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890325 - SB 7.7.12-14 - Guru Must Be Premi Bhakta - Bhubaneswar

 


Gour Govinda Swami reads translations from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.7.12-14:

Verse 12: Translation

Prahlāda Mahārāja continued:

The great saint Nārada Muni brought my mother to his āśrama and assured her of all protection, saying, “My dear child, please remain at my āśrama until the arrival of your husband.”

Verse 13: Translation

After accepting the instructions of Devarṣi Nārada, my mother stayed in his care, without fear from any direction, as long as my father, the King of the Daityas, had not become free from his severe austerities.

Verse 14: Translation

My mother, being pregnant, desired the safety of her embryo and desired to give birth after her husband’s arrival. Thus she stayed at Nārada Muni’s āśrama, where she rendered service unto Nārada Muni with great devotion.

Purport:

It is stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (9.19.17):

 


mātrā svasrā duhitrā vā
nāviviktāsano bhavet
balavān indriya-grāmo
vidvāṁsam api karṣati

 


One should not remain in a secluded place with a woman, even one’s mother, sister, or daughter. Nonetheless, although one is strictly prohibited from staying with a woman in a secluded place, Nārada Muni gave shelter to Prahlāda Mahārāja’s young mother, who rendered service to him with great devotion and faith. Does this mean that Nārada Muni transgressed the Vedic injunctions? Certainly he did not. Such injunctions are intended for mundane creatures, but Nārada Muni is transcendental to mundane categories. Nārada Muni is a great saint and is transcendentally situated. Therefore, although he was a young man, he could give shelter to a young woman and accept her service.

Haridāsa Ṭhākura also spoke with a young woman, a prostitute, in the dead of night, but the woman could not deviate his mind. Instead, she became a Vaiṣṇavī, a pure devotee, by the benediction of Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Ordinary persons, however, should not imitate such highly elevated devotees. Ordinary persons must strictly observe the rules and regulations by staying aloof from the association of women. No one should imitate Nārada Muni or Haridāsa Ṭhākura.

It is said, vaiṣṇavera kriyā-mudrā vijñe nā bujhaya. Even if a man is very advanced in learning, he cannot understand the behavior of a Vaiṣṇava. Anyone can take shelter of a pure Vaiṣṇava, without fear. Therefore in the previous verse it has been distinctly said, devarṣer antike sākuto-bhayā: Kayādhu, the mother of Prahlāda Mahārāja, stayed under the protection of Nārada Muni without fear from any direction. Similarly, Nārada Muni, in his transcendental position, stayed with the young woman without fear of deviation.

Nārada Muni, Haridāsa Ṭhākura, and similar ācāryas especially empowered to broadcast the glories of the Lord cannot be brought down to the material platform. Therefore one is strictly forbidden to think that the ācārya is an ordinary human being (guruṣu nara-matiḥ).

So, (reads text 14, Sanskrit and English):



ṛṣiṁ paryacarat tatra
bhaktyā paramayā satī
antarvatnī sva-garbhasya
kṣemāyecchā-prasūtaye



Prahlāda Mahārāja says:

My mother, being pregnant, desired the safety of her embryo and desired to give birth after her husband’s arrival. Thus she stayed at Nārada Muni’s āśrama, where she rendered service unto Nārada Muni with great devotion.
We should always remember that this Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, this paramahaṁsa-saṁhitā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, pramāṇam amalam, is [a] spotless proof—pramāṇam amalam.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam pramāṇam amalam prema pumartho mahān, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu... (5.47). This is stated: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given this opinion—the proof given in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is spotless proof, amalam pramāṇam.
bhāgavata yena māne sei...prabhu yama (6.13). It is also stated: if someone doesn’t accept the truth, siddhānta—the conclusions given in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam—he is a yavana, a mlecca. He should be punished by Yamarāja life after life. One must accept Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
But one very important thing is stated here (reads text from purport, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 9.19.17): mātrā...karṣati. In the 9th Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is stated: mother (mātrā), svasrā means sister, duhitrā — daughter; a male person cannot stay in a secluded place with his mother, sister, or daughter.

