Taking advantage of the opportunity for dhāma-parikramā • The power of guru and Vaiṣṇavas’ mercy • The grace of guru is everything • The power of guru and Vaiṣṇavas’ appearance days • Repentance is the best atonement • The heart must melt when performing spiritual practices • A bona fide guru’s potency can help us forget our worldly endeavours
śrī śrī guru-gaurāṅgau jayataḥ
Śrī Devānanda Gauḍīya Maṭha
Tegharipara, Navadvīpa (Nadia)
12/2/1977
Snehāspadāsu—
Mā Umā! Śrīmān —— went to see you but could not find you and came back; and he also did not have more time to wait. However that turned out, it is a matter of great fortune that you were able to participate in Śrī Purī-dhāma parikramā and the month-long niyama-sevā pālanotsava (festival of observing vows). How many people have the fortune of getting the opportunity to cultivate their absorption in the hearing and chanting of śrī hari-kathā in good association on such a regular basis? So many people are most eager to go touring, either within their native country or abroad, but only those with sukṛti can desire, or long, to visit śrī dhāma or the holy tīrthas in the association of saints. In order to obtain such opportunities, one must make an effort to give up concerns for worldly gain or loss, otherwise, one will be cheated of the good fortune that is available for only a brief moment. “Time and tide wait for none.” Once an opportunity goes, it does not come back again. …
Not everyone gets the same type of opportunity and facility. You have to bear your worldly or practical duties and responsibilities as you progress on the path of spiritual life. Otherwise, misunderstandings are created in this world, and disorder, disputes, and disagreements are seen. Though the rule or conception of sacrificing trivial self-interests for the sake of the greater interest remains popular, often that [lesser interest] cannot be avoided.
By the blessings of the devotees, all types of inauspiciousness or obstacles are whisked away. This is a steadfast truth. By the auspicious grace of sādhu, guru, and Vaiṣṇavas, the unachievable can be achieved. By their causeless compassion, even the impossible becomes possible. Inconceivable, transcendental events that can never be comprehended by the intelligence of worldly men are seen transformed into tangible reality by the grace of sādhus and guru. Earthly, mundane logic and reasoning are incapable and incompetent in regard to addressing such matters. Here, the understanding that “only he who is chosen [by the Lord] attains [Him] – yam evaiṣa vṛṇute tena labhyaḥ[1]” is applicable. Kṛpā (mercy) is more glorious than sādhana (effort). This is certainly proven here. Only when sādhana and kṛpā converge is it possible to achieve perfection.
“Śrī guroḥ kṛpā hi kevalam – the grace of guru is everything.” Without mercy, the sādhaka or sādhikā cannot gain knowledge of tattva. Śrī guru is the captain to take one across the ocean of material existence. The human form of life is the root of spiritual practice. The ultimate ruin or misfortune is to obtain the rarity of birth as a human but be averse to worshipping Kṛṣṇa. When, by saintly association, the jīva becomes conscious of his true duty, then and only then does the desire to engage in bhajana strengthen in his heart and he thus progresses on the path of sādhana. On this path, the bona fide guru is the only resort, or āśraya. That is why the āśraya-vigraha is he who directs one in serving the viṣaya-vigraha and shows the path. Śrī Bhagavān’s wish dictates his incarnation and therefore, he is known as the “prakāśa-vigraha – manifest form”. Śrī gurudeva is the potency of Nityānanda; he is non-different from the tattva represented by Baladeva. Guru-tattva is indivisible and eternal. “Nitāiyer caraṇa satya, tā̃hāra sevaka nitya[2] – the lotus feet of Nitāi are the Absolute Truth and His servant is eternal.” This is the special quality shared by master and servant and their mutual relationship and interaction. The bona fide guru is eternally the well-wisher of his followers and is occupied in thinking about their welfare. This responsibility and duty of his is forever, and this good favour is an unpayable debt.
If, on the auspicious appearance days of śrī guru and Vaiṣṇavas, the jīva engages in glorifying them, his welfare is assured. “Hari, guru, vaiṣṇava—tinera smaraṇa; tinera smaraṇe haya vighna-vināśana[3] – Hari, guru, and Vaiṣṇavas – by remembering these three, all of one’s obstacles will be destroyed.” “Vaiṣṇavera guṇa-gāna karile jīvera trāṇa[4] – singing the glories of the Vaiṣṇavas ensures the jīva’s deliverance.” This decree is in accordance with proper conduct. No matter how many disqualifications the sādhaka or sādhikā may possess, no matter how dejected or wretched they may be, they take shelter of these sacred days as an auspicious conjunction or moment in which to settle their accounts.
