SB 7.7.30–31 – Surrender Everything to the Spiritual Master

Giriraj Swami: 

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Seven, Chapter Seven, “What Prahlāda Learned in the Womb,”

TEXT 30–31

guru-śuśrūṣayā bhaktyā
sarva-labdhārpaṇena ca
saṅgena sādhu-bhaktānām
īśvarārādhanena ca

śraddhayā tat-kathāyāṁ ca
kīrtanair guṇa-karmaṇām
tat-pādāmburuha-dhyānāt
tal-liṅgekṣārhaṇādibhiḥ

TRANSLATION

One must accept the bona fide spiritual master and render service unto him with great devotion and faith. Whatever one has in one’s possession should be offered to the spiritual master, and in the association of saintly persons and devotees one should worship the Lord, hear the glories of the Lord with faith, glorify the transcendental qualities and activities of the Lord, always meditate on the Lord’s lotus feet, and worship the Deity of the Lord strictly according to the injunctions of the śāstra and guru.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

In the previous verse it has been said that the process which immediately increases one’s love and affection for the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the best of the many thousands of ways to become free from the entanglement of material existence.

COMMENT

So, the previous verse says,

“Of the different processes recommended for disentanglement from material life, the one personally explained and accepted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead should be considered all-perfect. That process is the performance of duties by which love for the Supreme Lord develops.”

PURPORT (continued)

It is also said, dharmasya tattvaṁ nihitaṁ guhāyām: actually the truth of religious principles is extremely confidential. Nonetheless, it can be understood very easily if one actually adopts the principles of religion. As it is said, dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam: the process of religion is enunciated by the Supreme Lord because He is the supreme authority. This is also indicated in the previous verse by the word bhagavatoditaḥ. The injunctions or directions of the Lord are infallible, and their benefits are fully assured. According to His directions, which are explained in this verse, the perfect form of religion is bhakti-yoga.

To practice bhakti-yoga, one must first accept a bona fide spiritual master. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.74–75), advises:

guru-pādāśrayas tasmāt
kṛṣṇa-dīkṣādi-śikṣaṇam
viśrambheṇa guroḥ sevā
sādhu-vartmānuvartanam
sad-dharma-pṛcchā bhogādi-
tyāgaḥ kṛṣṇasya hetave

One’s first duty is to accept a bona fide spiritual master. The student or disciple should be very inquisitive; he should be eager to know the complete truth about eternal religion (sanātana-dharma). The words guru-śuśrūṣayā mean that one should personally serve the spiritual master by giving him bodily comforts, helping him in bathing, dressing, sleeping, eating, and so on. This is called guru-śuśrūṣaṇam. A disciple should serve the spiritual master as a menial servant, and whatever he has in his possession should be dedicated to the spiritual master. Prāṇair arthair dhiyā vācā. Everyone has his life, his wealth, his intelligence and his words, and all of them should be offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead through the medium of the spiritual master. Everything should be offered to the spiritual master as a matter of duty, but the offering should be made to the spiritual master with heart and soul, not artificially to gain material prestige. This offering is called arpaṇa. Moreover, one should live among devotees, saintly persons, to learn the etiquette and proper behavior of devotional service. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura remarks in this connection that whatever is offered to the spiritual master should be offered with love and affection, not for material adoration. Similarly, it is recommended that one associate with devotees, but there must be some discrimination. Actually, a sādhu, a saintly person, must be saintly in his behavior (sādhavaḥ sad-ācārāḥ). Unless one adheres to the standard behavior, one’s position as a sādhu, a saintly person, is not complete. Therefore a Vaiṣṇava, a sādhu, must completely adhere to the standard of behavior. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says that a Vaiṣṇava, a person initiated into the Vaiṣṇava cult, should be offered the respect befitting a Vaiṣṇava, which means that he should be offered service and prayers. However, one should not associate with him if he is not a fit person with whom to associate.

COMMENT

In the previous verse, Prahlada Maharaja explained that the best method to become liberated from material entanglement is the method by which one develops love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. First Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also says, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje, that the supreme religion or paro-dharma is that by which one develops love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that paro-dharma is bhakti. So how to practice bhakti is explained here, and more or less the same instructions given in the present verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are given in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu by Srila Rupa Gosvami.

