Shrimad-Bhagavatam 8.15.29-31. Necessity to accept Guru
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Вриндаван · 2019
Главы
Recitation of introductory prayers
Umna mo Bhagavate vasudevaya, Umna Sudeva, Umna mo Bhagavate V Sudevaya sudevaya, Omna mo Bhagavate Sudeva. Narayanamas kritya sritam, naram chaiva narotam, chaiva nottamam, devim sarsati via sam, ta to dja mu
di raje, nasta prae shabdrišu. Nitam Bhawa Tja, Nitam Bhagavat. Bhagawa tju tam. Bhakti Bhavati Nastiki, Yamprajantama nopetam kritam, dwaipaya. Putreititamayatayota vidus, tam sarbu takridayamuanatos mehikna.
So we are reading today Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto 8, chapter 15, Bali Maharaja Conquers the Heavenly Planets, Text twenty n toine thirty one Ojasvinam Balim Jetuma Samartho Stikaschana Bhagavat Vidha Bhamvati varjaitis
waramharim Vijay Nako Pianam Bramateja Samidita Nasyasakuna Startum Kritat Krintatasya yatha janaha tasmin niam utsrija yujam sarvetri vistapam yatalam pratikshanto, ja tak shantour vipariajaha.
Text so divan esha, vi pra balaha, Udarkaha, samprati, urjita, vikramaha, te sam Eva Apamanina Sanubanda, Vinansyati, Vinksy, Savipra Balodharka, Balodharka, Savipra Balodharka, Sampatyur Jeta Vikra Maha, Sampratyur
Jeta Vikramaha, Tesam Eva Pamanina, Vishamanina, Tisameva Pamanina, Tisameva Pamanina, Samubandhavinanshati, Sanubandhovinksyati, Samba Dovinamiti, Esavipra Balodharka, Savodharka, Sampradyur
Jita Vikramaha, Sampradyurjita Vikramam, Tesame Vapamaninam, Sabi Bhama Vamain Sanubandavinksyati Sambandavansati Esha Esa this Bali Maharaja Viprabala Udarka Viprabala Udarka flourishing because of the Brahminical
power of the Brahmanical power invested in him. Samprati at the present moment. Urjitavikramaha Urjitavikrama extremely powerful
Tesham of the same Brahmanas Eva Indeed by insult, by insult, Saanu Bandha with friends and assistance. Vinankshati will be vanquished. Translation of the verse 29.
Neither you nor your man can conquer the most powerful body. Indeed, no one but the Supreme Personality of Godhead can conquer him, for he is now equipped with the supreme spiritual power Brahmataja. No one can stand before Yama Raja.
As no one can stand before Yama Raja, no one can now stand before Bali Maharaja.
Therefore, waiting until the situation of your enemies is reversed, you should all leave this heavenly planet and go elsewhere where you will not be seen.
Bali Maharaja has now become extremely powerful because of the benedictions given him by the Brahmanas.
Brihaspati's prophecy regarding Bali Maharaja
But when he later insults the Brahmanas, he will be vanquished, along with his friends and assistants. Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, ki. Bali Maharaja and Indra were enemies.
Therefore, when Bṛhaspati, the spiritual master of the demigods, predicted that Bali Mahārāja would be vanquished, when he insulted the brāhmaṇas by whose grace he had become so powerful.
Bali Mahārāja's enemies were naturally anxious to know when that opportune moment would come. To pacify King Indra, Brihaspati assured him that
the time would certainly come, for Bṛhaspati could see that in the future Bali Mahārāja would defy the orders of Śukrācārya in order to pacify Lord Viṣṇu, Vāmanadeva.
Of course, to advance in Krishna consciousness, one can take all risks. To please Vāmana Deva, Bali Mahārāja risked defying the orders of his spiritual master, Shukracharya.
Because of this, he would lose all his property, yet, because of devotional service to the Lord, he would get more than expected
and in the future in the eighth manvantara he would occupy the throne of Indra again, Śrīla Prabhupāda ki jaya! Sampratiurjita Vikra Mahatesam, Eva Pamani na Sanubandavinam Shati.
Neither you nor your man can conquer the most powerful body. Indeed, no one but the Supreme Personality of Godhead can conquer him. For he is now equipped with the supreme spiritual power brahmatejas.
As no one can stand before Yamarāja, no one can now stand before Bali Mahārāja.
Therefore, waiting until the situation of your enemies is reversed, you should all leave this heavenly planet, and go elsewhere where you will not be seen.
