The Role of the Siksa-Guru

[Excerpted from Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja's Nectar Sprinkles on Australia]

krsna, guru, bhakta, sakti, avatara, prakasa
krsna ei chaya-rupe karena vilasa

Lord Krsna enjoys by manifesting Himself as the spiritual masters, the devotees, the diverse energies, the incarnations, and the plenary portions. They are all six in one. [C-c, Adi-lila: 1. 32]

Come with me as we enter into the same subject we began yesterday-Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja's Caitanya-caritamrta.

He has explained that Krsna, although one, manifests in six features. This is acintya-bhedabheda-tattva. He has also explained that his siksa gurus are the six Gosvamis-Sri Rupa, Sanatana, Bhatta Raghunatha, Sri Jiva, Gopala Bhatta, and Raghunatha dasa. He revealed that Advaita Acarya (prabhura amsa avatara) as an incarnation of Mahavisnu is therefore a partial incarnation of Krsna. Sri Nityananda Prabhu (prabhura svarupa prakasa) is an eternal manifestation of both Krsna and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

He is therefore called a prakasa, or manifestation. Also, by His mercy Krsna and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu are manifest.

In other words, without the mercy of Sri Nityananda Prabhu no one can realize Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu or Krsna. He is the complete embodiment of guru-tattva.

Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami is describing his spiritual good fortune. He says, "I have received the mercy of the six Gosvamis and other exalted Vaisnavas.

I have also received the mercy of Govinda, Gopinatha, and Madana Mohana, and I have taken darsana of Them. I have seen and realized the glories of Sri Vrndavana-dhama. And all this is the mercy of Sri Nityananda Prabhu. So I am His dasa, servant, and He is my guru." Next he explains that Krsna's sakti manifests as Sri Gadadhara, Krsnacandra is Krsna Himself, and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is that self-same Krsna, Vrajendranandana, Syamasundara, with the golden beauty and mood of Srimati Radhika. So He is like Sri Sri Krsna and Radha combined.

. . . . .

guru krsna-rupa hana sastrera pramane
guru-rupe krsna krpa karena bhakta-gane

According to the deliberate opinion of all revealed scriptures, the spiritual master is non-different from Krsna. Lord Krsna in the form of the spiritual master delivers His devotees. [C-c, Adi-lila: 1.45]

Diksa-guru and siksa-guru are non-different, they are on the same level. Srila Rupa Gosvami represents siksa-guru, and Srila Sanatana Gosvami represents diksa-guru, yet there is no difference between them. They can both act as siksa and diksa-gurus.

My revered Gurudeva, nitya-lila-pravista om visnupada Srila Bhaktiprajnana Kesava Maharaja is both my diksa and siksa-guru.

Pujyapada Sridhara Maharaja and Pujyapada Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja are also my siksa-gurus. Any disciple of Pujyapada Sridhara Maharaja, or Swami Maharaja, who does not consider nitya-lila-pravista Srila Bhaktiprajnana Kesava Maharaja to be in our line, is not a Vaisnava. We should not associate closely with someone who does not pay proper respect to Srila Bhatiprajnana Kesava Maharaja. He is the sannyasa-guru of Swami Maharaja, who has so much respect for him, both as a guru and as a friend.

siksa-guruke ta' jani krsnera svarupa
antaryami, bhakta-srestha-ei dui rupa

One should know the instructing spiritual master to be the Personality of Krsna.

Lord Krsna manifests Himself as the Supersoul and as the greatest devotee of the Lord. [C-c, Adi-lila: 1.47]

Diksa-guru is the rupa (form) of Krsna and siksa-guru is the svarupa (personal nature) of Krsna. Which is superior, rupa or svarupa? There is no difference between them. "Sva" means "mine," and so svarupa may even be more dear than rupa, though essentially they are the same.

Our diksa-guru is our worshipable superior for whom we have reverence. We pray to him and take the dust of his lotus feet. But siksa-guru is like a brother, a friend. Sometimes we can embrace him and speak with him frankly.

We can reveal our heart to him, and tell him that we desire to associate with Krsna as the gopis did. This is very secret and sacred. We may hesitate expressing this to our diksa-guru, and therefore we need the siksa-guru. He is like a bosom friend (laukik bandhu). With the siksa-guru there is a mood of fraternity-no aisvarya bhava (mood of awe and reverence in opulence). Similarly, in the most advanced stages of bhakti, one does not regard Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but as one's dear friend, dear son, or most beloved. He sees Krsna as his, and sees himself as Krsna's.

