We are Incompetent to Proceed Without a
Bona Fide Guru
BY: VRINDAVAN DAS
HDG Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur
Mar 17, UK (SUN) —
Excerpts from a lecture delivered by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur in the Sarasvata Assembly Hall, Sri Caitanya Matha, Mayapura on Saturday, 9.00 pm, on the 28th day of the month of Magha (January) 1931
We are Incompetent to Proceed Without a Bona Fide Guru
Serving the lotus feet of Srila Gurudeva is our foremost necessity. In this world, we even need a guru to perform karma (material activities), to acquire jnana (knowledge) or to fulfill any anyabhilasa (desires not connected to serving Krsna). The guidance of such worldly gurus engenders insignificant results, which are the antithesis of the results bestowed by the lotus feet of a bona fide guru. Srila Gurudeva is the source of our genuine welfare. The very moment we become bereft of his mercy, diverse worldly desires manifest in our hearts. And if the vartma-pradarsaka guru, who is the first to tell us about spiritual life, does not tell us how we should take shelter of the lot us feet of Srila Gurudeva, we may end up losing the gem in hand.
Nama-bhajana (chanting Krsna's names) is the sole method of performing bhajana, and it is the only method Srila Gurudeva confers upon us. Consequently, our responsibility is to worship his lotus feet at the beginning of each year, that is, every guru-puja. Srila Rupa Gosvami says:
guru-padasrayas tasmat
krsna-diksadi-siksanam
visrambhena guroh seva
sadhu-vartmanuvartanam
[The first four limbs of sadhana-bhakti are: to accept the shelter of the lotus feet of a bona fide guru, to take diksa and receive instructions on service to Krsna from him, to serve him with intimacy and affection and to follow the path of the sadhus, under his guidance."
(Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.74-75)]
In a realm that is concealed and mystifying, it is impossible to proceed by depending on one's own multitude of competencies. Just as it is impossible to foresee the future or making plans for the future on the strength of one's own ability, similarly, mundane conceptions cannot help one penetrate or attain the supra-mundane realm. My senses have experience something of the time that has already passed, and therefore I have knowledge of it, but I remain ignorant about the future. In the same way, our current senses are incapable of informing us about that realm that is complete and inconceivable. Our eyes can only see a few miles into the distance, and our ears can only hear words spoken nearby.
If we depend on our own competence to proceed in such a realm, we will never reach the far end, the Ultimate Reality. Such an attempt is likened to Ravana's efforts to build a stairway to heaven. Construction may begin, but it will eventually crumble to the ground. It cannot exist in a void where no support is present. Similarly we desire to ascend to that unknown realm, and we try to do so on the strength of our own competence, but we always fail. Furthermore, if we consider an ordinary mortal who is laghu (spiritually impotent and not at all grave) to be guru (weighty with potency), we face failure.
We will have to recognize who is guru and who is laghu. A guru is engaged in service to that Complete Entity whom all real gurus honour as their sole object of worship. This does not refer to a guru (teacher) of sitar or physical exercises. Such a guru cannot save one from the clutches of death.
gurur na sa syat sva-jano na sa syat
pita na sa syaj janani na sa syat
daivam na tat syan na patis ca sa syan
na mocayed yah samupeta-mrtyum
["That guru is not a guru, that father is not a father, that mother is not a mother, that demigod is not a demigod and that relative is not a relative who cannot protect us from the clutches of death, cannot bestow eternal life upon us and cannot protect us from ignorance, because of which we are deeply engrossed in this material worl d."
(Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.18)]
Ignorance is the sole reason a person falls into the clutches of death; a person with knowledge does not. All the education in the world is immediately dispensable for one who becomes mad or paralysed or who meets with death. Unless we are searching for the ultimate truth, we tend to become unconscious, or devoid of real consciousness.
When we are impelled to enjoy our senses, like the tongue, hands, legs, arms and genitals, we are enchanted and then deceived. It is therefore imperative upon us to remember Srila Gurupadapadma at the beginning of each year, each month, each day and at every moment, for he can protect us from all such deception.
Remember Sri Guru Every Day, Every Moment
Our Gurudeva's forms are manifold. If he did not manifest himself in various ways, then who else would protect us? That person whom my Gurudeva has accepted as his own i s my saviour. I do not want to see the faces of vile persons who criticize my Gurudeva or who support those who criticize him. They are the cause of all inauspiciousness.