Bali Mahārāja has now become extremely powerful because of the benedictions given to him by the brāhmaṇas, but when he later insults the brāhmaṇas, he will be vanquished along with his friends and assistants.
Nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhūtale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine. Namaste sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe, nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
Śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda, śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda. Hare Kṛṣṇa
Accepting and rejecting a guru
Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare Hare Kṛṣṇa.
So we're studying now this section of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Which proves the necessity of accepting Guru and of course the necessity of rejecting Guru as well, depending on the situation.
So both principles are there and we should be very clear about both principles. The first principle is extremely important, and again and again Vedic literature proves this point.
Chandogya Upanishad contains several stories about the necessity of Guru. In Chāndogya Upaniṣad the famous statement is there, ācāryavān puruṣo veda. You can only know the spiritual knowledge if you have guru.
Ācāryavān puruṣo veda. You will have the knowledge, no problem, but you need to have guru. The story in Chāndogya Upaniṣad is about Satyakāma. Satyakāma is a great hero of Upaniṣads and his guru Gautama Ṛṣi.
And Satyakāma came to him and Gautama sent him to herd the cows.
And he said, you should herd the cows for twelve years or whatever number of years you have double the number of the cows and then double the number of the cows and then the double of the number of the cows.
And Satyakama was so nicely serving his guru that all the demigods came to him to give him the spiritual knowledge.
First, the Vāyudeva came to him and, then Agni-deva came to him, and Indra-deva came to him. And they all gave him benedictions and spiritual knowledge.
And then when Satyakāma came in front of his guru, he was effulgent because the spiritual knowledge gave him so much strength.
In the similar way, as here we can see that Bali Mahārāja has become extremely powerful because of pleasing of his guru. So this Satyakama came in front of his guru and his guru asked
him, Where did you get this strength? Where did you get it from? And he said, yeah, somehow or other, all these demigods came to me and gave the benedictions. He said, No, no, this is illegitimate.
You should get it from me. You cannot get it from them directly. You have to get it through me. And then he imparted him the spiritual knowledge.
And exactly the same story in the same Upanishad is being retold in regard to the disciple of Satyakama. Satyakama had a disciple of his name was Upakosham. And this Upakosala was a brahmachari and he was serving his guru.
And his guru, one after another, would give spiritual knowledge to his godbrothers.
And his godbrothers would go home and the Upakosala remained in the home of his guru, and somehow or other guru didn't give him the mercy.
And ultimately Guru went away without giving him the spiritual knowledge and Upakoshala was still serving the sacrificial fire. And Guru Patni, the wife of his guru, called him,
Upakosala brahmachari, come here, take prasadam. The food is ready. And he said, no, I cannot take food. What is the use of taking food? I cannot take food. My Guru didn't give me his mercy. He didn't give me his knowledge.
What is the use of eating this food? I'm sick and tired. And he continued serving his guru because his guru gave him this order to serve the sacrificial fire.
And ultimately, you know, and he he was determined, he said, I will just serve my guru here and I will starve and I will die because what is
the use of living and ultimately Agni Dev came out from the fire and said you know what do you need? Eat something. He said, no. I need spiritual knowledge. Take it, take it, take it. And Upakosala became very happy.
And then his guru returned, and his guru again noticed some strange changes in his disciple. Too effulgent, what happened? He said, Agnidev gave blessings to me, how can I not be effulgent?
Agni Dev himself bestowed his blessings upon me. And Guru said, no, no, no, no, this is not proper. You should get it from me.
So this point is stressed again and again and again because if you get the knowledge in an improper way, there is a great chance that you will misuse this knowledge. Because again, the knowledge is the power.
The knowledge gives you the power. The knowledge gives you spiritual power and material power as well.
Knowledge is extremely powerful, but when you get this knowledge without proper service attitude, proper service mood, then there is a great chance that you will misuse this power and ultimately you will be ruined by this knowledge.
Story of Yavakri and illegitimate knowledge
This very knowledge which can make you very powerful, which will make you very powerful, will be the cause of your ruination. Another story which is there in Mahābhārata illustrates this point beyond any doubt.
This is the story about what what was his name? Yavakri. Yavakri was the son of great Muni Bharadvāja-muni. And Bharadvāja-muni was a friend of Rājbhya-muni. They were good friends. And Rājbhya-muni was very knowledgeable.
