Glorification of Hari, Guru, Vaishnavas (1/2)
on Vyasa-puja Day by Dina-akincana
A presentation by
Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Vamana Gosvami Maharaja,
on his Vyasa-puja day 7th January 2002
at Sri Kesava Gosvami Gaudiya Matha, Siligudi
Today is a special day. On the ocassion of someone’s appearance day, an arrangement is made for the special worship of Sri Guru, Vaishnavas and Bhagavan. Turyasramigana (those in the sannyasa order), coming in the line of Sri Vyasa, perform the worship of previous gurus on their respective appearance days.
The invocation and performance of Vyasa-puja on the gurus appearance day, indeed, includes the worship of Bhagavan Sri Vyasadeva and that of the whole Vaiyasaki-sampradaya (that sampradaya in which Srimad-Bhagavatam is spoken by Sri Sukadeva Gosvami, the son of Vyasadeva). Without following Vyasa, there is no real fruit of guru-puja. As His prakasa-vigraha, Sri Vyasadeva is non-different from Bhagavan Himself.
In order to reveal Himself, Bhagavan has manifested Himself in the form of transcendental sound as Veda-sastra. Furthermore, since the Vedas are incomprehensible by ordinary intelligence, there was a need to expand and explain them. Bhagavan Himself, as Vyasa, performed the act of expanding the Vedas. He Himself is tattva-vastu, the Absolute Reality, and unless He makes Himself known to others, no one can know Him in truth.
Vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyo vedanta-krid vedavid eva caham. Sri Krishna has said (BG 15.15): “I am indeed that ‘vastu (reality) that is established by the Vedas, I alone know the import of the Vedas, and I alone have manifested Vedanta. Therefore, without the anugatya (guidance) of Vyasa, there is no other bona-fide or proper means to know Bhagavan.”
Sri Gurudeva, as the representative of Sri Vyasadeva, reveals bhagavat-tattva. Through gurupuja, Vyasa-puja is indeed accomplished, and this is the vaishishtya, (speciality) of the Vyasanuga-sampradaya. Sri guru-tattva and sri vyasa-tattva are the same. For this reason, Sri Vyasa-puja means to offer padya to the lotus feet of Sri Guru.
The disciple who knows the mano-’bhishtam of Sri Gurudeva, understands that the innermost desire of his guru is that he engages in perfect bhajana. That distinquished bhagavat-seva is not just an external offering, but it is the offering of padya in a real way.
Sastras say:
tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet
samit-panih srotriyam brahma-nishtham
“To understand these things properly, one must humbly
approach, with firewood in hand, a spiritual master
who is learned in the Vedas and firmly devoted to the
Absolute Truth.” (Mundaka Upanishad 1.2.12)
The word tad-vijnanartham does not only mean tattva-jnana, (knowledge of the Absolute Truth) but rather tattva-jnana endowed with vijnana, realization. In other words, one has to attain the tattvajnana of prema-bhakti.
In many instances, the understanding of tattvajnana leads to the conception of impersonal brahma, by which a jiva cannot attain deliverance from the spell of avidya, ignorance. The Transcendental Entity who is actually referred to by sastra by the word nirvisesa cannot be comprehended or conceived by those endowed with mundane understanding.
If brahma is devoid of variety, then from where have all the specialities and varieties of this world come? The impersonalists have imagined a conception about brahma, the Transcendental Reality, however, brahma is not such an imaginary conception. Since in the very beginning of their tattva-jijnasa, (inquiry about the Absolute), there is confusion in their attempt, therefore they can never attain auspiciousness for the soul.
Sri Vyasadeva has said in the very beginning of his Vedanta-sutra: athato brahma jijnasa—“I do not know the identity of brahma and I do not know what is my relationship with Him. I want to know these truths. If this knowledge would have been within me, I would not have made such inquiry. I therefore need a teacher who can bestow such knowledge.”
