Guru-tattva (2/3)

Guru-tattva

By Srila Bhakti Pramode Puri Gosvami Maharaja

It is imperative that the spiritual master be conversant with the purports of the revealed scriptures otherwise, if he is not able to clear the doubts of the disciples, inevitably the disciple will tend to become unsatisfied and may then become indifferent, or lack faith in the spiritual master.

“Para brahma nisnatah” here refers to the necessity of the spiritual master being thoroughly convinced of the Absolute Transcendence by personal realization and experience; if not, his mercy will not be of much value nor will it bear any fruit. Another symptom of the bona fide spiritual master is that he is free form lust, anger, greed which is consonant with his spiritual awakening.

In Hari Bhakti Vilas, Srila Sanatana Gosvami quotes:

“A Guru who understands the actual conclusions of the revealed scripture has the ability to dissipate the doubts of the disciple. Furthermore, the Guru himself should be in a position to be able to experience the deep spiritual truths and be stoic in his understanding, otherwise he will never be able to impart true understanding to the disciple.

The identity of such a spiritual master is peaceful and serene, whereby all base urges like lust etc. have been pacified. In addition he is resolute in the uninterrupted devotional service of the Lord such as the limbs of devotion like hearing and chanting. One should take shelter of such a genuine spiritual master.

The dynasty from the first-born Svayambhuva Manu and Satarupa begins with their children, two sons, Priyavarta and Uttanapada and three daughters, Akunti, Devahuti and Prasuti respectively. These daughters were handed to the progenitors Ruci, Kadamba and Daksa from whom the whole human race descended. From the direct succession of King Priyavrata was King Rshaba, son of King Nabhi.

He was an expansion of the Supreme Lord Vasudeva and an empowered incarnation. He has 100 sons, the eldest of which was King Bharatha. The region in which we are staying is named after this King Bharata. Of the seven islands of this lotus-like Bhu-Mandala planetary system is Jambudvipa, which can be divided into nine regions.

The Ajnaba region of this island of Jambudvipa is Bharata-varsa. At the end of Dvarpara-yuga the Supreme Lord graciously advents in this region of Bharata-varsa and executes human-like pastimes. It is by the great mercy of the Supreme Lord that we are born in a most pious region compared to the doorway of the spiritual world.

Hence the sober intelligent person should not waste a moment, but endeavor hard for self- realization, for this human body is but temporary and only for some brief period of time. There is no certainty when death will catch up with us, therefore as long as we are endowed with living consciousness, for that period we should endeavor for the highest. This rare human form of life should not be wasted in vain but positively used in devotional service to the Supreme Lord.

In Srimad Bhagavatam (11 / 9 / 29), labdha sudurlabham idam, Lord Dattatreya has warned us to be vigilant in making use of this valuable human body. Once, the song of King Yayati, Yadu, happened to meet a serene sage wandering fearlessly and unattached. The curious Kind Yadu then inquired form this sage Dattatreya the cause of his blissful nature.

Lord Dattatreya then informed Yadu that in the acceptance of twenty-four instructing spiritual masters like the Earth, sea, bee, mountain, etc,. he had become self-realized and succeeded in becoming detached by this process. (Diksa Guru is one but there can be many siksa Gurus). Lord Krishna, before enacting His disappearance pastimes from this mortal world, retold this story of Dattatreya to His confidential associate Uddhava.

He also told Uddhava that devotion is superior to all other processes like works and knowledge for the unalloyed devotees of Lord Krishna disdain to accept even liberation in exchange for the bliss of pure devotional service. In this context too, the verse “nrdehamadyam” has been explained. ( 11 / 20 / 19).

After obtaining this rare human body which is compared to a boat, the spiritual master, who is navigator of that boat, and the favorable wind in the form of the causeless mercy of the Lord, if one dies not strive to cross over this ocean of material existence then he is a killer of his own soul.

Sri Srila Prabhupada comments on this verse: –

This precious human body can secure us our highest welfare and there is no other way. It is obtained only after evolution through countless lifetimes in this universe. The spiritual master, being proficient in the science of Krishna consciousness, can serve as the navigator of this boat. The favorable wind which propels this human boat into eternity is the causeless mercy of the Lord.

