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GURU-DISCIPLE RELATIONSHIP
GURU-DISCIPLE RELATIONSHIP
20 April 2003
Vrndavana
Even Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, even Ramacandra and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu come in this world and accepted Guru. Throughout Krsna’s whole life many problems came to Him-many demons attacked but He had no problem at all. Especially in Dvaraka He fought so many battles, with Jarasandha and other demons, but He was always victorious. So He told His old friend in Gurukula, Sudama Brahmana, "Even to this day My life is successful and prosperous and I have not been defeated. Why? Because of the blessing of My Gurudeva." He said:
naham ijya prajatibhyam
tapasopasamena va
tusyeyam sarva-bhutatma
guru-susrusaya yatha
(SB 10.80.34)
"If anyone wants to worship Me," Krsna said, "I am not so satisfied by those who worship Me, tapasopasamena va-those who do puja, those who do austerities, those who will study the Vedas and who perform all types of dharma, religious principles, but tusyeyam sarva-bhutatma-I am in the heart of every living entity, and by these various activities, I am pleased somewhat but not so much. When am I satisfied? Guru-susrusaya yatha-when someone does guru-susrusaya." What is this susrusaya?
You can see in the fifth verse of Upadesamrta also:
krsneti yasya giri tam manasadriyeta
diksasti cet pranatibhis ca bhajantam isam
susrusaya bhajana-vijnam ananyam anya-
nindadi-sunya-hrdam ipsita-sanga-labdhya
Rupa Gosvami is using this word here. Also:
susrusoh sraddadhanasya
vasudeva-katha-rucih
syan mahat-sevaya viprah
punya-tirtha-nisevanat
(SB 1.2.16)
You will find this word in many places in sastra. Maha-muni-krte kim va parair isvarah / sadyo hrdy avarudhyate ’tra krtibhih susrusubhis tat-ksanat-second verse of Bhagavatam. Everywhere this word susrusaya has been used. In a general sense it means hearing, but this is not enough. It means hearing with faith. This is not enough. Hearing with faith means listening in such a way that what I am hearing I will follow completely in my life. This is not enough. Srusaya has been used-no-susrusaya. It means hearing and following with visrambha bhava-natural loving mood, laukika sambandhu-vata-sambandha, mamata-yukta-seva. The service is done with so much mamata, so much possessiveness.
Then Krsna said: guru-susrusaya yatha. The disciple’s heart is swelling with pride-he is MY Guru. He cannot leave that guru. Even the thought cannot come in his mind. Nowadays it is very hard to find disciples like this. Pujyapada Srila Trivikrama Maharaja had said that at the time of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, the faith that the devotees would have in their godbrothers, even this you cannot find nowadays that the disciples have in their Guru. Our minds are very fickle-like a prostitute. The mind can easily go here and there and doubts can come. Samsayatma vinasyati (BG 4.40): If you have any doubt, you lose everything. If you have any doubt in Guru, then bhakti flies away, very far away. She will not come near you at all. So Krsna said, "I am pleased when the disciple is serving the Guru with visrambha."
Visrambha has two meanings. One is visesa-rupena-sraddha, special faith. The disciple thinks, "Radharani sent my Gurudeva to me to take me to Her." It is simple. Guru is not another human being.
acaryam mam vijaniyan
navanmanyeta karhicit
na martya-buddhyasuyeta
sarva-deva-mayo guruh
(SB 11.17.27)
He is not a learned person. Guru is not someone who knows more slokas than you. And if you will study some more, then you will learn as many slokas as he knows. This is not Guru. Guru is the near and dear associate of Radha and Krsna. And Radhika sent him to bring you to Her. This is called visesa-rupena-sraddha, a very special type of faith in Guru.
Visrambha also means that there is no fear in this relationship. It is based completely on intimacy. If the disciple wants to have this relationship with the Guru, he should have faith that the Guru loves him so much. This is very important; otherwise there will always be fear. The disciple is thinking, "I did this service. Gurudeva cares or not, I don’t know." This fear and insecurity-first the disciple has to understand, "My Gurudeva loves me so much." Sometimes we cannot believe it because Guru has so many disciples, and we think, "Madhava Maharaja is great. Tirtha Maharaja is great. Van Maharaja is great. And I am very insignificant. And in between me and Gurudeva there are so many other disciples, and all are very great. Gurudeva does not even know me or anything." We think like this, but this idea is wrong. Try to understand something from the point of view of Gurudeva. When Gurudeva gives initiation to anyone, now this person is his child.
If some of you have children, some may have 10, 12 children. One child is very successful and becomes a doctor. One is not so successful and he becomes a sabji-walla, vegetable seller. But in the eyes of the parents, the parents never think that this one is great and that one is useless. Parents think, "These are all my children, and all are useless. I have to take care of all of them."
