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| EDITORIAL December 17, 1998 VNN2698 Search for Sri Guru BY MITHILADHISA DASA EDITORIAL, Dec 17 (VNN) — Dear Vaishnavas, I offer my humble respects to you all. For more than 20 years now, the debate has been going on and on about whether a ritvik system will better serve the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Perhaps the greatest fuel for this continuing topic has been the spiritual difficulty created by persons lacking the proper qualifications to be a genuine spiritual master. The fact that there is an ongoing debate about the topic is an indication that the final words on this subject (few at best), by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, prior to his departure from our external vision, have been understood differently by different persons, thus creating divergent points of view amongst his followers. There are sincere devotees on each side of the equation, as well as those with ulterior motives due to anarthas. One of the problems that I have clearly perceived in ascertaining the "truth" of the matter at hand, is the tendency to pursue answers through the ascending process of knowledge. Over many years, many arguments have been proposed from both sides, wherein a few moments of tape have been scrutinized, word by word being picked apart as if in a dissection laboratory. But the method itself is doomed by it's own nature, as it avoids the avaroha pantha, the path of descending knowledge. We have to analyze these things carefully. Three types of evidence have been explained in sastra, pratyaksa pramana (direct perception), anumana pramana (logical inference) and sabda pramana (descent of divine sound vibration). In the name of using the taped voice of Srila Prabhupada as sabda, aspirants for the truth of the subject have indulged mainly in the methods of pratyaksa and anumana, by putting forth evidences of those who claimed to have heard directly from His Divine Grace, and making an analytical dissertation on the topic (constructing an apparently logical thought stream) by creating a synthesis of the words of the tape and the direct witnesses. The interesting thing, is that to achieve the answers to these questions, one must engage in the exact same process by which one came in contact with Sri Guru to begin with. When in doubt, the best thing to do is to follow the example of Arjuna -‚i–yas te 'haˆ Šdhi mŠˆ tv‹ˆ prapannam, to approach a qualified person with humility and ask for instruction in the mood of a surrendered disciple. That many have a problem in placing full trust in many of the leaders of Iskcon cannot be denied. However, that does not preclude trustworthiness from existing. Ironically, the proponents of the ritvik system ask us to trust them. Trustworthiness can be found where there is a realized soul -j•Šninas tattva-darina. So for answers to serious questions, we must utilize the instruction of Sri Krsna Himself in the Bhagavad-gita verse 4.34. tad viddhi pra‘ipŠtena paripranena sevayŠ upadeksyanti te j•Šnaˆ j•Šninas tattva-darina For further clarification on the subject matter of accepting a spiritual guide, I have included as follows an unedited excerpt from Srila Prabhupada's lecture on verse 4.34 from Bhagavad-gita. In this lecture we find the tattva-darshi personality of Srila Prabhupada, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja, delineating the proper means for making actual progressive advancement of the human form of life. New York, August 14, 1966 660814BG.NY - excerpt Krishna is the first spiritual master, and when we become more interested, then we have to go to a physical spiritual master. That is enjoined in the next verse. tad viddhi pra‘ipŠtena paripranena sevayŠ upadeksyanti te j•Šnaˆ j•Šninas tattva-darina Now, Krishna advises that "If you want to know that transcendental science, then you just try to approach somebody." Pra‘ipŠtena. Pra‘ipŠtena, paripranena and sevayŠ. What is pra‘ipŠta? Pra‘ipŠta means surrender. Surrender. You must select a person where you can surrender yourself because nobody likes to surrender to anyone. We have got... Everyone, we are puffed up with whatever knowledge we have got. Everyone is puffed up: "Oh, who can give me knowledge?" There is regular propaganda that "For spiritual realization there is no need of spiritual master." But so far Vedic literature is concerned, so far Bhagavad-gŽtŠ is concerned, so far BhŠgavata is concerned, so far the Upani–ads and Vedic literatures are concerned, they do not say. They say that there is need of a spiritual master. Take for example the Upani–ads, the Vedic Upani–ads. In the Vedic Upani–ads it is said, tad-vij•ŠnŠrthaˆ sa gurum evŠbhigacchet, rotriyaˆ brahma-ni–šham, this mantra, that "If you want to learn that transcendental subject, then..." First