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EDITORIAL January 25, 1999 VNN2910 Guru Tattva Part 1 BY MAHAKSA DASA EDITORIAL, Jan 25 (VNN) — We need not worry, for the Holy Names of the Lord have been made available at once to us to hear and chant, to remember, all by His Divine Grace, Srila Prabhupada. I recently analyzed what is meant by "His Divine Grace, Srila Prabhupada". "His" refers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead Who has sent to the world the embodiment of "Divine Grace" in the form of Srila Prabhupada. I propose that this is the proof of the status of Sri Gurudeva as Saktyavesa avatar, proof that he is the incarnation of the internal pleasure potency of Sri Govinda, whose only purpose is to display his pastimes of displaying His pastimes, hoping to attract the fallen souls, hoping that we grab on to the lifeline. Grammar! What a concept. When Srila Prabhupada uses a pronoun to describe Srimati Radharani or Srimati Sitadevi, the pronoun is always capitalized. I, however, may be offending my Guru Maharaja by not capitalizing pronouns used in substitution of his name. My reason is a personal one, as follows, and I ask the scholars who read here to correct this ignorance, if they would be so kind. When Srila Prabhupada began his mission in the Western World, he came at the same time as hundreds of self advertised gods, such as Mehar Baba, Ramm Dass, Muktinanda, Yogananda, Yuktisvara, too many to name, yet they were all very willing to have their disciples capitalize their pronouns, even demanding. Srila Prabhupada was totally different, he declared his position as dasa dasa anudasa, and went on to thoroughly defeat all the false gods. He was very strong on this, and in my way in serving this held respect for Srila Prabhupada, the lower case I use to describe him is a double-capital, a garland placed at his feet. Three points to consider: 1.) A bonafide spiritual master is self-effulgent, which means that he does not have to beg permission from any one or any foundation for the right to accept disciples. His acceptance of disciples comes from his following the order of his spiritual master only, regardless of the approval of anyone else. As demonstrated by Srila Prabhupada, such a person will not be affected by the criticisms of his godbrothers, and, although always wishing for their support, he is not dependent of such. The disciples who accept such a person as their link to the parampara also will not care for the criticisms of his godbrothers, nor will they seek them out for approval of his version, otherwise, they have no guru. This goes for those who sought out Srila Prabhupada's godbrothers for verification of his version, by doing so, they reject him. All those, therefore, seeking to accept someone as their diksa guru, should be very sure of what they are doing. One of the qualities of one "heavily laden with prema-bhakti, love of Sri Krsna" is that such a person has been convinced of the message of his guru maharaja, so much so, that he is able to convince others. When they come to him, he accepts, not necessarily because he wants followers, rather that he knows from conviction, that these folks MUST accept a bonafide spiritual master. The acceptance of disciples is an act of humility, for a true guru knows he is lower than the straw in the street, he also truly believes that those who approach him are much more spiritually advanced than himself, he is the personification of the purport of Sri Siksastakam. 2.) Those who have accepted the "post" of guru through the mechanitions of an ecclesiastic system, and act the part as if it were a job, are not self-effulgent, for without being propped up by the organization, they do not have a job. This is materialistic religion only, and has little value to one who wants it all, wants to attain what his bonafide spiritual master has. Appointed, elected, official, accepted by dint of application qualification, etc., all nonsense, and not supported by guru-shastra-sadhu. 3.) Those who have adopted a form of religion to preserve the teachings of a bonafide spiritual master have honestly attempted to be pleasing to their Gurus. Lord Jesus Christ approved of this type of religion, as he stated that St. Peter is the foundation of his teachings, as Srila Prabhupada stated that ISKCON is the foundation for the propagation of Krsna Consciousness. But neither pure lover of God accepts development of such religious systems to deviate from the teachings one iota. Religion has it's place in the hearts of man, but historically, such systems have deteriorated into religions OF man. I sincerely believe that anyone can become a disciple of Lord Jesus Christ, and of Srila Prabhupada, but this, too, requires self effulgence rather than approval of any foundation. The system of siksa acting as preceptor between disciple and diksa is a bonafide system established by Srila Prabhupada, yet how can one receive diksa initiation? Such an act is one of reciprocation, not simply "I accept you as Gurudeva", but must be coupled with him accepting disciple and accepting service from, and promising Sri Govinda to deliver such a sincere soul back to Godhead. I admit my disqualifications, but I also know that we must not use our minds to compare acaryas. This will only disturb our own spiritual growth. Srila Prabhupada's godbrothers did this, and thus displeased their guru maharaja. They criticized Srila Prabhupada for accepting Brahmacarinis, a term previously unknown. They said he was concocting his own philosophy for only having his disciples chant 16 rounds (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura required his disciples to chant 32, Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura, 64.) This criticism is the sign of envy only, because the bonafide Vaisnava Acarya only has to please Sri Govinda, and if he requires a disciple to chant only a half round, he nonetheless engages such a fortunate soul in the process of sadhana bhakti, for the previous day, the soul couldn't even utter Harinama at all. Blind rejection is as bad as blind faith, and the criteria that should be used to help one choose whom to hear the Lord's Version from is not the opinions of others. Lord Jesus Christ, when questioned on how we are to know if the one we are hearing from is from The Supreme Father or just a worldly person, His answer is the key for us all on the Guru-Tattwa issue, "Only if the disciple is doing the will of the Supreme Father will He know if I am from Him, it is not possible, otherwise." "You will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free." Guru is the Lord in the heart, Sri Sesa Balarama, Shastra is the written word, so kindly shared with us westerners by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada, and sadhu is the lovers of God throughout history who provide leadership, example and guidance through their mercy, headed by their greatest associate, Srila Prabhupada. It is up to the disciple to guage one they choose to hear from by the teachings of Srila Prabhupada, Sri Sesa Balarama (Lord Nityananda Prabhu, the original spiritual master), and the sruti and smriti, revealed truth. Thus, it is the disciple only who decides true Guru-Tattwa. If one fits within such criteria, such a person should be accepted as bonafide spiritual master and served with rapt attention, regardless of how the people in general feel about it. Purport of this article is simply this. Yoga is successful when one becomes self realized, to worry unnecessarily about another's spiritual progress is of no value, and only meant for when one actually decides to take the plunge and become guru. Then, to worry about disciples spiritual well being is assigned duty, but otherwise, just "neti, neti". Haribol, dear readers, we all should know what age we live in. I'd like for us to all get along, I'd like for all 10,000 of Srila Prabhupada's disciples to become bonafide spiritual masters in their own rights, without bickering, because that would be most pleasing to him. (end of Part 1) About the Author | Other VNN Stories by this Author Comment on this Story This story URL: http://www.vnn.org/editorials/ET9901/ET25-2910.html
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