SB.7.15.27. HH Radhanath Swami Vyasapuja
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · 2023
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Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam muniṁ nato 'smi. Nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya naraṁ caiva narottamaṁ, devīṁ sarasvīṁ vyāsaṁ tato jayam udīrayet. Naṣṭa-prāyeṣv
abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā, bhāgavate uttame ślokor bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī.
Reading verse on Guru Tattva
Hare Krishna. So today I was asked to speak on the topic of Guru Tattva and I will read one verse from the seventh canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 15th chapter, instructions for Civilized Human Beings. Text number twenty seven.
Eṣa vai bhagavān bhagavān sākṣāt pradhāna-puruṣeśvaraḥ, īśvaro yogeśvara-vimṛgāṅghri-loka- vimrigya, angri, loka yammanyate naram. E- eṣa vai bhagavān sākṣāt, eṣa vai bhagavān sākṣāt, eṣa vai bhagavān sākṣāt.
Pradhāna-puruṣeśvaraḥ, pradhāna- puruṣeśvaraḥ, puruṣa, yogeśvara- vimṛgāṅghrir, yogeśvara-vimṛgāṅghrir, sarve, lokam anyate naram, lokam anyata, lokam anyate, lokam anyate. Eṣa vai bhagavān sākṣāt, eṣa vai sākṣāt,
pradhāna-puruṣa, yogeśvara-vimṛg-. Lokam anyate naram. Lokam anyate. Eṣa vai indeed, bhagavān Supreme Personality of Godhead, sākṣāt, directly, pradhāna, the chief cause of material nature, puruṣa, of all living entities or
of the puruṣāvatāras, Lord Viṣṇu. Īśvaraḥ, the supreme controller. Yoga-īśvaraiḥ, by great saintly persons, yogis, vimṛga- aṅghri, Lord Krishna's lotus feet, which are sought. Lokaḥ, people in general. Yam manyate, consider
naram, a human being. Translation and purport by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna, is the master of all
other living entities and of the material nature, his lotus feet are thought and worshipped by great saintly persons like Vyasa. Nonetheless, there are fools who consider Lord Krishna an ordinary human being.
The example of Lord Krishna's being the Supreme Personality of Godhead is appropriate in regard to understanding the spiritual master. The spiritual master is called Sevaka Bhagavan, the servitor personality of Godhead.
And Krishna is called Sevya Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is to be worshipped. The Spiritual Master is the worshipper of God, whereas the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, is worshipable God.
This is the difference between the spiritual master and the supreme Personality of Godhead.
Another point, Bhagavad-gītā, which constitutes the instructions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is presented by the spiritual master as it is without deviation.
Therefore, the absolute truth is present in the spiritual master.
As clearly stated in text 26, jñāna dīpa-pradāte, the Supreme Personality of Godhead gives real knowledge to the entire world and the spiritual master, as the representative of the Supreme Godhead, carries the message throughout the world.
Therefore, on the absolute platform, there is no difference between the spiritual master and the supreme personality of Godhead.
If someone considers the supreme personality Krishna or Lord Rāmacandra to be an ordinary human being, This does not mean that the Lord becomes an ordinary human being.
Similarly, if the family members of the spiritual master who is the bona fide representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead consider the spiritual master an ordinary human being? This does not mean that he becomes an ordinary human being.
The spiritual master is as good as the supreme personality of Godhead and therefore one who is very serious about spiritual advancement must regard the spiritual master in this way.
Even a slight deviation from this understanding can create disaster in the disciples, Vedic studies and austerities.
Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya! bhagavān sākṣāt pradhāna-puruṣeśvaraḥ yogeśvarair vimṛgair lokoyam atena rāmaḥ. The Supreme Personality of Godhead,
Lokoyamatenaram The Supreme Personality of God at Lord Krishna is the master of all other living entities and the material nature.
His lotus feet are sought and worshipped by the great saintly persons like Vyasa, nonetheless, there are fools who consider Lord Krishna an ordinary human being.
Namaam Vishnu Padaya Krishna Pastaya Bhutale Srimate Bhaktividanta Swami Tinami. Namaste Saswati Devi Goravani Pracharini, Nirvisha Sunya Vadi Paschayades Chakripa Sindu Bhavacha Patitanampavane Byoway
Namon Maha J Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabunitananda Sri Dwaita Gadathara Srivasadhi Gora Bhakta Vrinda Hare
Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Ramaam Rama Rhareareh pravisja
mama vachi maprasuptam, sanjevaya takila shakti darah swadhamnanyam schahastacharana shravanatu gadim pranandaannam Bhagavate Purushaetubim, Swasya stu Vishwasya Kalah Prasidatam Vyandu Buddhani Shivam Mithodiya, Manascha Badram Bhajatatta Doksha J, Avisha Tam So
Changing human nature through saintly blessings
we're reading the seventh canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the last chapter of the seventh skandha, where Nārada Muni concludes his teachings to Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira.