word is that if you are eager to learn that subject. In the material world also, suppose if I want to learn the art of music. Then I have to find out somebody who is a musician. Without having the association of a musician, nobody can learn the art of music. Or any art. Suppose if you want to become an engineer. So you have to enter yourself in an engineering college or technical college and learn there. Nobody can become a medical practitioner simply by purchasing book from the market and reading at home. That is not possible. You have to admit yourself in a medical college and undergo training and practical examination, so many things. Simply by purchasing book, it is not possible. Similarly, if you want to learn Bhagavad-gŽtŠ or any transcendental subject matter, here is the instruction by Lord Krishna Himself. Lord Krishna Himself, because He is the speaker of this Bhagavad-gŽtŠ, He says that tad viddhi pra‘ipŠtena paripranena sevayŠ. You must go to a person where you can surrender yourself. That means you have to check, "Who is the real person who can give me instruction on Bhagavad-gŽtŠ or any Vedic literature, or any scripture, right?" And not that, to search out a person as a, whimsically. No. You have to search out a person very serious that, who is actually in the knowledge of the thing. Otherwise why you shall surrender? No. There is no necessity of surrender. But here it is said clearly that "You have to surrender to a person." That means you have to find out such a person where you can voluntarily surrender. Without finding, your mission will not be fulfilled. Because very word, first thing, is... Just like Arjuna in the beginning. We have discussed that point. Arjuna was talking with Krishna in friendly terms just like friend. He was... Krishna was saying some discussed that point. Arjuna was talking with Krishna in friendly terms just like friend. He was... Krishna was saying something, "Oh, you cannot... You are a k–atriya. You are a military man. How can you give up the fighting?" Just like friendly talks. But when Arjuna saw it, that "Our friendly talk will not make a solution," so he surrendered unto Krishna that "I'll..." ‚i–yas te 'haˆ Šdhi mŠˆ prapannam: "I just become surrendered disciple unto You. Please instruct me what is my duty." So this is the process. Here also, Krishna advises that "If you have to learn," say, for Bhagavad-gŽtŠ, "then you have to go to a person where you can surrender." Not only surrender, not blindly surrender. You must be able to inquire. Pariprana. The next qualification is pariprana. Pariprana means inquiry. Without inquiry, you cannot make advance. Just like a student in the school who inquires from the teacher, he's very intelligent. Even a boy, a child, if he inquires from the father, "Oh, father, what is this? What is this?" that child is very intelligent. Very intelligent. So inquiry is required, not only pra‘ipŠta... "Oh, I have found out a very good spiritual master, very learned and very good, saw. All right. I have surrendered. Then all my business finished." No. That is not... You may have a very good spiritual master, but if you have no power to inquire, then you cannot make progress. Inquiries must be there. But inquiry, how inquiry? Not to challenge. Inquiry, not that "Oh, I shall see what kind of spiritual master he is. Let me challenge him and put some irrelevant questions and talk nonsensically, this way and that way." Oh, that will not make... Inquiry on the point. Pariprana means inquiry on the point, and that inquiry should be sevŠ. SevŠ means service. Not that "Oh, I have inquired so many things from such and such person. Oh, I have not rendered any payment or any service, so I have gained." No. Without service, your inquiry will be futile. So three things here. Pra‘ipŠta, pariprana and sevŠ. Pra‘ipŠta. Pra‘ipŠta means you must have the qualification to, at least to find out a person who is actually qualified to give you real instruction. That you have to do. That remains on you. Suppose you have to purchase some gold or jewelries, and if you do not know where to purchase, if you go to a grocer shop to purchase a jewel, oh, then you'll be cheated. If he says, go to a grocer shop and ask, "Oh, can you give me diamond?" he will understand that "Here is a fool. So let him [me] give him something. This is diamond." "Oh. What is the price?" He can charge anything and when you come home, your relatives say, "What you have brought?" "This is diamond. I went to the grocer shop." So that kind of finding spiritual master will not do. You have to become a little intelligent. Because without being intelligent nobody can make any spiritual progress. AthŠto brahma... In the Brahma-sŸtra, in the VedŠnta-sŸtra, it is stated, athŠto brahma-jij•ŠsŠ. Brahma-jij•ŠsŠ. Brahma-jij•ŠsŠ means to inquire, inquire