Why? Because (reads the second two lines) balavān...karṣati. The senses, indriya-grāma, are so strong—balavān indriya-grāma—the senses are very, very strong. A person who is weak, who has no control over his senses, is at risk; there is danger for him. These indriyas will drag him and put him into the trap of a woman. He will be captured very easily by a woman. Therefore, this prohibition is there.

A person may be very vidyān, very learned, but the senses are so strong that his learning will not help him. So, one should be very, very careful not to stay alone in a secluded place with his mother, his sister, or his daughter. But here, Nārada Muni stayed in his āśrama; there was nobody except Nārada Muni—no other persons. Nārada Muni stayed with Kayādhu, the mother of Prahlāda Mahārāja, who was a young woman.

But one question is raised here that my Guru Mahārāja, Śrīla Prabhupāda, in his purport has given (reads from purport): “Does that mean that Nārada Muni transgressed the Vedic injunctions?” That is the question. According to the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the injunctions of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, at first glance, one may think so—that Nārada Muni transgressed the injunctions of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. But Prabhupāda says certainly he did not transgress. How is it? This is the most important thing. How is it? Because Nārada Muni is not an ordinary person!

This instruction has been given to ordinary persons. Instructions in Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, the instructions in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, have been given to ordinary persons. But these instructions are so powerful, and these instructions are transcendental spiritual instructions, not mundane instructions. And this is applicable to one and all. One should take lessons. Everybody should take lessons from Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Nārada Muni, a great saint, a great devotee, a Vaiṣṇava, knows this very well, and he also [goes], throughout the universe, both in the spiritual world and the material world, goes out and glorifies and sings with his vīṇā, dumdum, the name, fame, and glories of Lord Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa.

One who is a sādhū, really in the true sense of the term, a Vaiṣṇava, a true Vaiṣṇava, must observe strictly these regulations, the rules and regulations laid down in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, and practice, observe in his own life, and preach. That is the ācārya’s business. By his practical example, he will preach. Those who are ācāryas never say anything theoretical. They state very, very practical things and they (keep) themselves absorbed in those instructions in their very life.

So, Nārada Muni should have done so. But here Nārada Muni kept a young woman, Prahlāda's mother, in his āśrama and stayed with her. Thereby, in apparent consideration, one may think that Nārada Muni deviated from the opinions of śāstric evidence, Vedic injunctions. But Nārada Muni didn't deviate. Nārada Muni was not an ordinary person. Nārada Muni was a great saint, an elevated spiritual personality. He was not in a prakṛtha-sthiti (material condition), he was on the transcendental platform. Those who are on the transcendental platform are not ordinary persons.

This is stated also, they have forgotten the bodily impression, they are bhāgavatas, they are transcendental to bodily impressions. They forget that they have a body. Such persons can stay anywhere without fear, on the material platform, as well as on the spiritual platform. Nārada Muni was such a person, and the situation was like that: Kayādhu, the mother of Prahlāda Mahārāja, was captured by Indra, the king of heaven, who feared that Kayādhu would give birth to another demon like Hiraṇyakaśipu. So, Indra was planning to kill the baby as an embryo. But Nārada Muni, being a pure devotee, an elevated Vaiṣṇava, could know very clearly that the embryo was a great devotee and that Prahlāda Mahārāja would take birth. He was not a demon.

So, he told that to Indra and protected Kayādhu, the mother of Prahlāda Mahārāja. It was a necessity at that time to give protection to the mother of Prahlāda until her husband returned from his great austerities. That was a necessity at the time.

