Admittedly, 2018 was a very heavy year for me personally…

On November 11^th, my beloved Śrī Gurudeva entered the eternal pastimes and just 4 weeks later my beloved mother tragically left her body completely unexpected…the following weeks have been the heaviest weeks in my whole life. But one thing always remained crystal clear in my mind: Never give up your bhakti, never lose faith in Śrī Guru.

Everyday, even if the days were laden with sadness and inner pain, I tried my best to do my daily bhajan, sometimes more, sometimes less. But deep in my heart I always knew that my beloved Śrī Gurudeva never really left me…he still is my best friend and he gave me everything I ever hoped for.

It is now more and more up to me to realize the jewels he put inside my lowly heart.

But 2018 was also a very good year. It was a year of total abstinence from all useless debates and discussions in the social media, mainly on Facebook.

It was great to step back from all the discussions where earlier I took part with fiery arguments only to realize what a waste of time these discussions are…

Spiritual life is entirely personal, and bhakti especially is a very personal and intimate process.
Bhakti is not something you “wear on your T-shirt”. It is not something to be revealed or made entirely public. How many times did I fall in this trap?

Bhakti is a matter of the heart. Bhakti is nourished by the association of like-minded souls who focus on the same goal.

Bhakti is not nourished by debating your OWN process with people who follow a different process.

Bhakti is not about who is wrong and who is right. It is about LOVE. It is INCLUSIVE, not EXCLUSIVE.

Bhakti is something that should be treasured and kept within the heart and only shared with like-minded souls.

The most important factor which leads to success in bhakti is guru-nistha. To always remain situated in deepest faith to the lotus feet of Śrī Gurudeva. His words are the alpha and the omega and not what someone outside our lineage says or what someone else heard from someone else again.

Śrī Gurudeva is the captain who steers our ship. His words are our inspiration, our fuel of life.

guru mukha padma vākya,          hṛdi kori mahāśakya
āra nā koriho mone āśā
śrī guru caraṇe rati,          ei se uttamā gati,
ye prasāde pūre sarva āśā

“Let the words flowing from the lotus mouth of your gurudeva become fixed in your heart. Don’t desire anything else! The highest goal of life is to love the lotus feet of the guru, for by his grace all desires will be fulfilled.”

No need to listen to many different “opinions” on for example raganuga-bhakti or siddha pranali or whatever “juicy” topic the mind wants to revel in…the words of Śrī Gurudeva are the ultimate focus.

Everyone can follow his/her path and we are always respectful towards those who are on a different journey, but we will always stay true to the words of our beloved Śrī Gurudeva.

Now that my beloved Śrī Gurudeva left us and went to be with His beloved Svamini, many asked where to take shelter now.

Simple answer: We still take shelter at the lotus feet of our Gurudeva.

Gurudeva is not someone who just “vanishes”. He will always be there…either in direct personal contact as our Guru Manjari (if we are advanced enough and his/her mercy will reach our heart) or in his written words or in his spoken words captured on film or audio.

Guru-tattva is eternal. It is never broken.
“Janme jamne prabhu sei”. We are eternally connected with our beloved Śrī Gurudeva and nothing is impossible for him now that he is a perfected soul.

It all depends on the strength of our inner bhajan like how deep we will connect with his eternal form.

The more we focus on his eternal form and the more we focus on our own eternal form, the more communication will take place in our heart…until we can meet “her” again face to face.

Bhakti is real. It is not an empty promise. Guru-nistha is the backbone of our daily spiritual life. It is the most important treasure in the life of a sadhaka.

We should treasure what Śrī Gurudeva gave us and we should never engage in endless debates and discussions to make sure who is “right” or who is “wrong”. We just humbly and respectfully follow Śrī Gurudeva.