Srila Rupa Gosvami has not made any statements in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu which are not supported by evidence from other scriptures, especially Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Srila jiva Gosvami has established that of all types of Vedic evidence, the evidence from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is most authoritative and should be considered the best. So Rupa Gosvami has supported his statements in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu with references from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and here we find his statements about how to practice devotional service confirmed.

Rupa Gosvami has listed ten preliminary items of devotional service and they are described here. guru-pādāśrayas tasmāt, one should take shelter of the lotus feet of the spiritual master first. Srila Prabhupada explains that one must engage in pure devotional service with body, word, and mind. But how to engage practically? The spiritual master is the via medium, and by connection with the spiritual master, we become connected with Krishna and without connection with a spiritual master, one has no connection with Krishna. Therefore, guru-pādāśrayas tasmāt is the first step.

Then kṛṣṇa-dīkṣādi-śikṣaṇam, one should take initiation or dīkṣā. What is the definition of dīkṣā? Srila Jiva Gosvami has given the definition. Dīkṣā is the process by which one becomes free from all sinful activities and becomes enlightened in transcendental knowledge, or as Srila Prabhupada has loosely translated it: dīkṣā is the process by which one gradually increases his interest in Krishna and loses interest in material affairs. Both come to the same thing. So dīkṣā is a continuous process. Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu further confirms that by pure devotional service, one becomes free from all material miseries. But the material miseries or the effects of one’s past activities are eliminated gradually. Aprārabdha phalam pāpam. There are different stages in the maturation of sinful activities. Aparādha means that the sinful reactions have not begun to manifest, but they have some tendency towards kūta. Kūta means the stock of one’s sinful activity. The stock or kūta also is not very manifest, but it has the tendency towards bīja or seed. The bīja or seed of sinful activities is the desire to perform them. So the desire to perform sinful activities is one of the reactions to past sin, and then finally prārabdha, are the sinful activities for which we are suffering now. So kramayena viṣṇu-bhakti sajayete, that by performance of Vishnu-bhakti, these different types of sinful reactions are eliminated one after the other, not all at one time.

Since dīkṣā means the eradication of sin, and since the eradication of sin takes place gradually, we can understand that dīkṣā is a gradual process. Dīkṣā also means the process by which one becomes enlightened in transcendental knowledge, and certainly as we advance in devotional service, we become more and more enlightened in transcendental knowledge. So dīkṣā is the process by which one develops transcendental knowledge, and since the development of transcendental knowledge is a continuous process, dīkṣā is a continuous process. The official ceremony of initiation gives the devotee a push on the right track, it gives him an initial impetus to make progress on the path. But then the devotee has to make his own efforts to progress further; otherwise, the process of dīkṣā may be hampered, or it may actually stop, at least for some time. Although the relationship between the disciple and spiritual master is supposed to be eternal in principle, but if the disciple disobeys the orders of the spiritual master willfully, he may disconnect himself from the disciplic succession and Krishna, at least for some time. So, we have to continue to make efforts, and therefore Rupa Gosvami mentions both together: kṛṣṇa-dīkṣādi-śikṣaṇam, dīkṣā and śikṣā.

In order to make progress in devotional service, we need to receive instructions and follow them. That is called śikṣā. So, we require both dīkṣā and śikṣā. If we take initiation from a spiritual master but never actually accept instructions for spiritual development, we will not be able to advance properly. Therefore, Rupa Gosvami mentions both kṛṣṇa-dīkṣādi-śikṣaṇam. Then, viśrambheṇa guroḥ sevā. Viśrambheṇa means with say in an intimate way, one should serve the spiritual master in an intimate way. In other words, one should be close to the spiritual master, and as Srila Prabhupada says in the purport, one should serve the spiritual master by giving him bodily comforts, helping him in bathing, dressing, sleeping, eating, and so on. But in order to come close to the spiritual master, one must be qualified. If one does not have sufficient spiritual advancement, when he comes close to the spiritual master, he may see him as an ordinary man and commit offenses. Just like Srila Madhavendra Puri, a great acharya in disciplic succession before Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He was faithfully served by Isvara Puri, and he was so pleased by the service of Isvara Puri that he received the full blessings of Madhavendra Puri, and he later became the spiritual master of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. But Madhavendra Puri had another disciple named Ramachandra Puri.