One who is a Vaiṣṇava, a pure devotee or an elevated devotee of the Lord, always acts according to time, place, and circumstances. So, Nārada Muni was a pure devotee, so he acted according to what was needed at the time. He kept Kayādhu, the mother of Prahlāda Mahārāja, in his āśrama to give her protection from all sides, all directions, until her husband returned from severe austerities. Kayādhu also waited for the return of her husband to give birth to the child.

So, this is an exceptional case. Therefore, it is stated here that (quotes Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  11.17.27): ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān—Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says this in the eleventh canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to Uddhava. Those who are ācāryas like Nārada Muni, those who are transcendentally situated, are not ordinary persons—māṁ vijānīyān—they are as good as Lord Hari. Sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair—in Guru-stotra we sing so: sākṣād-hari, that means they are as good as Lord Hari. They are on the same platform with Hari. That means on the transcendental platform.

Māyāvādīs, impersonalists, they say this thing: they think that an ācārya is Hari Himself. Sākṣād-hari—that means Hari Himself. This is their misconception. But Vaiṣṇava-bhāṣya, Vaiṣṇava philosophy is that Hari is the absolute truth—eka-brahma—one without a second. There is no one second. He is always one, He is the absolute truth.

So, ācāryas, the pure devotees, as good as Hari means they are on the same platform. They are not the absolute truth. They are āśraya-vigraha. We have these two things: āśraya-vigraha and viṣaya-vigraha. Lord Hari is the one absolute truth, viṣaya-vigraha. Nobody is viṣaya-vigraha. But pure devotees like Nārada Muni or ācāryas, those who are on the same platform with Hari, they are āśraya-vigraha. They are many... (?)

This is Vaiṣṇava philosophy. So, they are, in that sense, it is said they are sākṣād-dhārī. That doesn't mean they become Hari, no! They always say we are servants of Lord Hari—Hari-dāsa. If one is really a servant, a servant in the true sense, he must be on the same platform; otherwise, how can you serve Hari? If Hari is on the transcendental platform and you are on the material platform, how can you approach Him? How can you serve Him? This is the question.

Therefore, one who is really an ācārya, a guru, a spiritual master, is always transcendentally situated; he is on the same platform. He comes down here to this material platform to uplift the conditioned souls. To take away the conditioned souls from the imprisonment of māyā, [therefore] he has come. (Quotes CC Antya 4.192) dīkṣā-kāle... This is stated—when a person, or a śiṣya (disciple), accepts a bona-fide spiritual master and surrenders unto him at the time of initiation, Kṛṣṇa at that time takes him up. Guru, or spiritual master, a real spiritual master, a guru who is always on the transcendental platform, he takes that conditioned soul to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. And he prays to Lord Kṛṣṇa, he pleads on behalf of the conditioned soul before Lord Kṛṣṇa, Rājarājyeśvara—the king of the kings, Rājarājyeśvara.

As there are pleaders in rāja-dvāra (?), in the court of kings, so these Vaiṣṇavas like Nārada Muni, the guru, the spiritual master, they are the pleaders in the court of the king—they plead on behalf of the conditioned souls: "Oh Kṛṣṇa, You are here in Your own abode, (which is) the transcendental platform. Don't You think of the distress of the conditioned souls? How they are suffering? Won't You come down here to mitigate their distress?" The Vaiṣṇavas, spiritual masters like Nārada Muni, they plead in the court of Kṛṣṇa. So, the spiritual master takes the conditioned soul. If someone is very, very fortunate to take shelter of such a spiritual master, surrenders himself to the lotus feet of such a spiritual master, so out of his causeless mercy he takes that conditioned soul to the lotus feet of Krishna. When the spirtual master is 'nikunja yuno rati keli siddhyai ya yalibhir yuktir apeksaniya tatrati daksad ati vallabhasya vande guroh sri caranaravindam', in Gurv-astakam we sing.