Guru-bhakti is the most wonderful thing.

asaṅkalpāj jayet kāmaṁ, krodhaṁ kāma vivarjanāt
arthānarthekṣayā lobhaṁ, bhayaṁ tattvāvamarśanāt
ānvīkṣikyā śoka mohau, dambhaṁ mahad upāsayā
yogāntarāyān maunena, hiṁsām kāmādy anīhayā
kṛpayā bhūtajaṁ duḥkhaṁ, daivaṁ jahyāt samādhinā
ātmajaṁ yoga-vīryeṇa, nidrāṁ sattva niṣevayā
rajas tamaś ca sattvena, sattvam copaśamena ca
etat sarvaṁ gurau bhaktyā, puruṣo hyañjasā jayet
(Śrīmad Bhāgavata 7.15.22-25)

Śrī Nārada told King Yudhiṣṭhira:

“To give up lust one must give up one’s determination to enjoy. To give up anger one must give up lust and to give up greed one must see the evil of money.
Fear can be given up by considering the truth. Lamentation and illusion can be given up by considering what is material and what is spiritual (rational thinking).
Pride can be given up by serving a great soul and obstacles in yoga-practice (which serves the purpose of fixing the mind) can be overcome by perfecting a vow of silence.
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 samādhi (psycho-religious trance) and suffering caused by the own body and mind can be mitigated by practicing the eight-fold path of mystic yoga (aṣṭāṅga-yoga).
When the mode of goodness increases, sleep is conquered along with the modes of passion and indolence, and by controlling the senses the mode of goodness is transcended. But all these vices and obstacles together can be conquered simply by being devoted to the guru.”

Here we will have a short discussion on having a special attachment to and love for the guru (taken from my Śrī Gurudeva´s tika to Manah Siksa):

After describing the path of surrender, Śrīmat Jīva Gosvāmīpāda writes in Bhakti Sandarbha (237):

tatra yadyapi śaraṇāpattyaiva sarvaṁ siddhyati. śaraṇaṁ taṁ prapannā ye dhyāna yoga vivarjitāh. te vai mṛtyum atikramya yānti tad vaiṣṇavaṁ padam. iti gāruḍāt tathāpi vaiśiṣṭya lipsuḥ śaktaś cet tataḥ bhagavac chāstropadeṣṭṛṇāṁ bhagavan mantropadeṣṭṛṇāṁ vā śrī guru-caraṇānāṁ nityam eva viśeṣataḥ sevāṁ kuryāt.

“Although all worship reaches perfection by surrendering to the Lord, (since in the Garuḍa Purāṇa it is written:

“Those who surrender to the Lord will transcend the mortal world even without practicing yoga or meditation and will attain the planet of Lord Viṣṇu. Of this there is no doubt.”), still someone who desires a special perfection in worship (or relishing transcendental flavours) will always particularly serve and worship the lotus feet of his guru. It is either the guru who teaches him the holy scriptures about the Personality of Godhead or the guru who initiates him in the sacred mantras of the Personality of Godhead.”

The ‘special perfection’ mentioned here means that in some cases the hearing, chanting and remembering of the Lord’s glories is the primary practice (aṅgī) and the service of the guru is one of its items (aṅga). This is called ‘ordinary service to the guru’, but even in this case, the satisfaction of the guru is the cause of the Lord’s satisfaction.

But when the guru himself becomes the main object of worship and the hearing, chanting and remembering of the Supreme Lord merely become different parts or side effects of the worship of the guru, we call it ‘special service to the guru.’ Here the satisfaction of the guru is the main goal and the satisfaction of the Lord is concomitant. In this way the disciple is blessed. Hence

Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī has written:

tasmād anyad bhagavad bhajanam api nāpekṣate
(Bhakti Sandarbha):

“A devotee who is thus attached to the worship of his guru doesn’t need to practice any worship of the Supreme Lord.”

In this special case the Lord will be more pleased with the devotee’s service of his guru than of his service to Himself.

In this connection Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī quotes a verse from Devahūti’s praises in the Padma Purāṇa:

bhaktir yathā harau me’sti tad variṣṭhā gurau yadi
mamāsti tena satyena sandarśayatu me hari

“Surely Lord Hari will reveal Himself to me if I am even more devoted to my guru than to Him.”

This is exactly why Śrī Narottama Ṭhākura Mahāśaya has said:

śrī guru caraṇa padma,               kevala bhakati sadma,
bandoṅ mui sāvadhāna sane
yāhāra prasāde bhāi,       ei bhava tariyā yāy
kṛṣṇa prāpti hoy yāhā hoite

“The lotus feet of the guru are the abode of pure devotion, and I carefully praise them. O brother! By his grace you will cross over the ocean of material miseries and attain the mercy of Kṛṣṇa!”

All glories to Śrī Gurudeva!