanatha’s commentaries—this is written in the Puranas. Our acharyas quote these Puranas, in particular the Padma Purana, which says that it was only an apparent fall, a fall as it were: Bharata Maharaja, Jaya and Vijaya, and Chitraketu Maharaja, who offended Parvati and Shiva, was cursed and took birth as an asura. The acharyas say that this was an apparent fall.

25:19A fall is practically impossible

For Vaishnavas who are on such an elevated, steady level—not nishtha-bhakti, not ruchi, not asakti, but bhava-bhakti, prema-bhakti—a fall is practically impossible. The chance practically tends to zero. Though in theory it is possible: Rupa Gosvami in the Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu says that a drop in level is possible, for example from bhava to asakti, in the case of an offense against a great devotee. In fact, the higher the level of the devotee we offend, the heavier the consequences—that is a separate topic. But in theory Rupa Gosvami himself, in the Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, says that this is possible.

25:46But if we look for examples in the shastras, we don’t find them. Even if one of the elevated devotees falls, other elevated devotees, the commentators, actually say that it was not a fall. But here is an amazing fact. The amazing fact is that none of these listed “fallen” great devotees was in the position of guru. That is the interesting point.

26:52What does this mean? It means that if a Vaishnava plays the role of guru, if he is bona fide, that is, qualified, then he is deprived of such a possibility. He cannot do it. And if they could fall, they would not even play such a role. In fact, there cannot even be such a role. So the main message I want to convey is this: before accepting a guru with all your heart, with love, you have to be aware that this is your own responsibility. And, as Srila Prabhupada wrote in his wonderful purports, one should not do it as a tribute to fashion.

28:00The question arises: what should one do, then? And perhaps this is the most important question. Pray. Sincerely pray to the original guru, Sri Krishna, who also never falls, as it turns out. Krishna does not fall, although sometimes He may do things that go beyond the bounds of morality and ethics. But such is His position: svayam bhagavan. The original guru is Krishna.

28:43Because when we say “guru,” we mean first of all “mentor.” It means an elder. The one I follow. The one I look up to. The one I want to become like. The one who inspires me, who blesses, who cares, who loves. These are all the criteria of a guru—and that is Krishna. That is why mother Kunti, when she prayed, offered this beautiful prayer in Sanskrit: vipadah santu tah sasvat tatra tatra jagad-guro—let these calamities come again and again, O jagad-guru! She addresses Krishna in exactly this way and offers Him respect as the one in whom they, the Pandavas—and she is their mother—always take shelter. Because Krishna was the guru of the Pandavas.

29:50Krishna was also the guru of the gopis—there is information about this in the Tenth Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam—in a somewhat different position. Because we imagine that a guru means sannyasa, a danda, or, if he is a grihastha, perhaps… But that is guru ISKCON-style. For the gopis, Krishna was also a guru of a kind. For the Pandavas He was a guru: He always gave them very wise advice. The most famous of all of Krishna’s conversations as guru with the Pandavas, with Arjuna, is the Bhagavad-gita, the conversation of Arjuna and Krishna, where Lord Krishna is first and foremost in the role of guru toward Arjuna. There was a moment when He showed the universal form at Arjuna’s request.

31:27Guru and Krishna are one and different

But in fact the main thing is to understand that the guru and Krishna are one and the same. Krishna was the guru of the Pandavas, Krishna was the guru of Arjuna. Krishna was the guru, the original guru, of the very first living being in our universe—Lord Brahma. And so the four most central shlokas of the Bhagavatam, called the catuh-sloki, the “four shlokas,” are the place where Lord Krishna gives instructions to Brahma as guru.

32:08This is how the Chaitanya-charitamrita begins. The first chapter of the Adi-lila—we read a little of it last time: the very first word there is vande gurun, “I offer my respectful obeisances unto the spiritual masters,” in the plural. How important this is! How vitally necessary! How meditative, sincere and far from cheap this must be!

