Sri Guru Tattva Vijnana

THE PRINCIPLE OF SRI GURU

Svayam Bhagavan Sri Krishna defined the principle of Sri Gurudeva as follows to His dear devotee Sri Uddhava (Bhagavata 11.17.27) —

acaryam mam vijaniyan navamanyeta karhicit
na martya-buddhyasuyeta sarva devamayo guruh

Sri Bhagavan said: “O Uddhava! You should consider the acarya, meaning the Guru, to be Me Myself, and never disrespect him.
Do not find faults in him, taking him to be an ordinary human being, for Sri Guru is the aggregate of all the gods.”

guru krishna rupa hon sastrera pramane;
guru rupe krishna kripa korena bhaktagane (C.C.)

“The Guru is another form of Krishna, that is proven by the scriptures. Krishna bestows His mercy upon the devotees in the form of the Guru.” Through all this scriptural evidence, it can be known that Sri Krishna appears in this world in the form of the Guru to extend His grace upon the devotees. This grace consists of the treasure of worshipping Sri Krishna, and the fruit of this bhajana is the treasure of prema which is bestowed upon the surrendered disciple. yo’ntar bahis tanu-bhritam asubham vidhunvann acarya-caitya vapusha svagatim vyanakti (Bhagavata 11.29.6) Sri Uddhava told Sri Krishna — “O Lord! You remove all the people’s obstacles, in the form of sensual desires, to bhajana and grant them realisations about You, externally in the form of Sri Guru, who is giving instructions in spiritual truths and internally in the form of the antaryami (the Inner Overseer) as good consciousness.” Therefore, formally, Sri Gurudeva is as worshipable as Sri Krishna, but he is not the ultimate object of worship like Sri Krishna. The Guru is the special devotee-manifestation of the Lord.

yadyapi amara guru caitanyera dasa;
tathapi janiye ami tahara prakasa (C.C.)

“Although my Guru is the servant of Sri Caitanya (the Supreme Lord), still I know him to be the Lord’s manifestation.”
Sri Gurudeva must be known as a special manifestation of the Lord in the form of a maha-bhagavatottama (topmost saint) ¬— this is the true form of Sri Guru. In his Manah Siksha, Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami has written: saci-sunum nandisvara pati sutatve guru-varam mukunda preshthatve smara param ajasram nanu manah “O mind! You should always remember Saci-suta Sri Gaurasundara as Sri Krishna and Sri Gurudeva as Sri Krishna’s dearmost devotee!” Srila Visvanatha Cakravartipada has also written in his Gurvashtakam —

sakshad dharitvena samasta sastrair uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih
kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya vande guroh sri caranaravindam

“All the scriptures proclaim Sri Guru to be Lord Hari Himself, and the great saints also think like that, but he is also Sri Krishna’s dearmost devotee — I offer my obeisances unto the lotus feet of that Sri Gurudeva.” The purport of this is that although Sri Gurudeva is perceivable as Sri Krishna’s dearmost devotee, the disciple considers him to be the direct manifestation of Sri Krishna. If the disciple does not think like that, he might consider the Guru to be an ordinary mortal being, and that will result into a great offence which will make all his sadhana bhajana fruitless, like the bath of an elephant.

THE NECESSITY OF TAKING SHELTER OF SRI GURU’S LOTUS FEET

One who wants to worship the Supreme Lord must first of all take shelter of the lotus feet of Sri Guru. bhajana-sadhana is far removed from one who does not take shelter of the lotus feet of Sri Guru, because this is the gate through which one enters the path of bhakti. This does not only count for the path of bhakti, there is no practice in the world that does not require the shelter of a Guru’s (teacher’s) feet! If it is necesary to take a learned and experienced teacher to learn something in this mundane world, then it is needless to say that one needs a Guru to learn bhakti, which is the highest science in the spiritual world, from. Another special feature of devotional knowledge is that the merciful Sri Bhagavan has personally appeared within this world in the form of the Guru to teach bhakti to the people of the world.
We have briefly discussed the Guru-principle above. When the gravity (gurutva) of the Guru-principle is understood, then there will be no more doubts about the importance of taking shelter of the lotus feet of Sri Guru. What is the intrinsic status of Sri Guru, what is the substance (essence) of Guru and what is the auspicious result of taking shelter of Sri Guru’s feet — the ignorant person has different doubts about these questions regarding taking shelter of Sri Guru’s feet. Knowledge on all these Guru-principles is acquired in the association of the sadhus. Without the company of the devotees of the Supreme Lord, the principle of Guru cannot be understood. Hence the scriptures and the great saints first of all advise the people who wish to do sadhana bhajana and who desire the highest welfare, to associate with the saints. In Srimad Bhagavata, Lord Sri Kapiladeva has told His own mother Devahuti —