The very instant I deviate from or forget the lotus feet of Srila Gurudeva, who is continuously attracting me to his lotus feet, at that very moment I am unquestionably deprived of the Truth. Upon such deviation, I became engrossed in contemplating countless scarcities. I hurry to bathe in a holy place, and I become busy protecting myself from the cold. In this way I chase after activities other than service to Srila Gurudeva.
My Gurudeva constantly protects me from dvitiya-abhinivesa, becoming absorbed in activities separate from the interest of Bhagavan. If I do not remember my Gurudeva at the beginning of each year, each month, each day, and at every moment, I will surely fall further away from the path of bhakti. Consequently, I myself will wish to be recognized as guru, and the sinister contemplation of how others will worship me will invade my mind.
This alone is dvitiya-abhinivesa. We have not assembled here to perform guru-puja just for today, but to begin performance of it at every moment, forever.
Sri Gaurasundara is Krsna Himself who came to this Earth as jagad-guru, the spiritual master of the whole world, and spoke Siksastaka. May the mahanta-gurus (exalted, manifest gurus) and all great Vaisnavas who are surrendered to their lotus feet, impart all aspects of the teachings of Siksastaka to us. May they deliver us from our calamitous situation.
My Gurudeva Appears to Me Everywhere
Our spiritual masters (asraya-jatiya guru-varga) are the abodes of love. They appear to us in different forms to bestow their mercy upon us. They are reflected in all objects and in every entity. Indeed, they ar e the special manifestations of Srila Gurudeva, he who imparts divya-jnana, transcendental knowledge. The object of love, Krsna (visaya-jatiya), is one half of the equation, and the abode of love, Sri Guru (asraya-jatiya), is the other half. Their combination results in a complete whole through vilasa vaicitrya (wonderfully variegated pastimes). Sri Krsna is the complete manifestation of the object of love, and Srila Gurudeva is the complete perception of the abode of love. When the transcendental reflection of asraya-jatiya tattva falls upon any conscious being, he is to be understood as a manifestation of my Gurudeva. Gurudeva is that person whose behaviour at every moment instructs us that our entire life is meant for serving Bhagavan. That very Gurudeva is reflected in the heart of every living being and is situated in every entity as asraya-jatiya tattva.
cuta-priyala-panasasana-kovidara
jambv-arka-bilva-bakulamra-kadamba-nipah
ye ‘nye parart ha-bhavaka yamunopakulah
samsantu krsna-padavim rahitatmanam nah
["O mango, priyala, jackfruit, asana and kovidara trees! O trees of jambu, arka, bilva and bakula! O amra, kadamba and nipa trees, as well as all other plants and trees growing along Yamuna's shores whose lives are devoted to benefiting others, we have lost our minds in the agony of separation from Sri Krsna, so please tell us where He has gone."
(Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.30.9)]
Sri Krsna disappeared from the rasa-sthali (the place of the rasa-lila), and the gopis, who are eternally liberated souls, approached each and every living entity in search of Him. Did the gopis simply depend upon the knowledge acquired through their senses to find Him? We receive the opportunity to hear about these subjects from our Gurudeva. The variegated transcendental pastimes of Nanda-Govinda, Yasoda-Govinda, Sridama-Sudama-Govinda, Citraka-Patraka-Govinda, Vamsi-Govinda, Go-Govinda and Kad amba-Govinda are accounts of the rasa-laden pastimes of Sri Sri Radha-Govinda.
If a person is blessed with the darsana of Sri Guru in his heart, or if he makes a place in his mind where Sri Guru can wander, then such pastimes are revealed in his heart. The one and only way to attain service to the Complete Being is to worship that person who, by his every activity, encourages us to serve the Complete Being. Our Gurudeva's image, reflected in many different ways, constantly manifests newer and newer lessons for us.
My Gurudeva manifests in various repositories and, upon seeing their attitude of service to Bhagavan, I pray that I may spend thousands and thousands of lifetimes serving Sri Hari in their association, and that my aversion to serving Him, which has prevailed for millions of lifetimes, is finally destroyed.