The guru is such a person, he has power, he is not an ordinary person, he is rādhā-priya-sākhi. It is stated: Guru is rādhā-priya-sākhi—a dear companion of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Nikuñja-yuno rati-keli-siddhyai. The sākīs, what is the business of the sākīs? Their business is to unite Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in the kuñja. Kuñja—you know? A grove, tāmaras kuñja (?), a grove in Vṛndāvana. That is the business of the sākīs, the girl companions of Rādhārāṇī, they get pleasure in uniting Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in the kuñja.

So, Gurudeva, the spiritual master, is one of them. He is rādhā-priya-sākhi. Out of his causeless mercy, he has come down here, to this material platform, to deliver the conditioned souls. To take out, deliver the conditioned souls from the prison house of māyā.

Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Goswāmī Mahārāja has said that one who is a guru can take a conditioned soul out of the prison house of māyā—that is a very great task. It is even greater, much greater than opening hundreds of hospitals and doing so many philanthropic works. He has said like that. Really, it is a very great task to take a conditioned soul out of the prison house of māyā. It is not an easy task. The spiritual master must be so powerful, spiritually powerful, to take out the conditioned soul. Otherwise, how can you take out? This is the most important thing.

Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Goswāmī Mahārāja says that for this act, the guru, the spiritual master, has to exert a lot. Gallons and gallons of spiritual blood are spent for it. It is not an easy task. If I am able to take out one such conditioned soul from the prison house of māyā, then I’ll think that I’ve become successful in my spiritual mastership... (inaudible) such an art. Very, very hard task, not an easy task. The spiritual master needs to be so powerful, otherwise how can he take out?

And as he is very dear to Kṛṣṇa, he is rādhā-priya-sākhi, very, very intimate to Kṛṣṇa, very, very confidential to Kṛṣṇa, whatever he says—Kṛṣṇa accepts. Kṛṣṇa accepts, yes. He is My confidential person, so he says this, so I must accept it. When guru, such a guru, takes a conditioned soul to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa accepts. Otherwise, Kṛṣṇa will never accept. This is very important. If guru is (not) bona fide, if guru is not very powerful, spiritually... if guru does not have this intimate relationship with Kṛṣṇa, why would Kṛṣṇa listen to him? Kṛṣṇa will never listen to him. This is most important.

In other words, I may say, guru [must be] a premī-bhakta. Premī-bhakta means one who has developed a loving relationship with Kṛṣṇa, a prīti-bhakta, loving relationship. That means one who has developed love of Godhead, love of Kṛṣṇa, then he is eligible to take that conditioned soul to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa will listen to him, otherwise not. This is the most important thing. Who is a real guru? One who has developed this loving relationship with Kṛṣṇa. He only loves Kṛṣṇa.

And he has that eye:



preman-janā-curita-bhakti-vilocanena
sāntā sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti
yam śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpam
govindam ādi-puruṣam tam aham bhajāmi.


That is stated in Brahma-saṁhitā. He has such an eye: preman-janā-curita-bhakti-vilocanena, he has anointed his eye with preman-janā. You know preman-janā?Ointment, a kind of ointment, ointment of love, love of Godhead, love of Kṛṣṇa. (repeats) preman-janā...vilokayanti. Then you can see everywhere Kṛṣṇa. In the heart, in his heart, outside also. (inaudible) CC Madhya 10.179, second line? yahan netra pade tahan śrī-kṛṣṇa-sphuraya—wherever he looks, he sees only Kṛṣṇa, nothing else. He has developed, he has such an eye. He has anointed his eye with preman-janā, the ointment of love of Godhead.

Alright, if I can get that ointment, I will smear that ointment on my eye, can I see Kṛṣṇa? Have you got that industry? Are you manufacturing that ointment? (laughs) I can get it? Where is that industry? Where is this ointment being manufactured? How can I get it? This is the question. Do you know where that industry is? Where is it? I must get that ointment. Where is that industry? Have you got this industry? No! Who is the one who got that industry? Where is that industry

Devotee: Pure devotee."