He knew Shastra. He knew Shastra very well. And people respected him very much. And the father of this Yavakri uh was a simple ascetic. He was just doing tapasya. He was tapasri.
And they were good friends and they were no problem. And somehow rather people would respect only Rājbhya-muni and didn't pay so much respect to this simple Bharadvāja-muni. Of course he's not so simple but still.
So but Yavakrīti became very envious because this Rājbhya Muni was very affluent. People would give him donations, he would do all kinds of yajñas, and his sons, his two sons, were very also very rich.
So this Yavakrīti he asked his father, you know, what's happening? Uh you know, why they are so rich and they are so poor. He said, No, it's no problem, you know, it it doesn't matter.
In the eyes of God, there is no difference between rich and poor. Just do whatever you are supposed to do.
But this Yavakri, he decided to get the knowledge by all means. He just got this point that I will become powerful if I get the knowledge.
But because he was trained as a tapasvī, he couldn't do anything, so he decided that I will fast and I will stand on one leg and I will sit under the fire and you know I will somehow or other I will get this knowledge.
And he became very powerful by this austerity, by this tapasya, so much so that even Indra became a little worried about this. And he came to him in a form of an old brāhmaṇa and he said, What do we want?
He said, I want knowledge. Get out of my way. I'm doing my austerity. I want knowledge by all means. And then this Indra he sat down on the bank of Ganga and he started throwing sand.
He would take handful of sand and throw it in a Ganga. And this ultimately for a long time he was throwing sand in Ganga. And ultimately Yavakri became curious and he asked what are you doing?
What's the meaning of your throwing sand in Ganga? He said I want to cross this Ganga and I need dam to cross the Ganga. So I'm doing this, you know.
And not only I want to cross the Ganga, I want to show all the people way how to cross Ganga, so I want to do dam by throwing sand in the Ganga. And Yavakri started laughing. He said, you're a fool.
How you can make dam, you know, it's Ganga, it's powerful river, and you're just throwing little handfuls of sand. How you can do this? He said, yeah, yeah. You're right. It's not possible.
In the same way, it's not possible to get spiritual knowledge by doing this childish austerity which you're doing. In the same way you are trying to do this completely stupid thing.
Just go to your guru, serve your guru, develop this service attitude. When the service attitude will be there, you will get knowledge. There is no problem. The knowledge will flow to you from your guru.
What you're doing is illegitimate. But this Yavakri was very stubborn. He said, no, I'll do it. By all means. I'll do it.
And I you know this all this you know saying Guru, Guru, Guru this is you know I'm Ritvik. I don't need it. This is so this is all propaganda. So he didn't like this proposal.
And Indra said to him, and it was Indra himself, Indra showed him, he said, I can give you the knowledge, but you will be ruined by this knowledge.
Because again, the knowledge without the proper service attitude, because the knowledge without proper humility is very harmful,
Pitfalls of knowledge without humility
it's very dangerous. Even in Bhagavad-gītā Krishna says, Vidyavinaya Sampane Brahmani Gavi Hastini. If you have vidya, you have to have vinaya.
Vidya without vinaya, vidya without the character, the proper humility is dangerous. And we know that knowledge has this capacity of making you proud. Whoever has some little knowledge becomes very proud.
It's just a natural outcome of being knowledgeable. Therefore, again, the only proper way to get knowledge is through the proper channel, by serving the guru.
And therefore we stress it again and again and again that this is the way to get the proper knowledge. This foolish Yavakri did get the knowledge.
He became he did get the knowledge which even you know Rabia Muni didn't have. He got very powerful, a lot of knowledge, and people were respecting him.
But what happened at one point he became completely overwhelmed by lust. He saw the daughter in law of Rabi Muni and he forced her into illegal sexual relationship.
And you know, Rabbi Muni cursed him and he was ruined totally. Why? Because of the same reason. This knowledge if it comes to somebody who is egoistic, who has this false ego, very strong false ego.
The knowledge will only feed his false ego. The knowledge will be the food for false ego.
And my ahaṅkāra will become bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. And ultimately, when you become proud, you fall down.
And that's exactly what happened with well, you know, we know it's not exactly what happened with Bali Maharaj, but we know that when somebody becomes very powerful, he becomes proud and the pride leads to fall down.
Actually the pride doesn't the the pride doesn't lead to fall down. Pride means fall down. Pride means you're falling. Pride means you completely lost your proper perspective of who you are. Because how we can be proud?
We are tiny, small, insignificant little spirit souls. And any possession which we have is due to the mercy of other people.