32:51Because meeting a guru, being impressed by association with a guru, wanting to surrender at the guru’s feet, surrendering at the guru’s feet, receiving initiation—diksha—and receiving instruction—shiksha—all this happens to one who has proven to the original guru, who is in the heart, to Lord Sri Krishna, that he has very serious intentions regarding his life in the material world and his plans for the spiritual world. One who sincerely wants to come to Krishna, who sincerely wants to serve Krishna, gets the opportunity—let me repeat the list—to meet a guru, to receive association with a guru, to receive vasanas, samskaras, powerful intellectual and emotional impressions that inspire full surrender at the guru’s feet, and then surrender at the guru’s feet, and then diksha and shiksha. All this can be received in response to sincerity in one’s relationship with the Lord.

34:19As long as a person is not sincere, not serious enough in spiritual life, he may even accept a guru formally, as a tribute to fashion: because everyone is accepting one, and people tell me, “Come on, you have to accept! You haven’t accepted for ten years already”—or five years, or three. But has anyone ever said that we are limited to one life in one body? Or rather, that our life ends with the death of the body? So there is certainly no need to hurry with this question, since a mistake here can cost dearly.

35:08But in Kali-yuga we are used to making mistakes; that is how everything is arranged. We marry a gulab jamun and then eat wormwood. Or get married as a woman—it makes no difference. And what then? The blissful ones have a life of their own… I’m speaking now in the context of “I will enjoy this,” and then it turns out you are a slave, and not even a slave of God.

35:55So, the Seventh Canto, chapter fifteen, “Instructions for Civilized Human Beings.” Amazing texts. To save time, I will probably read here almost without the Sanskrit. Here comes a block of instructions on how to deal with our problems with lust, with anger, with grief and so on. This is the Seventh Canto, chapter fifteen. I will begin with text 22.

37:15To get free of lust

By making plans with determination, one should give up lusty desires for sense gratification. Srila Prabhupada explains here in the purport that a good remedy for lust is determination: “That’s it, I’m finishing with this once and for all.” When there is determination. Similarly, by giving up envy one should conquer anger, by discussing the disadvantages of accumulating wealth one should give up greed, and by discussing the truth one should give up fear. Of course, every phrase here deserves to be immersed in and discussed, discussed, discussed, thought over, and then put into practice.

37:54This is about precisely those enemies that live inside us: kama, krodha, lobha and all the rest, matsarya. How do we fight them? To get free of lust, what must one do? Firm determination. To get free of anger, one must stop envying others. By discussing spiritual truths, it says next, one can get free—do you know of what? Of shoka and moha. Shoka means grief, moha means illusion. Anviksikya soka-mohau: By discussing spiritual knowledge one can conquer lamentation and illusion, by serving a great devotee one can become prideless: dambham mahad-upasaya—mahat means great. By keeping silent one can avoid obstacles on the path of mystic yoga: yogantarayan maunena—through mauna. Antaraya means an obstacle on the path of yoga.

39:33To stop being malicious

And simply by stopping sense gratification one can conquer envy. That is, to stop being malicious, one must stop indulging the senses. Krpaya bhutajam duhkham: By good behavior and freedom from envy one should counteract sufferings due to other living entities. Notice: if other beings cause someone suffering, then freedom from it comes through compassion. That is also a separate, very interesting topic. That is, there must be a spirit of forgiveness and compassion if you want to get free, the Bhagavatam tells us, of the sufferings caused by other living beings.

40:26By meditation in trance one should counteract sufferings due to providence. That is, adhyatmika-klesha, adhidaivika-klesha—or more precisely, adhibhautika and adhidaivika. And by practicing haṭha-yoga, prāṇāyāma and so forth one should counteract sufferings due to the body and mind. Similarly, by developing the mode of goodness, especially in regard to eating, one should conquer sleep. Regarding goodness in eating, Vishvanatha Chakravarti comments like this: if you feel sleepy, you should eat a little food in goodness. That is what he says in the commentary. And in this way one can conquer sleep.

41:09Next. Anviksiki—we have discussed that; krpaya—too. And now, devotees, we come to the culmination. Just a couple more minutes.

41:54Giving up attachment even to goodness

One must conquer the modes of passion and ignorance by developing the mode of goodness, and then one must become detached from the mode of goodness by promoting oneself to the platform of śuddha-sattva. Full stop. Various problems were listed—such as kama, krodha, lobha: lust, anger, envy and so on—and the ways of solving them, upayas. It is like with astrologers: if it is Saturn, they say, you need to perform such-and-such an upaya. If there is heat in the body, say the Ayurvedic doctors, you need to take such-and-such an upaya, that is, a treatment, a method, a medicine—to put out the heat, the fire, with cold, with dryness or something else.