And basically the topic of the seventh canto is to understand how we can change our nature. According to the krama design of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, seventh skandha describes ūrti, the impetus for activity.
And basically, there are two kinds of impetuses which every one of us experiences: the demonic impetus, the egocentric selfish impetus to act for our own sake, disregarding everyone else, and the divine impetus which pushes us to serve others, to help others, to do something good to other people.
So these two natures are there, and of course, Krishna explains these two natures in the 16th chapter of Bhagavad-gītā.
But and everyone, especially in Kali Yuga, have the some sort of mixed nature with slight or not so slight predominance of demoniac nature. So we're living in Kali Yuga, we have to be very sober understanding ourselves.
But that's not the point. The point is that every one of us can change the nature.
And the seventh canto is explaining what is the origin of the nature, what is the cause, why somebody has demoniac nature, and why somebody else has divine nature, why one is more inclined to have to do something good and one is more inclined to do something evil. And basically the essence of the seventh canto is to give us the understanding what we are supposed to do, what we should do to change our nature for better.
And of course, the simple conclusion of the seventh canto is that you develop your nature according to the blessings or uh curses of saintly persons. If the saintly person will bless you, you will have saintly nature.
And the example of Prahlāda Mahārāja, who was born in a demonic family, and who is supposed to inherit the demoniac uh nature of Hiranya Kashipu, but who on the contrary became very saintly is a vivid example of this because Nārada Muni blessed him.
The key point is the blessings of Nārada Muni. And of course Hiranya Kashipu himself is the opposite example because you know very elevated guardian of guard of Vaikuṇṭha was cursed by Kumaras, he became demonic.
So because we have an offensive nature, there is a chance that while we encounter the saintly person, we will offend him and in this way we will get cursed, whether it's you know pronounced curse or some pain which we inflict to the saintly person then
the develop we develop the demoniac traits in our personality. So that's the essence or the conclusion of the first part of the seventh canto.
But in the seventh, in the second part of the seventh canto, Nārada Muni will explain what if you don't have encounter, what if you don't have close association with a saintly person?
What if you don't have the blessings of the saintly person? Or what if you don't have the curses of the saintly person?
Varnasrama as an indirect spiritual path
What to do in this case? How to change your nature in this case? And for that, Nārada Muni explains: there is an indirect way. The direct way is only the blessings or the association of the saintly person.
Again and again and again, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and any other Vedic literature will explain the power, the influence of the saintly association. But if by some reason you are deprived
of this saintly association, then there is this mechanism of varṇāśrama, which ultimately, it will bring you to the saintly association.
If you don't have immediately the impetus, the desire to run away from home and come to a saintly person and surrender to him. Then you may follow the indirect way.
You live a pure and very pious life in varṇāśrama system and ultimately this very system will bring you to the association with the saints.
Because the varṇāśrama system is designed in such a way as to push people gently uh into this association.
And therefore Narada Muni in this last uh after explaining the whole design of our national system, how our national system is being constructed for this particular purpose to improve the nature of living entities.
Ultimately, in this last chapter of the seventh canto, he starts saying, you know, if you have this problem, do this. If you have lust. And it's, you know, he's saying if just
as uh you know courtesy because everyone has lust so it says if you have lust then you do this if you have this problem if you have greed you do this if, you have something else, you do this.
He gives so many different recommendations for particular diseases or problems which we have, but only to give the conclusion which he gave in the previous verse and the verse before.
And the conclusion of Narada Muni is very important for us to understand.
His conclusion is that you know you may do this or that, you may use this upaya or that upaya, this remedy or that remedy for particular problems which you have, and everyone has some problems, but if you want
a wholesale solution to all your problems, there is one uh method: surrender to the lotus feet of guru. So this is the solution for all problems. This is how you can really resolve all problems without going into details.
Of course, Vedic literature is very rich while explaining different kinds of upayas. You know, there are plenty of upayas. There are books written, you know.
If you want to improve a little bit here or a little bit there, do this.
You know, and you go to an astrologer, an astrologer will have a thick volume of upayas. You know, you put this gem on this you know finger and you know some rudraksa here and and whatever whatever is there.