Srila Rupa Gosvami states that a disciple should also serve his diksa-guru with visrambha-seva (service in the mood of intimacy), but due to constantly offering pranamas it cannot always manifest. To your siksa-guru you can admit an attraction to a very beautiful girl, and ask for his guidance. It may be difficult to tell this to your diksa-guru because he is worshipable, like a father. His response may be very heavy and he may take a big stick to beat you. But your siksa-guru will embrace you and say, "O dear one, you should not do that. Try to love Krsna like this. Try to offer your heart in the service of Srimati Radhika's lotus feet. Don't go to the girls of this world. A girl of this world, is not really a girl but she is a burning fire, a poisonous ocean. Don't continue in this direction."

Due to the open-hearted nature of the relationship, a siksa-guru is needed. We can reveal everything to him. Within our heart, our siksa-gurus, Sri Krsna, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, Srila Rupa Gosvami, and all of the previous acaryas are aware of our thoughts and actions. They have not died, they are all omnipotent.

Siksa-guruke ta'jani krsnera svarupa. The siksa-guru is the svarupa of Krsna and the diksa-guru is the rupa of Krsna. Yet there is no difference between Krsna's inner nature and his outer body. Both are the same. One who thinks there is a difference is a Mayavadi, Advaitavadi, and we should not associate with such a person.

Antaryami, bhakta-srestha-ei dui rupa.

There are two types of siksa-guru.

Antaryami is the siksa-guru in the heart, the caitya-guru. He gives inspiration from within. If one prays, "O Krsna, You are my caitya-guru, I have given You my entire heart. Please arrange for me to take shelter of a qualified guru," Krsna will certainly arrange it. By approaching Krsna with a sincere desire to have a guru, we will not have to suffer the result of making an incorrect choice. We are asking Krsna to make all arrangements. But if we do not pray at all, and instead select our own guru, we will repent our decision if our guru falls down, then our life will be spoiled.

tesam satata-yuktanam
bhajatam priti-purvakam
dadami buddhi yogam tam
yena mam upayanti te

To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love and devotion, I give them the understanding by which they can come to me. [Bg: 10.10]

To one who is always connected (yuktanam) to Krsna, serving Him with love and devotion, He gives the intelligence (buddhi yoga) by which he can come to Him. What kind of intelligence does He give? Transcendental (aprakrit) intelligence, that intelligence which connects us with Krsna. "They then come to Me, (upayanti te) and I engage them in My service." This demonstrates how Krsna acts as caitya-guru.

. . . . .

Once, in South India, there lived a beautiful prostitute named Cintamani. She was 16 years old and danced and sang kirtana very sweetly. Everyone who saw her dance became attracted. Bilvamangala Thakura was a pious and religious brahmana, with a beautiful chaste wife, yet he was allured by Cintamani.

Cintamani, although a prostitute, had an extraordinary quality. She was very attached to singing songs in glorification of Sri Krsna and therefore many people were attracted. Bilvamangala Thakura fell into her trap. He stopped all business, and service to his mother and father. He forgot his chaste wife and children and became fully controlled by Cintamani. He would go to her, especially at night, taking some presents that he had procured by selling his land, or his wife's ornaments, or by stealing money and good cloth, hoping that in return she would love him.

Within time his father died and a ceremony was conducted. On the final day, 13th day of the ceremony hundreds and thousands of brahmanas sat in his courtyard, about to honor mahaprasadam.

Bilvamangala Thakura went to the kitchen, and took many delicious foods and other objects, and wrapped them in a cloth.

That night he left his house, not caring if his guests took prasadam, or that his distressed mother and wife were comforted. He left them all and went to that prostitute.

On that night, rain fell heavily. In order to reach the prostitute's house he had to cross a flooded river, whose current ran swiftly. Helpless, and desperate to find a means of crossing, he noticed something resembling a log floating in front of him. Not seeing that it was actually a half rotten dead body of a girl, he sat on it and crossed the river. Then, struggling across slippery ground and finally reaching the prostitute's home, he found that the door was closed. He knocked hard for a long time, but his sounds were not heard. At last he walked to the back of the house and saw what looked like a rope hanging from the rafters. Grabbing hold of it, he attempted to climb it. It was not a rope, however, but a snake, and Bilvamangala slipped and fell unconscious, making a loud sound on the courtyard floor.

