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EDITORIAL  Symptoms Of A Mahabhagavata BY SRIPAD B.V. VANA MAHARAJA EDITORIAL, Mar 20 (VNN) — All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga. First of all I offer my humble obeisances at the lotus feet of Srila Gurudeva. Please convey my pranamas to all Vaisnavas and Vaisnavis. I was so pleased to receive your email. Here are the answers to your questions. Question 1 How can we tell whether a person actually has transcendental qualities, when they may only superficially appear to have all the symptoms of a mahabhagavata? There seem to be many people who are expert at pretending. So, being a kanishata, how can we tell what is their real intention in order to expose them? Answer to Question 1 Maybe there is qualified guru in..., but sastra explains that you should always take shelter at the lotus feet of a high class, bona fide braja-rasika guru and learn all tattva-siddhanta from him if you want to attain the highest perfection. Raghunath Das Gosvami in his Stavavali explains: anaradha radha padambhuja renum anasrita vrinda tavim tad padamkam asambhasya tad bhava gambhira cittam kutah syama sindho rasasyava ga ha How is it possible to immerse oneself in the ocean of syama-rasa (sringara-rasa) without worshipping the dust of Srimati Radhika's lotus feet, without taking shelter of Vrindavan, which is decorated with Her footprints, or without serving Her devotees, whose grave hearts are always absorbed in love for Her. Srimad Bhagavatam states that a high-class, bona fide guru has three qualifications: 1. He knows all sastra, puranas and upanisads 2. He is detached from all material things 3. He has realisation about the Divine Couple, Radha-Krsna Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 11, has the folowing sloka: tasmad gurum prapadyate jigyasu sreyam uttamam sabde pare ca nisnatam brahma upasamasrayam Sri Caitanya Caritamrta (Madhya Lila, 22.65) states: sastra yukte sunipuna drdra sradhavana uttama bhagavata sei tarah ei samsara An actual uttama-bhagavata is called a bona fide guru. If a kanistha adhikari is pretending to be a maha-bhagavata, then a madhyama adhikara devotee will clearly understand his kapatya, duplicity. This is because a madhyama adhikari knows sastra. A pretender never practices bhajana and sadhana. Only by knowledge he preaches. A pure devotee has this symptom: ksantir avyatha kalatvam viratir mana sunyata asa bandha samukantha nama gane sada-ruci asakti tad-gunakyane pritis tad vasati sthale ityadayo Ônubhavah syur jata-bhankure jane (Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu Bindhu 1.3.25) yasya yat sangatih punso manivat syat sa tad gunah sva kularddhyai tato dhiman sarva yuttanai eva samsrayet (Jaiva-Dharma, chapter 17, page 406) "Just as a jewel or crystal reflects the colour of the object with which it is in contact, so a person develops qualities according to the company he keeps. Therefore, by keeping association with suddha-bhaktas, one can become a suddha-bhakta. Thus, the association of sudha-bhaktas is the root cause of good fortune." So, the last conclusion is that a kanistha adhikari does not perform bhajana and sadhana. He is only displaying the activities of an uttama-adhikari. Not everyone will find shelter at the lotus feet of a bona fide guru. Not everyone will get a bona fide guru. Fortunate jivas will come in contact with a bona fide guru, so Jaiva-Dharma explains the seventh sloka of Dasa-mula-siksa: yada bhrahmam brahmam hari-rasa-galad-vaisnava-janam kadacit sampasyan tad-anugamane syad ruci-yutah tada krsnavrttya tyajati sanakair mayika-dasam svarupam vibhrano vimala-rasa-bhogam sa kurute "When in the course of wandering amongst the higher and lower species in the material world, a jiva is able to behold a Vaisnava absorbed in the flowing rasa of sri-hari-bhakti, ruci arises in his heart for following the Vaisnava way of life. By chanting sri-krsna-divya-nama, he gradually becomes free from his conditioning. Step by step he then gains his intrinsic, cinmaya-svarupa (transcendental form), and becomes quaified to taste the pure and spiritual rasa of a direct service to Krsna." Question 2 During Braja Mandala Parikrama we go to so many holy places, and so many benedictions are offered to those who visit these places, i.e. "By bathing here all material desires will go and you will attain the lotus feet of Radha and Krsna." So, does the person have to be of a certain qualifiacation for these results to be realized? You see so many people, like my brother, who traveled to and even lived in these places, with no apparant result. Why is this? Answer to Question 2 The holy places are very powerful. If anybody lives in a holy place, especially in Navadvipa, his heart will be purified and he will attain his ultmate goal. It is stated in Sri Caitanya-Caritamrta, Madhya-lila, 22.133: "The power of these five principles is very wonderful and difficult to reconcile. Even without faith in them, a person who is offenceless can experience dormant love of Krsna simply by being a little connected with them." So this verse gives us the conclusion that if anyone is nirabaradhi but has no sraddha, if he connects with these five things, bhava must arise in his heart. So Sri Caitanya-Caritamrta