So, and people because they want quick solutions, because they want easy solutions, they go for it. But then Narada Muni actually explains all these different upayas only for this purpose.
He says if you don't want cheap solution, if you want to solve all your problems permanently, then this is the solution.
And the solution he gave in the verse number 25, read verse number 27, he says, Rajastamas chasattvina satvam chopa shamana Chopa Shamana Cha etat Sarvan Guro Bhaktia Purushoh Jan Jasajayat.
So he says you can uh because ultimately the problem lies in the influence of the gunas.
So you may try to improve your situation in the gunas, in Tamaguna, and Rajagun by conquering them over with sattva. And that's basically the essence of varṇāśrama.
The essence of varṇāśrama is how to employ sattva to conquer over the lower modes of nature, the rajas and tamas.
But then he says, but there is an easy way, easy, easy in a good sense. Because you don't have to worry about all the particular details. You know, if you want to conquer Rajas and Tamas with Sattvagun,
first of all, in Kali Yuga it's not possible. Because there is no sattva-guṇa in Kali-yuga. You know, some people think that you know if you eat a vegetarian diet you are in sattva.
It's a ridiculous statement because vegetarian, uh, vegetarian diet, uh, in Kali-yuga is very rajasic, you know. If
you take rice which is grown and harvested with all these machines and with all these fertilizers, there is no sattva there. It's pure Rajas. So there is no hope for people in uh Kali Yuga to conquer
over rajas and tamas with sattva because there's no sattva. So there's nothing to conquer over with.
So Kali-yuga is permeated by these rajasic and tamasic energies everywhere, cause the minds of people in Kali Yuga are very rajasic and very tamasic. So we're living in this atmosphere.
So when Nārada Muni says añjasā, añjasā means in an easy way, if you want to conquer all these problems which are created by Tamas and Rajas, then there is one solution. And this one solution is given here.
Etat sarvam to all these problems, whatever you have, is guru-bhaktyā.
Seeing the spiritual master as divine
So the problem the the solution for all the problems is uh the devotion to Guru. And immediately, uh, Nārada Muni gives a very important warning.
Because again, when we hear about the devotion, we may have the whole range of different distorted ideas of what devotion means. Because devotion is easily imitable in this material world.
Or there are different grades of uh of um cheating uh sorts of devotion.
Therefore, in the next verse, in the 27th, in 26th verse, Nārada Muni gives a very important understanding: what does it mean to be devoted to guru? He says you have to consider him as the supreme personality of Godhead. Not less than this.
Yasyāḥ sākṣād bhagavatī... Because Guru is giving you the transcendental knowledge.
Because Guru is imparting this knowledge which is coming directly from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, yasyāḥ sākṣād bhagavatī, he is directly the Supreme Personality of Godhead himself
martyās dhi-śrutaṁ tasya sarvaṁ kuñjara-śaucavat, and if you have even a trace, as Prabhupada says here, uh, in the purport to the verse which we read, even if says here uh in the purport to the verse which we read, even if you have a trace of a doubt in this regard, it can create a havoc in your spiritual life.
This concept, Bhāgavata concept, the concept of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, of the position of a spiritual master is unique. Because the position of Guru is stressed everywhere in Vedic culture.
If you take karma-mārga, you need a guru. If you take jñāna-mārga, you need a guru. And of course, if you take bhakti-mārga, you need a guru. But in reality, the real conception of Guru taken to this extreme.
That Guru should be considered as the supreme
personality of Godhead Himself, sākṣāt, samasta-śāstra, sākṣād dharitvena samasta-śāstraiḥ. All the śāstras, according to Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, speak this. This is the concept of bhakti.
Because everywhere else the need of guru is stressed, is emphasized. In karma-mārga it is emphasized. There is no doubt about it.
You will not be able to understand jyotiṣa, you will not be able to understand karma-mīmāṁsā, you will not be able to understand the intricacies of Vedic ritual. If you don't have a guru, it's useless.
But ultimately, Guru on this other path, on karma-mārga and jñāna-mārga, is an instrument. He's not the goal. He is just a tool which should be discarded ultimately when you achieve the goal.
If you achieve the goal of karma-mārga, if you are already elevated to the heavenly planes, why do you need the guru? You know, no problem.
You don't need a guru at this time, you only need apsarās, you know. So that's that's what you need. You know, Guru will be a big hindrance in in the heavenly planet. So So uh what to speak about uh Jñāna-mārga?
Śrīla Prabhupāda was teaching this uh in one of the morning walks in Mumbai, he would, you know, he was going and then he was taking the help of his disciple and then at the end he would push his disciple.