Don’t think that so many godbrothers are great and I am insignificant, so Gurudeva does not care about me. This is not Gurudeva’s perspective. In eyes of Guru all are same. Some can do more or less-okay, everyone has his capacity. This is not the main consideration. All are like the children of Guru. And he cannot give up one. If a parent has some children, he will not get rid of that child who is less qualified. It is not possible. Mother or father cannot give up the least of their children.
So first the disciple should fix in his mind, "My Gurudeva loves me so much." How much? Gurudeva said, "The affection of Guru for the disciple is more than thousands and thousands of mothers together." The disciple has sraddha in this, so there is no fear. There will be feelings of intimacy, and then he can render visrambha seva.
Gurudeva explained what is the nature of love. Can you understand whether you have faith in your Guru or not? If you have faith in Guru but not in Vaisnavas, your faith in Guru is laukika, not paramarthika. You may think, "My Guru is great but all my godbrothers and godsisters are useless." This is not Guru-nistha. The test of Guru-nistha is if anyone has served your Gurudeva, then you feel indebted to that person. Why? At any time, any place, you were not there. Someone else was there. Some service had to be done and someone did it. You were not there and you could not do it. That person has done some service to your Guru and you feel some debt to them. Now you have Guru-nistha. You can check your own heart to see if you have it or not.
Gurudeva gave the example of the gopis.
purnah pulindya urugaya-padabja-raga
sri-kunkumena dayita-stana-maniitena
tad-darsana-smara-rujas trna-rusitena
limpantya anana-kucesu jahus tad-adhim
(SB 10.21.17)
Radhika is thinking, "These Pulindi girls at Govardhana take the kunkuma from the grass and smear it on their faces and bodies. By the power their love, they meet with Krsna." Because love has this impossible power. What is this? Actually, the love of these Pulindi girls is not so powerful as Radhika thinks. But never mind. She has love for Krsna, and if anyone has some connection with Krsna, inclination for the service of Krsna, like these Pulindi girls, then Radhika has nistha in them. She believes, "Oh, their love is so great!" Whether it is or not does not make any difference in the way She feels because this is the characteristic, this is the svabhava of prema.
When we begin our spiritual life, we have a little faith in guru only, and it starts to expand. When actually prema is there, then this faith comes to everyone. Rupa Gosvamipada described that when Krsna went to Mathura, Radharani’s separation mood was very high. Her temperature was very high. So Lalita Sakhi went to the Yamuna to bring water but when she came to Yamuna, she saw a swan. She began to speak to the swan, "You should fly at once to Mathura to take a message for me. But on the way you should look at Vamsi-Vata. This is the place where Krsna called us on His flute. And you should fly over Pucari Lota at Govardhana. There is Rasa-sthali and Kadamba Kandi, the kadamba trees where we did the vasanti rasa." She is telling so many things to the swan. Rupa Gosvami said, "Is there some defect in Lalita because the swan is a foolish animal? He cannot understand or deliver this message. Is there some fault in Lalita? No! This is the nature of prema." Those who have love have faith in everyone. They believe in everyone. They have trust in everyone. Lalita has seen the swan and is thinking, "You can help me. I have faith and trust in you and I will give you this message. And you will deliver it. Why? Because I have love." The swan is not qualified. But the nature of love is that it makes you have faith in everyone.
So we think, "Why did Gurudeva accept us? Because Gurudeva has so much love for Krsna that he has faith in everyone. We come to Guru and we are so useless. It is true. We have so many attachments. And even after taking shelter of him, we serve him only by lip service, not really. We do so many wrong things-over and over, criminal and ungrateful things even. And again and again, Gurudeva says, "Yes, come on. Come on. Please sit down and listen to hari katha. Don’t do this. Do that." Again we do it. "Oh, don’t do that." Very patiently. Why? Why does Guru have so much trust in us? It is his love for Radha and Krsna. But we cannot understand. When the disciple’s love is coming, his faith in others will expand. And then he will have some nistha in his godbrothers and godsisters and any pure Vaisnavas gradually. So do not be foolish to give your faith to anyone who is not qualified. This is why kanistha adhikari does not know anything, madhyama will discriminate between kanistha and madhyama, and madhyama and uttama. Uttama cannot understand either but they have some idea who is uttama.