When Madhavendra Puri was in his last days, he lamented that, “Oh, I could not achieve my destination. I could not achieve Mathura.” So, while Isvara Puri was serving Madhavendra Puri as a menial servant, cleaning him, bathing him, changing his clothes, and helping him in every respect, Ramachandra Puri misunderstood his spiritual master and dared to instruct him. Of course, not all spiritual masters are on the same platform as Madhavendra Puri, but in any case, Madhavendra Puri was on the highest platform, and Ramachandra Puri dared to advise him that, “Why are you lamenting that, ‘Oh, I could not achieve Krishna, I could not achieve Mathura? Why are you lamenting? You should be fixed in Brahman. Bhagavad-gītā says, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati, one should be fixed in brahman. One should know that he is Brahman, and he should be fixed in Brahman, and he should not na śocati na kāṅkṣati, hanker and he should not lament. So, while you are lamenting that you did not achieve Mathura, you should not lament. Be fixed in Brahman.” When Madhavendra Puri heard the advice of Ramachandra Puri, he became very angry and said, “I am doubly unfortunate. I was already unfortunate because I could not achieve Mathura, and now I am further unfortunate because this rascal has come to give me advice about Brahman.” Then he told Ramachandra Puri, “You rascal, get out of here. I never want to see you.”

In relating this description in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami states that by his personal example Srila Madhavendra Puri shows the effect both of pleasing the spiritual master and offending the spiritual master. Isvara Puri pleased his spiritual master, and therefore his spiritual master blessed him fully that he may develop love for Krishna, and ultimately, he became the spiritual master of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Because Ramachandra Puri offended his spiritual master, his spiritual master chastised him, and as a result of his offense against his spiritual master, Ramachandra Puri began to develop material desires because one of the effects of committing offense is that one develops material desires, and material desires are not only gross desires for sense gratification; they can also be subtle desires for impersonal liberation.

So, Ramachandra Puri, having received the rebuke of Madhavendra Puri, became overwhelmed with material desires, and Isvara Puri, having received the blessings of Madhavendra Puri, became fully enriched with love of Krishna. So, viśrambheṇa guroḥ sevā: one should serve the guru in intimacy, but one must also be careful about coming close to the spiritual master because one may misunderstand him and commit offenses. Then sādhu-vartmānuvartanam, sadhu means devotee, especially the previous acharyas and vartmānuvartanam means to follow the path. We should follow the path of the sadhus. We should follow the path marked by the previous acharyas or by the mahājanas, Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ. One should follow the path tread by the mahājanas, sādhu-vartmānuvartanam, one should follow the path indicated by the sadhu. But who is a sadhu? Lord Kapila gives the symptoms of the sadhu in the Bhāgavatam, and one of the symptoms is that he follows the śāstra. One of the symptoms of a sadhu is he follows the scripture.

Therefore, following the path of the sadhus means following the path given in the scripture, and therefore Srila Rupa Gosvami quotes the verse, śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi-pāñcarātrikī vidhiṁ vinā, that if one does not follow the Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, Itihasas, then he just creates disturbance in society. Utpāta, he creates disturbance. And here Rupa Gosvami and especially Jiva Gosvami give the example of Lord Buddha. Someone may say, “I am following Lord Buddha; he is the sadhu,” but Jiva Gosvami says, “No, a sadhu is one who follows the shastra, who follows the Vedas.” But Lord Buddha did not follow the Vedas; he did not follow the shastra, therefore he cannot be accepted as a sadhu. Although he is an incarnation of Krishna, he came for a special purpose, but because he rejected the authority of the Vedas, he is not considered a sadhu, and therefore those who follow Buddha are not considered to be in devotional service. So, sādhu-vartmānuvartanam. When Lord Chaitanya came to Mathura on the way to Vrindavan, he saw one devotee dancing in ecstasy. The devotee was a sanoḍiyā brāhmaṇa. And because sanoḍiyā are considered lower caste, even though he was a brahman, he was considered to be a lower caste. Anyway generally, sannyasis follow the system of taking the food that cooked by high class brahmans only.

Anyway, after seeing the ecstatic dancing of the sanoḍiyā brāhmaṇa, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also danced in ecstasy when he came to Mathura. They had some talk and sanoḍiyā brāhmaṇa disclosed that he was a disciple of the Madhavendra Puri, that Madhavendra Puri had visited there, had come to his house, had taken food cooked by him and had given him initiation. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu replied, “I thought that you must have some connection with Madhavendra Puri because no one can have such ecstatic love of Godhead without some connection with Madhavendra Puri.” Then the sanoḍiyā brāhmaṇa said that, “You should send your servants,” Lord Chaitanya was accompanied by a brāhmaṇa servant named Balabhadra. “You should send your servants to cook and then you come and take prasāda.”