Regret and repentance are the best atonement. That is what purifies one on the inside. If one is not fixed and determined in following proper discipline, inner purity does not come. “Sattvasya śuddhiṁ paramātma-bhaktiṁ, jñānāṁ ca vijñāna-virāga-yuktam[5] – [remembrance of Kṛṣṇa’s feet] purifies the heart and grants devotion to the Supreme Soul, along with knowledge endowed with realization and renunciation.”
The tradition of confession in Christianity was adopted from the eternal Ārya scriptures. “Prabhu bole—āra torā nā karisa pāpa, jagāi-mādhāi bole—āra nāre bāpa[6] – The Lord said, ‘You must not sin again.’ Jagāi and Mādhāi said, ‘No more, Father.’ ” This “āra nāre bāpa” confession is an integral part of repentance or atonement. Śrīman Mahāprabhu made Jagāi and Mādhāi vow this in front of Guru-Nityānanda. Without such a firm and determined resolution, the urge to sin returns and tries to pervert and pollute the pure inclinations of the heart.
Words of greeting and obeisance express ātma-nivedana (surrender of the self) and śaraṇāgati (taking refuge). In Smṛti, the details of aṣṭāṅga-praṇāma (prostrations of the body employing all eight major limbs) and ṣaḍ-aṅga-śaraṇāgati (sixfold-surrender) have been described. Although these have been specifically detailed in verses such as “padbhyāṁ jānubhyāṁ śirasā[7]” and “ānukulyasya-saṅkalpaḥ[8]”, scripture informs us that the inner aspects are the real matter. If one’s heart does not melt when observing spiritual practices, if mental transformation does not come, then such activities yield only futility. “Hṛdaya hoite bole, jīhvāra agrete cale, śabda-rūpe nāce anukṣaṇa[9] – it speaks from within the heart, it situates itself on the tip of the tongue, and it dances constantly in the form of sound vibration.” That is transcendental śabda-brahma, or śrī nāma-brahma. That śrī nāma enters the heart through the pathway of the ears and creates a sweet reverberation there. From that, the consciousness becomes anxious and manifests a desire to obtain the audience of the designated subject (vācya), Śrī Kṛṣṇacandra.
“Pūrva itihāsa, bhulinu sakala, seva-sukha peye mane – I have forgotten all my past history while revelling in the bliss of service. Āmi to tomāra, tumi to āmāra, ki kāja apara dhane[10] – I am Yours, You are mine; what else is of any worth?” Herein is the awakening of sambandha-jñāna. The potency of a bona fide guru’s grace can help us forget all our past history, or in other words, all of our worldly endeavours or sense of accomplishment, and protect us from its clutches. In this matter, his causeless mercy is our only resource. We must vow to serve Hṛṣīkeśa Śrī Bhagavān with our senses, which Bhagavān has given us. The bona fide guru is always happy and well. Tattva-vijñāna can never be inferred from the mundane, which is why the devotees and their Lord are qualified by the adjective aprameya (immeasurable). Although there is some difference between darśana through śrauta-patha (the path of hearing), or kīrtana, and direct darśana, everyone nurtures the hope of direct darśana. Hastā-yukta Navamī is on the 30th of Pauṣa. Accept my loving blessings. Iti—
Forever your well-wisher,
Śrī Bhaktivedānta Vāmana
[1] Kaṭha Upaniṣad (1.2.23), Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (3.2.3)
[2] Prārthanā, Nitāi-pada-kamala (4) by Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura
[3] See Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi-līlā 1.20–21)
[4] Śrīla Prabhupāda-vandanā (18) by Śrī Gopāla-Govinda Mahānta
[5] Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (12.12.55)
[6] Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata (Madhya-khaṇḍa 13.225)
[7] Śrī Hari-bhakti-vilāsa (1.8.360)
[8] Lakṣmī-tantra (17.60–61)
[9] Śaraṇāgati, Kṛṣṇa-nāma Dhare Kato Bala (2) by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
[10] Śaraṇāgati, Ātma-nivedana (2) by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
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