about the supreme subject matter Brahman. That requires a qualification. Atha. Atha means those who have become experienced of this miserable life of this material world. They can inquire. Then can inquire what is Absolute Truth, what is spiritual life. AthŠto brahma-jij•ŠsŠ. Similarly, in the BhŠgavata also it is stated, tasmŠd guruˆ prapadyeta jij•Šsu reya uttamam. ‚reya uttamam. Uttamam means the udgata-tamam. That is transcendental. Tama means darkness. Anything of this material world, that is in darkness because this material world is dark. You know that the whole world, whole universe, is dark. Therefore there is requisition of the sunlight, moonlight, electricity. It is dark. So uttamam means which is beyond this darkness, beyond this darkness. That means transcendental subject, spiritual subject. In the spiritual world there is no darkness. So if anyone is desirous of inquiring about the spiritual world, then he requires to find out a spiritual master. Otherwise there is no necessity for a man who wants to remain in this darkness, for material benefit... Suppose I want some spiritual master or I want to study Bhagavad-gŽtŠ or VedŠnta-sŸtra so that I may make some material improvement. Oh, that is not required. For material improvement you can work just so many people are working. They are making, trying industry or something like... That is prescribed. But if you are at all interested about the Brahman subject, the spiritual subject, then you require a spiritual master. That is clearly stated. TasmŠd guruˆ prapadyeta. TasmŠt means "Therefore one has to surrender unto the spiritual master." Who? Who is jij•Šsu reya uttamam: "who is very much eager to understand about the transcendental subject matter." So any Vedic literature the same instruction you'll find, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gŽtŠ, tad viddhi pra‘ipŠtena paripranena sevayŠ upadeksyanti te j•Šnaˆ j•Šninas tattva-darina J•Šnina means j•ŠnŽ, or a man who is in perfect knowledge. Perfect knowledge means one who has perfect vision or the perfect, not theoretical, but actual vision of the spiritual subject matter. He is called j•ŠnŽ. J•Šninas tattva-darina. The subject matter of achieving connection with the departed acharya through his books, has been dealt with by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada in his article in The Harmonist, December 1931, vol. XXIX No.6. An excerpt from his article follows: There have, however, already arisen serious misunderstandings regarding the proper interpretation of the life and teachings of Srila Thakur Bhaktivinode. Those who suppose they understand the meaning of his message without securing the guiding grace of the Acarya are disposed to unduly favour the methods of empiric study of his writings. There are persons who have got by heart almost everything that he wrote without being able to catch the least particle of his meaning. Such study cannot benefit those who are not prepared to act up to the instructions lucidly conveyed by his words. There is no honest chance of missing the warnings of Thakur Bhaktivinode. Those, therefore, who are misled by the perusal of his writings are led astray by their own obstinate perversity in sticking to the empiric course which they prefer to cherish against his explicit warnings. Let these unfortunate persons look more carefully into their own hearts for the cause of their misfortunes. The personal service of the pure devotee is essential for understanding the spiritual meaning of the words of Thakur Bhaktivinode. The Editor of this Journal, originally started by Thakur Bhaktivinode, has been trying to draw the attention of all followers of Thakur Bhaktivinode to this all-important point of his teachings. It is not necessary to try to place ourselves on a footing of equality with Thakur Bhaktivinode. We are not likely to benefit by any mechanical imitation of any practices of Thakur Bhaktivinode on the opportunist principle that they may be convenient for us to adopt. The Guru is not an erring mortal whose activities can be understood by the fallible reason of unreclaimed humanity. There is an eternally impassable line of demarcation between the Saviour and the saved. Those who are really saved can alone know this.Thakur Bhaktivinode belongs to the category of the spiritual world-teachers who eternally occupy the superior position. The present Editor has all along felt it his paramount duty to try to clear up the meaning of the life and teachings of Thakur Bhaktivinode by the method of submissive listening to the Transcendental Sound from the lips of the pure devotee. The Guru who realises the transcendental meaning of all sounds, is in a position to serve the Absolute by the direction of the Absolute conveyed through every sound. The Transcendental Sound is Godhead, the mundane