Intense Desire
His Divine Grace Oṁ Viṣṇupāda paramahaṁsa parivrājakācārya aṣṭottara-śata Śrī Śrīmad Gour Govinda Gosvāmī Mahārāja
Another point is there. When the sun rises the lotus blossoms, and when the sun sets the petals of the lotus close. Similarly, the petals of the guru-pāda-padma will open when it sees the intense desire and crying in the heart of the suffering soul to go back to Godhead and get Kṛṣṇa. This crying for bhakti is like the rising of the sun.
When the sun sets the petals of the lotus close. Similarly, a disciple who has developed an intense and burning desire in his heart has come to the guru and received shelter. But many times we see that later on that disciple loses his bhakti-vṛtti, his devotional engagement. Because of committing some offense like Nāma-aparādha or Vaiṣṇava-aparādha he loses his bhakti-vṛtti. His bhakti becomes shrunken and he does not carry out the orders of the guru or hear the guru’s message. He is avoiding or disobeying his guru. When the sun sets, the petals of the lotus close. Similarly, the guru disappears from the vision of that disciple.
Always Manifest
Of course, for one who has made advancement and developed some taste for this transcendental mellow, this is not applicable. It is only applicable to neophytes who have not yet made much advancement and who have not developed any taste for this mellow. If such a devotee commits some aparādha and associates with offenders and materialistic persons, if he does not do real sādhu-saṅga, then the sun will never rise. He will disobey the order of the guru and violate his instructions. The guru-pāda-padma will disappear from such a disciple who is acting according to his own whims. This is not applicable for advanced devotees who have developed taste for this transcendental mellow. They cannot leave it because it has become their life and soul. They cannot survive without it. For such a disciple the guru-pāda-padma will never disappear. He is always with the guru and the guru is always with him. In all conditions he is engaged in the loving service of guru-pāda-padma. He is a niṣṭhāpara-bhakta, who has achieved at least the minimum stage of niṣṭhā. For such a very advanced devotee who has developed a taste — meaning he has come to the minimum stage of niṣṭhā, or beyond that like ruci, āsakti or bhāva — for him there is no question of disappearance of the guru. He is with guru. The guru never disappears from him. He always sees and realises the presence of his guru. For that bhakta the guru is always manifest, the guru will never leave him. But for one who has not achieved the stage of niṣṭhā the apprehension is there that if he commits some aparādha or violates the guru’s instructions the guru may disappear from his vision. That means the sun will set and the petals of the lotus will close.
Crying Is Required
The śiṣya or sādhaka should always cry for guru-kṛpā, the causeless mercy of the guru. Unless you cry for it you cannot get it. Nobody can get that mercy without crying. For example, when the child cries, the mother runs, thinking:
“Oh, my child is crying.”
The child cannot be pacified by anything without the mother’s presence. Because she is engaged in performing household duties the mother may give the child a toy or a doll to play with, but the child will throw down that toy or doll and cry and cry.
So unless you cry, how can you get that mercy?
This crying is required:
karuṇā nā hoile, kāṇḍiyā kāṇḍiyā, prāṇa nā rākhibo āra.
Therefore we sing this song. We must cry and cry for the mercy of guru.
Unless you cry how can you get it?
Those who have cried have received the mercy.
Gurudeva!
kṛpā-bindu diyā, koro’ ei dāse, tṛṇāpekhā ati hīna
sakala-sahane, bolo diyā koro nija māne spṛhā-hīna
sakale sammān, korite śakati, deho’ nātha! jathājatha
tabe to’ gāibo, harināma-sukhe, aparādha ha’be hata
kabe heno kṛpā, lobhiyā e jana, kṛtārtha hoibe, nātha!
śakti-buddhi-hīn, āmi ati dīn, koro’ more ātma-sātha
jogyatā-vicāre, kichu nāhi pāi, tomāra karuṇā sāra
karuṇā nā hoile, kāṇḍiyā kāṇḍiyā, prāṇa nā rākhibo āra
(Śaraṇāgati,-Bhajana-lālasā 10-Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura)
Gurudeva! By a drop of your mercy make this servant of yours more humble than a blade of grass. Give me strength to bear all trials and troubles, and free me from all desires for personal honour.
O lord and master! Invest me with the power to properly honour all living beings. Only then will I sing the holy name in great ecstasy and will all my offenses cease.
O lord and master! When will this person be blessed by obtaining your mercy? I am low, fallen, and devoid of all strength and intelligence. Please make me your beloved servant.