Also, in Vedānta-sūtra there is a very interesting section which is specifically about this point, how to get the knowledge.
Sūtra is that you have to do it, uh, not by sādhana, but Sutra is that you have to do it uh not by sadhana but through the mercy of guru. Specifically, there is a comparison. What is better? How to get the knowledge?
And we all know that these two things are there. From my point of view, from one hand, it is said that you have to do your sadhana. But there is a mercy of Guru at the same time, is there.
So what is the what is the relationship between the two? And in this section of Vedānta-sūtra, it is the Pūrva-pakṣa, the opponent's view is that you have to do sadhana.
And sometimes we can see this attitude in the devotees, you know, I will do this sādhana, I will chant, you know, 192 rounds every day I will you know I will do this chanting by all means you know forming at my mouth. And somehow or other I will get this spiritual knowledge.
So it is said there, no no no no. By Guru's mercy. And And uh by comparing the two, it is said in Vedānta-sūtra, by comparing the two, uh it is said that Guru's mercy is more powerful.
You have to do sadhana, no doubt about it. Sadhana is necessary. mercy is more powerful. mercy is more powerful. Ultimately this mercy is even more necessary than sadhana.
Sadhana is necessary to get the mercy but ultimately we have to be very clear about this point that we're dependent on the mercy especially on the path of bhakti. The path of bhakti depends on the condition of our ego.
The path of bhakti is very difficult because of this very reason. And any other path you can exercise your ego by doing yoga, you know, by doing all these difficult asanas.
You can just see these people who are sitting there in this, you know, you know, putting this leg under this ear and this leg under this ear. They're very proud. Look at me. I can put this leg under this ear.
Because the very foundation or the very notion of this yoga-sādhana is somewhat based on this ego. And therefore, you know, you you have to do it and you know you have to do it. And the Pasavhti, you cannot do anything.
You become completely useless.
Definition of true humility in bhakti
I mean, useless in the proper sense of the word. In Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta, Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī he explains what is humility. He says, humility is the attitude of somebody who has all the good
qualities, but at the same time is very humble. Humility is not the attitude who doesn't have any qualities and very humble. Humility, because what is the use of being humble if you're useless?
Humility is the attitude of somebody who is worthy of respect, but at the same time he feels himself that I'm insignificant and I'm dependent on the mercy. I'm made of mercy. I'm not on my own.
All these good qualities which I have is not my qualities. They are just the qualities of my guru. In the life of Rāmānujācārya, there was a very beautiful episode which proved this again. He had a disciple.
Of course, he was not his disciple, he was, but he was sent by his disciple, his cousin brother Govinda. He was sent by his guru Śaila Pūrṇa to serve Rāmānujācārya.
And he was serving Rāmānujācārya so nicely that other godbrothers of him were glorifying him. He would serve him so perfectly that at one point all his godbrothers
sat around him and said, You know, you are the perfect servant of our spiritual master. Please teach us how to serve spiritual master. And they were glorifying him and glorifying him and glorifying him.
And Govinda today surprised said, yes, yes, yes, yes. Very good, very good. Very good. Very nice. Indeed. Uh it's it's you know all my qualities are very good.
And all the disciples, other disciples of Rāmānujācārya, they became little doubtful. You know, you know, he's good, but little proud. Something is not really proper here. So they complained to Rāmānujācārya.
then Ramanujacharya called Govinda and said, you know, what's what's going on? What happened? Why did you say this? You know, I know you're a good servant, but you know it's not proper to be proud.
He said, when somebody is glorifying me, I know who I am perfectly well. Nobody can fool me. I know how fallen I am. No matter how much they glorify, very much know how fallen I am.
If they glorify me, I always think, you know, if I get these qualities, where did I get them from? Only from you.
So when they glorify me, I say, you're glorifying me very rightly because I got these qualities from my Guru Maharaj. By glorifying me, they are glorifying you because who I am? I'm nobody.
And therefore, Sanātana Gosvāmī he he he also says the same thing. You know, if somebody has all good qualities, but at the same time he keeps this proper attitude of dainya. I am still fallen. I am fallen.
There's no doubt about it. I am fallen. And if this attitude is there, this dainya will be the cause of love of God. And that's the only cause of love of God.
If we have this proper attitude, the attitude of humility, then this attitude of humility will be the cause of love of God. And when we get the co love of God, uh then the love of God will make us even more humble.
So he says that this dainya and premā are connected with each other as kārya and kāraṇa, of each other. That the cause and effect of each other.