satam prasangan mama virya samvido bhavanti hrit karna rasayanah kathah
taj joshanad asvapavarga vartmani sraddha ratir bhaktir anukramishyati

(Bhagavata 3.25.25)

“When one attains the excellent company of the saints, topics that indicate My glories become like nectar for the heart and the ears. Anyone who lovingly relishes these topics, that are the swift pathway to the cessation of ignorance, will gradually develop faith, attachment and devotion for Me.” The purport of this is that by hearing topics on the Supreme Lord from the great saints, one first attains faith, then one attains the shelter of a bona fide Guru and engages in bhajana, as a result of which rati and prema gradually develop. By the Lord’s wish, the living beings have been wandering (reincarnating) through different species of life since beginningless time and by the Lord’s grace they have attained this human body, which is the gateway to liberation from the repetition of birth and death. The most fortunate amongst these human beings will attain the association of the saints. While hearing topics of Sri Krishna from the mouths of the greatly realised devotees of the Lord, the heart, which is polluted by attachment to sense objects, will be somewhat purified and one will realise that the body and everything related to it is temporary, and the ocean of temporary material existence seems impossible to cross. Then, the heart will become eager to cross the impassable and miserable ocean of material existence, that is filled with the crocodiles and sharks of lust and anger, to attain the eternally blissful lotus feet of the Lord and to find a suitable captain for the sturdy ship of the human body — Sri Guru. In Srimad Bhagavata, Sri Krishna has told Uddhava —

nri deham adyam sulabham sudurlabham plavam sukalpam guru karna-dharam
mayanukulena nabhasvateritam puman bhavabdhim na taret sa atma-ha

(Srimad Bhagavata 11.20.17)

“O Uddhava! This human body is the adya, the root cause of all welfare, and sukalpa, expert in accomplishing its goal. The living entity attains this rarely attained human body, which is like an excellent boat that has Sri Gurudeva as its captain. On top of everything I am providing favorable winds to steer it in the right direction. A person who does not endeavour to cross the ocean of material existence despite receiving this body is destroying himself.”
We have already discussed that in the company of the saints one comes to realise that one must take shelter of the feet of a Guru. Thus we must understand that association with the bhaktas has not taken place if one has not realised the necessity of taking shelter of the feet of a Guru. Wherever the association of the devotees is attained or is going on and there is no realisation about the obligation to take shelter of the lotus feet of Sri Guru, or such shelter has not yet been taken, we must understand that the real association of saints has not taken place yet, or that due to some mischief the results of association with the saints are not yet tangible. As long as the shelter of Sri Guru’s lotus feet has not yet been attained, the ultimate fruits of association with the devotees will remain the shelter of Sri Guru’s lotus feet, for only after taking initiation and instructions from the bona fide Guru, bhajana commences.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A BONA FIDE GURU

When a person wishes to be blessed with the fruits of sadhana bhajana and he desires to take shelter of the lotus feet of Sri Guru, it is absolutely necessary that he takes shelter of the feet of a bona fide Guru. When the Guru-potency awakens within a saint he becomes known as a bona fide Guru. This Guru-potency awakens within a saint in the following way – those who have removed the dirt from their hearts through their practice of sadhana bhajana; in whose hearts bhakti has awakened and who have become ornamented by saintly qualities such as compassion and kindness – their hearts melt when they see the misery the conditioned souls go through in the material world of maya. By instructing the conditioned souls in the practice of bhajana, they destroy their miserable condition and they are eager to bless them by giving them the relish of bhakti rasa. By the Lord’s wish, the Guru-potency emanates from Him and appears within the hearts of such bhakti siddha mahapurushas (His pure devotees). A person who covets devotion to the Supreme Lord is blessed by taking shelter of such a qualified and bona fide Guru. The characteristics of such a bona fide Guru have been described in Srimad Bhagavata (11.3.21) —

tasmad gurum prapadyeta jijnasuh sreyah uttamam
sabde pare ca nishnatam brahmanyupasamasrayam