One who cannot understand the value of this human body or the spiritual master as the ideal navigator and does not aspire to seek the mercy of the Lord, is killer of his own soul because of gross ignorance of his own welfare. Conclusively, taking shelter of the spiritual master to engage in devotional service is of primary importance. In Srimad Bhagavatam (11 / 10 / 5) Sri Krishna tells Uddhava:-

madabhijnam gurum santam upasita madatmakam

One should engage in the service of a self-realized spiritual master who knows Me in truth and is absorbed in Me : Srila Sanatana Gosvami defines the term ‘madabhijnam’:-

He who, experiencing My natural affection for My devotees thereby knows Me in truth is called ‘madabhijnam”. One who has absorbed his mind in Me is termed madatmakam.

Manduka Sruti states:

tad vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet smaitpanih ‘strotiryam brahma nistham

The disciple with sacrificial implements in his hand should, approach the self-realized master to attain the highest knowledge. In the Bhagavad-gita (4.3) “tad viddhi paripatena praiprasnena sevaya” has defined these sacrificial implements as submission, service and inquiry. ‘Tad’ refers to the Supreme Lord.

In other words for knowledge of the Supreme Lord one should approach the bona fide spiritual master and offer prostrated obeisances to him in a mood of submission. He should then proceed to serve the Guru like a menial servant to his satisfaction. Then he should humbly inquire about the qualities and form of the Supreme Truth with His multifarious energies. The other relevant questions will be:

From where and why have I come to this material world, and how can I be freed from this material attraction?

The Katha Sruti (2 / 3/ 14) states:

uttisthata jagrata prapya varam nibodhata

Meaning :- Wake up! Arise ! Take shelter of the self realized soul and understand your original identity: thus enforcing the need of a spiritual master.

The Svetasvatara Sruti (1 /23) beginning with “yasya deva para bhaktir yatha deve tatha gurau” states:- To one who has unflinching faith in the spiritual master and devotion to the Supreme Lord, all the scriptures become revealed to him. To understand and be enlightened by the revealed scriptures necessitates the mercy of Srila Gurudeva which is available only by devotion to his lotus feet and not otherwise. Sriman Mahaprabhu, in His teachings to Srila Rupa Gosvami remarks: brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan ji va guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti lata bi ja

As a result of diverse fruitive activities, the different living entities are wandering in myriad wombs within the universe. By dint of previous pious works, one becomes greatly fortunate to undertake devotional service to the Lord. By the mercy of both the spiritual master and the Supreme Lord, he receives the creeper of devotion which is initial faith in devotional practices.

The spiritual practitioner installs this creeper of devotion in budding stage in the core of his heart and waters it by the process of hearing and chanting, doing the work of a transcendental gardener. The mercy of Sri Guru coming into play, the creeper sprouts and slowly growing traverses the boundary of the material universe into the spiritual Vaikuntha planets and on reaching there, with renewed efforts, the creeper rises over to reach the Lotus feet of Sri Krishna in Goloka Vrndavana.

At this point too, the process of hearing and chanting becomes ever more intense. The ripened fruit of that huge creeper of devotion matures as love of Godhead.

During the cultivation of devotional practice, the aspirant should be especially careful to ward off the mad elephant offense or blaspheming against the pure devotees of the Supreme Lord. Such an offense will damage the tender creeper and curtail devotion. Besides, there is the tendency for side branches to sprout form the main branch during cultivation of devotion, which impels one to stray away from the goal.

These are sense-gratification, liberation, desire for profit, fame and distinction, rivalry and enviousness, etc. These activities do not contribute to the growth of the main creeper of pure devotion In that precarious condition, only implicit obedience to the spiritual master can enable us to necessarily weed out these impediments (anarthas).

Love of Godhead is achieved by single-minded pure devotion which is above the common four-gold aims up to liberation. It is to be stressed that the main ingredient for advancement is the mercy of the spiritual master, which is in turn automatically obtained by unconditional surrender to his lotus feet.

The living entity, in his pure identity, is the servant of Lord Krishna. By forgetfulness of this identity, he has become entangled by the illusory material modes of nature. The only way to escape from this material entanglement is devotional service to the Lord, through the media of the spiritual master. (In Srimad-Bhagavatam 10 /27 /32) Prayers of the Vedas:

vijita hrsikavayubhira danta manas turagam

ya iha yatanti yantum atilolam upayakhidhidah vyasanasatanvitah samavahaya guruscaranam vanija ivaja santyakrtakarnadhara jaladhou

Oh Lord who is not born! Without the direct shelter of a spiritual master, all efforts to control one’s turbulent mind, whether one has apparently done so by his own effort or not been able to do so, is of no avail! He will simply experience misery and difficulties at every step like the trader who tries to cross the ocean in a vessel devoid of an experienced navigator.