He said, this is how jñānīs are doing this. They take the help from the Guru, but then when they when they achieve so-called liberation which they want to achieve, no need of Guru.
So in any other conception which is there, the figure of a guru is just a stepping stone. You just step over him to be elevated to the platform which you want to be elevated to.
But in bhakti-mārga, Guru is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And therefore in Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad uh it is said that uh Yasyādeve Parābhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante
mahātmanḥ. Actually, this is what exactly Nārada Muni says here in 26 verse. He says that you can only get the knowledge from Guru if you consider him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
If you consider him as an ordinary human being, you will only get this material knowledge from him. Because you cannot get the spiritual knowledge from an ordinary human being.
How you can get spiritual knowledge from somebody who is material? There is no need d there is no chance. It's contradictory. The whole idea is contradictory.
If you consider somebody as a material, you can only get the material knowledge from him. The spiritual knowledge means revelation. The spiritual knowledge is coming from top to bottom.
It's avaroha-panthā, it's descending path.
And the spiritual knowledge can come from the spiritual platform through the spiritual agent who is guru and it can only come to somebody who is prepared to receive this knowledge, who is humble enough to understand that I am ignorant, that I am a
fool number one, that by my material intelligence I cannot get anything. That by my material intelligence I can maybe, you know, you know, get some apartment in Mumbai. You know, if I'm lucky.
I will accumulate enough money to get some, you know, two bedrooms apartment in Mumbai.
Method of descending transcendental knowledge
That's what you can get by your material knowledge. By your material knowledge you may improve your material situation. But uh material knowledge is useless when it comes to the transcendental matters. And if you want that transcendental knowledge, then the method of getting this transcendental knowledge should be equally transcendental.
And this method is not the āroha-panthā.
When you want to conquer over the spiritual knowledge, when you want to grab the spiritual knowledge by the material means, by your material intelligence, by your material strengths, by your skills, by your whatever it is.
But it's all useless. It's not possible to get the spiritual knowledge by material means by definition. The only means to get the spiritual knowledge is to receive the grace and the grace is naturally coming from guru.
You know, people sometimes even in bhakti-mārga don't understand this point. This point is very difficult to understand. This point is very difficult to understand because of simple reasons.
You know, we see Guru and we see that he is just an ordinary human being, you know, he's not flying. Of course he takes the plane sometimes, but but he's not he's not you know hovering over the earth.
He doesn't create too many miracles. You know, of course, at least one miracle he created m while making us devotees. That's a miracle.
But But he doesn't produce ash from his you know palm. He doesn't do all these, you know, mm things. And you know he sometimes gets sick. He sometimes uh you know sometimes he makes mistakes.
You know, once I I was told it's a beautiful story, uh I was translating Prabhupada's books into Russian language and sometimes I would encounter some things which I consider strange.
And at that time, Kirti Raj Prabhu was in charge of Russian production and Russian preaching. And he told me this story, beautiful story.
He said that once Hayagriva Prabhu, who was the main editor of Śrīla Prabhupāda. He approached Śrīla Prabhupāda.
He was for a long time he was hesitating to ask this question, but ultimately he gained some courage and he approached Śrīla Prabhupāda
Overcoming material perception of the spiritual master
and he said, Śrīla Prabhupāda, how do you understand that uh the pure devotee is perfect if the whole day long I am just correcting your mistakes in English, please explain.
Prabhupāda of course gave a beautiful answer. He says: you know, from your point of view, it's a mistake, but from the point of view of Krishna, it's not a mistake because my intention was completely pure.
So that was the answer of Srila Prabhupada.
But the point is that when we look at the spiritual master externally, and we have the eye which only goes up to the surface, which does not which is not trained to penetrate too deeply.
And there is a temptation to look at a spiritual master as an ordinary human being.
And therefore this verse which we read is there; Nārada Muni, he counteracts our doubt because he says that sometimes Muni he counteracts our doubt because he says that sometimes you know how shall we look at the Spiritual Master as God Himself? Whereas there are so many other people who look at him as an ordinary spirit as an ordinary human being.
His relatives don't look at him as a supreme personality of Godhead. His God brothers don't consider him as such. You know, so many other people relate to him differently. Why he is different to me? What is it?
And Nārada Muni gives this very unique verse. He says that, you know, so what? Let other people consider him as they like.
They may consider him as they like, as it is according to their relationship, but for the disciple, he is the supreme personality of Godhead himself.