“Therefore a person who inquires about the highest welfare should take shelter of the lotus feet of a bona fide Guru, who is sabda brahma and para brahma nishnata and upasamasraya or free from lust and greed.” Sridhara Svami writes in his commentary on this verse: sabde brahmani vedakhye nyayato nishnatam tattvajnam. anyatha samsaya nirasakatvayogat. pare ca brahmani aparokshanubhavena nishnatam. anyatha bodha sancarayogat. para brahma nishnatatva dyotakam aha upasamasrayam iti — “That the bona fide Guru is sabda brahma nishnata means that he is a knower of the Vedic literature and a knower of the truth. If he is not, then he cannot remove the doubts of the disciples that take shelter of him. Then again he is para brahma nishnata, which means that He is a devotee, or that He is endowed with transcendental realisations about Sri Krishna. If he is not, then he cannot infuse realisations on bhajana within the heart of his disciple.” One may ask here: “We may be able to see that the Guru is sabda brahma nishnata by seeing and hearing his scriptural knowledge, but how will we know if he is para brahma nishnata, or filled with transcendental realisations about Sri Krishna?” The answer to this is that he should be upasamasraya, or devoid of lust, anger and greed. The heart of anyone who is enlightened by bhakti cannot be covered by the darkness of lust and greed and so on. Therefore the definitions of a bona fide Guru given by the sastras are as follows:
1) He is filled with realisations about the Personality of Godhead due to his firm faith and his firm adherence to the worship of the Lord. He has attained the grace of his own Guru by being similarly devoted to his Guru’s lotus feet.
2) He is very learned in the Vedas and in bhakti-scriptures that outline the Vedic purport such as Srimad Bhagavata. Thus he can destroy the doubts in his disciples.
3) Because he has transcendental realisations about Sri Krishna, he has attained His mercy-potency. Thus he has become so powerful that he is able to bring the disciple onto the path of bhakti and infuse this power within him.
4) He is not overcome by vices like lust and greed.
A saint who is endowed with such attributes and who is filled with parental love for his disciples, can attain the position of a bona fide Guru. Such a bona fide Guru is able to destroy different obstacles the disciple may find in his bhajana, bless him with prema and bring him to the lotus feet of Sri Krishna. On the other hand, a person who desires to be known as a Guru may have many virtues, like high birth and so on, but if he does not have the above mentioned characteristics, he will not be counted amongst the bona fide Gurus. Therefore a faithful person who is eager to do Sri Krishna-bhajana should take shelter of the lotus feet of a maha purusha who is endowed with the right qualities, receive initiation into Sri Krishna-mantra from him and learn bhajana from him.

THE ORDINARY CHARACTERISTICS OF A BONA FIDE GURU.

He is learned in the Vedas, has realisations about Sri Krishna, is most peaceful, surrendered to Sri Krishna-bhakti, understands Sri Krishna’s glories such as his being the benefactor of His devotees, has offered his heart to Sri Krishna, has a pure body (is free from disease or invalidity), has defeated the six enemies headed by lust, is deeply attached to Sri Krishna through his devotion, knows the immaculate path of the Vedic literatures, is approved of by the sadhus, has control over his senses and is in constant transcendental consciousness (brahma nishtha). (Hari Bhakti Vilasa 1.32-35)

SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS

A Guru who is born in a faultless and sinless family, is himself sinless and faultless, behaves as he should do, belongs to a certain asrama, is free from anger, knows the Vedas and all other scriptures, has faith, does not find faults, speaks affectionately, is nice to behold, pure, nicely dressed, young, engaged in the welfare of all living entities, intelligent, prideless, satisfied, non-violent, able to judge transcendental truths, endowed with parental love, expert in puja of the Supreme Lord, grateful, affectionate towards his disciples, able to punish and reward, practising homa mantra, a knower of all kinds of arguments and counter-arguments, pure-hearted and merciful is an ocean of glories. (Hari Bhakti Vilasa 1.38-41)

THE SPECIALITY OF GURU’S GRACE

There is a slight difference between Sri Hari’s grace and Sri Guru’s grace. In the Upanishads it is described that “A person to whom Sri Hari wishes to lower His eyes, will be instructed in evil works, and the demons are instructed reversely by Him.” But the acarya wants to elevate everyone and engage everyone in saintly activities. He always speaks the right words everywhere. Therefore the grace of the Guru is coveted —

sastroktam dharmam uccarya svayam acarate sada
anyebhyah sikshayed yas tu sa acaryo nigadyate

“He who always pronounces (preaches) the scriptural injunctions, who follows them himself, and also teaches others to act accordingly, is named an acarya.”