Gour Govinda Swami: "Pure devotee has set up that industry? How many workers are working there? Then I'll sell it and you'll buy it, isn't it? What price is needed for it?"

Devotee: "Surrender."

Gour Govinda Swami: Yes, that is the only price. No other price is needed for it.

That industry is not an ordinary industry. As so many machines are there, so many workers are working. No, that industry is not there. It is not a mundane industry, it is a transcendental, spiritual industry. You cannot think it up, how that industry is. What type of industry it is. Without machinery, without any workers, that industry runs. Where is it, how is it? Do you know it?

Devotee: "Through the medium of the spiritual master."

Gour Govinda Swami: "Oh, this industry is here also, you see! Have you seen it?" No? This industry is only working if you hear! Śravaṇam! When you hear the glories of the Lord from the lips of a pure devotee. That is industry. As soon as we hear, that ointment is smeared on your eyes. That is the process. No other process is there. Oh, this is ointment, let me do like that—no, no, no! Automatically it is anointed, it is put on the eyes. This industry is such an industry; it is an automatic process, automatically. Preman-janā...vilokayanti.

So, the śānta (? 35.46), the devotee, a pure devotee, he has these things, ointment. So when you hear the glories of Lord Kṛṣṇa, pastimes of the Lord from his lips, automatically the ointment is smeared on the eyes of the listener, that premī bhakta. That devotee is a premī bhakta, is a loving servant, has developed a loving relationship with Kṛṣṇa. He only sees Kṛṣṇa everywhere. Kṛṣṇa is all beautiful—madhurye...? Kṛṣṇa (36.30). He is all beautiful. Kandarpa-koṭi-kāmanīya-viśeṣa-śobhām, Brahma-saṁhitā says. Cupid is very beautiful, but koṭi, crores of cupids fail to challenge the beauty of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is more beautiful than crores of cupids. He is so beautiful! If someone has developed love with such beautiful Kṛṣṇa, if someone is fortunate enough to see such beautiful Kṛṣṇa with his eyes, can he see any beauty within this material world? No beauty at all! In this material world, there is no beauty at all! Whatever material beauty you may see, it is ugly. Phew! (pretends spitting) Spit at it. He won't see any beauty here.

If he is endowed with such vision, such an eye, premanjanā-curita-bhakti-vilocanena, how can he be attracted towards material beauty? Tell me. Can he? No, isn't it? This is the test! This should be the test for a spiritual master—really, has he developed a loving relationship with Kṛṣṇa or not? Is he always seeing the all-beautiful form of Kṛṣṇa or not? Does he see the beauty of only Kṛṣṇa or not? These are the questions.

So he will never see any beauty on this material platform. How will he be attracted to māyā? He will never, under any circumstances, be attracted to māyā. Such is the spiritual master, the guru. Nikuñja-yuno-rati-keli-siddhyai. That is the purport of that verse. He has developed such a loving relationship. He only loves Kṛṣṇa. The love means prema, in Sanskrit we say [this]. This is only available on the transcendental platform. It is never available here on the material platform. There is no love here, it is lust here.

There are two words—love and lust, isn't it? No question of love here on the material platform, it is only on the spiritual platform, love, prema, it is a question of prema.

So, the spiritual master, vaiṣṇava, pure vaiṣṇava, pure devotee, is such a person; he has developed a loving relationship with Kṛṣṇa. He has developed love only with Kṛṣṇa, not with anybody else, not with any material being. So accept such a spiritual master. So he is not on the mundane platform. So this instruction: "mātrā-svasrā-duhitrā vā" (quotes SB 9.19.17 from purport), it is not applicable to him. Do you understand now?

Therefore, Narada Muni was such a person. So this is not applicable to him. So he was saved and Kayadu, the young mother of Prahlad, was also saved.
So this is an exceptional case, and one should not imitate it. Imitation is very bad!