Therefore, the necessity of a genuine brahmajna-guru is instructed within this sutra. Gurum eva abhigacchet. The words gurum eva declare that it is imperative to approach a guru, and without guru there is no other source by which one can know that brahma vastu. Abhigacchet, therefore, one has to do abhigamana to that guru. Abhigamana means approaching guru with service temperament and honest enquiry.
tad viddhi pranipatena
pariprasnena sevaya
upadekshyanti te jnanam
jnaninas tattva-darsinah
“Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master.
from him submissively and render service unto
him. The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you
because they have seen the truth.” (BG 4.34)
The explanation of abhigamana is found in this verse from Gita. Abhigamana means approaching guru with pranipata, pariprasna and seva. Pranipata, self-surrender, is the first requirement. The second requirement is pariprasnena, honest enquiry with sincerety devoid of a challenging mood in order to know and understand the Truth. The third requirement is seva, a serving temperament. If these are not present, there will not be proper reciprocation with him.
dadati pratigrihnati
guhyam akhyati pricchati
bhunkte bhojayate caiva
shad-vidham priti-lakshanam
“Offering pure devotees items in accordance with their requirements, accepting prasadi, the remnant items given by pure devotees, revealing to pure devotees one’s confidential realizations concerning bhajana, inquiring from them about their confidential realizations, honoring the prasada remnants given by devotees with great love, and lovingly feeding them prasada—these are the six symptoms of loving association with devotees.”(Upadesamrita verse 4)
Without complete priti, love for that guru, one will not be able to understand the moods of his heart. Thus, without abhigamana a person cannot obtain tattva-jnana, and he will only waste time. However, one must consider the nature and speciality of the person he is thinking to approach. Sastra says: srottriyam brahma-nishtham. The guru must be brahmanishtha, steadfast in the realization of Transcendental Reality, and coming down in srauto-pantha, the line of aural reception.
The nature of brahma, the Transcendental Reality or Transcendental Entity, can only be known through srauta-pantha, the line of aural reception. That Absolute Truth is not the subject of any kind of mental speculation, mundane argument or mundane logic. Acintya khalu ye bhava na tams tarkena yo jayet, prakritbhyah param yaca tadacintasya lakshanam.
He is beyond prakriti, material nature, and He cannot be measured or grasped by mundane reasonings. Such material endeavor does not give any evidence of good intelligence, and therefore, besides srauta-pantha, there is no other means to know Him or understand Him.
What is the meaning of srauta-pantha? It is not like the parampara of ignorant people, where someone says anything and his statements are ‘repeated’ by one person after another. In srauta-pantha, the original speaker is Bhagavan Himself and the listener is one of His own special devotees, the recipients of His mercy. As mentioned earlier, unless brahma reveals Himself, no one can know Him perfectly—and this is confirmed by the great-grandfather Brahma, the Creator of the universe:
athapi te deva padambuja-dvaya-prasada-lesanugrihita eva hi
janati tattvam bhagavan-mahimno na canya eko ’pi ciram vicinvan
“O Prabhu, O Bhagavan, without receiving a particle of Your
mercy, no one can know You, even if he searches You for an
unlimited period of time.” (SB 10.14.29)
isvarera kripa-lesa haya ta’ yahare
sei ta’ isvara-tattva janibare pare
“If one receives but a tiny bit of the LordÂ’s favor by dint of
service, he can understand the nature of the
Personality of Godhead.” (CC Madhya 6.84)
Thus, only those who have received a particle of the mercy of isvara can know His tattva. It is said in the Upanishad:
nayam atma pravacanena labhyo
na medhaya na bahudha srutena
yam evaisha vrinute tena labhyas
tasyaisha atma vivrinute tanum svam
“The Supreme Lord is not obtained by expert explanations,
by vast intelligence, or even by repeated hearing. He is
obtained only by one whom He Himself chooses, and He
manifests His own form.” (Mundaka Upanishad 3.2.3)
If a person thinks that by his ample scholarship or sharp intelligence he can understand Bhagavan and imagine Him according to his whims, he is mistaken. Tena labhyah—that person only who is accepted by Bhagavan can attain Him.