THE MEANS TO ATTAIN A BONA FIDE GURU

Some people think that a bona fide Guru is very rare in this world and it is not easy to recognise and attain a bona fide Guru. Thinking like this, they do not endeavour to take diksha-mantra and thus waste the precious moments of their rare human lives. In this connection it must be said that when the Lord descends as the bona fide Guru for the benefit of the world, He is never hard to attain or unattainable for the genuine seekers of bhajana and those who are eager to take shelter of the bona fide Guru. Those who give up crookedness and associate with the saints with a simple and innocent mind, for the cessation of their material miseries, and earnestly take shelter of the feet of a bona fide Guru, for the sake of worshipping the Lord, praying to the Lord with an eager heart, while hoping to attain the bona fide Guru, will certainly be blessed with the shelter of a bona fide Guru — of this there is not even the slightest doubt. Merciful Sri Hari will certainly provide good luck and opportunities to such people, who are so eager to do bhajana.

SHELTER OF THE FEET OF SRI GURU

The first three of the 64 items of bhajana that are described by Srimat Rupa Gosvamipada are guru padasrayas tasmat krishna dikshadi sikshanam visrambhena guroh seva (Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu 1.2.74) 1) Taking shelter of Sri Guru’s feet 2) Taking initiation into Sri Krishna-mantra and learning Bhagavata-dharma (the religion of worshipping the Personality of Godhead) from him 3) Serving Sri Guru with faith. guru padasraya, diksha, gurura sevana (C.C.)
guru padasraya means that a person who wishes to do bhagavad bhajana must live near Sri Guru’s feet for a while before taking initiation, and sincerely render service to him according to his wishes, so that Sri Guru’s lotus feet are pleased. In the scriptures, a mutual examination of Guru and disciple is also described as necessary. In this way both Guru and disciple can examine each other’s natures and qualifications. If this is not done then they may both experience obstacles in their bhajana in the future. In other words, if the Guru does not have the characteristics that are described in the sastras, the disciple will inevitably experience obstacles in bhajana and if the disciple is not qualified then the Guru will inevitably experience obstacles in bhajana. Not only that, this also has a very valuable result. When the sadhaka who is eager to receive diksha stays for a few days with the Guru and engages in his service he will also become qualified for both diksha and bhajana. On the other hand, the Sri Guru-principle will melt with compassion when he sees the sincere service rendered to such a maha bhagavata (great devotee). The practising devotee fulfills a main human pursuit by attaining the diksha mantra from the lotus feet of Sri Guru, whose heart is melting of compassion, being satisfied with his service. In this way the practising devotee will be blessed with the true relish of ambrosial bhakti rasa. Here it is noteworthy that a maha purusha, who is endowed with extraordinary powers, can examine the qualifications of a disciple on mere sight, or can make an unqualified candidate at once qualified and can thus give initiation to a candidate at once. For such great persons there is no bondage to the above rules and regulations. This, however, does not apply to all ordinary persons.

INITIATION

What is meant with diksha, or initiation? In his Bhakti Sandarbha (283) Srimat Jiva Gosvamipada quotes the sastras to describe the glories of initiation —

divyam jnanam yato dadyat kuryat papasya sankshayam
tasmad diksheti sa prokta desikais tattva kovidaih

“That which bestows divine knowledge and destroys all sins is called diksha by the acaryas who know the truth.” Sri Jivapada adds: divyam jnanam hyatra srimati mantre bhagavat svarupa jnanam tena bhagavata sambandha visesha jnanam ca — “Here divine knowledge means the knowledge about the Lord’s intrinsic identity which lies within the mantra, along with specific knowledge of the living being’s relationship with the Lord.”

jivera svarupa hoy — krishnera nitya dasa
krishnera tatastha sakti — bhedabheda prakasa (C.C.)