sound is non-Godhead. All sound has got these opposite aptitudes. All sound reveals its Divine face to the devotee and only presents its deluding aspect to the empiric pedant. The devotee talks apparently the same language as the deluded empiric pedant who had got by heart the vocabulary of the Scriptures. But notwithstanding apparent identity of performance, the one has no access to the reality while the other is absolutely free from all delusion. Those who repeat the teachings of Thakur Bhaktivinode from memory do not necessarily understand the meaning of the words they mechanically repeat. Those who can pass an empiric examination regarding the contents of his writings are not necessarily also self-realised souls. They may not at all know the real meaning of the words they have learnt by the method of empiric study.Take for example the Name "Krishna". Every reader of Thakur Bhaktivinode's works must be aware that the Name manifests Himself on the lips of His serving devotees although He is inaccessible to our mundane senses. It is one thing to pass the examination by reproducing this true conclusion from the writings of Thakur Bhaktivinode and quite another matter to realise the Nature of the Holy Name of Krishna by the process conveyed by the words. Thakur Bhaktivinode did not want us to go to the clever mechanical reciter of the mundane sound for obtaining access to the Transcendental Name of Krishna. Such a person may be fully equipped with all the written arguments in explanation of the nature of the Divine Name. But if we listen to all these arguments from the dead source the words will only increase our delusion. The very same words coming from the lips of the devotee will have the diametrically opposite effect. Our empiric judgment can never grasp the difference between the two performances. The devotee is always right. The non-devotee in the shape of the empiric pedant is always and necessarily wrong. In the one case there is always present the Substantive Truth and nothing but the Substantive Truth. In the other case there is present the apparent or misleading hypothesis and nothing but untruth. The wording may have the same external appearance in both cases. The identical verses of the Scriptures may be recited by the devotee and the non-devotee, may be apparently misquoted by the non-devotee but the corresponding values of the two processes remain always categorically different. The devotee is right even when he apparently misquotes, the non-devotee is wrong even when he quotes correctly the very words, chapter and verse of the Scriptures. It is not empiric wisdom that is the object of quest of the devotee. Those who read the scriptures for gathering empiric wisdom will be pursuing the wild goose chase. There are not a few dupes of their empiric Scriptural erudition. These dupes have their admiring under-dupes. But the mutual admiration society of dupes does not escape, by the mere weight of their number, the misfortunes due to the deliberate pursuit of the wrong course in accordance with the suggestions of our lower selves. What are the Scriptures? They are nothing but the record by the pure devotees of the Divine Message appearing on the lips of the pure devotees. The Message conveyed by the devotees is the same in all ages. The words of the devotees are ever identical with the Scriptures. Any meaning of the Scriptures that belittles the function of the devotee who is the original communicant of the Divine Message contradicts its own claim to be heard. Those who think that the Sanskrit language in its lexicographical sense is the language of the Divinity are as deluded as those who hold that the Divine Message is communicable through any other spoken dialects. All languages simultaneously express and hide the Absolute. The mundane face of all languages hides the Truth. The Transcendental face of all sound expresses nothing but the Absolute. The pure devotee is the speaker of the Transcendental language. The Transcendental Sound makes His appearance on the lips of His pure devotee. This is the direct, unambiguous appearance of Divinity. On the lips of non-devotees the Absolute always appears in His deluding aspect. To the pure devotee the Absolute reveals Himself under all circumstances. To the conditioned soul, if he is disposed to listen in a truly submissive spirit, the language of the pure devotee can alone impart the knowledge of the Absolute. The conditioned soul mistakes the deluding for the real aspect when he chooses to lend his ear to the non-devotee. This is the reason why the conditioned soul is warned to avoid all association with non-devotees. Thakur Bhaktivinode is acknowledged by all his sincere followers as possessing the above powers of the pure devotee of Godhead. His words have to be received from the lips of a pure