Bhagavan personally communicated with Brahma. Why? Brahma engaged in intense efforts to know Bhagavan, but when he gave up the ascending path and surrendered, then Bhagavan revealed the Vedas to him:
kalena nashta pralaye / vaniyam veda-samjnita
mayadau brahmane prokta / dharmo yasyam mad-atmakah
“The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: “By the influence
of time, the transcendental sound of Vedic knowledge
was lost at the time of annihilation. I Myself am the religious
principles enunciated in the Vedas. Therefore, when the subsequent
creation took place, I spoke the Vedic knowledge to
Brahma.” (SB 11.14.3)
Krsna is saying: “In the beginning of the creation I revealed Veda, sabda-brahma, unto the surrendered Brahma.” What is there in the Vedas? Dharmo yasyam mad-atmakah: The Vedas contain the message and process of bhagavat-dharma, by which one can attain prema-bhakti unto Me:
yavan aham yatha-bhavo
yad-rupa-guna-karmakah
tathaiva tattva-vijnanam
astu te mad-anugrahat
“By My causeless mercy, let everything about Me, namely My
actual eternal form and My transcendental existence, color,
qualities and activities, be awakened within you by factual
realization.” (SB 2.9.32)
“O Brahma! I bless you with tattva-vijnana (realization) of My tattva (the established truths of Bhagavan) regarding Myself, My bhava (nature), form, qualities and activities. Thus, srauta-pantha has started from that tattva-vastu (Absolute Reality) Himself and the four Vaishnava sampradayas have manifested from Him alone.
sampradaya-vihina ye mantras te nishphala matah
sri-brahma-rudra-sanka vaishnavah kshitipavanah
The four Vaishnava sampradayas, Sri-sampradaya, Brahma-sampradaya, Rudra-sampradaya and Kumarasampradaya—these are four srauta-panthas, and everything else is asrauta-vicara. Everything that is not heard in the line of aural reception is self-imagination. Those who only accept one aspect of brahma—the nirvisesha (varietyless and impersonal) aspect—are followers of asrauta-pantha. In the srutis where the impersonal aspect of Bhagavan is mentioned, however, in the very same srutis, the truth of His personal aspect is also explained:
ya ya srutir jalpati nirvisesham
sa sabhidhatte sa-visesham eva
vicara-yoge sati hanta tasam
prayo baliyah sa-visesham eva
“Whatever Vedic mantras describe the Absolute Truth impersonally only prove in the end that the Absolute Truth is a person. The Supreme Lord is understood in two features—impersonal and personal. If one considers the Supreme Personality of Godhead in both features, he can actually understand the Absolute Truth. He knows that the personal understanding is stronger, because we see that everything is full of variety. No one can see anything that is not full of variety.” (CC Madhya. 6.142)
Thus, although there are two simultaneous considerations, the personal aspect is indeed more important. The personal aspect is the svarupa-lakshana, intrinsic characteristic of brahma, and the impersonal aspect is just a tatastavicara, extrinsic characeristic. The impersonal aspect is vyatirek-vicara, the indirect (negative) aspect.
Nirvisesha means devoid of mundane or material characteristics, and savisesha means endowed with aprakrita-viseshata (transcendental characteristics), aprakrita-rupa (transcendental form), guna (qualities), and aprakrita-vilasa (transcendental pastimes). Indeed, both considerations have the same meaning. Where is any disagreement or contradiction between the two thoughts?
Those who see a contradiction in these two considerations, accepting the impersonal aspect alone to be paramarthika (spiritual), and thinking the personal aspect as false or temporary, imposes whimisical meanings to the statements of the Vedas. They are not brahma-nishtham, steadfast in the nature of brahma. They are offenders. By accepting one aspect of brahma and rejecting the other, considering it as unfavorable, does not prove someone’s brahmanishtha.
However, Sri Gurudeva is brahma-nishtham; he can reconcile both considerations in an excellent manner.
tasmad gurum prapadyeta
jijnasuh sreya uttamam
sabde pare ca nishnatam
brahmany upasamasrayam
“Any person who is seriously desirous to achieve real happiness must seek out a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of a spiritual master is that he must have realized the conclusion of the scriptures by deliberation and arguments, and thus he must be able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken complete shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, are to be understood as bona fide spiritual masters.” (SB 11.3.21)
Those who want to know and understand the topmost, complete and eternal auspiciousness, and how to attain it, should surrender to a guru who is expert in the realization of sabda-brahma (the Vedas) and para-brahma (Bhagavan). Sabda-brahma means nama-brahma—vacaka- brahma, the transcendental sound vibrations of the names, etc., of Bhagavan, and para-brahma means namibrahma—vacya-brahma, Bhagavan Himself.
Sabda-brahma param brahma mamobhe sasvati tanu, vacyam vacakamity udeti bhavato nama! svarupa-svayam, the bona fide guru is a realized soul. He is well-versed, in both of these svarupas of Bhagavan. He is not a professional priest nor is he a platform speaker. He is tattva-darsi—he sees tattva-vastu and realizes it. Tattva-vastu means Bhagavan and His nama, rupa, guna, parikara, lila and dhama. Tattva-vastu includes all of these, and Sri Gurudeva is a tattva-darsi.