“The intrinsic identity of the living entity is that he is Krishna’s eternal servant. Being Krishna’s marginal potency he is both different and non-different from Him.”
Although the living being is Krishna’s eternal servant, he has been averse to the Lord since beginningless time. Hence he has been swallowed by ignorance and illusion, and being under such illusion, he identifies with his false body, senses and mind. Forgetting his own intrinsic identity he calls his false body “I” and forgetting his eternal relationship with Sri Hari, he becomes bound to his wife, children and money.

krishna nitya dasa jiva taha bhuli gelo;
sei doshe maya tara golaya bandhilo (C.C.)

“The living being has forgotten that he is Krishna’s eternal servant, and due to that fault maya has bound him around the neck.” In this way, although the living being is intrinsically a transcendental entity, he is bound by maya and wanders around in the miserable material world, reincarnating from one painful species of life to the other. That through which Sri Guru mercifully slackens the bondage of maya and infuses transcendental energy into the disciple’s heart, thus awakening his awareness of his eternal or special relationship with Sri Hari — this is called diksha.
Then again the mantra is the intrinsic form of the Lord, and by the grace of the sadhus and the Guru, who are Sri Hari’s karunya ghana vigraha, the embodiments of His deep mercy, the Lord enters into the disciple’s heart in the form of the mantra to make his body, mind and life-airs transcendentally suitable for serving the Lord. Sriman Mahaprabhu Himself said —
diksha kale bhakta kore atma samarpana;
sei kale krishna tate kore atma sama
sei deha korena tara cid anandamoy;
aprakrita dehe tara carana bhajoy (C.C.)

“At the time of initiation the devotee surrenders himself and at that time Krishna makes the practising devotee equal to Himself. The Lord then makes the devotee’s body transcendental and in this transcendental body the devotee can worship the Lord’s lotus feet.”
It is easily understandable that those who know these glories of taking shelter of the lotus feet of a bona fide Guru and taking initiation, but still think that it is not necessary to take initiation and that chanting the holy name alone will suffice, will find so many obstacles and defeats on their spiritual paths. This is factually not the opinion of the Gosvamis. The sastras and the sayings of the Mahajanas have shown the glories and the eternality of taking initiation, and from the ancient Mahajanas down to the present day sadhaka samaja (society of practising devotees) such purificatory rites have always existed. If someone knows this, but is still averse to taking shelter of the lotus feet of a bona fide Guru, it will result in an offence to the chanting of the holy name. It is not only an offence to the scriptures and the sayings of the Mahajanas, but it is also a sign of disrespect to the Guru-principle — these two powerful offenses will be committed.

DIKSA MANTRA

Of all the different mantras that have been mentioned by the sastras in connection with diksha, the Sri Krishna-mantra is the most important, because Sri Krishna is the Original Personality of Godhead, the origin of all Personalities of Godhead. Of the three playgrounds of Sri Krishna — Vrindavana, Mathura and Dvaraka, the greatest attribute of Godhead – sweetness – is manifest in Sri Vrindavana, where Sri Krishna plays like a cowherd boy. Therefore the mantras in connection with this Vrindavana-lila are the greatest. Then again the 10-syllable and 18-syllable ‘Gopi-jana-vallabha’ mantras, that induce the topmost madhura rasa lila, are the greatest of all. Although these mantras have all been written down in sacred books and publications, their japa will yield no fruit (without initiation). The mantra must be received from the bona fide Guru.
Some people also consider the 16-word, 32-syllable hare krishna maha mantra as a diksha mantra, but this hari nama maha mantra has not been counted amongst the diksha mantras in any of the initiation manuals because if it is chanted out loud, how can it be counted amongst the diksha mantras? At some places this hari nama is being given in advance of the diksha to purify the ears and the heart, but this is not called diksha. The question may be raised: When the hare krishna mantra is called the maha mantra, then will not perfection be attained by taking this mantra alone? The answer to this is that the hare krishna mantra is called the maha mantra because it is more powerful than any other mantra in bestowing prema. Still, if there is no fourth case ending (sampradana, dative case) and the rishyadi shadanga (six standard sequences that form a certain pattern of composition) are not there it is not a diksha mantra. One should know that before accepting diksha the fruit of hari nama sankirtana will be the taking of the shelter of the bona fide Guru and his instructions on diksha, and after taking diksha the fruit of nama sankirtana will be prema.