devotee. If his words are listened from the lips of a non-devotee they will certainly deceive. If his works are studied in the light of one's own worldly experience their meaning will refuse to disclose itself to such readers. His works belong to the class of the eternal revealed literature of the world and must be approached for their right understanding through their exposition by the pure devotee. If no help from the pure devotee is sought the works of Thakur Bhaktivinode will be grossly misunderstood by their readers. The attentive reader of those works will find that he is always directed to throw himself upon the mercy of the pure devotee if he is not to remain unwarrantably self-satisfied by the deluding results of his wrong method of study. This presentation is not meant for stirring up further argumentation on the subject matter. Those who are seriously desiring an answer to this apparent dilemna will find much direction in the words of our Guru Parampara. The responsibility for one's spiritual pursuit is exclusively upon the aspirant. Ecclesiastical edicts or the edicts of those in opposition to various institutional practices, may or may not help one along the path towards Divinity. The empiric path of truth-seeking will be of no avail to the sincere practicioner. It behooves all those on the path of bhakti to pursue the divine triumverate of guru, sadhu and sastra when it comes to the understanding of spiritual matters. Subjects of Divinity are inconceiveable to the materially contaminated mind and it's cheating, speculative tendencies. Therefore the necessity of a proper spiritual guide is in order. But again, the onus remains with the spiritual seeker to search out a true guide who can illuminate the darkness and help them on the path to an eternal, blissful life. I have presented so much food for thought for those that sincerely desire to achieve the goal of life. Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has lucidly described the need for a physical spiritual guide and the method required to approach such a guide. He has also described methods that will be useless in the pursuit of transcendence. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada has clearly explained the necessity to hear the books of Srila Thakur Bhaktivinode from the lips of a pure devotee, and how reading such books, without the aid of a pure devotee will not have the desired affect, but may actually produce an affect opposite to that desired. The example presented by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada is not unsimilar to the situation at hand, wherein many new aspirants are being directed by various ideologists to approach the literatures of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, without seeking the guidance of a pure devotee, who is present before them. I humbly request all sincere readers of the abovementioned articles to take the words of these two wonderful acharyas to heart and to do the needful for your own spiritual benefit, without any consideration of sectarian doctrines. For those of you who are newly inquiring into the nature of guru and disciple, I humbly urge you to take the time you personally require to seek out a genuine representative of the spiritual truths, who you feel from within the core of your heart that you can surrender to, and put forward humble inquiries directed toward the service of the Lord and His pure devotees. For those already properly initiated, I humbly urge you to seek out answers to dilemna-producing questions, from persons who are actually situated in transcendence. This gives rise to the topic of siksa guru. Not the institutional conception of siksa guru, but the type of siksa guru that Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Goswami has described in Sri Chaitanya Charitamrta, representative of Sri Sri Radha-Govindaji. When one feels the inner necessity to put forward further questions in one's progressive life of transcendence, then one may desire to hear from a realized siksa guru, who is self-satisified, being fully qualified to represent abhideya jnana. The fear of institutional concerns should never check one on their own path of internal life. Somehow one must learn to harmonize these concerns and make decisions in concert with the beckoning of Divinity. I humbly appeal to the readers of this article to deeply consider what has been put before you and then move forward in harmony with the perspective of our acharyas in the parampara. Vaishanava dasanudasa, Mithiladhisa dasa (Sincere and non-argumentative persons are welcome to contact me by private e-mail at mda921@aol.com, for thoughtful and honest exchange on the topics of the articles of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada, quoted above.) 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