The dainya causes us to get the love. And when we get the love, it is the cause of even more of us becoming even more humble.
Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu said this famous verse, tṛṇād api su-nīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ.
Scriptural criteria for a genuine guru
And therefore, again these verses they show this how important it again these verses they show this how important it is to enter into the relationship with Guru. How important it is to get the spiritual strength and spiritual power from the mercy of our Guru.
But at the same time, as I said in the beginning, this verse shows that at one point we have to reject our Guru as well. So how to reconcile these two things? Both things are necessary.
We have to know when to accept Guru, how to accept Guru, how to serve Guru, but at the same time we have to be very clear. We don't have to be fanatical.
Śrīla Prabhupāda says that you know, śraddhā means faith and faith primarily in the spiritual master and in the process of bhakti. And accepting spiritual master is the first item in the Tasmād gurum prapadyeta
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam stresses this point, Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad stresses this point, you have to find a guru. You have to find proper guru.
If you jighāsu śreyas-uttamam, if you want the highest good for yourself, you have to find Guru.
But at the same time, both Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they very clearly delineate what is the quality of proper guru. And if somehow or other the Guru doesn't have this quality, then you have to reject him.
Even if you accepted him by some mistake or by some misunderstanding, it happens. So we have to be very clear, if the Guru is proper, we have to serve him by all means. If Guru is improper, we have to reject him.
And the qualification of Guru is actually very simple. Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad says this, that sa gurum evābhigacchet samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham. But basically the same thing, the same description is there.
And if we take Kṛṣṇa in Bhagavad-gītā, he says the same thing: jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ. There's just two qualifications which define Guru. One is jñānī. Jñānī means he has to know śāstra. Śrotriyam.
How does he get the knowledge of the shastra? Through hearing. He has to get the knowledge of the śāstra from his guru, not just by reading books.
So śrotriyam, therefore, Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad says, śrotriyam, he has to hear it again and again from his guru and by this means he has to become knowledgeable about the śāstras. Guru has to have knowledge of the śāstras.
Sometimes, uh, devotees say, uh, "Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Thakura was illiterate, Haridāsa Ṭhākura was illiterate, now it's not necessary to have the knowledge of the śāstra." It is necessary.
To become a guru, you have to have knowledge of the śāstra. In one sense, bhakti is not dependent on the knowledge of the śāstra because bhakti is independent. So again, how to reconcile these two things?
Bhakti is independent of the knowledge of the śāstras, the service attitude is bhakti. If you are serving, but at the same time, first of all, if you claim to be the guru, you have to know Shastra. No doubt about it.
And even for bhakti, knowledge of the shastra is necessary because it gives you refinement. Shastra, you may get bhakti. Bhakti is the service attitude, no doubt about it.
But to refine this bhakti, this service attitude, shastra is extremely necessary. You have to know shastra. You have to know shastra and there is no point of not stressing it.
You have to know Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And especially if you serve as a guru, therefore, Kṛṣṇa says jñāni-tvāt. Therefore, Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad says śrotriyaṁ. Therefore, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says śabda-brahmaṇi. Śabda-brahman-niṣṭhaḥ means that you have to be expert in śabda-brahman. Śabda-brahman has to be known to you.
But this alone is not enough. This alone just dry knowledge of the Shastras is not enough. Therefore, Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad, Kṛṣṇa and Śrīmad Bhāgavatam stress another point. Parabrahmaniṣṭhaḥ. Brahma-niṣṭham.
Your guru has to have relationship with Brahman, he has to have spiritual experience. These two qualifications is the main description on the main laksana of a guru.
Knowledge of the Shastras, but at the same time the real spiritual experience or real bhāva. Because this is what Guru is supposed to impart to you.
What he's imparting, he's imparting knowledge, there is no doubt about it. Knowledge of the shastras. But at the same time, he's imparting his mood, he's imparting his attitude.
So if he is just imparting bookish knowledge, there is no point of it. What we have to get from him, we have to get the happiness which he experiences in entering into this relationship with Brahman.
Brahmanisham means that he has direct relationship with Brahman and therefore he is happy in this relationship.
And therefore the third quality which is there in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, upaśama-āśrayaḥ, is that he is very peaceful when it comes to dealing with the matter.
Upaśama-āśraya. He is the abode of peace. He took shelter in this abode of peace. He is not very easily disturbed by these waves of material energy. That's the external manifestation of his direct connection with Brahman.