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, “Why should I send my servant, you can cook.” He said, “No, no, I cannot cook, I belong to lower caste. I cannot cook for you.” The Chaitanya Mahaprabhu replied by reciting the verse quoted in this purport here. dharmasya tattvaṁ nihitaṁ guhāyām, that truth of religion are very confidential and very hard to understand but they are shrine in the heart of the devotee and therefore, mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ. One should follow the path of mahājana or devotee. He said, “Because Madhavendra Puri took food cooked by you, I don’t have to think whether it is right or wrong, I will simply follow the precedent set by Madhavendra Puri and I will take food cooked by your hand.” So, that is sādhu-vartmānuvartanam: following the path of sadhus.

Then sad-dharma-pṛcchā: one should inquire into the truth of eternal religion. This is one of the first qualifications of the disciple. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam. He should be inquisitive to know about the absolute truth, to know about the ultimate gain in human life. jijñāsuḥ, he should be inquisitive. tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā, he should ask questions. So here, Rupa Gosvami says the same thing. He said sad-dharma-pṛcchā: he should ask questions. That means he should be very interested to understand the subject because if one is very interested to understand any subject, naturally so many questions will come, and he’ll want to know the answers. So, he will try to find some spiritual master and inquire so he can get the answers. This is one of the basic items in devotional service: to inquire about eternal religious principles.

We see this verse, I mean in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Rupa Gosvami quotes a verse in support of sad-dharma-pṛcchā, and the same verse is quoted in Caitanya-caritāmṛta by Krishnadasa Kaviraja. When Sanatana Gosvami met Lord Chaitanya, he asked him so many important questions: ke ami: who am I? Why am I suffering the threefold miseries of material existence? Altogether, he asked about six important questions, which Lord Chaitanya answered one after the other. And Krishnadas Kaviraj Gosvami said that by the mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sanatana Gosvami was able to inquire. By the mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sanatana Gosvami got the strength and the intelligence to inquire.

It is not so easy to inquire in the right way. One must have intelligence to inquire, and one must have strength to put one inquiry before the spiritual master to be answered. So, this is a very important item. Once, Srila Prabhupada gave a program at Birla house in Bombay, and at the end of the lecture, when Srila Prabhupada asked for questions, nobody asked any question. Later, Srila Prabhupada commented that they appeared not to be interested because if one is interested in understanding the transcendental subject, he must have questions. He is bound to have questions, and then he should inquire. Sad-dharma-pṛcchā bhogādi-tyāgaḥ kṛṣṇasya hetave: One should be prepared to give up any enjoyable thing for the sake of Krishna’s service. For the sake of Krishna, we should be ready to give up anything and everything. “Give up anything and everything” means if it can be used in Krishna’s service, it should be offered to Krishna. This is called arpana. If it cannot be engaged in Krishna’s service, it should be rejected. So, everything we have with us now, or anything that comes to us at any time, we should see if it can be used in a favorable way in Krishna’s service. If it can, we should offer it to Krishna, and if it cannot be used in a positive way in Krishna’s service, it should be rejected. We have no use for it. It may be useful for sense gratification, but if it is not useful for Krishna’s service, I reject it because I am not going to indulge in sense gratification. Something may come that could be useful in Krishna’s service and also useful for sense gratification, but I have to give it up, means give up the sense gratification and surrender to Krishna.

Not to keep it for myself to enjoy, surrender to Krishna, offer it to Krishna, don’t keep it for your own sense gratification. So, this is guru-śuśrūṣayā bhaktyā. One must accept a bona fide spiritual master and render service unto him with great devotion and faith. Whatever one has in one’s possession should be offered to the spiritual master. This much we’ve covered, two lines. Then saṅgena sādhu-bhaktānām. One should associate with sadhus and bhaktas. And here, Srila Prabhupada quotes Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakura that one should discriminate with whom he associates and how. Srila Rupa Gosvami has given the same advice in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu and especially in Upadeśāmṛta. In Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, he defines sādhu-saṅga, Sajātīyāśaye snigdhe sādhau saṅga svato vare. One should associate with devotees who are like-minded, who are affectionate, and who are more advanced than oneself. This is the definition of sādhu-saṅga in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. This will help us more to advance in Krishna consciousness. But not all devotees are more advanced; different devotees are on different levels. So, in Upadeśāmṛta, Rupa Gosvami gives some advice on how to associate with different types of devotees in different ways.