states: sadhu sanga nama kirtana bhagavata sravana mathura vasa sri murtira sradhaya sevana sakala sadhana srestha ei panca anga krsna-prema janmai ei pancera alpa-sanga Even Srila Jiva Gosvamipada mentions these things in his Sandharbas. Ganga-jala purifies everyone's heart, but the fishermen every day early in the morning take bath in the Ganga, but their hearts are not purified. Why? So, Jiva Gosvamipada in this context has given this answer. The fisherman has no faith that the water of the Ganga is transcendental (brahma-drava). The Ganga does not purify his heart, and he is also an offender. For both reasons, Ganga-devi does not purify his heart. So the first step of bhakti is called sraddha: sraddhavan jana haya bhakti adhikari... (CC) Whoever has shraddha for Bhagavan, bhakta and tadiya-vastu, he can attain pure devotional service. So gurudeva in his class has told many times about saranagati and sraddha. If offenders again and again touch the dust of Braja Mandala and humbly pray to the lotus feet of guru and Vaishnava, after a few years the transcendental dust of Braja-bhumi will give mercy. How did our gosvamis do sadhana-bhajana in Braja-mandala? If you follow their footsteps, then your heart will be purified, and you will attain the highest perfection: he radhe braja devikeÉ Question 3 While preaching, people ask for evidence of the existence of God and I try to explain someting about the Vedas and how we take the word of the vedas like one takes the word of the mother to understand the identity of our father. So, people bring up the argument that all religions take the evidence of their own scripture, claiming that THEIR book is the word of God. So, what makes the Vedas bonafide over all the other religious scriptures in the world? Answer to Question 3 It is written in Jaiva-Dharma: "The self-evident Vedas, which have been received in the sampradaya through the guru paramara by recipients of Sri Hari's mercy such as Brahmaji and others, are known as amnaya-vakya. The nine prameya-tattvas are established by these amnaya-vakyas with the help of other pramanas that follow the guidance of these sastras, such as evidence obtained by direct sense perception (pratyaksa). Reasoning that is only based on logic is always crippled when evaluating inconceivable subject matters, since logic and argument have no access in the realm of the inconceivable. (p.303)" pratyaksena na nomita va yastu dayo na bhudhyate etat vidanti vedena tasmad vedasya vedam (Taitiriya Upanisad) Human beings cannot realise transcendental things by their senses. They can only realise them by Veda. The Vedas manifested from the lotus mouth of the Lord. Baddha-jivas have four kinds of imperfections. The conditional jivas are always subject of brahma (illusion), pramada (error), vipralipsa (propensity to cheat), and karanapatava (imperfection of senses), but the Lord is byond all these. Therefore, the self-evident Vedas, which are the original form of pure knowledge, are always faultless and fully dependable as evidence. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu himself told to Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya: pramanyera madhye sruti pramanam pradhana sruti jei mukharta kahe sei sei pramana (CC, Madhya, 6.135-136) Srimad Bhagavad-gita (15.15) also gives evidence: sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto mattah smrtir jnanam apohananca vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyo vedanta-krd eva-vid eva caham "I am situated as Antaryami in the hearts of all living entities. From me comes remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas I alone am to be known. Indeed, I am the originator and the compiler, as well as the knower, of Vedanta." So Vedas is called original. All the religions also accept the Vedas. Those who do not accept the Vedas are called nasthika, atheists . Sri Caitanya-Caritamrta (Madhya, 6.168) states: vedanamaniya-bhudha hoila nasthika... "The Buddhists do not recognise the authority of the Vedas, therefore they are considered agnostics. However, those who have taken shelter of the Vedic scriptures yet preach agnosticism in accordance with the Mayavada philosophy are certainly more dangerous than the Buddhists." Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.2.28-29) says: vasudeva para-veda vasudeva paraksara... Question 4 Is there a verse that explains that there is always an acarya on earth? Right now all the rtviks say that there is no pure devotee on the earth. And if there was any evidnece to back up that there is always an acarya that would be most helpful and appriciated. Answer to Question 4 This question and answer dialogue was also between Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya and Gopinath Acarya. Only by the causeless mercy of guru and Krsna can one understand these things. So Sri Caitanya-Caritamrta states: isvare krpalesa haita jahare sei seita isvara-tattva janevare pare So there are many verses that explain that there are many bona fide acaryas. But how would you realise? If you take shelter at the lotus feet of a pure devotee, then you will realise. I am giving the example of my gurudeva. He is murta-sloka, the embodiment of all slokas (his life and activities). All good qualities are in his heart. He has