DIKSA GURU AND SIKSA GURU

The giver of the mantra is called the diksha guru and the giver of instructions on bhajana is the siksha guru. Srimad Bhagavata said: labdhanugraha acaryat tena sa darsitagamah “Taking the mantra from the Guru one must attain the rules concerning the mantras and knowledge from the sastras from him (tena).” If that is so, then it is understood that those whose duty it is to give diksha must also give teachings concerning the rules of practising these mantras. The aim of the sastras is that one take shelter of the lotus feet of a Guru, therefore if one thinks that the bona fide Guru is not able to give instructions on how to perform bhajana one becomes stained with the offence of diminishing the Guru’s dignity. However, if the diksha-guru passes away before the disciple was able to receive instructions on bhajana from him, then one should accept a similar great saint, who is expert in bhajana, as a siksha guru in the matters of bhajana, and serve and attend him like he is Sri Guru himself. The Guru from whom one takes shelter in the life of bhajana to learn bhajana is called a siksha guru. To bestow bhakti upon the conditioned souls and to take them to Him, merciful Sri Krishna has appeared internally as the antaryami siksha guru (the inner monitor) and externally as the acarya, who is the topmost bhakta. In Sri Caitanya Caritamrita it is described —
siksha guru to jani krishnera svarupa;
antaryami bhakta sreshtha ei dui rupa

“I know the siksha guru to be a form of Krishna, who appears in two forms — the inner monitor and the topmost devotee.” From these words it is learned that of the two, the antaryami and the topmost devotee, He who teaches as the antaryami is not perceivable. He is called the caitya guru, the teacher in the heart. He who regulates the conditioned souls and gives them intelligence to act as the Paramatma, is not the regulator of the bhaktas’ heart. Therefore He does not teach the devotee as the caitya guru. The form of the Lord that is worshipped within the heart of the devotee, appears within the heart of the devotee as the antaryami and teaches and engages him in the ways of loving Him in his own particular mood. And yet again, the topmost devotee who externally teaches the disciple bhajana in a tangible form, is also Sri Krishna as such.
Some are preaching a philosophy which is not in any scripture, saying that one must take a siksha mantra from the siksha guru. However, there is no such a thing mentioned in the sastras or by the mahajanas as a siksha mantra. Let therefore no one be deceived by such an errant, un-scriptural theory.

THE SERVICE OF SRI GURU

It is not that the duties of the disciple end after he has taken diksha from the bona fide Guru. There is a special need to serve Sri Gurudeva after taking initiation, because the satisfaction of Sri Gurudeva is the root cause of the satisfaction of the Lord and the destruction of all obstacles in bhajana for the sadhaka. Srimat Jiva Gosvamipada has written in his Bhakti Sandarbha: tat prasado hi sva sva nana pratikara dustyajanartha-hanau bhagavat parama prasada siddhau ca mulam “The unwanted habits that are very hard to give up through one’s various own endeavours can be destroyed if the Guru is pleased with the disciple and Lord Sri Hari will also be most pleased when the disciple pleases Sri Guru.” The purport of these words of Srila Gosvamipada is that when the practising devotee begins to make headway on the path of bhajana, then all kinds of powerful bad habits, cultivated in previous lives or in this life, stick up their ugly heads and disturb his sadhana bhajana. Nevertheless, the sadhaka will not be able to transcend these bad habits on his own, although he may try various means to do that. The only way to destroy these bad habits is to please Sri Guru.
Also, the only way to please the Lord is to please Sri Guru. From this, it is understood that the root cause of bhajana sadhana and the attainment of its fruit, meaning the destruction of all kinds of bad habits and the attainment of the Lord with prema, is the satisfaction of Sri Guru. Another way of attaining such satisfaction of Sri Gurudeva is earnest service of Sri Gurudeva. From Srimad Bhagavata it is also learned that all bad habits are destroyed by serving Sri Guru with devotion —

asankalpajjayet kamam krodham kama vivarjanat
arthanarthekshaya lobham bhayam tattvavamarsanat
anvikshikya soka mohau dambham mahad upasaya
yogantarayan maunena himsam kamadyanihaya
kripaya bhutajam duhkam daivam jahyat samadhina
atmajam yoga-viryena nidram sattva nishevaya
rajas tamasca sattvena sattvam copasamena ca
etat sarvam gurau bhaktya purusho hyanjasa jayet
– (Srimad Bhagavata 7.15.22-25)