For those who are on a lower platform, who are just beginning to chant the holy name but who are not pure devotees, we should offer them respect in the mind. And those who are accustomed to chanting the holy name, who have been initiated, and who take pleasure in chanting the holy name, who are pure devotees, one should offer obeisances, and if one is on that level, make friendship. And those who are advanced in pure devotional service and who are on the highest platform, one should faithfully associate with and serve. One should faithfully associate by the six processes of loving exchange,

dadāti pratigṛhṇāti guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati

bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam

dadāti, one should give something, this is arpanam, which we already discussed. And if he gives something to us, we should accept it. guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati, one should inquire the same thing: one should inquire confidentially and one should hear what the spiritual master replies. bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva, one should offer food to the spiritual master and accept whatever the spiritual master gives as prasāda. Of course, the prasāda of the spiritual master is not just the remnants of his food; especially, it is the instructions that he gives we should accept. So, one should associate to the fullest extent with the advanced devotee, more advanced devotee, or most advanced devotee.

Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura says that a person initiated into the Vaishnava cult should be offered the respect befitting a Vaishnava, which means that he should be offered service and prayers. However, one should not associate with him if he is not a fit person with whom to associate. In other words, even if he is initiated, but if he is not a fit person with whom to associate, if he is not really a true disciple making progress in becoming free from material attachments and becoming enlightened in transcendental knowledge, we should not associate intimately with him. As we read yesterday, he may be Vaishnava-prāya, not really a Vaishnava or pure devotee. He may be like a Vaishnava, but because he still has material desires, he engages in devotional service but wants material facilities, Vaishnava-prāya, he is almost a Vaishnava, and therefore we should not associate intimately.

So, we can end here. Each line of Bhāgavatam one could speak for days and days. Since the time factor is at work, we will stop. Are there any questions? Yes.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:53:00]

[Question:] Ātmārāma Prabhu says that dīkṣā is a continuous process which goes with śikṣā, and in the course of making advancements, one will associate with and perhaps take instructions from other devotees, godbrothers of one’s spiritual master, one’s own godbrothers, or any qualified devotee. So, are our relationships with them eternal?

Giriraj Swami: In principle, they should be. Once Satsvarupa Maharaja wrote Srila Prabhupada that he was actually thinking of his wife: is his relationship with his wife eternal? Because if it is not, then what’s the use? So, Srila Prabhupada wrote back that by giving an analogy or an example: some friends are embarking on a journey together. So, as long as they are on the journey, they are together; they have a relationship with each other. But when they reach the destination, they also continue to have a relationship with each other in principle. Srila Prabhupada also said that while the group is moving towards the destination, someone may lag behind. So, when the others reach the destination, he may not be there with them, but he can also follow later. So, if we are all progressing towards the same destination and helping each other along the way, when we reach the destination, we should find that we are still together, and we should continue to serve each other there also in service to Krishna.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:56:43]

[Question:] He says that someone may be a devotee for ten or twelve years, and he is expected to be a sadhu, but he may be proud, he may be harsh. He may hanker for so many material things. How can we call him a sadhu?

Giriraj Swami: There are twenty-six qualities of a devotee, and one is kṛṣṇa eka śaranam, he is fully and exclusively devoted to Krishna. So, if a devotee has the primary qualification of kṛṣṇa eka śaranam, being fully surrendered to Krishna, even if he doesn’t have the secondary qualifications of being humble and mild and so on, he should still be respected as a devotee. If we don’t respect him as a devotee, we commit an offense. We don’t necessarily have to associate intimately with him, but at least within the mind, we should offer respect. We should respect him as he is a devotee. We shouldn’t think that because he is harsh or proud that he is not a devotee. If he has the primary qualification of surrender to Krishna, he is a devotee, and we should respect him at least within the mind.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:58:55]

[Question:] He says that according to the Bhagavad-gītā, one should work and perform his duty without worrying about the result. But he says that five persons may be engaged in service, and out of the five, one will get a promotion and the others won’t. But they’re also working, yet one is getting the promotion and the others are not. So what is the question? He says all are working, so why is only one enjoying the result and the others have to suffer?