And if you deviate from this conception, from this understanding, from this uh vision of the spiritual master, uh you will create a havoc your attempts to study Vedic literature, your austerities and everything else which you do in the spiritual past will be useless as much as the kuñjara-śauca, the bathing of an elephant.
You will try to purify yourself, but immediately by this wrong conception, by this wrong vision, by the wrong relationship which you will try to establish with your spiritual master, you will nullify all your endeavors.
Krishna will not give you the spiritual knowledge because of your pride.
Because it is your pride, your false ego, which serves as the lens through which you see everyone, your false ego, uh ultimately will deprive you uh the spiritual knowledge.
So that's the uh important lesson and the important point, which is again very difficult to understand properly. Again and again and again, because we are programmed to see everything as material.
When we come to the deities we see the stone. We don't see Krishna himself. It has to be a constant work, the constant endeavor to understand, yeah, this is Krishna himself.
Pratimana Hatumeh, Sakshatra Jendra Nandana, as it is said by the young Brahmana in the story of Sakshi Gopal. When he comes to Krishna and says, You're not stone for me.
So every time when we see the deity, we have to say, You're not Pratima, you're not the statue. You're Krishna himself. And then Krishna will reveal him. But if you look at him, yeah, right, right.
Hare Krishna, Hari Bal, yeah. But uh uh uh uh you uh you will cheat yourself. And in the same way, when we see the spiritual master, that should be the lens.
That should be the understanding, that should be the vision or conception which we should again and again and again remind ourselves.
And if we try to, not neglect the spiritual master, but if we look at him as an ordinary human being, that is called Gurora Vagya. This is the offense of this holy name. This is actually the obstacle on our path.
We will never be able to chant the holy name purely if we don't correct this vision within ourselves. There is a beautiful and we we still try to preach Krishna. We still to follow this path of bhakti, but
it's useless because all our endeavors are completely spoiled by this mistake. By this mistake which we do inadvertently without even consciously thinking about it.
Analogy of lotus, water, and sun
Consciously, we should correct our understanding and try to see the spiritual master in a proper way. And there is a beautiful comparison in Puranas about the role of a spiritual master in the life of a disciple.
The disciple is compared with the lotus. The spiritual master is compared with the water around the lotus. And Krishna is compared with the sun. So the lotus is blooming under the rays of the sun.
But if there is no water, will the lotus bloom? No, the lotus will dry.
You know, if we try to approach directly the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it's the same way as the lotus is trying to receive the grace of the sun directly without the help of the water around him.
The water around the disciple is very necessary because it's a necessary condition for blooming. Blooming means spiritual advancement. Blooming means to develop spiritually.
We need this water which we may not even notice so much. Yes, we are striving to achieve this sun, but we also uh have to understand that this cooling water which is there is necessary for our uh proper development.
That's the important point which we have to again and again and again remind ourselves. That's the teaching of Gaudiya line. The Guru is God Himself for us. Because if we will not be able to see the spiritual master
in this light, even if Krishna Himself will come to us, we will not recognize him. He may appear in front of us, but we will say, yeah, yeah, yet another human being. We will become the same fools.
Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritāḥ, is this all these fools they they neglect Krishna.
And uh we can only be trained to see Krishna in a proper light, to recognize Krishna, to see Krishna in other living entities, to see the presence of Krishna in the murti if we are trained in the surrender to the spiritual master.
And this surrender is real surrender. Like yesterday we were walking and we came to this uh to this Madana-mohana-mandira and Gaurāṅga Prabhu was uh Little
not so careful and he said that the stone on the top of the dome is not exactly according to the Madana-mohana Temple in Vṛndāvana. And Guru Maharaj was walking there and he said, "You should correct it."
And then Gaurāṅga Prabhu started laughing very uncomfortably. And Guru Maharaj said, "I'm serious. You should correct it. It's for thousands of years. So now he has to do it.
Because this is what it means to surrender. means to take it seriously. It means to take it directly without trying to explain it out and to find some easy way.
So it's a serious business to accept the spiritual master as the supreme Personality of Godhead Himself is not easy.
It's very easy to kind of you know adjust our conception of him according to our understanding and have a happy time in Krishna consciousness.
But ultimately, in this way, if we do, if we behave in this way, we will cheat ourselves. We will not gain any spiritual knowledge. The spiritual knowledge will not come to us because of the lack of surrender. And the concept of guru why it is so I I should finish.
This is exactly the concept of guru which is very important for us to understand, as it is said in Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad: śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham. Samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchēt.
The Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad says, tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchēt. You have to approach Guru.