Sri Krishna has described that only that gurudeva who is realised in the Absolute Truth, is in fact His own svarupa: acaryam mam vijaniyan
navamanyeta karhicit
acaryam mam vijaniyan
navamanyeta karhicit
na martya-buddhyasuyeta
sarva-deva-mayo guruh
One should know the acarya as Myself and never disrespect
him in any way. One should not envy him,
thinking him an ordinary man, for he is the representative
(sum total) of all the devas. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.17.27)
Here, one should not consider that sri gurudeva is directly Krishna Himself. Those who interpret in this way have been condemned by sastra as wicked and possessed of a hellish mentality. Although Bhagavan and His associates are in truth non-different, it does not mean they are the same entity.
Bhagavan’s eternal associates (nityaparikars) render service to Him, and gurudeva is he who manifests such service to Bhagavan (bhagavata-sevaprakasaka). Therefore gurutva, the quality of being guru, is fundamental in an eternal associate.
yadyapi amara guru—caitanyera dasa
tathapi janiye ami tanhara prakasa
Although I know that my spiritual master is a servitor of Sri Caitanya, I know Him also as a plenary manifestation of the Lord. (Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 1.45) Just as sunlight cannot be separated from the sun and is therefore non-different from the sun, similarly gurudeva cannot be separated from Bhagavan. Furthermore, just as sunlight is subordinate to the sun, gurudeva as guru-tattva is subordinate to Bhagavan; he is Bhagavan’s sevaka-tattva. For this reason, sastra describes gurudeva as non-different from Krishna.
suddha-bhaktah sri guroh sri sivasya ca bhagavatasaha
abhedadrishtim tatpriyatamatvenaiva manyante
One should consider the pure devotee, sri gurudeva and Lord Siva as non-different from Bhagavan, due to their being His priyatama, dearest beloved. (sruti)
sakshad-dharitvena samasta-sastrair
uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih
kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya
vande guroh sri caranaravindam
All the scriptures proclaim sri gurudeva as sakshat hari, the direct potency of Sri Hari. He is thus considered by saintly authorities to be His non-different representative. Because sri gurudeva is so dear to the Lord, being His confidential servitor (acintya-bhedabheda prakasa vigraha, the inconceivable, different and nondifferent worshipful manifestation of the Lord), I offer prayers unto his lotus feet. (Sri Gurvashtakam 7)
Thus, it has been described everywhere that gurudeva is most dear to Bhagavan. It is for this reason that he is nondifferent from Bhagavan. Srila Sarasvati Prabhupada has therefore said that one aspect of Krishna is vishaya-jatiya (the object of love) and the other aspect is asraya-jatiya (the abode of love). In these two wonderful aspects of revelry, variegatedness finds its completeness.
Sri Krishna is vishaya-jatiya in full and sri gurupada-padma is asraya-jatiya in full. Therefore, gurudeva has been described as krishna-svarupa. He has not been described as Krishna Himself. Why is this?
krishna bhakte krishnera guna sakali sancare
All the transcendental qualities of Krishna gradually develop in Krishna’s devotee. (Caitanya-caritamrita,Madhya 22.75)
In sruti it is stated brihatvad brihannatvad brahma: “That which is great and which makes others great”. Brahma is the infinite aspect of the Absolute Truth (brihat-tattva) and He bestows the quality of infinity upon those who take his shelter. Therefore, he is brahma. In the association of the infinite, minuteness is removed, just as by the influence of light, darkness is cast out.
surya-sama maya haya andhakara
yahan krishna, tahan nahi mayara adhikara
Krishna is compared to sunshine and maya is compared
to darkness. Wherever there is sunshine there cannot
be darkness. As soon as one takes to Krishna consciousness
the darkness of illusion immediately vanishes.(Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya 22.31)
bhidyate hridaya-granthis chidyante sarva-samsayah
kshiyante casya karmani mayi drishte ’khilatmani
When the sadhaka directly sees Me as Paramatma situated
in the hearts of all living entities, the knot of the
false ego in his heart is pierced, all of his doubts are
cut to pieces, and his desires for fruitive activities are
completely nullified. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.20.30)
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