The qualities of a spiritual master are mentioned elaborately in the Mantra Muktabali Sutras.

The spiritual master usually comes from a pure dynasty or lineage of high ancestry. He himself by nature is pure of heart. He can be in any stage of life, in his status as officiating Guru. He is free from anger. He is well versed in the Vedas and understands the purports of all scriptures. He is free from malice to any living creature. He looks kindly on all living entities; his speech is sweet and beneficial; he is faithful to his dress and engages in the welfare of all living entities.

He is sober, self-satisfied, without hankering for any unwanted desire. He is brimming with all nice qualities like affection and generosity. He worships the Deity steadfastly. He is affectionate to his disciples, he is grateful, he performs homage understanding its significance. He is merciful to all, possesses a purified mind and can defeat all opposing deviant conclusions to pure devotion.

In Agastya Samhita too, the spiritual master is described as one who is peaceful, free from desires of sense gratification, who controls his mind and body, engages in scriptural study, expert in revelation of the scriptures, the best of all brahmanas (twice-born), understands the meaning and use of Mantras, can dispel all the doubts of his disciples, understand deep truths, always engaged in purifying himself, has achieved perfection in conducting sacrifices, is truthful, austere and usually is in the class of a householder.

The Visnu Smrti describes that the spiritual master who always extract service and wealth of a disciple and hankers for prestige and fame is not worthy of being a spiritual master.

guruvo bhavah santi ‘sisyavittaparakah

durlabhah sadgurudeva ‘sisyasantaparakah (Puranas)

Lord Mahadeva speaks” “Oh Devi! There are many so-called spiritual masters who are just bent on seizing the wealth of their disciples, but the spiritual mater who takes away the miseries and afflictions of the devotee is very rare.”

Further, in Visnu smrti, the symptoms of a genuine spiritual master are mentioned as being very compassionate to all beings, self-satisfied and not dependent on others, resplendent with all obvious good qualities, engaged in the welfare of other living entities free from all desires, having achieved all perfection, replete with all knowledge especially regarding pure devotional conclusions of scriptures, who can cut off the doubts of the disciples, not lazy but always absorbed in Sri Krishna’s service.

When Ramananda Raya humbly submitted himself as being of sudra birth to Sriman Mahaprabhu, the Lord replied:

kiba vipra kiva jyasi, sudra kene nay yei krsna tattva vetta, sei guru haya

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura writes in his commentary:= “The Lord Sriman Mahaprabhu says:

I never think that just because I have been born from a brahmin family and have taken the renounced order of life, it is not proper for Me to take instruction on religious principles from one of inferior birth, i.e. sudra. It is a fact that by the ‘varnasrama’ system of society, the ‘brahmin Guru’ is recommended for instruction on religious principles and for giving initiation. The highest spiritual knowledge relates to the truth about Sri Krishna.

Thus to be a Guru able to impart such knowledge is based solely on the contention, whether or not he has realized in truth the science of Krishna consciousness and is independent of whether he is in the designation of a sudra, householder or the renounced order. In the Hari Bhakti Vilas, it is stated that if a high-born capable spiritual master is present, it is not befitting to take Krishna mantra from a low class person.

This rule is however reserved only for the common lay men who are compelled to follow the formal dictates of religious principles. Especially, for them to make progress necessitates a ‘brahmin Guru’ by which some spiritual merit can be secured by these people. The devotees (Vaisnavas) are above this rule.

Those who sincerely take to devotion in either of the path of formal regulated principles or spontaneous devotion, should take the shelter of such a self-realized soul, irregardless of his birth or station (stage of life). Many concrete proofs have been quoted from Padma Purana, for example:- “A pure devotee of the Supreme Lord, who is born form a low caste is a great soul and not considered of low-class, while one devoid of devotion to Lord Janardana, though of high birth, is considered sudra.

The six brahminical practices are performing sacrifice oneself, conducting such sacrifices, study of scriptures, teaching of such spiritual knowledge, welfare activities like distribution of knowledge and lastly, acceptance of wealth. A brahmin expert in all such activities including even the science of Mantra, cannot be a guru if he is a non-devotee, while a low-class candela who is devoted to Lord Visnu can qualify to be a ‘Guru”.