Because you cannot really externally know whether somebody has the spiritual experience or not. You can very clearly understand if somebody has knowledge of the shastras. That's quantifiable.
But how you check the spiritual experience of a person? To check the spiritual experience of the person you have to see how he behaves in this world, whether he is overwhelmed by all these passions.
The anger, the greed, lust and so on and so forth. So if these three qualifications are there, or two qualifications in reality. Then he is Guru. If these two qualifications are not there, he's not Guru. Very simple.
And you have to reject him. When Shukracharya manifested his greed, Bali Maharaj said, very nice, thank you very much. Goodbye. Because the greed was obvious. The greed is a material passion.
So this betrayed the lack of real spiritual experience. If somebody has spiritual experience, why he has to be greedy? There is no point of being greedy. So very simple.
And therefore, Śrīla Prabhupāda says you know for the sake of spiritual knowledge you have to take the risk even rejecting your own guru.
But again, you should not accept your guru blindly and in the same way you should not reject your guru blindly. Both things are completely foolish. And usually devotees in this con do both things at the same time.
First they blindly accept guru and then they blindly reject guru. You know, we can see this again and again and again.
First they blindly, very sentimentally, without really, you know, checking the qualification, they accept Guru, and then sometimes very blindly they reject Guru without any reason.
Just again driven by sentiment, by some sort of misunderstanding or false propaganda, you know, and we can see this again and again and again.
Relationship between Shastra, Sadhu, and Guru
Therefore, it's so important to know Shastra. Ultimately, the Guru is the one who teaches Shastra. And we have to know Shastra first and foremost.
It is said, Srila Narodam Das Thakur he says, he says, sometimes we say guru uh Guru Sadhu Shastra as uh three uh ways three main pramanas for us Guru Sadhu Shastra.
But if we take the original verse from Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura, where he formulates these three points by which we can be completely safe in our spiritual path. He says first Shastra, then sadhu and then Guru. Why?
Because Guru has to teach Shastra. Guru is somebody who is teaching Shastra and Guru is somebody who is teaching Shastra according to the way of previous sadhus teach shastra. Not on his own.
Therefore, śāstra is the first place, sādhu is the second place, and sādhu is previous acharyas. When Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura says sādhu, sādhu doesn't mean people in orange clothes with beard.
Sādhu means the previous ācāryas, the predecessors of our guru and then Guru. And Guru is defined by these two things. He is transferring this knowledge from the Shastra in the
way how the previous ācāryas transferred this knowledge. Then he is a guru. And he, if he is the guru, if he is in this line and he if he is doing this properly, then one should not reject him.
By rejecting him, you're committing serious offense. But if he is not, you have to reject him. By not rejecting him, you're committing serious offense. You will not get God.
So this is the science, and it's in one sense a simple science. It's very clear science, very clear-cut science. But at the same time, you have have to little expertise in understanding this.
Therefore, Śrīla Prabhupāda says you have to accept guru and then when the need is there you have to reject guru. Both things are necessary for your ultimate success in spiritual life.
And basically, it means that you have to accept proper guru. And who is proper guru? Jane prayasuanteva, Jivanti San Mukhar The real guru is somebody who speaks Shastra. The real guru is somebody who tells you about Kṛṣṇa.
Ganeprayasha Mudapasya Namanthaeva. The real guru is somebody who himself rejected this false attempt of understanding God by sheer knowledge, by theoretical knowledge. Jivanti San Mukaritan.
The Guru is somebody who has understood God by his service attitude, by serving his guru, by listening his guru, by repeating what his Guru has told him, and in this way he has become a guru, and therefore Guru himself repeats this.
And you yourself take this attitude, Jane prayasuudapasina Manteva. What should I get from my guru? Not just theoretical knowledge.
But the complete harmonious understanding of who Krishna is by accepting from him knowledge of the Shastra and by imbibing his mood or service attitude and the mood of humility.
This is what we're supposed to do, and I'm supposed to finish this class now because it's nine o'clock. Thank you very much.
Four categories of Vedic scriptures
Do I have any questions? Yes. So how many type of shastras are there and different types of shastras? They give different type of knowledge and they accept different type of puddles.
So can you explain that how many types of shastra? Well there is many types of shastra. And uh there is shastra which teaches karmakanda section of the Vedas. I mean the shastras is the ocean of shastra, right?
And uh there is definitely shastras which teach you uh the the Dharma Arta and Kama. You know there is Kama Shastra there is Arta Shastra and there is Dharma Shastra.
