The following is a transcription of a discourse delivered by Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja in Moscow, Russia, on July 30, 2000
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: I offer my humble obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master, Oṁ Viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja; and the same thousands and thousands of humble obeisances unto the lotus feet of my śikṣā-guru, Oṁ Viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja.
Just now we have finished singing the kīrtana,
śrī guru-caraṇa-padma, kevala bhakati-sadma,
vando muĩ sāvadhāna-mate
(Śrī Prema-bhakti-candrikā)
[The lotus feet of śrī guru are the treasure house of unalloyed prema-bhakti. I worship those lotus feet with great care.]
‘Śrī guru-caraṇa-padma, kevala bhakati-sadma vando muĩ sāvadhāna-mate.’ What is the meaning? We should try to understand the meaning and realize what Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura is saying here – how he is giving honour and how he is presenting his mood to his Gurudeva. ‘Śrī guru-caraṇa-padma, kevala bhakati-sadma.’ Śyāmarāṇī should explain.
Śyāmarāṇī dāsī: ‘Śrī guru-caraṇa-padma, kevala bhakati-sadma.’ In this song Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura is glorifying his Guru Mahārāja, Śrī Lokanātha dāsa Gosvāmī, and all the gurus in the guru-paramparā. With one’s caraṇa, with one’s feet, one takes steps. So our immediate dīkṣā and śikṣā-gurus are the first steps to our connection with the entire guru-paramparā. Śrī guru-caraṇa-padma, kevala bhakati-sadma. Sadma means ‘abode,’ and kevala means ‘only.’ He is the only abode of bhakti. Of what kind of bhakti is he the abode? There are three kinds of bhakti: sādhana-bhakti, bhāva-bhakti, and prema-bhakti. And of what kind of prema-bhakti is he the abode? Mādanākhya-mahābhāva. This is the highest possible prema and the only prema by which one can serve Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa conjugal. People wonder about the omnipotence and omniscience of the bona fide guru. Here, Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura is leaving no doubt about his omnipotence. By his mercy alone, one can become free from millions of births of past sins and offences and can cross over the ocean of material existence and attain the abode of Kṛṣṇa.
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: You should understand who is a real guru. He is the abode of bhakti, and he has all kinds of serving moods towards Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa conjugal or Mahāprabhu. He can give sādhana-bhakti, and he can also give rati – a high class of rati. If he is qualified to even give prema-bhakti in Goloka Vṛndāvana, and the love and affection of conjugal Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, can he fall down? Never. How much qualified must that guru be, that he can take all ignorant persons to Kṛṣṇa? If he falls down he is not a guru. You are intelligent enough to reconcile all these things and to understand who is a real guru.
The scriptures, especially Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.3.21), have stated,
tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta
jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam
śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṁ
brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam
[Therefore any person who seriously desires real happiness must seek a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of a bona fide guru is that he has realized the conclusions of the scriptures by deliberation and can convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, should be understood to be bona fide spiritual masters.]
What is the meaning? The bona fide guru can give conjugal love to Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. He will be expert and has realised the conclusions of all the Vedas, Upaniṣads, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Gītā, and all Purāṇas – everything. He will be expert in all kinds of knowledge, and he will have realized all that knowledge. In addition, he will be detached from worldly desires and sense gratification. He will only be engaged in serving Kṛṣṇa with all his senses – with body, mind, soul, mood, and everything. He is the abode of bhakti and he has no doubts. No doubts at all. Also, he will never attend any of these atheistic universities. Never. Why? He has full faith in his Guru’s words, and therefore he will attend Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura’s University – by always chanting and remembering.
A person like this has full faith in the Name, full faith in his guru’s words, and he has full faith in the words of scriptures like the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. How can he attend any of these universities? What would be the use? These universities are nonsense and, in the words of your Gurudeva, their teachers are rascals. Why should we attend these [universities]? These universities are like slaughter-houses and they are full of Māyāvādīs. Śrīla Svāmī Mahārāja came and cut down all the arguments of the Māyāvādīs and nirviśeṣa-vādīs. Why should his disciples attend all these universities? It is because they have no faith in their Guru’s words and because they are not guru at all. They were fallen [persons] from the beginning. There is no position from which they could fall down. Those who do not chant the Name day and night, who do not realize the mood of the gopīs, the Vrajavāsīs and Kṛṣṇa, and who do not engage all their senses in the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, are not guru. They are not qualified to be a guru. They cannot help us. They cannot take us to Kṛṣṇa – never, never and never.
Now we see that persons who had previously taken shelter of a very bona fide Guru, an actual Guru like Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja, are now giving him up and are going to Rādhā-kuṇḍa to associate with sahajiyā-bābājīs there. These sahajiyās are still greater rascals. They cannot take anyone to Kṛṣṇa because they are not following the principles of bhakti. They are not detached from worldly desires and sense gratification; they are living with widows and engaging in immoral activities. How can they help real devotees? In this way you should consider what the qualifications of a guru are.