Giriraj Swami: But if the person is working as a matter of duty and not for personal gains, then he won’t suffer. Why is he suffering? Suppose we are all getting ten rupees and we are happy. Then instead of you getting ten rupees, you get twelve rupees, but I am still getting ten rupees. So how am I suffering? I was happy with ten rupees, so how am I suffering? It is envy. It is only envy. But when you were getting ten and I was getting ten, I was happy. But now you are getting twelve and I am still getting ten, so I am not happy. Why am I not happy? Is that envy?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:01:35]

Giriraj Swami: But the fact that one man is getting twelve rupees and another man is getting ten rupees doesn’t mean that the Lord is more pleased with the one who is getting twelve rupees. Some of the best devotees of Krishna have been poor. You know, Sudama Vipra, of course, he became rich later. That is a good example. So people want to become rich, but some never became rich, like Kolavicha Sridhra, one of the best devotees of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He was very poor; he never became rich materially, but he was most rich spiritually because Chaitanya Mahaprabhu loved him so much. He personally came to his house and ate out of his crude iron pot, and he displayed his original form to him. So we cannot judge that if somebody is rich, God is more pleased with him, and if somebody is poor, God is less pleased with him. We have to see how rich the person is spiritually. Then we can guess how much God is pleased with him. Kamsa was very rich, but Krishna wasn’t pleased with him. And the residents of Vrindavan were comparatively poor, and Krishna was so pleased with them. But actually, the residents of Vrindavan were mortgaged.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:03:40]

[Question:] In the verse, it is mentioned sādhu-bhaktānām. So is there any difference between a sadhu and a bhakta?

Giriraj Swami: Not really, because the sadhu abides by the orders of the scriptures, and the scripture says that one should become a devotee. In the definition of sadhu, a sadhu follows the injunctions of the scriptures, and the scriptures say that one should become a devotee. Srila Prabhupada says, in the real sense, sadhu must be a devotee.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:04:50]

[Question:] He says that Lord Buddha did not accept the authority of the Vedas, so he cannot be accepted as a sadhu to be followed. But Shankaracharya accepted the authority of the Vedas, but he misinterpreted the Vedas. And since he misinterpreted the Vedas, we can’t follow him either.

Giriraj Swami: He himself didn’t follow the path of the sadhus because the path of the sadhus is bhakti, and he didn’t follow the path of bhakti, so we cannot follow him.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:06:10]

[Question:] He said that Lord Buddha is an incarnation of Krishna, and he preached Buddhism for a particular purpose. So why, what right do we have to say that he is not a sadhu?

Giriraj Swami: Well, I mean, here the point is that we should follow the path of the sadhus, but Buddha didn’t follow the path of the sadhus. He made his own path, so we should not follow him. It is not a matter of disrespect for Buddha because Jiva Gosvami explains why Buddha preached the way he did, so that people will not disrespect the Buddha. But the path shown by the Buddha is not the path of the sadhus, and therefore we should not follow it.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:07:50]

[Question:] He says the Buddha taught that we should follow Satyam—truthfulness, and ahimsa—non-violence.

Giriraj Swami: But according to Rupa Gosvami, being truthful and being non-violent are not items of bhakti. But if one does bhakti, automatically he will become truthful and non-violent. So the path of the sadhus is bhakti. Satyam is not the path of the sadhus, and dhyana is also one of the items of bhakti but dhyana on Krishna. It is said in this verse here, tat-pādāmburuha-dhyānāt, one should meditate on the lotus feet of Krishna; that is bhakti. But Buddha did not say to meditate on the lotus feet of Krishna, so we cannot follow. Very good question.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:09:20]

[Question:] He says, guru-śuśrūṣayā bhaktyā, we should serve the guru with devotion, but in ISKCON the gurus are always traveling, so we don’t always get the chance to serve them directly. And even if the guru gives an instruction, there are so many other people involved, they may not agree, so the whole thing becomes quite complicated. So how to make progress?