Dharma Shastra there is ten main dharma shastras are there starting with Manu Samhita, which teach you preliminaries of spiritual life, how to behave properly in this world, so on and so forth. There is Arthashastra.
Arthashastra it's Kotili Artashastra which is existent now.
Arthashastra and Nichishastra if you take Chanakya Pandit or whatever Kautid is of course, Chanakya Pandit himself. Niti Shastra teaches you how to gain the power in this material world and how to gain money, how you should enter into dealing with other people. So this Arthashastra.
And then Kama Shastra is of course there. And Kama Shastra we know Bhatsiya Namuni wrote and there are some other Kama Shastras which are there and there is Moksha Shastra.
So roughly speaking there are four kinds of shastras and uh we should take definitely shastras which belong to the highest category which is moksha shastra. And moksha shastra means sadhyatma vidya. Adhyatma vidya means spiritual knowledge.
And out of this moksha shastra, shastra which gives you the knowledge of liberation, ultimately Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the highest. So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the ripened fruit of the tree of the Vedas.
So ultimately guru has to have knowledge of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. That's the main qualification of the guru. Maharaj my question.
My question is that as you said, that guru's mercy is more powerful than the sadhana. So how can we know that guru's mercy is on us a bit and if we don't have then how to get that?
Guru's mercy manifests in the uh guru's mercy is coming by our service attitude. If we manifest the proper mood of service, then Guru's heart will be melted.
So, in one sense, it's not so difficult, you know. If you sincerely try to serve your guru, then the guru's mercy will be there. Whether it's there or not, ultimately there is a very clear cut criteria again.
If you have Guru's mercy, if Guru is pleased, it means that Krishna is pleased. If Krishna is pleased, you are pleased. If you're happy in your spiritual life, it means that Krishna is pleased. And why Krishna is pleased?
Because your Guru is pleased. So if you're not happy in spiritual life, it means that something you are doing wrong. And it means that your Guru is not pleased with you. So it's very simple.
If you are happy, Guru is pleased. Because Guru is happy. And if Guru is happy, Krishna is happy, and if Krishna is happy, you are happy. Yes. Thank you very wonderful class.
But I also hear that any Viṣṇu, including a spiritual master, is pleased by sadhana seva and sana. So do we really uh like uh separate sadhana from service or sadhana is also service?
Sadhana is also service, but at the same time we have to understand and in this particular sutra of Vedānta-sūtra, I don't remember it by heart, it is said that you have to do sadhana, but you have to understand that mercy of the guru is more powerful. So, by doing sadhana, we should do it in such a way that to obtain the mercy of the guru.
So, this is the proper way of doing sadhana because we can do sadhana in a very egoistic way. Look at me. How powerful I am, how austere I am, you know, I'm fasting, you know, nirjali ekādaśī every day.
So, and Prabhupāda says, no, don't fast. Take prasādaṁ. Be normal. Prabhupāda was not into this, you know inflating our false ego. You know. So by doing sadhana we should do it in such a way that it's pleasing to our guru.
Because sometimes we can do sadhana which is displeasing to our guru.
Discerning a guru grounded in shastra
It's can be seen too. Hare Krishna. Thank you very much for that. Guru has to do the śāstra. So when a sādhaka, who is not a disciple, is practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness as an example.
So how would he check the mind who knows the śāstra? Of course it's proper. How to check it, you know it's, if Guru just speaks what he thinks, it's one thing.
If Guru speaks from śāstra, it's another thing. It's very clear, you know. He refers to śāstra, he knows śāstra, he connects all his points with the śāstra.
He's not just speculating something, you know, which he likes, not some, you know free interpretation. He always comes back to the original point where everything is coming from.
So you may yourself not know śāstra, you know, otherwise you're guru yourself. If you're sādhaka. But still it's very clear somebody is speaking from the śāstra. And especially, you know, there is a way of you
know if somebody speaks and he can connect different śāstras to prove the point, you will get more wholesome or holistic understanding of the śāstra. So sometimes people may have fragmental knowledge of the śāstra.
They know a little bit here, a little bit there. But you know when Prabhupāda speaks, for example, if we take Prabhupāda, he takes all different śāstras and he always quotes śāstra, right? He hardly says anything himself.
He just quotes one śāstra after another by stringing it all together.
And then when you hear Prabhupāda, you get the very wholesome and holistic knowledge of śāstra. You understand that different points of śāstra they all speak about the same thing. They all ultimately point to the same thing.