It has been told in śāstra that we may have selected a guru before knowing all these qualifications, and thus knowingly, unknowingly, or in ignorance, we have accepted a guru who is not a guru. Therefore, after hearing from a śikṣā-guru, from other gurus, and from the scriptures, we should decide whether what we have done is wrong or right. If it is wrong, we should reject that guru and go to a realized guru. He can help you develop your Kṛṣṇa consciousness; otherwise, it will never be possible. If these bogus gurus cannot give bhakti, then how can such a fallen guru, who is now coming in the bogus ṛtvik system, help devotees? Fallen gurus are now becoming ṛtviks. You should offer praṇāma to them from very far away. Don’t associate with them, and always boycott them. The ṛtvik system cannot help because it is only related to the performance of sacrifices.
[In Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja’s The True Conception of Śrī Guru-tattva it is stated: “Beginning from the Vedic period up to Dvāpara-yuga, it is seen that many great emperors have obtained their desired fruits by flawless performance of sacrifices… Generally; all of these sacrifices were performed for fulfilling material desires, the chief of which was the attainment of heavenly planets… After the completion of yajñas, the yajamāna (employer) pays the appropriate remunerations (dakṣiṇā) to the ṛtviks and sends them away. The yajamāna and the ṛtvik have no mutual eternal relationship.”]
In our line there is guru, there is śikṣā-guru, there is caitya-guru, there is śravaṇa-guru, there is patha-pradarśaka-guru – [there are] so many gurus. Why go to these bogus ṛtviks? Stay very far away from them. Be careful. We should avoid Māyāvādīs, sahajiyās, and all nirviśeṣa-vādīs. You know that in our line (guru-paramparā), Brahmā has never fallen down, Nārada has never fallen down, and Śrī Vyāsa and Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī have also never fallen down. You know Mādhavendra Purī and Īśvara Purīpāda; they never fell down. You know that Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī and all the other six Gosvāmīs, Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, Śrīla Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura, and after that Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, my Gurudeva Oṁ Viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja, and my śikṣā-guru Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja – none of them ever fell down. They cannot fall down. They are actual gurus. One should select a guru like them. However, if you have not done so, you should consider doing it.
We have not come to be members of a society. We have come to serve Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa conjugal and Mahāprabhu. This is our aim and object. Why stay if our aim and object are not attained? Śrīla Svāmī Mahārāja came with a mission, and at that time, his mission attained success in all ways. All joined, but those who neglected his teachings fell down. We should try to know all these truths.
The real guru is an uttama-mahā-bhāgavata – for example Nārada Gosvāmī and Śukadeva Gosvāmī. They can hold up their hand to bless you with the words, “Bhakti should come at once.” And bhakti will come. There are three kinds of uttama-bhāgavatas. The first is Nārada in his first stage (in his previous birth after Lord Viṣṇu gave him His momentary darśana). He realized Kṛṣṇa in his heart, and at once all kinds of anarthas and imperfections disappeared. He realized Kṛṣṇa, his relationship with Kṛṣṇa, and his service to Kṛṣṇa. However, at that time his body was still composed of past activities. He is, therefore, known as a mūrcchita-kaṣāya mahā-bhāgavata. What is the meaning of mūrcchita-kaṣāya? There is some imperfection, but it is now dormant; not active.
Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī is an example of the second kind of uttama-bhāgavata. He is nirdhūta-kaṣāya. What is nirdhūta-kaṣāya? All impurities and imperfections have been washed away. Ignorance and anarthas are all gone.
(Some devotees were falling asleep, and so Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja addressed them)
Please don’t sleep. Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. Sit straight like this, old persons and everyone else, and chant: Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. Chant more loudly. Don’t sleep. Otherwise you will lose everything.
(Devotees chanted and then Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja resumed the class)
The third kind of uttama-bhāgavata is still more elevated. An example is Śrī Nārada Gosvāmī in his second stage when he attained the body of an associate of Kṛṣṇa. At this stage, he has no mortal body. He has a body to serve Kṛṣṇa – a siddha-śarīra (transcendental body). If these kinds of gurus place their hands on anyone’s head, or somehow glance at anyone and bless him, then prema-bhakti will come at once, and the disciple will go to Goloka Vṛndāvana. They are so powerful.
You may know that Śrī Nārada Gosvāmī has thousands and thousands of disciples: Dhruva, Prahlāda, Citraketu, Vālmīki, Vyāsa, and Rahūgaṇa – so many. Just by sprinkling his mercy, they became qualified. And you know Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Practically everyone in the world was his disciple, but he never initiated anyone. Why? Because he realized that, “All are serving Kṛṣṇa, but I am not.” He is a high class of mahā-bhāgavata. By his mercy, all the persons who were hearing his hari-kathā in the assembly of Parīkṣit Mahārāja were liberated and went to Goloka Vṛndāvana. This is quite marvellous, but such gurus are very rare, especially in Kali-yuga.
What is then the remedy for us? Who will help us? Only the madhyama adhikārī. Śrī Gurudeva should actually be acting on the stage of madhyama-adhikārī.
