Tag: guru

The following is an excerpt from a lecture given by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura at his last manifest Vyasa puja celebration February 6th, 1936. Vyasa puja is the day traditionally set aside to honor the spiritual master.

I have some doubt about Bhaktivinoda Thakura's explanation of the jiva. I would be very grateful if you could please enlighten me on this subject.

By the constant process of hearing, chanting and associating we will grow more and more to that more substantial plane where faith is the most important thing and where we find ourselves always in the position of surrender and catching everything coming from above instead of just struggling up the ladder.

The meaning of the phrase, ‘Guru is one’ is derived from the Sanskrit statement akhanda-guru-tattva. This means the undivided (akhanda) principle of the guru-tattva. This undivided guru-tattva manifests in three aspects, namely caitya-guru, diksa-guru, and siksa-guru respectively.

It is said in the revealed scriptures that to understand the very meaning of religion, self-realization and to know God, one has to approach a bona-fide spiritual master through the proper process. A guru or acarya heads a certain sampradaya and brings down the knowledge of the revealed scriptures from the previous acaryas. He practices according to his spiritual master’s instructions and distributes those instructions through his disciples to deliver the fallen souls in this material world.

We are encouraged to search for Krsna, yet we should never forget that on our own we can never find Him. It is He that must come to us. The path of bhakti is a descending process. It is super-subjective – it always has been and always will be. In the words of the German philosopher Hegel, “He is for Himself and by Himself”.

"Don’t feel discouraged, Krsna and His devotees are reaching out to you. They are reaching to embrace you. Their causeless mercy is our greatest fortune. For some reason unbeknownst to us, we have this opportunity. We are being canvased into that sankirtana , as He has appeared as Mahaprabhu."

So many instructions are there from Srila Prabhupada and amongst those, the paramount instruction is to preach vigorously. To become a pure devotee and to preach vigorously.

It has been said that the disciple should see his guru as a direct manifestation of Srimati Radharani. Is such actually appropriate?

Recently our attention was drawn to a small pamphlet entitled 'Guru Nirnaya Dipika' written by Mahant Krsna Balarama Svami, who considers himself to be a disciple of His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Svami Prabhupada. In 'Guru Nirnaya Dipika' the author has strongly advocated that only a Vaisnava born in a brahmana family has the right to initiate disciples and confer diksa-mantras to them. Coincidentally, the author just happens to be born in a brahmana family.

Sri Guru may be compared to the Pole Star because with the help of the guru we can derive great benefit from the Vedic knowledge. But without the help of the guru we will be bewildered in our attempt to understand the Vedic knowledge.

After Gaura Hari, who descended to purify this age of Kali, made Himself invisible to the eyes of the world, the preaching of His religion of love carried on more or less uninterruptedly up until the time of Baladeva Vidyabhushan. In the time that followed, though there were still many advanced devotees present on the planet, a period of darkness descended on Mahaprabhu’s school of devotion. Many heterodox sects came into existence that vocally claimed to be following Mahaprabhu, but in fact were simply using His name to promote their own false doctrines.