Again, a twice born, proficient in scriptural lore and able to elucidate their purports in various ways, that brahmin, if he is not a devotee, does not qualify to take the ‘Guru’ position. One who is born in the first three classes of Brahmin (priests), ksatriya (noble class), vaisya (farmer), can be naturally eligible to be the guru of the other fourth class namely sudra (servant) class and other lower classes.

On the other hand, the dearmost devotee of the Supreme Lord, even though born from a sudra class, can be easily accepted as spiritual master of all the other higher classes. This is verified by the verse below:

nica-jati jhane krsna-bhajane ayogya sat-kula-vipra nahe bhajane yogya yei bhaje sei bda, abhakta-hina, chara krsna-bhajane nahi jai-kuladi vicara

I surrender in submission to Srila Sanatana Prabhu who gives transcendental knowledge. He who is always feeling the distresses of others have induced me to mercifully drink the highest nectar of devotion endowed with renunciation, whilst in my depraved state of blind ignorance and doubt.

Sri Rsabhadeva gives the following instruction to his sons (5/5/18) 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

“One who cannot save his dependents from the impending face of death in the form of this miserable material world, cannot be considered as Guru. A father who cannot liberate his children is not a father and should not beget children. Similarly a mother, if she cannot rescue her children from illusion, should not bother to give birth to a child. A demigod should not accept worship and offerings from the votaries if he cannot deliver them. A husband should not be accepted in marriage in he cannot save the wife.”

In short, one should reject all such ‘gurus’ who cannot liberate us from the material illusory energy culminating in death. Just as previous times, the corresponding examples are given as in the case of Maharaja Bali who rejected his Guru “Sukracarya’. The devotee Prahlada Maharaja rejected his own father King Hiranyakasipu. Bharata rejected his own mother Kaikeyi.

King Katvanga rejected the demigods. Also, the wives of the ritualistic brahmanas gave up the association of their husbands on seeing their indifference to Lord Krishna.

Simply to be a great scholar is not the criteria to be a spiritual master. Lord Krsna addresses Uddhava in Srimad Bhagavatam (11/11/28) L-

sabdha brahmani nisnto na nisnayat pare yadi sramas tasya srama phalo hrdhenum iva raksatah

The meaning of the verse is, one who is erudite in scriptural study and engrosses himself in scriptural expositions but does not delineate it in connection with the Supreme Lord, does not reap any fruit or merit as keeping a cow who does not give milk. ‘Nisnata’ means to practice devotion to the Supreme Lord and ‘na nisnayatah’ means one who is not expert in understanding devotion to the Supreme Lord.

In this respect, the utility of qualities like austerity, knowledge and high birth will be only useful it they induce one to engage in devotional service to the Supreme Lord and by themselves are merely secondary qualities . In Hari Bhakti Suddhodaya, Srila Krsnadas Kaviraja has commented that one has burnt all his resultant sinful actions by intense devotional service, and whose character is spotless, is worthy of veneration by learned people, even if he comes form a very low birth (candala).

For one who is completely devoid of devotion to the Lord, his high birth, knowledge of scriptures, muttering of Mantras and austerity resemble the ornaments on a dead body.

In Padma Purana it is stated :-

grhta visnu diksako visnu puja paro narah vaisnavo’bhitah ‘bhijnairo’ itaro’ smad avaisnava

A person who is initiated into the Vishnu Mantra and is dedicated to worship of Lord Vishnu and learned in devotional service is a devotee (Vaisnava) while other are non devotees. In Pancharatra it is declared that one who receives a Mantra from a non-devotee will pave his way to hell and the only remedy for this is again to accept the Vishnu mantra again from a devotee.

In Hari Bhakti Vilas, there are stern warnings against whimsically rejecting a self-realized spiritual master. (4/141-143) For example: Those persons who whimsically reject a bona fide guru for a disciplic succession, or a Guru who has realized the purports of the Vedas is considered so ungrateful that even the flesh-eating birds and animals will not eat his body. One who rejects his true spiritual master unrightfully has already renounced the Supreme Lord at the same time, and the results of this atrocious action is that his actual knowledge and learning will become contaminated and slowly dwindle away.

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