And you have to approach Guru Samit Panih, you have to approach Guru with some offering in your hands, basically with bringing something which help Guru in his sacrifice to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
He is sevaka-bhagavān, as Prabhupāda explains. he's serving himself and our uh role, our duty is to uh help him in this service.
Qualifications of a genuine spiritual master
Therefore, samit-pāṇiḥ. But then it's extremely important the qualification of uh the spiritual master is explained in this verse, śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham.
He is śrotriya, which is the most important. Śrotriya means that he received the knowledge directly from his guru.
And by the act of receiving this knowledge properly, by the act of complete surrender, because to receive the knowledge, as I explained before, to receive the knowledge properly, one has to surrender completely. The knowledge is only coming to the surrendered soul.
And because he is śrotriya himself, he has heard this knowledge, it means that you know there is hearing and there is hearing. There are different kinds of hearing. You know, you may think that you heard something.
You know, there are so many disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda who heard him. But not everyone is on the same level, because everyone is hearing differently.
So to become śrotriya, you have to remove your false ahaṅkāra in the process of hearing. Because when we hear, there is a filter of the false ego.
Ahaṅkāra is filtering what we hear. And because this filter of the false ego is there, the transcendental knowledge doesn't penetrate this filter.
Going through the filter of the false ego, uh uh uh the the knowledge, transcendental knowledge becomes material.
It's like you know if you put a uh blue glass in front of the sun, then the only you know rays which will penetrate this blue glass will be blue. There is nothing else. Everything else will be filtered out.
So, in the similar way, if we hear the transcendental knowledge through the false ego, then only material knowledge will penetrate and our ears will not be pierced. Like there is this Karnaveda samskara.
And one of the samskaras for the child in Vedic tradition, according to Vedic tradition, is to pierce the ear of the child and Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupada beautifully explained that this samskara is actually not to pierce the lobe of the ear but really to pierce the material covering of the ear so that the transcendental knowledge may penetrate our ear and come to the heart.
But if uh it only goes into one ear, then conveniently it will go out from the other ear. It will not go deep if the covering of matter is there in the ears of a disciple.
So this Karnaveda Samskara, actually, initiation ceremony, the Diksha Samskara is Karnaveda samskara. Is the samskara by which we pierce the ear to be able to receive spiritual knowledge.
So the spiritual master, who is the spiritual master?
He is the one who received the spiritual knowledge. Who was humble enough to really receive and embrace the spiritual knowledge and realize the spiritual knowledge in his life.
And he is in this way he becomes the transmitter of spiritual knowledge.
He becomes the bona fide, the bona fide, the bonafide, how to say, anyway, uh the element of this chain through which of paramparas through which the spiritual knowledge descends to us. So this is what we learn from him.
This is what and how we see him and how we should see him. And if we are humble enough, then the transcendental knowledge imperceptibly to us will descend through Him to us.
We will hear the same sounds which everyone else hears, but this sound will carry the transcendental message.
But whereas if we see it and we see him as an ordinary human being, we will hear the sounds which emanate from his lotus feet, but nothing will change within our heart.
The heart will remain the same and we will remain the same, you know, ordinary humans.
So that's why, again and again and again, that's why Śrīla Prabhupāda established this tradition that in the morning, the first thing in the morning we chant this. Sākṣād dharitvena samasta-śāstrair uktas tathā bhāvyate sadbhir eva, that Guru is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself.
Yes, he is Sevaka Bhagavan, he is serving himself. But because he dedicated his whole life and his whole heart and everything else into the service, then he is the only hope for us to receive the spiritual knowledge if we uh relate to him properly.
So that's the that's the meaning and the teaching of this verse uh Narada Muni explains this concept. And again, this is the bhakti path. This is the bhakti path. Guru is not a miracle maker. Guru is not some you know some uh
yogi with the with the matted hair so whatever he's he's not. He teaches us how to surrender. He teaches us how to become humble and become happy by becoming humble.
Because bhakti is all about this. It's not about anything else. So that's what we should be reminded on such days.
The Guru is there and we should be intelligent enough to understand that Krishna is directly speaking to us. Thank you very much, Hare Krishna.
Distinguishing rational inquiry from false ego
Hare Krishna. What is the difference between hearing with the rational mind and hearing with a filter of falsehood in between?
Hearing with the rational mind means that uh I don't rationally understand something which he says, but I accept it must be true.
It's just my uh intellectual capacities are not developed enough to understand this now, and I may ask the question of Guru Maharaj what he means. Prabhupada actually beautifully formulated this.
His formula was: my guru, whether he was right or wrong, is always right.