And then when you get this sort of knowledge you will with this knowledge you will get the impetus, you will get the strengths. Ultimately, Guru is representative of Balaram. Balaram gives you the spiritual strength.
So by listening, Guru, you obtain this spiritual strength, whereas sometimes we listen to somebody, and he quotes different shastras and you become only bewildered. You ultimately don't know what to do.
He says this and this and this is this all from Shastra. But somehow rather the effect is detrimental because you only develop doubts by listening to him.
So when Guru speaks, his speech has a power, and this power is pushing you in the proper direction. It helps you, it gives you enthusiasm, it gives you the strength to continue your sadhana.
This is the presentation of Shastra by proper guru. It gives you impetus to continue with your sadhana and gives you the strength to overcome all the obstacles in your path. Yeah, definitely.
Guru doesn't have to know Kama Sutra, for example. It's not really necessary.
There was this famous story from the life of Shankaracharya when he was debating with this Karmakandya Guru, Mandana Mishra, and he defeated him completely.
And then his wife took charge and he said, Now you have to defeat me because wife is a better half of his husband, of her husband, so you have to defeat me. And she said, now let's have a debate on Kama Shastra.
And Shankadacharya became a little bewildered about this. So, but anyway, he learned something and ultimately became victorious but we don't have to follow the footsteps of Shankaracharya.
So yes Guru has to know Adhyatma Shastra, starting from Bhagavad-gītā, bhakti-śāstra.
Although Prabhupāda in the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam he says that Guru has to have knowledge of all the six schools of Vedic philosophy. Why? Because otherwise. What are the six schools of Vedic philosophy?
The six schools of Vedic philosophy is six ways how you become bewildered in this world.
So, and because this bewilderment is there in the disciples, the Guru has to know how to dissipate their doubts about all this kind of confusion which may be there.
To bring somebody to the point of accepting Shrimad Bhagavatam and pushing them on this path, you have to know Aparavidya as well, to a certain extent to convey properly parāvidyā or spiritual knowledge.
So therefore Īśopaniṣad also says that you have to have uh parāvidyā and aparavidya.
You have to have you have to know ignorance and you have to have proper knowledge. Otherwise you know you will be bewildered by this ignorance. Okay.
Proper understanding of a guru's perfection
Whatever. Yeah.
you want to realize what you your words on guru. And I I was thinking we in you say that we learned that guru is the print the fifth step to go to Krishna and we learn also that to see Guru as an ordinary person is a really growth to our heart in this uh go to another extreme to consider the guru as a very perfect and every kinds of knowledge in the material
world, Śrīla Prabhupāda instead of reject this idea that the Guru is perfect in every in everything in material world. Guru is perfect, Guru is representative of Kṛṣṇa.
But I would like to hear about you, how to understand these these points, this both of them with a mature understanding that Guru is perfect but not perfect in such a way.
We think perfection is one's higher. Hayagriva was a professor of English literature and he was first editor of Śrīla Prabhupāda.
And he asked Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śrīla Prabhupāda, how do I understand that Guru is perfect if the whole day I'm only correcting your mistakes? The only thing this is my service to correct your mistakes in English.
So how do I understand that Guru is perfect? Śrīla Prabhupāda gave an answer to this.
He said Guru is perfect because whatever he does Kṛṣṇa accepts. Because because of the proper attitude which the spiritual master has, even if he does something uh which from material point of view may seem like a mistake, he's doing
this with a complete, and because Kṛṣṇa is bhāvagrāhī janārdana, he only accepts bhāva. Because Guru, whatever he is doing, he is doing with proper bhāva, with proper service attitude. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa accepts it.
And we have to understand the personality of Guru in the same light, so to speak. He may be from material point of view, he may make little mistakes here and there, it's not a problem.
But we have to see his overall attitude, his overall bhāva. And if we can see this overall bhāva of proper spiritual master, you know we will not be mistaken by his little mistakes.
We will not make a new philosophy out of his mistakes. We will not elevate his mistakes to the level of new philosophy. But at the same time, we will never try to denigrate him to the level of ordinary mortal being.
We will have this proper thing. Therefore, it's so important to understand the value of a spiritual master. The mood of the spiritual master.
And to be connected with this mood, not to be connected superficially with either his material appearance or whatever. To understand the mood is very important. The mood of service. I guess that's it. Thank you very much.
Śrīla Prabhupāda ki jaya!