42:36And with all this, as far as is possible now, we should enter through our meditation into this Bhagavatam, where it says: here is such a problem—here is the solution; such a problem—such a solution; such a problem—such a solution. And here is the first line of this twenty-fifth text of the fifteenth chapter of the Seventh Canto—you can write it down: rajas tamas ca sattvena sattvam copasamena ca—it puts a full stop to this whole list. And now a new topic begins.

43:21Guru-bhakti solves every problem

Etat sarvam gurau bhaktya—all these problems can be solved with the help of guru-bhakti, through devotion to the guru. Puruso hy anjasa jayet—and very easily a person can… Today we sang “jaya”—jayet also means “can conquer”; “jaya,” as we say, means “victory.” All these things… One can easily get free of all of this with the help of guru-bhakti. And in this connection I want to read you some excerpts from the commentary—or rather, not some excerpts, but precisely Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakura’s commentary on this topic. Interested, devotees? Listen for another two or three hours or so. I’m joking. If you feel sleepy—prasadam in goodness is guaranteed.

44:26So, what does Vishvanatha Chakravarti write? I even got out the original. A person easily overcomes all obstacles with the help of guru-bhakti. Anjasa means “easily.” And besides this word anjasa, which is used in the text itself, Vishvanatha also writes sighram, which means “quickly.” Easily and quickly. Not easily and slowly, as it usually happens in our life: if something is easy, it takes long; if something is hard, it goes fast. Right? And so it happens in life—it happens long and hard, yes. As Abhinandana Prabhu rightly, or rather precisely, remarks, life is arranged so that everything is long and hard. But here Vishvanatha stresses: anjasa sighram means quickly and easily.

45:29Ayasa-abhavena—then he goes even further. Ayasa means effort, labor. We say, you know, atyaharah prayasas ca: prayasa, ayasa means effort, hard labor. So, ayasa-abhavena, he says: abhava means “does not exist”—here no effort exists. Bhava is to be, abhava is not to be. Not to be—what? Effort. That is, without effort. Sarvan—and not just one thing: say, lust, say, anger, say, suffering or something else. Sarvan—everything. Notice: guru-bhakti—what a miracle it is! What a miracle, if everything is genuine: if there is a guru, if there is a qualified guru and a qualified disciple, bona fide.

46:58Then he writes, too… Hare Krishna. Guru-bhakti is like a strong pill that cures all diseases: sarva-roga. Roga means disease. The Ashtanga-hridaya begins with this: the cause of all diseases lies in raga. Raga means kama, that is, lust, self-interest, the desire to live for oneself. This is the cause of all physical diseases.

47:45The original disease is the desire to enjoy

Ragadi-roga: the original disease is the desire to enjoy. So here it says: sarva-rogopasamana. Upasama means “pacifies,” heals. Just one single pill—maha-ausadha, one maha-medicine. What is guru-bhakti? It is the maha-medicine, “maha” in this sense. In the commentaries there is a very, very frequent phrase, in practically every commentary—iti arthah: the meaning of the text is as follows. Artha means meaning. That even this one medicine alone, the maha-medicine, is enough to destroy all diseases. And nothing more is needed: everything will be easy, everything will be very quick, and everything will be without effort. Hare Krishna!

48:49And then he compares the faith of the jnani and of the bhakta. And here, of course, everyone who has a guru can understand for himself which category he belongs to.

49:19The guru as a means or as the goal

Jnanis regard devotion to the guru as a means of destroying lust and the other obstacles to liberation. But for pure devotees the main thing is guru-bhakti. We already sang today—what words? Sri-guru-carane rati: attachment to the lotus feet of the guru is the highest goal of life. So for the shuddha-bhaktas, for pure devotees, he says, the main thing is guru-bhakti, and the destruction of lust is a secondary result. That is the difference between them, that is, between devotees and jnanis.