Sri Narada told King Yudhishthira: “O King! To give up lust one must give up one’s determination (the endless tendencies) to enjoy, to give up anger one must give up lust, because when lust is frustrated, anger arises, and to give up greed one must see the evil of money and all things it can buy. Fear can be given up by constantly considering the truth, lamentation and illusion can be given up by considering what is material and what is spiritual and pride can be given up by serving a great soul. When a vow of silence reaches perfection and all other topics but Krishna-katha are given up, the mind becomes fixed. Violence is conquered by giving up endeavours for sense-gratification, suffering caused by other living entities can be mitigated by developing the quality of compassion, suffering caused by the elements can be mitigated by entering into samadhi and suffering caused by the own body and mind can be mitigated by practising the eight-fold path of mystic yoga (ashtanga-yoga). When the mode of goodness increases, sleep is conquered, along with the modes of passion and indolence. In this way one practice destroys one bad habit, but the sadhaka can conquer all these vices and obstacles together simply by being devoted to the guru.” In these words of Srimad Bhagavata we can see how special the gravity is of Guru-seva if we want to give up all bad habits.

SPECIAL GURU SEVA

In Bhakti Sandarbha Srimat Jiva Gosvamipada has written — tatra yadyapi saranapattyaiva sarvam siddhyati……tathapi vaisishthya lipsuh saktascet tatah bhagavacchastropadeshtrinam va sri guru-carananam nityam eva viseshatah sevam kuryat “Although the sadhaka achieves all perfection by surrendering to the Lord’s lotus feet, still if a person wants to attain special perfection, then he must always specially serve the Guru who instructs him in the scriptures as well as the Guru who initiates into the Lord’s mantras.”
Srila Gosvamipada uses the word viseshatah (specially) in the phrase viseshatah sevam kuryat to hint at special service to the Guru. Special service means also an ordinary service. After taking initiation, the sadhaka always engages in the worship of Sri Hari by hearing, chanting, worshipping the deities and praising the Lord. This also includes the formal worship and praises, etc. of Sri Guru. Therefore, wherever the chief items of bhajana are hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord, the worship and praise of Sri Guru is incorporated as a secondary item. This is then called ordinary service to the Guru. By worshipping the Guru as an item of His worship of the Supreme Lord the sadhaka attains the fruits of love of God. It is a rule in the kingdom of sadhana that worship of the Lord will be successful when it is endowed with earnest Guru-bhakti.
Then again, if a person is exclusively surrendered to Guru-bhakti and fixed in Guru-seva, and keeps the worship and service of Sri Guru as the main item, while practising hearing and chanting about the Lord as a auxiliary item of his bhajana, it is called special Guru-seva. Then the service of the Guru is the priority, or the angi, and the hearing and chanting of the Supreme Lord is secondary or the anga. This kind of sadhaka, who is especially fixed in his service to the Guru, is called vaisishtya lipsu by Srimat Jiva Gosvamipada. The Lord showers such a sadhaka, who is exclusively fixed in the service of his Guru, with even more mercy (than a person who worships Him personally). In Sri Padma Purana, in the Sri Devahuti-stava, it is seen —

bhaktir yatha harau me’sti tad varishtha gurau yadi
mamasti tena satyena sandarsayatu me harih

“If I have more devotion for the Guru than for Sri Hari Himself, then through this truth Lord Hari will surely reveal Himself to me.” When Sri Guru is pleased, Sri Hari is naturally pleased. In Sri Vamana Kalpa it is seen —

yo mantrah sa guruh sakshat yo guruh sa hari svayam
gurur yasya bhavet tushtas tasya tushto harih svayam

“The mantra is non different from the Guru and the Guru is non different from Sri Hari. When the Guru is pleased with someone, Sri Hari will automatically be pleased with that person also.”

…

from ‘Sri Guru Tattva Vijnana’ — knowledge of the principle of Sri Guru’
by Radhakunda Mahanta Pandita Srila Ananta dasa Babaji Maharaja

Translated by Advaita das
Edited by Sudevi Dasi