So this is the nature of bhakti. Everything depends on faith. And this faith, depending on one’s maturity, becomes broad and broad and broader, and it turns into love. So Gurudeva said, "The sign of the disciple who actually has Guru-nistha is that he feels a debt to those who serve his Guru. And those who are very close to Guru, he also has love for them.
ananya-mamata visnau
mamata prema-sangata
bhaktir ity ucyate bhisma-
prahladoddhava-naradaih
(CC M. 23.8)
20 April 2003
Vrndavana
Even Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, even Ramacandra and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu come in this world and accepted Guru. Throughout Krsna’s whole life many problems came to Him-many demons attacked but He had no problem at all. Especially in Dvaraka He fought so many battles, with Jarasandha and other demons, but He was always victorious. So He told His old friend in Gurukula, Sudama Brahmana, "Even to this day My life is successful and prosperous and I have not been defeated. Why? Because of the blessing of My Gurudeva." He said:
naham ijya prajatibhyam
tapasopasamena va
tusyeyam sarva-bhutatma
guru-susrusaya yatha
(SB 10.80.34)
"If anyone wants to worship Me," Krsna said, "I am not so satisfied by those who worship Me, tapasopasamena va-those who do puja, those who do austerities, those who will study the Vedas and who perform all types of dharma, religious principles, but tusyeyam sarva-bhutatma-I am in the heart of every living entity, and by these various activities, I am pleased somewhat but not so much. When am I satisfied? Guru-susrusaya yatha-when someone does guru-susrusaya." What is this susrusaya?
You can see in the fifth verse of Upadesamrta also:
krsneti yasya giri tam manasadriyeta
diksasti cet pranatibhis ca bhajantam isam
susrusaya bhajana-vijnam ananyam anya-
nindadi-sunya-hrdam ipsita-sanga-labdhya
Rupa Gosvami is using this word here. Also:
susrusoh sraddadhanasya
vasudeva-katha-rucih
syan mahat-sevaya viprah
punya-tirtha-nisevanat
(SB 1.2.16)
You will find this word in many places in sastra. Maha-muni-krte kim va parair isvarah / sadyo hrdy avarudhyate ’tra krtibhih susrusubhis tat-ksanat-second verse of Bhagavatam. Everywhere this word susrusaya has been used. In a general sense it means hearing, but this is not enough. It means hearing with faith. This is not enough. Hearing with faith means listening in such a way that what I am hearing I will follow completely in my life. This is not enough. Srusaya has been used-no-susrusaya. It means hearing and following with visrambha bhava-natural loving mood, laukika sambandhu-vata-sambandha, mamata-yukta-seva. The service is done with so much mamata, so much possessiveness.
Then Krsna said: guru-susrusaya yatha. The disciple’s heart is swelling with pride-he is MY Guru. He cannot leave that guru. Even the thought cannot come in his mind. Nowadays it is very hard to find disciples like this. Pujyapada Srila Trivikrama Maharaja had said that at the time of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, the faith that the devotees would have in their godbrothers, even this you cannot find nowadays that the disciples have in their Guru. Our minds are very fickle-like a prostitute. The mind can easily go here and there and doubts can come. Samsayatma vinasyati (BG 4.40): If you have any doubt, you lose everything. If you have any doubt in Guru, then bhakti flies away, very far away. She will not come near you at all. So Krsna said, "I am pleased when the disciple is serving the Guru with visrambha."
Visrambha has two meanings. One is visesa-rupena-sraddha, special faith. The disciple thinks, "Radharani sent my Gurudeva to me to take me to Her." It is simple. Guru is not another human being.
acaryam mam vijaniyan
navanmanyeta karhicit
na martya-buddhyasuyeta
sarva-deva-mayo guruh
(SB 11.17.27)
He is not a learned person. Guru is not someone who knows more slokas than you. And if you will study some more, then you will learn as many slokas as he knows. This is not Guru. Guru is the near and dear associate of Radha and Krsna. And Radhika sent him to bring you to Her. This is called visesa-rupena-sraddha, a very special type of faith in Guru.
Visrambha also means that there is no fear in this relationship. It is based completely on intimacy. If the disciple wants to have this relationship with the Guru, he should have faith that the Guru loves him so much. This is very important; otherwise there will always be fear. The disciple is thinking, "I did this service. Gurudeva cares or not, I don’t know." This fear and insecurity-first the disciple has to understand, "My Gurudeva loves me so much." Sometimes we cannot believe it because Guru has so many disciples, and we think, "Madhava Maharaja is great. Tirtha Maharaja is great. Van Maharaja is great. And I am very insignificant. And in between me and Gurudeva there are so many other disciples, and all are very great. Gurudeva does not even know me or anything." We think like this, but this idea is wrong. Try to understand something from the point of view of Gurudeva. When Gurudeva gives initiation to anyone, now this person is his child.
If some of you have children, some may have 10, 12 children. One child is very successful and becomes a doctor. One is not so successful and he becomes a sabji-walla, vegetable seller. But in the eyes of the parents, the parents never think that this one is great and that one is useless. Parents think, "These are all my children, and all are useless. I have to take care of all of them."