When I examine myself, I find nothing of good value. Your mercy is therefore essential to me. If you are not merciful, I will constantly weep, and I will not maintain my life any longer.
This is our prayer. This weeping or crying is required. Unless the child cries the mother will not run and the child cannot get the mother’s breast.
Similarly, unless you cry how can you get the darśana of Śrī Guru?
When the child cries the mother runs to him. Similarly, although the guru may be in some other part of the world, when the disciple cries the guru runs there. Śrī Guru is kāruṇa-māyā, he is causelessly merciful. Thus whether he is manifest or unmanifest he gives darśana to his disciple. He may also come in a dream to give his darśana. This guru-tattva is nitya-tattva — an eternal transcendental tattva. It is eternally prakaṭa, manifest. It is not aprakaṭa, unmanifest. There is no question of guru-tattva becoming unmanifest. This śrī-guru-caraṇa is inconceivable. It cannot be understood through one’s material knowledge, intelligence, or merit.
Eternal Associate
Śrī Guru is a nitya-parikara, an eternal associate of Śrī Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. The last limit of guru-tattva is Nityānanda-tattva. Nityānanda Prabhu is gaura-parikara, an eternal associate of Gaura. Similarly, Śrī Guru is the eternal associate of both Gaura and Kṛṣṇa, because in tattva Gaura and Kṛṣṇa are one. There is no difference between Gaura-tattva and Kṛṣṇa-tattva.
Therefore we say:
Sākśād-dharitvena
Śrī Guru is as good as Lord Hari. That means that Śrī Guru is āśraya-tattva, the abode of love. Lord Hari is the only viṣaya-tattva, the object of love, whereas Śrī Guru is āśraya-tattva. The guru is called Sevaka-bhagavān, the servitor Personality of Godhead, whereas Kṛṣṇa, Lord Hari, is Sevya-bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is to be worshiped. Both are called Bhagavān. That is viṣaya and āśraya, the object of worship and the abode of worship. Otherwise, in tattva they are one.
guru kṛṣṇa-rūpa hana śāstrera pramāṇe
guru-rūpe kṛṣṇa kṛpā karena bhakta-gaṇe
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi 1.45)
According to the deliberate opinion of all revealed scriptures, the spiritual master is non-different from Kṛṣṇa. Lord Kṛṣṇa in the form of the spiritual master delivers His devotees.
Kṛṣṇa showers His mercy in the form of guru. Without that mercy one cannot understand or approach Kṛṣṇa or go back to Godhead. Kṛṣṇa appears before us in the form of guru to help us and act as our friend. Showering His causeless mercy through the guru, Kṛṣṇa delivers us from unlimited suffering in the material world. Kṛṣṇa is also in the heart in the form of Paramātmā, the caitya-guru. From within, Kṛṣṇa will give us the intelligence to act in the correct way and not make any mistakes or errors. This is the glory of the lotus feet of Śrī Guru. It is incomparable and indescribable.
Embodiment of Mercy
Both the śikṣā-guru and the dīkṣā-guru are representatives of Kṛṣṇa. Their kṛpā, mercy, is unlimited. There is no difference between the śikṣā-guru and the dīkṣā-guru.
yadyapi āmāra guru — caitanyera dāsa
tathāpi jāniye āmi tāṅhāra prakāśa
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi 1.44)
Although I know that my spiritual master is a servitor of Śrī Caitanya, I know him also as a plenary manifestation of the Lord.
This is the tattva. Therefore we say that Śrī Gurudeva is:
kṛṣṇa-kṛpā-śrī-mūrti
He is the embodiment of kṛṣṇa-kṛpā, Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. If Kṛṣṇa’s mercy assumes a body and appears before us, that is Śrī Guru.
Guru-bhakti
If someone develops guru-bhakti he will get Kṛṣṇa.
yasya deve parā bhaktir
yathā deve tathā gurau
tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ
prakāśante mahātmanaḥ
(Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.23)
Only unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master are all the imports of Vedic knowledge automatically revealed.