My beloved spiritual master, Śrīla Prabhupāda, therefore, in his purport, very distinctly, clearly has said this thing: "Nobody should imitate Narada Muni or Haridāsa Ṭhākura." Don’t think so. I am a conditioned soul. I am not a spiritually empowered person, an advanced person. I am not on the spiritual platform. I am on this material platform. You should not imitate. If you imitate, Kṛṣṇa will expose you - "you are hypocrite number one! You see this hypocrisy!" You have to be very careful.

Therefore, the spiritual master, when he accepts disciples, he examines whether this disciple will be under my discipline. Can he tolerate my discipline or not? Discipline, very strict discipline. And on the part of the disciple also, he must examine whether this person is a pākka Vaiṣṇava, pure devotee or not. Has he got Kṛṣṇa cent percent or not? Has he developed this loving relationship with Kṛṣṇa or not? This must be the question.

So, accept such a person. If you are fortunate to get a person like that, so accept, surrender yourself at his lotus feet. This is here stated. These are exceptional cases, and this should not be imitated by ordinary persons. Don’t imitate, then you will get very, very severe consequences. And now we see in so many cases. Prabhupāda-jī Mahārāja very clearly says this thing in his purport. One must take lessons. First, qualify yourself. First, uplift yourself to that transcendental position before accepting disciples. Don’t imitate.

Alright, let me now conclude my speech. I speak everything in English today for you. And those who don’t know English, they are disappointed. So, let me speak a few minutes for them. Isn’t it? I may be excused. My Guru Mahārāja told me to speak in Oṛiyā, write my books in Oṛiyā, and preach in Orissa. You have come, therefore, I speak in English. When I go to the Western world, I speak in English. But here, I especially speak in Oṛiyā.

Devotee: Bhaktisiddhānta Mahārāja, the situation where one mātājī asked, "Can we talk in private?" He said, "No!" So, he followed that. Yet, we also understand that he was a pure devotee.

Gour Govinda Swami: Yes, definitely.

Devotee: Even though he was transcendental to that, he didn’t actually have to do that, still he did it to set an example for us, is it?

Gour Govinda Swami: Yes, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, a very powerful Vaiṣṇava, a pure devotee. He is one of the śākhīs of Rādhārāṇī. Our, my beloved Guru Mahārāja Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Prabhupāda is also like that. So, he went to the Western world, where māyā is very, very strong, still he was not deviated. But an ordinary person would be deviated, isn’t it? This is the proof of how they are pure. Their purity, how they have purity. How they have developed their loving transcendental relationship with Kṛṣṇa. How they see only the beauty of Kṛṣṇa and nothing else. They never see beauty anywhere within this material world. And they have come here out of their causeless mercy to take out a conditioned soul from the prison house of māyā. And to sow the seed of love in the heart of the conditioned soul. That is their only business.

Alright? Is it alright? So, we must know all these things, and you must be very much convinced—yes, I will accept a spiritual master, there is a need for accepting a spiritual master, otherwise, I cannot be delivered. I cannot go, approach the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa. That is the be-all and end-all of human life. It is only possible in the human form of life, not in other forms of life.

Kṛṣṇa is so kind that I am born as a human being. So, the chance is there, I must not miss this chance. If this life goes away, there is no guarantee that again I’ll get a human life. No guarantee at all. I may take birth in other species. So, when the chance is there, I should not miss this chance. That is an intelligent person. So, he should accept such a spiritual master and be sure, be assured, yes, now I am sure, I am saved now! My path is safe. The path to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa is safe now. I can show the leg (?) to that destination, that is your duty.

So, pray to Lord Kṛṣṇa—kṛṣṇa-kr̥pā-de guru-mile, guru-kr̥pā-de kṛṣṇa-mile (47.47), that is stated. Kṛṣṇa is so merciful. He resides here in the heart as Paramātmā. When you will be very, very eager, He will help you. Then you can meet such a spiritually advanced person, a guru who safely can lead you to that destination. That is the only thing. Thank you very much.