Don’t think that so many godbrothers are great and I am insignificant, so Gurudeva does not care about me. This is not Gurudeva’s perspective. In eyes of Guru all are same. Some can do more or less-okay, everyone has his capacity. This is not the main consideration. All are like the children of Guru. And he cannot give up one. If a parent has some children, he will not get rid of that child who is less qualified. It is not possible. Mother or father cannot give up the least of their children.
So first the disciple should fix in his mind, "My Gurudeva loves me so much." How much? Gurudeva said, "The affection of Guru for the disciple is more than thousands and thousands of mothers together." The disciple has sraddha in this, so there is no fear. There will be feelings of intimacy, and then he can render visrambha seva.
Gurudeva explained what is the nature of love. Can you understand whether you have faith in your Guru or not? If you have faith in Guru but not in Vaisnavas, your faith in Guru is laukika, not paramarthika. You may think, "My Guru is great but all my godbrothers and godsisters are useless." This is not Guru-nistha. The test of Guru-nistha is if anyone has served your Gurudeva, then you feel indebted to that person. Why? At any time, any place, you were not there. Someone else was there. Some service had to be done and someone did it. You were not there and you could not do it. That person has done some service to your Guru and you feel some debt to them. Now you have Guru-nistha. You can check your own heart to see if you have it or not.
Gurudeva gave the example of the gopis.
purnah pulindya urugaya-padabja-raga
sri-kunkumena dayita-stana-maniitena
tad-darsana-smara-rujas trna-rusitena
limpantya anana-kucesu jahus tad-adhim
(SB 10.21.17)
Radhika is thinking, "These Pulindi girls at Govardhana take the kunkuma from the grass and smear it on their faces and bodies. By the power their love, they meet with Krsna." Because love has this impossible power. What is this? Actually, the love of these Pulindi girls is not so powerful as Radhika thinks. But never mind. She has love for Krsna, and if anyone has some connection with Krsna, inclination for the service of Krsna, like these Pulindi girls, then Radhika has nistha in them. She believes, "Oh, their love is so great!" Whether it is or not does not make any difference in the way She feels because this is the characteristic, this is the svabhava of prema.
When we begin our spiritual life, we have a little faith in guru only, and it starts to expand. When actually prema is there, then this faith comes to everyone. Rupa Gosvamipada described that when Krsna went to Mathura, Radharani’s separation mood was very high. Her temperature was very high. So Lalita Sakhi went to the Yamuna to bring water but when she came to Yamuna, she saw a swan. She began to speak to the swan, "You should fly at once to Mathura to take a message for me. But on the way you should look at Vamsi-Vata. This is the place where Krsna called us on His flute. And you should fly over Pucari Lota at Govardhana. There is Rasa-sthali and Kadamba Kandi, the kadamba trees where we did the vasanti rasa." She is telling so many things to the swan. Rupa Gosvami said, "Is there some defect in Lalita because the swan is a foolish animal? He cannot understand or deliver this message. Is there some fault in Lalita? No! This is the nature of prema." Those who have love have faith in everyone. They believe in everyone. They have trust in everyone. Lalita has seen the swan and is thinking, "You can help me. I have faith and trust in you and I will give you this message. And you will deliver it. Why? Because I have love." The swan is not qualified. But the nature of love is that it makes you have faith in everyone.
So we think, "Why did Gurudeva accept us? Because Gurudeva has so much love for Krsna that he has faith in everyone. We come to Guru and we are so useless. It is true. We have so many attachments. And even after taking shelter of him, we serve him only by lip service, not really. We do so many wrong things-over and over, criminal and ungrateful things even. And again and again, Gurudeva says, "Yes, come on. Come on. Please sit down and listen to hari katha. Don’t do this. Do that." Again we do it. "Oh, don’t do that." Very patiently. Why? Why does Guru have so much trust in us? It is his love for Radha and Krsna. But we cannot understand. When the disciple’s love is coming, his faith in others will expand. And then he will have some nistha in his godbrothers and godsisters and any pure Vaisnavas gradually. So do not be foolish to give your faith to anyone who is not qualified. This is why kanistha adhikari does not know anything, madhyama will discriminate between kanistha and madhyama, and madhyama and uttama. Uttama cannot understand either but they have some idea who is uttama.
So this is the nature of bhakti. Everything depends on faith. And this faith, depending on one’s maturity, becomes broad and broad and broader, and it turns into love. So Gurudeva said, "The sign of the disciple who actually has Guru-nistha is that he feels a debt to those who serve his Guru. And those who are very close to Guru, he also has love for them.
ananya-mamata visnau
mamata prema-sangata
bhaktir ity ucyate bhisma-
prahladoddhava-naradaih
(CC M. 23.8)
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