It basically means that I may think from my rational capacity that sounds strange, that may be wrong, but uh at the same time I say uh yes, he's right. And uh and I will try to find out to understand how he is right.
Uh whereas if I'm uh listening uh hearing it through the lens or through the media of my false ego, then immediately if something goes not according to my understanding or not according to my intellect, then I will create doubts or I will create some you know misgivings about you know he must be wrong, it's not it's not correct.
So this attitude that he's right, I am wrong. It should be there, but at the same time, we should not turn off our rational capacities. We should intelligently try to understand what it means.
And if we don't understand, we should ask questions. But at the same time the presumption should be there. He is right.
So Maharaj made a point that through the filter of false ego, spiritual like spiritual knowledge can become material knowledge. I mean it's still not very clear.
Could you please stand up with more spiritual knowledge means revelation. And basically, spiritual knowledge means that spiritual knowledge means that you have some experience of transcendental reality.
It is explained by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī in his commentary to Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, where while explaining these two verses, ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu- saṅga, about the progression in bhakti, he says that śravaṇād dvāra kiñcid-anubhūtiḥ satī, he says that uh by hearing properly we get little experience, transcendental experience, spiritual experience.
You know, whereas if we hear, and it's only the rational concept which remains and which uh will not even remain for a long time in our heart or mind or understanding.
If it's only kind of intellectual scheme or intellectual understanding which we gained through hearing. That's... that's okay, but that's not exactly spiritual.
But when we hear and we feel that you know it's directly Krishna himself is speaking, and you know we feel some transcendental experience that's uh of the truth. That's the that's the spiritual knowledge which we receive.
Uh which is which is a miracle, which is a revelation. It may not happen all the time we shouldn't expect that all the time we should.
But it's a different experience altogether when we hear and when we feel that Krishna directly is speaking to me now.
When we feel, sometimes we have this feeling, when we hear the spiritual master and we feel that he knows my heart and he goes deeply into my heart and he sees all my the problems which are there and he solves the problem by speaking.
So So when this sort of connection or this sort of experience is there, then we can you know hope that there is some spiritual knowledge which is received.
He is there and he's just seeing through and he's correcting all the problems.
Whereas if it's just intellectual, intellectual understanding is okay, but it it doesn't go deep. It may change a little bit from the way we think, the way we see, but uh it doesn't change it on a very fundamental level of our personality.
You know, if we hear, sometimes we hear something simple which we have heard many, many times before. But then while hearing, all of a sudden we realize, oh, that's what it means.
This moment of wow, you know, now I understand. This is the revelation. This is uh this is the miracle which is there. Oh yeah, that's what it means. Uh we did understand it before on the intellectual level,
but the deeper understanding is yet to come. And uh that sometimes happens. We hear it and yeah, oh yeah, yeah, all right, yeah, oh, now everything is clear. Whereas if it's intellectual it's easily forgotten.
That's why it is called Tattva-arohana-pantha, the descending path of knowledge, the path of revelation.
Recognizing the singular principle of guru tattva
If you could explain Guru is not just one person, there are many devotees who take care of us.
One who takes care of vartma-pradarsaka, one who takes care of siksha, one who is the diksha guru, and if you could explain that.
We should understand like Prabhupada when he was distributing his Back to Godhead magazine and at one point a conductor in the train, you should read the books.
So, some conductor on some train in India tells this to Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda says, oh, this is my Guru Maharaj tells me through this conductor. So the idea is that Guru is one. Guru is ultimately Krishna.
We established relationship with one Guru. Everyone else is the representative of this Guru. And if we establish the relationship properly, this should be our understanding. Oh, my Guru Maharaj speaks through him directly.
The Guru Tattva, the principle of Guru is directly addressing me and I should take it seriously.
And if careful enough and if surrendered enough, then we will be able to distinguish the voice of our guru in the instructions of other people and we will understand.
Yeah, that's his instruction. That's not different from his instruction. And I should take it equally seriously. How do we perceive guru? Is it based on—so there are many people I see from my side, from my point of view.
So how do we deal then accordingly? Because Leshnak are telling to Gauranabudesh, how it seriously you are taking instructions of spiritual master.
So now how I'm not able to see uh the level of because how do I define who is guru or how it is the definition of guru
is given in the shastras you don't have to define yourself you have to just uh as much as possible study or hear the shastra and then uh the definition is given there.
Tasmād gurum prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreyuttamam śabdapare ca niṣṇātaṁ brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam Nishna to uh samasra. So the definition is there in the eleventh canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Uh m you you just have to you know to be open enough to understand that uh this is the guru. But then if you surrender to one guru, it is a uh it is explained by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī.