One who develops the same type of bhakti for the guru as he develops for Kṛṣṇa is a very fortunate soul. All transcendental knowledge will be revealed or manifest to him because there is no difference between guru-bhakti and kṛṣṇa-bhakti. Without guru-bhakti, transcendental knowledge will never manifest. Śrī Guru is Kṛṣṇa-priya-jana, a very dear associate of Kṛṣṇa. He is also Rādhā-priya-sakhī, a very dear girl companion or maidservant of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, like Rūpa Mañjarī, who is Rūpa Gosvāmī. The mūla guru-tattva, the original guru-tattva, is Nityānanda-tattva, Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu. By gradually descending, Śrī Guru, or Nityānanda-tattva, has come to us. Nitāi-cānd is both the dīkṣā-guru and the śikṣā-guru. The caitya-guru is His manifestation. This is guru-tattva. They only differ in their activities or līlās. Therefore we say:
Śrī-guru-caraṇa-padma
It is very significant that the lotus feet of Śrī Guru are compared to a lotus.
Body, Words and Mind
Bandoṅ mui sāvadhāna mate
One should offer prayers and worship, vandanā, with the utmost care. There are three types of vandanā:
Kāya, vākya, and mana
Through our body, words, and mind.
Kāya-vandanā:
With our body we fall flat on the ground and offer our daṇḍavat praṇāmas to gurudeva.
Vācika-vandanā:
Through our words we offer prayers and glorify the guru.
Mānasika-vandanā:
And through our mind we always meditate on the beautiful and transcendentally blissful lotus feet of the guru.
If one has money or some material opulence then he should render service through that money. That is kāyika, service through the body.
If one has some followers or if he is a family man with a wife, son, daughter, friends, and servants, then with those followers or subordinates he should give everything and render loving service to the lotus feet of the guru. That is also kāyika.
One should serve with all one’s capacity, which is why it says:
Bandoṅ mui sāvadhāna mate
With the utmost care one should do vandanā.
With one’s words one should offer prayers and glorification to the guru. One should also hear from the guru, śravaṇa. Whatever one has heard from the guru one will speak to others, and in that way others will also hear what he has heard. That is vācika.
Paripraśna is also there:
If one has some doubts then he should humbly ask questions and get them clarified. These are all types of sevā.
In one’s mind, mānasika, one should put firm and unflinching faith in the words of the guru.
One should understand that the guru has manifest before me in various forms to help me and shower his mercy on me. This is how one serves the guru through one’s mind.
That is the meaning of kāyika, vācika, and mānasika.
One should think:
“Guru-kṛpā is my only asset, nothing else.”
Therefore we say:
Bandoṅ mui sāvadhāna mate
I do guru-vandanā with the utmost care. Always be careful and never be careless.
Kṛṣṇa’s Trick
Śrī Guru tells me that I am an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa and thus I should be engaged in His service.
But where is Kṛṣṇa and where am I?
How can I serve Him?
Is Kṛṣṇa in the material world?
No, Kṛṣṇa is in the spiritual world, Vaikuṇṭha. That is Kṛṣṇa’s world. Kṛṣṇa is the only enjoyer. The jīva can never be the enjoyer. Gurudeva says:
“Whatever you find in this world is all paraphernalia for Kṛṣṇa’s enjoyment, not for your enjoyment.”
Kṛṣṇa’s world is Vaikuṇṭha, where there is an abundance of enjoyment. Just as we want to be free from the clutches of Māyā, Bhagavan, the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa, also wants to take us out of Māyās clutches and engage us in His service. Kṛṣṇa is the only enjoyer and His desire for enjoyment is unlimited, thus He wants to enjoy by taking everyone into His domain. We are tiny jīvas. We have no capacity to enjoy, because the jīva is not the enjoyer. We have only developed this puruṣa abhimāna, the thought that I will enjoy and enjoy. It is only our misconception, because the jīva has no capacity to enjoy. Kṛṣṇa has unlimited capacity to enjoy in unlimitedly different ways, and the jīva is to be enjoyed, upabhogyam.
Kṛṣṇa is there in His abode, Vaikuṇṭha-rājya, the spiritual world, and we are here in the Sakuṇṭha-jagat, the miserable material world.
How then can we serve Him?
Kṛṣṇa has made a trick for us, and that trick is Śrī Gurudeva. Kṛṣṇa has sent Śrī Gurudeva to this material world to spread here Kṛṣṇa’s saṁsara, His household or family. It is Kṛṣṇa’s desire that His saṁsara be manifest in this world. All sadhus and mahājanas are gurus, so Kṛṣṇa has sent them to manifest His saṁsara. So in this material world gurudeva has opened Kṛṣṇa’s saṁsara. The Supreme Lord has not said:
“You go and make your own saṁsara.”
Rather, Kṛṣṇa has said:
“Go there and do My saṁsara.”
