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EDITORIAL  Inquiries Into The Absolute: Digest 25 BY HIS HOLINESS ROMAPADA SWAMI MAHARAJA EDITORIAL, Feb 23 (VNN) — Answers by His Holiness Romapada Swami Maharaja Spiritual Master Q.1) My sister and I have been receiving instructions for some time from a very nice devotee. Now we want to approach him for initiation. However his guru is also present in body and we are not sure what the protocol is in such a situation. Also should we take the initiative and approach him or wait for his approval and desire to initiate us? Answer: To respond to your specific question, I would like to first give some general vaishnava principles from which you may benefit. According to vaishnava teachings, there are two equally respected kinds of guru - diksa guru or initiating spiritual master, and siksa guru or instructing spiritual master. One may have many instructing spiritual masters, but the initiating spiritual master is one; the siksa gurus instruct the disciple either in consultation with the diksa guru or along the general guidelines given by the diksa guru. One may accept instructions in Krishna consciousness from a siksa guru, and submit to the instructor and to his instructions; such a very significant relationship is extremely important. Such relationships may be many, while accepting diksa, likewise, is another serious consideration. The general etiquette or protocol is that a devotee does not accept formal disciples and initiate in the presence of his own spiritual master, although he may be instructing many students. When the spiritual master departs from the planet, then the disciple may begin to accept initiated disciples under the authorization of his own spiritual master and the sanga of senior vaishnavas. During Srila Prabhupada's time, many devotees did not get Prabhupada's personal association very much; they were being trained by and working under Prabhupada's disciples but formally they accepted Srila Prabhupada as their eternal spiritual master and were initiated by him. >From the information you supplied, it seems that you have been very fortunate to have a siksa relationship with the devotee who you wrote about, and etiquette dictates that you should continue to cultivate the relationship in that manner. Diksa should be sought elsewhere. It is an approved vaishnava principle and is welcome that a disciple approach the spiritual master, take shelter of his lotus feet and request initiation, as recommended by Krishna in Bg 4.34. Q.2) When one thinks he has found a bona fide spiritual master and later it proves to be wrong, would it be appropriate to say that initially, or in the first place, the judgment of the disciple was wrong and thus he never got a bonafide spiritual master? Answer: That may be a possibility. There are some instances when one does accept a bona fide spiritual master but later on that spiritual master may fall away from the strict standards. Narahari Sarkar, one very saintly follower of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, has written one text which describes the latter of these two situations. In either case, the aspiring devotee should just go forward on his spiritual journey, with greater wisdom, and accept the shelter of one who is a bona fide spiritual master. When one is fully sincere to attain spiritual perfection, then Krishna will bring the devotee to His bona fide representative. Q.3) When one accepts a spiritual master, it is said that the relationship is eternal. However, if one is not able to go back to Godhead in one lifetime, then how can he accept another guru in the next life? Or does the same guru have to come back to fulfill his duty? Answer: The concept of 'guru-tattva' is inconceivable and most difficult to understand. In principle, as Srila Prabhupada explains in his famous Vyasa-puja address, the Guru is one; guru cannot be two. (Cf. Science of Self Realization pp. 70-71) The Original spiritual master is Lord Balarama or Lord Nityananda and He appears in infinite forms to instruct us. This of course does not de-personalize or minimize the value of the empowered devotee of the Lord who plays the part of a spiritual master. This fundamental spiritual principle is difficult to understand with mundane logic, but with this understanding we can simply accept that one's relationship with his spiritual master is eternal. Karma Q.4) Can any person get more than he is destined to get especially by worshiping demigods? Prahlada Maharaja has said that material happiness and unhappiness is fixed. Then why do people get immediate results when they start worshipping demigods? Are these results in addition to what they are destined to get? What is destiny then? Answer: By performance of punya of any type, one increases one's entitlement to reap the fruits of one's piety. Prahlada Maharaja's statement is not contradicted by a demigod worshiper's enjoying fruits coming from their worship. As you have written, yes, "these results in addition to what they are destined to get". The worshiper's previous 'punya account' has just been increased by a 'deposit', and their prayers for receiving a benediction has just depleted the 'punya account' by a sizable 'withdrawl'. ** A brief biography of His Holiness Romapada Swami available at: http://www.prastha.com/cgi-bin/uncgi/renderphilo.pl?ndx=2 ** This and all previous digests are available on the internet, sorted by topics and date. ** They can be accessed at: http://www.iskcondc.org -> Philosophy -> Inquiries into the Absolute You can also directly link to our Philosophy website by add the following URL to you website: http://www.prastha.com/cgi-bin/uncgi/renderphilo.pl Our contacts are: Email : mail@iskcondc.org Web Address : http://www.iskcondc.org Postal: 10310 Oaklyn Drive, Potomac, MD 20854 Contact VNN about this story  Send this story to a friend
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