The dynamic of the spiritual life is explained that initially we hear many sadhus. It's necessary to hear many sadhus to get the general understanding, to get the inspiration and enthusiasm, and we hear from many.
Then the next point, after hearing of many many sadhus, then we have to uh we have to have the feeling that here is the one through whom I get maximum inspiration.
By whom I feel the enthusiasm to surrender myself, to do something which I normally wouldn't do. And uh this sadhu becomes your guru. And for some time you should only hear him. That's the recommendation of Jīva Gosvāmī.
Because you have to be established in his mood and his understanding in his message. After hearing many, you should switch to hearing one. And then Jīva Gosvāmī says, then after that you again should hear many.
But only when you established in his teachings, and then you hear many, and by hearing many, you will hear his voice in the teachings of other people. Then you will respect other people and you will understand.
Yes, they're talking about uh the same thing which he's talking, but uh from a slightly different angle and uh it's still very valuable because it gives me a lot of enthusiasm. So that's how it goes.
So you mentioned the point for Guru Disciple, Guru J Sakshat, Haritv, and for others may perceive or not perceive just like relatives, god brothers, other so many things.
But as reality, Guru is this Guruja Vaishnava, Guruja Sadhu So actually one should aspire perhaps
to see the everyone as just like everyone is living in tea and everyone is pure. So whether one should aspire that is that this is reality this this is only applied for disciple to the guru or is for this as person become purer and purer whether he sees everyone, every is it correct understanding?
It's a correct understanding for uttamadhikaris. For those on a very high platform or level of uh spiritual development, they will see uh Bhagavad Bhava everywhere.
They will look at everyone and they will see some reflection of God and divine qualities and this and that.
In the beginning of spiritual life, we should train our eyes to see and especially not even to see but to hear the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the words of our spiritual master.
Then this transition will be possible.
Otherwise, if we artificially try to, you know, see everyone as God, but then somebody steps on our toes or you know, or says something wrong and then you know we switch the gears from seeing everyone as the Supreme Personality of God to seeing everyone as some fallen Kali Yuga mlechas.
So the training is gradual Anyway, just wanted to say few more things that just will take two minutes.
Logic of the calf and cow
I recently heard a very beautiful explanation. Somebody told how the disciples should approach guru. It's called Vatsanyaya, the logic of the calf. It's very beautiful explanation. So, the calf wants milk from the cow.
And in the same way, the disciple approaches Guru to accept some spiritual knowledge. And the spiritual knowledge is nourishing for our spiritual development, it's as much as the milk for the calf.
So there are three rules which calves should follow to continue receiving milk from the cow.
The first rule: if the calf wants to get the milk from the cow he should kneel himself because the cow, the udder of the cow is lower, so he should kneel himself he should place himself on his knees and then only he can reach the udder of the cow. In a similar way the disciple should bow down to spiritual master. So that's the rule number one.
We should always remain humble and this is only way to receive the knowledge as much as the cow.
And then the cow gives the milk to somebody who is only humbling himself by placing his head. Så dan är se that calf is drinking milk från the udder of the cow, and if the milk uh doesn't flow so easily, then the calf is going like this.
You know, he's just pushing gently the udder of the cow saying, you know, give me the milk, give me the milk. So that's the next rule of the disciple.
The disciple to receive the spiritual knowledge, he should gently ask the questions of spiritual master. Yes, I received this, but I need something more, you know. So this is how the calf should behave.
So we have to ask the questions, that's very important. If we develop any doubts or if we feel that we need more, we have to express the enthusiasm to receive more knowledge.
And the third rule is very important because it is
said that the cow gives milk to the calf for some time, but then when the little horns start growing on the head of the calf, and the calf is pushing the cow and it hurt her.
The little horns which are growing they hurt the cow and the cow at this moment, when the horns start hurting her, the cow stops giving the milk.
She says, okay, you're grown up, graze the grass I don't have anything to do with you.
So in a similar way, sometimes disciple becomes very intelligent and some horns start growing in his head as the manifestation of his intelligence. So the overgrown intelligence takes the shape of the horns
and he becomes little proud and he starts challenging his guru, saying, you know, oh I know Shastra better than you. And the Guru says, okay, go away, you know, the grass is there. You don't need milk.
But as a proper disciple we should never grow horn in our head. We should always remain little calves in front of our spiritual master. Then the flow of the milk will continue coming to us through our spiritual master.
Thank you very much for the question.