49:54In other words, when I want to get free of lust, when I want to get free of krodha, anger, of lobha, greed, and for that I serve the guru, that is the mood of a jnani. It is called exploiting the guru. Even if I serve the guru in order to come to Krishna, and then I no longer need the guru—that is not the mentality of a pure devotee. Of course, he doesn’t think like that; he simply prays, “Dear Guru Maharaja, please help me come to Krishna,” and so on. But in fact he simply wants liberation. That is the basis of the jnani: “I want to be free.” Free of what? Of lust, of anger, of greed—that is what the jnani, a thoughtful person, wants to be free of. Not “I have material problems here: somewhere with money, with the war, with work, with my wife, with the children.” That is lower still—that’s not even a jnani. Someone is rightly prompting: a karmi.

51:21But a bhakta does not think like that. For him the guru will never be a means. Rather, Krishna will be a means of getting the chance to serve the guru, rather than the guru being a means of serving Krishna. And the most interesting thing is that Krishna is in complete ecstasy over such a mood! That is why Krishna says: one who considers himself My devotee is not really My devotee. But one who is devoted to the guru, to My devotee—simply devoted to the guru and needing nothing else—that is My devotee, says Krishna.

52:08This is the perfection of Vaishnava shastra; this is the conclusion of all the scriptures. We should take this very seriously. So one must accept and follow the guru who will crowd Krishna out of my heart. Then it will be genuine. But there is one more text here; I will read it now, and with that we will finish. Which text was this one? It was the twenty-fifth. And those words of Krishna are from the Adi Purana; the acharyas quote them.

53:52Seeing the guru as an ordinary person

If we look at the guru as an ordinary person, everything is completely nullified. At best—and most likely that is exactly what will happen—a person will simply mark time in one place. Real life will begin only from the moment the transcendental phenomenon called guru-padasraya takes place: taking shelter at the feet of the guru. So look what Vishvanatha writes in his commentary on this text, where Narada is giving instruction. He says: “What was said about the guru is the truth, but nevertheless…”—it is like an argument.

54:43Unfortunately, what I copied here is not the original but only the translation, and there it was a little different; I have already half forgotten. Ideally, of course, I should find the original. The Seventh Canto, the last chapter… Excuse me, please, a technical delay: I just want to read the original. I hope it is in another file. 7.15… Here it is. So, 26.

55:52Here. “Moreover…” Like this. Notice, these are really filigree things—Vishvanatha Chakravarti’s philosophical thoughts. They are so far from the surface! How hard it is even to see this! I will tell you honestly: I don’t even know how to convey it, with what verbs… Connections—you understand, what do they call them there, neural? I never did understand what these “neural connections” are, but it sounds nice. Listen: even if a person has strong devotion to the guru but at the same time perceives him as an ordinary person, all his service becomes useless. That is what this verse is about.

57:03What “ordinary person” means

And what does “ordinary person” mean? It means someone who can fall. An ordinary person is someone who can fall. Not falling—infallibility—belongs only to the Lord. And since the guru is a manifestation specifically for me, not for someone else… Lord Krishna is the guru for everyone, but specifically for me the external manifestation of the Lord is Sri Guru. If I look at him with such eyes and allow that my guru might fall—I will quote: “perceives him as an ordinary person—all his service becomes useless.”

58:08The guru is the one in whom the Lord is directly present. If a person is deluded in his intelligence and thinks the guru is an ordinary mortal, then everything he has heard, such as the Lord’s mantra… Diksha classically means the transmission of a mantra. We have diksha—well, we already chant Hare Krishna before we receive the first initiation, and then there is nama-diksha, the first, and then there is diksha proper, when we receive the gayatri mantra. So everything he has heard—for example, the Lord’s mantra—everything he has heard, the hari-katha he heard from the guru, his meditation—all of it becomes useless, says Vishvanatha.

58:53And of course Srila Prabhupada again quotes Vishvanatha Chakravarti here—he quotes these words, so well known to all of us. And notice how deep Vishvanatha Chakravarti is: he composed this most profound Gurvastaka. Prabhupada is in the habit—you know it, you read Prabhupada’s books—of quoting these words very often. Here, too, he quotes them: yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasadah.

59:58That is why we discussed the Chaitanya-charitamrita. This is also one of the “triggers”: this text at the very beginning of the Chaitanya-charitamrita, where Kaviraja Gosvami also explains guru-tattva. He says: yadyapi amara guru caitanyera dasa—although my guru is a servant of Chaitanya, a servant of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, tathapi janiye ami tanhara prakasa.