Giriraj Swami: Well, we have the same experience with Srila Prabhupada but Srila Prabhupada gave the instruction to work cooperatively, so when we try to work cooperatively, we are following the instruction of Srila Prabhupada, even if we don’t follow a particular instruction of Srila Prabhupada at a particular time. Like, at one stage, Srila Prabhupada instructed me to write, and a few weeks later, I came to Bombay with the idea that I will follow Srila Prabhupada’s instruction to write. But the authorities said that we are preparing to celebrate the first pandal program at Cross Maidan, so you can write any time, but now you should help and collect ads. So I agreed. Then some days later, when Srila Prabhupada came to Bombay, the first thing he asked me is, “How is your writing coming?” So I said, “Well Srila Prabhupada, when I got here, the authorities said that I can write anytime, but now is one opportunity we have to walk into the office of any man in Bombay and ask for money for this advertisement, so I should do this now, and afterwards I can write.” So I asked Srila Prabhupada, and I said that, “You also told us that we should cooperate with the authorities, so I thought I should. Did I do the right thing?”

Prabhupada replied that, “One may temporarily suspend an instruction from the spiritual master, but he can never neglect it.” He said, “Just like his guru maharaja told him to write, but since he had come to India and was traveling and preaching so much, he was hardly able to write.” So he said, “I also had the order of my guru maharaja, but temporarily, due to circumstances, I may suspend it.” So certainly, the instruction to cooperate and the instruction to follow the authorities are important instructions from the spiritual master. So even at the expense of following some lesser instruction, we may follow the more important instruction to cooperate and obey, and that will please the spiritual master, and we will be able to make advancement. Of course, it is true, and in one letter where Srila Prabhupada was emphasizing the point that the devotees should follow the authorities, he also mentioned that sometimes the authorities give wrong instructions and everything becomes upset. But as you said, the authority is not always on the same level as the guru, so his instructions may not be the same. So Srila Prabhupada said sometimes by their instructions they make everything topsy-turvy, but still we have to follow.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:15:00]

[Question:] He said that Ekalavya wanted to accept Dronacharya as guru, so he made a statue of him and worshipped the statue and got knowledge from the statue. So, in Kali-yuga, can we do the same thing?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, otherwise why are we worshiping the deity of Srila Prabhupada. We can also get inspiration from the deity. Krishna is the supreme guru. Why are we worshiping the deity of Krsna? We can get inspiration from the deity. Of course, that is possible, but it doesn’t mean that because you are worshiping the deity, you can avoid dīkṣā and śikṣā in the normal process. You should take dīkṣā and śikṣā and worship the deities. That is the way. Yes, because Ekalavya was not actually accepted by Dronacharya, and then Dronacharya took away from Ekalavya whatever Ekalavya got from the deity. So, we should be accepted by the guru. That means we have to approach the guru and be accepted, take initiation, take instruction, and worship the deities if you want. But the main thing is to take initiation and instruction. Otherwise, even if you get something for some time, you can also lose it if it is not done in the proper way. And the proper way is to approach the guru and be accepted by the guru. Not on your own, you make someone your guru and try to get everything from your guru whether your guru wants it or not. You should accept the guru, and the guru should accept you. It should be mutual. Then the process becomes effective, and you get the results.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:18:40]

[Question:] He says that we have to follow dīkṣā guru, but we also have to follow the authorities because we have to follow the authorities, they are śikṣā guru.

Giriraj Swami: But Srila Prabhupada had never said so. We have to follow the authorities because we are in an institution, and in the institution, there has to be discipline. It doesn’t mean that we necessarily believe that their instruction is right. Srila Prabhupada gave the example that someone is riding in a car, and the driver wants to go in a certain way, but you think that we should better go in another way. So, you have the right to present your arguments to the driver. But ultimately, because he is in the driver’s seat, he can decide. But you still have the right to believe within yourself that your suggestion was better. You don’t have to believe that because the driver was in the seat, and he had the authority to decide which way to take the car, that he necessarily made the best decision. You may actually think he didn’t make the best decision within yourself, but because he is in the seat, you had to go the way he wanted to go because he is the driver.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:21:05]

[Question:] She says that the spiritual master is already fixed for the particular disciple. Is it true that one already has one spiritual master, but one may not have met him? And just as the mother goes in search of her child, the spiritual master goes in search of his disciple.

Giriraj Swami: It could be. It could be. I felt that way, that I already had my spiritual master, but I hadn’t met him. And either I will find him, or he will find me. But there is no question of choosing because he is already there. I felt that way.

Srila Prabhupada kī jaya!

Gaura premānande Hari Haribol!