twenty six qualities: kripalu, akrita-droha, satyasara, sama, nirdosa, vadanya, mrdu, suci, akincana, sarvopakaraka, santa, krsnaika-sarana, akama, aniha, sira, vijita-sad-guna, mita-bhuka, aptamatta, amani, gambhira, karuna, maitra, kavi, daksa, and mauni (see CC mad 22.77-80). Now I am giving an example of a few qualities of my Gurudeva. All these transcendental qualities are the characteristics of my gurudeva. I cannot fully explain, but I shall try to point out some important qualities. Gurudeva was very merciful. Though some demons and wretched persons criticised gurudeva, gurudeva was always giving mercy to them. Gurudeva many times in his lectures told, "They are my babies." If a baby passes stool in the lap of his mother, his mother never gives up her son. So gurudeva is still giving mercy to all the offenders. Gurudeva is non-different from Nityananda-tattva. He is magnanimous, and he is helping all the devotees, athough he is in older age. And he is completely peaceful, surrendered to Sri Radha-Krsna, and desireless. He is indifferent to material acquisition, he is fixed in devotional service, and he gives respect to all (amani mana dena). All the rtvics say that there is no pure devotee on the earth. This is the same question that Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya asked Gopinath Acarya. If someone says that there is no sun, is this true? So rtvics think that there is no pure devotee or acarya in this world. Will everyone accept their conception? No. The Gita (16.6) gives evidence that in this world there are always devotees and demons. dvau bhuta-sargau loke'smin daiva asura eva ca daivo vistarasah prokta asuram partha me srnu The Prakasika-vrtti in Srila Gurudeva's Gita says: "Bhagavan Sri Krsna is giving a detailed description of asurika qualities so that after knowing them, one can completely give them up. The Padma Purana states: dvau bhuta-sargau loke'smin daiva asura eva ca visnu bhaktah smrto daiva asura tad-viparyayah ÔBhaktas who perform bhajana to Bhagavan are called devatas. Conversely, those who are envious of Bhagavan and his bhaktas are called asuras. Those who follow the instructions of sastra, becoming free from mundane attachment and hatred, and who engage in bhagavad-bhakti should be considered as devatas. Those who violate the instruction of sastra due to being guided by material attachment and envy and who engage in adharmika activities, are called asuras.'" There will never be a lack of devotees in this world. Lord Ramacandra also delivered the demons, but we see that again this world is full of demons. In Dvapara-yuga, Krsna killed demons, but now in Kali-yuga there are still many demons. So in this world there are always bhaktas and demons. Pure devotees are always in this world. Vaishnavas say if there are no pure devotees in this world, then the world will be destroyed. Question 5 At what point in our sadhana and attempted bajana does realization begin to come. Right now I feel like such a baby and with all my offences it will be so long before any taste or realization is coming. I actually just want to realize what saranagati is because even though I may read it over and over and say "I am surrenderng" this is not real surrender. Gurudeva says We are saying "here is my heart" to Gurudeva, but we keep the key to ourselves. So how to give this key, and really realize what is surrender? Answer to Question 5 Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has explained the follow six limbs of saranagati: anukulyasya sankalpa pratikulyasya varjanam raksisyatiti visvaso goptrtve varanam tatha atmaniksepa karpanye sad-vidha saranagati There are six symptoms of self-surrender. The first two are anukulyasya sankalpa and pratikulyasya varjanam: "I will only do that which is favourable for unalloyed bhakti, and I will reject all that is unfavourable." This is called sankalpa (solemn vow). The third symptom is faith in Bhagavan as one's protector (raksisyatiti visvaso): "Bhagavan is my only protector. I can derive absolutely no benefit from jnana, yoga and other such practices." This is an expression of trust (visvasa). The fourth symptom is the deliberate acceptance of Bhagavan as one's maintainer (goptrtve varanam): "I cannot obtain anything or even maintain myself by my own endeavour. I will serve Bhagavan as far as I am able, and He will take care of me.' This is what is mean by dependence (nirbharata). The fifth symptom is surrender (atma-niksepa): "Who am I? I am His. My duty is to fulfil His desire. This is submission of the self (atma-nivedana). The sixth symptom is meekness (karpanya): "I am wretched, insignificant, and materially destitute." This is what is meant by humility (karpanya or dhainya). Surrender is also there from sraddha to mahabhava. Srimati Radhika is completely surrenederd to Sri Krsna. When a sadhaka is thinking, "I am the sold animal (vikritapasu) of guru and Vaishnava", at that time it is called saranagati. According to your saranagati (surrender), the moods of guru and Krsna will manifest in your heart and realisation will come. Thank you for your hospitality. Your ever well-wisher, Tridandi Svami B.V. Vana Maharaja Contact VNN about this story  Send this story to a friend
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