So by Kṛṣṇa’s desire gurudeva has come here and opened Kṛṣṇa’s saṁsara.
Kṛṣṇa is his eternal master, nitya-svāmī. Gurudeva has completely surrendered and dedicated his life, kāya, mana, vākya — body, mind and words, to Kṛṣṇa. That is gurudeva. Those who take shelter at the lotus feet of such a Śrī Guru, he takes them and makes them enter into Kṛṣṇa’s saṁsara. Gurudeva says:
“I am doing Kṛṣṇa’s saṁsara, giving everything for the enjoyment of Kṛṣṇa. You please come and enter into Kṛṣṇa’s saṁsara, then you will be free from the clutches of māyā. You will be free from all material sufferings.”
Enter Kṛṣṇa’s Family
Gurudeva may construct a cottage in a solitary place and engage himself in bhajana by the side of Rādhā-kuṇḍa or Śyāma-kuṇḍa.
Why would he leave, especially to go to the Western world where Māyā is very strong, where there are many gross materialists?
He goes because his heart bleeds seeing the suffering of the jīvas. He has given up all these things to give us the opportunity to do hari-bhajana, service to Kṛṣṇa. He teaches us and gives us the opportunity to serve Kṛṣṇa. We have forgotten Kṛṣṇa, so just to revive our memory he has come here. He has opened Kṛṣṇa’s saṁsara. He has opened a factory and we have become an employee in that factory. Thereby we will enter into Kṛṣṇa’s saṁsara. Some people may say:
“I am doing Hari-nāma, chanting:
‘Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare’.”
You may be chanting, doing Hari-bhajana, but unless you enter into Kṛṣṇa’s saṁsara what value is there?
Unless you enter into Kṛṣṇa’s saṁsara there is no value to your chanting. And in order to enter into Kṛṣṇa’s saṁsara you have to approach a Śrī Guru, a bona fide guru. At that time gurudeva will call you:
“Come, come. Enter into Kṛṣṇa’s saṁsara that I have opened here.”
Unless we enter into Kṛṣṇa’s saṁsara we cannot chant. It will only be offensive chanting. You may be chanting lakhs and lakhs of Nāma, but it will simply be offensive, Nāma-aparādha. Your anarthas cannot be destroyed. Even if you chant lakhs of names offensively you cannot make any advancement at all.
Many people may chant, but what are they getting?
By that kind of chanting they may go up to Vaikuṇṭha, but gurudeva has come here to teach that you should enter into guru’s saṁsara, that is Kṛṣṇa’s saṁsara. You are a servant so you have to render service by entering into the guru-gṛha. Then you will attain perfection. Otherwise one will never attain perfection.
Kṛṣṇa-sevā-yajña
What do we want from entering into the saṁsara of the guru?
Shall we take everything and not give anything?
The guru has given you so much, but unless you serve in the house of the guru there is no benefit. Therefore the guru says:
“Come and join, enter into my saṁsara, that is Kṛṣṇa’s saṁsara. Then all your anarthas will be destroyed.”
So, dedicate your body, mind and speech, your soul and everything, to the service of Śrī Guru. You have come to the house of the guru, that means he has opened a factory and you should be an employee in that factory. Śrī Guru will give you employment.
Who will give you employment otherwise?
Will the government give you employment?
No. But the guru will give you employment in the factory that he has opened. That employment is service to Kṛṣṇa:
Kṛṣṇa-sevā-yajña
Unless you join that sevā-yajña, rendering service in the guru-gṛha, guru’s āśrama, you cannot get the real benefit.
Obstacles
Gaurasundara Mahāprabhu speaks and teaches through Śrī Guru. So, dedicating everything, kāya, mana, vākya — one’s body, mind and speech, one should serve Śrī Guru. Then perfection is guaranteed. That is definite, no matter what obstacles or impediments may come. So many obstacles are there. In the material world there is danger at every step. Great stumbling blocks are there, but if you completely surrender through your body, mind, and speech then all impediments and stumbling blocks will be destroyed within a moment. In this very life you will attain perfection — there is no doubt about it. Without the mercy of Śrī Guru, without service to Śrī Guru, no one can approach Kṛṣṇa, understand Kṛṣṇa, or get Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, every day we offer this prayer and worship the lotus feet of Śrī Guru.
Śrī-guru-caraṇa-padma, kevala-bhakati-sadma,
bandoṅ mui sāvadhāna mate
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