Although the guru is a servant of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, for me he is tanhara prakasa—His expansion, that is, an avatara, if you like, a manifestation. That is, although my guru is a servant of Chaitanya, for me he is the Lord Himself. And this is precisely the difference and the oneness, you understand? The same is said in these texts.

Kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya: yet at the same time he is a servant, a beloved servant of the Lord. So he is both the Lord and a servant: for me he is the Lord, but in essence he is the Lord’s servant. And in this lies the oneness and the difference of guru-tattva from bhagavat-tattva, that is, of the guru from Krishna. The guru will never possess the power, the aisvarya, that Krishna possesses. But note: when it comes to the qualification to free a particular jiva from material captivity, he may have an even greater qualification than the Lord Himself. Hare Krishna!

1:02:27A Vaishnava is more merciful than the Lord Himself

That is why Srila Prabhupada more than once said this beautiful phrase: a Vaishnava is more merciful than the Lord Himself. And in essence the life of a devotee-sadhaka in this world is a life dedicated to sri-guru-carane, to the lotus feet of the guru. This is his main meditation, his main meditation. And of course, to receive this meditation, to receive those samskaras, again those vasanas, that will support it—this is already a gift. A gift in response to our sincere desire to serve Krishna.

1:03:13By Krishna’s mercy we meet the guru

That is why there is a very transcendental phrase—attention: by the mercy of Krishna we meet the guru; by the mercy of the guru we come to Krishna. Do you see how it all works? But the starting point is when the jiva shows its interest in a relationship with the Lord. And when the right moment comes, in due time, Krishna manifests externally as the guru. First He gives inner instructions, then outer ones, and then inner ones again. That is why there are these words—Krishna also speaks them in the Bhagavad-gita: dadami buddhi-yogam tam yena mam upayanti te. It means: “I give the necessary intelligence that enables one to come to Me.” The intelligence that enables the devotee to come to Me.

1:04:17And it would be very strange if the guru brought us to Krishna, and then Krishna—bang!—that’s it, now we are gopis, and the guru simply disappeared. If we say that the guru is tanhara prakasa, a manifestation of the Lord… That is why Kaviraja Gosvami writes these supremely confidential texts. Srila Prabhupada also comments here, in these texts, that the guru is like a manifestation of Nityananda, he says. And also of Radhika.

1:04:58On this subject, of course, supremely deep thoughts are found in the teachings of Gour Govinda Swami. He is obviously a maha-bhagavata; there is no doubt about it. So it is worth reading his book, meditating in general on the personality of Gour Govinda Swami, getting to know him and his teaching, especially regarding the guru: how he explained it. And he was not shy—it was completely unheard of in the ISKCON of that time, the eighties—when he spoke about the kunja, about Radhika, about the gopis, about the guru being a manifestation precisely of Radhika. As he put it… I have forgotten already… well, in short, that the guru is a sakhi, a priya-dasi. He spoke of the guru in the feminine: the guru is a sakhi, a priya-dasi. These are very esoteric things, supremely esoteric things.

1:06:24But what, in fact, is Gaudiya Vaishnavism about? It is not simply eating fried potatoes offered to Krishna. Not simply that. No, Gaudiya Vaishnavism is about this. And it should happen easily and quickly. A person should come to it genuinely, without any distortions. Not that he is a “priya-dasi” while he doesn’t control his own sexual desires—that is not what we are talking about, not that. Strictly follow the principles. That is why—how does Rupa Gosvami begin The Nectar of Instruction? With the need to bring all these urges under control. And such a person is qualified to become a guru all over the world.

1:07:09But it does not end even with attaining Krishna. It means that, having attained Krishna and Radha in Goloka Vrindavan, we will eternally serve the guru as the servant of the servant of the servant of the master of the gopis: gopi-bhartuh pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanudasah. Our guru has a position in this, so to speak, transcendental abode, and we, having attained perfection, will go on serving the guru. Certainly, the guru must be qualified to take us back there, and we must be qualified to go back there: to follow the instructions of the guru.

1:08:12Forgive me, dear devotees. In the company of pure devotees who give their lives to the service of the guru, it was very hard to stop this kirtan, and then it was hard to stop this guru-katha. Even prasadam will now be hard to begin—but then it will be hard to finish. So thank you very much for your attention, dear devotees. Hare Krishna!