īśvare tad-adhīneṣu
bāliśeṣu dviṣatsu ca
prema-maitrī-kṛpopekṣā
yaḥ karoti sa madhyamaḥ
(Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta ,Madhya-līlā 22.73)
[“An intermediate, second-class devotee shows love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is friendly to all devotees and is very merciful to neophytes and ignorant people. The intermediate devotee neglects those who are envious of devotional service.”]
“Prema–maitrī–kṛpopekṣā yaḥ karoti sa madhyama.” Madhyama-adhikārīs are of three categories: madhyama-kaniṣṭha, madhyama-madhyama, and madhyama-uttama. The madhyama-kaniṣṭha cannot act as a guru. The madhyama-madhyama and madhyama-uttama can, however, because they are in the line of their guru, always chanting and remembering the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa with rasa and taste, and their anarthas have practically disappeared. There remains only a very little scent of anarthas and there is no offence at all: no vaiṣṇava-aparādha, nāmāparādha, sevā-aparādha, or dhāma-aparādha. They are chanting and remembering, and always in the line of their own Gurudeva. Though they are not so realized, they can still help us. We have these kinds of devotees in this world, and they can help us. But you should know that a mahā-bhāgavata can descend to the madhyama-adhikārī stage, and then he can preach and accept disciples. In this way we can accept two kinds of gurus, and they can help us. The madhyama-adhikārī gurus will take us to the uttama-adhikārī, and thus the madhyama-gurus and their disciples will develop their Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
We cannot say that Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura is a madhyama-adhikārī. We cannot say that my Gurudeva was a madhyama-adhikārī. We cannot accept that Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja was a madhyama-adhikārī. They were really uttama-adhikārīs. They have simply descended and accepted disciples – only to help devotees. They come down to the level of a madhyama-adhikārī and preach. Otherwise, they cannot preach or initiate anyone. They are, therefore, very, very kind. Ordered by Śrīmatī Rādhikā to fulfil the desire of Rādhikā and Kṛṣṇa, they have accepted this position; otherwise, they would never have done so. None of the gurus in our line who have accepted disciples are madhyama-adhikārīs. All are uttama-adhikārīs, but they have descended for the time being, for the benefit of the whole world.
In śāstra it has been told very clearly and strongly what a disciple should do if he has accepted a guru who is not in the line of devotion, who is not a realized soul, and who is not even a madhyama-adhikārī. The disciple realizes now that his guru cannot help him in devotion, in the service of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhikā conjugal. If that guru is [a] fallen [person], not chanting and remembering, and if he is not in the line of his Gurudeva, the disciple should at once reject him and accept a real guru. If anyone wants to serve Kṛṣṇa and has no other motive than to develop his Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he should do praṇāma and say, “O Gurudeva, I want to associate with a high-class Vaiṣṇava. Please allow me.” If his gurudeva allows, as did the gurus of Śrī Śyāmānanda Prabhu, Śrī Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura and others, then that guru is a madhyama-adhikārī. However, if he says, “No, you cannot associate with high-class Vaiṣṇavas. If you do, you will go to hell”, then that class of guru is not a guru. He is like a kan-guru (kangaroo). He may say, “If you disobey me and go to another high-class Vaiṣṇava, then you will go to hell.” I think that such a false guru will go to hell first, and after him, the disciple will go.
We have come only for this, and some of the devotees who have come to us have left their wives, wealth, and aristocratic families. And so many are very learned. We should think about this matter and try to develop our Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If you do not follow this process and you do not know all these truths, you cannot develop your Kṛṣṇa consciousness in lakhs and lakhs (thousands and thousands) of births. You will lose everything. So I think that you should consider what to do about this.
Bhakti is like a river, a current. No one can remain for twenty or thirty years at the same stage. If we understand that we are not developing our Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we should inquire why our current has stopped. I should realize whether anything is wrong with my guru or me. If the guru is right, then there is something wrong with me, and I should try to fix it. And, if there is a shortcoming in the guru, then I should do this praṇāma to him forever: “O gurudeva, I don’t want your mercy. I want the mercy of a high-class devotee.”
If a guru does not know the meaning of the mantras, like brahma-gāyatrī – if he does not know who is the iṣṭadeva (deity) of this mantra, if he does not know upon whom we should meditate, who should come in our heart (pracodayāt), if he does not know the meaning of the gopāla-mantra, kāma-gāyatrī, gaura-mantra, and he does not practice it in the morning, at midday, and in the evening, and if he does not realize anything, how can he be a guru? He should realize all these things. If he has bhakti in his heart, he can donate it to others. But if he is not doing all these things, and there is no bhakti in his heart, then how can he donate that bhakti to others? This is the thing. That is why we are not developing. But for this [current to continue], the current will [have to] go further, further to Kṛṣṇa.
Our class has ended. I want you to first digest all these things. Tomorrow we will proceed to explain the other lines of that song, ‘Śrī guru-caraṇa-padma.’
Source: Purebhakti.com
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Unless indicated differently, all verse translations and quotes are from the books by Śrīla Prabhupāda (Vedabase.com)