Cintamani heard the noise and asked her maidservant to find out what had caused the sound. "Oh, Bilvamangala has fallen down here. Why? How did he come here?" She and the maidservant then took unconscious Bilvamangala into the house and warmed his body. When he woke up, Cintamani told him, "My body is full of blood, urine, stool, bile and mucus; yet you love it and have gone to so much trouble to get here. If you had a little bit of love and affection for Krsna, your life would have become successful. You are so lusty. I can no longer love you.

You should leave immediately."

Her words penetrated Bilvamangala's heart more than an arrow could, and he became very sober. He understood at that point that he must develop his love for Krsna.

It was because of his past impressions of bhakti that Cintamani's words penetrated his heart. Without this, her words would not have reformed him, and he would have instead fallen at her feet, panting like a dog, and begging for her to accept him.

But due to his past impressions he was able to change.

He then decided he should neither be with Cintamani nor stay at his home, but should instead go to Vrndavana. For the next five days he took no foodstuffs, and lived solely on the chanting of the holy name. Then, desiring to drink some water, he went to a well. There he saw a very young, beautiful and newly married lady who was hauling water. He asked her for a drink and he knelt as she poured the water from her pot into his mouth. As he drank the water he also drank in her beauty with his eyes, taking it into his heart, and he then followed her home. She went into her room and Bilvamangala met her husband who was standing at the door.

Bilvamangala asked him, "Please call the girl who just walked past you." He called his wife who came immediately. "How may I serve you?" she asked. Bilvamangala then told her that he wanted two of her hairpins. She could not understand why, but still she got them and gave them to him. As she and her husband looked on, Bilvamangala said, "These eyes are my enemy, imprisoning me in lust. If there is no bamboo there is no flute. Similarly if my eyes are removed my lust will also go. I will cut this lust at the root. If I am blind then my eyes will no longer be attracted to beautiful women and attraction only for Krsna will develop." He then pierced his eyes with these hairpins. Blood oozed from his eyes and he became totally blind. He began to chant Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare.

Soon a boy approached him and asked, "Baba, where are you going?" The voice of that boy was so sweet. He was that black cowherd boy who was not like any other.

Bilvamangala answered, "I am going to Vrndavana. My dear boy, Who are You?"

"I am a cowherd boy, I am going to Vrndavana. If you want to go to Vrndavana you can hold onto my stick and come with me. I will help you." Vrndavana was about a six month journey by foot, but after a few days the boy announced that they had reached Vrndavana. As they walked, Bilvamangala created very sweet poems about the mercy of Krsna. They were very pleasing to the ear of Krsna and later became known as the book Krsna-karnamrta-nectar for the ear of Krsna. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu later found this Krsna-karnamrta in South India and presented it to the devotees.

The first poem in the Mangalacaranam of that book is:

cintamanir jayati somagirir gurur me
siksa-gurus ca bhagavan
sikhi-pincha-maulih
yat-pada-kalpataru-pallava-sekharesu
lila-svayamvara-rasam labhate jayasrih

"All glories to Cintamani and my initiating spiritual master, Somagiri.

All glories to my instructing spiritual master, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who wears peacock feathers in His crown. Under the shade of His lotus feet, which are like desire trees, Jayasri [Radharani] enjoys the transcendental mellow of an eternal consort." [C-c, Adi--lila: 1.57]

Bilvamangala Thakura pays obeisances to Cintamani, who inspired him to take shelter of Krsna. What type of guru was she? A vartma-pradarsaka-guru, one who says, "Come with me to a realized Vaisnava." The vartma-pradarsaka-guru shows the path. He may be kanistha, that is alright. But the initiating guru should not be less than a madhyama-adhikari.

What are the symptoms of madhyama-adhikari? You need to know these symptoms before accepting a diksa or siksa-guru. If you do not see these symptoms, you should not accept a person as guru. Otherwise, there will be so many difficulties in your devotional life. If that guru falls down, your life will be ruined and you will cry bitterly.

The first symptom is:

tasmad gurum prapadyeta
jijnasuh sreya uttamam
sabde pare ca nisnatam
brahmany upasamasrayam

Any person who is seriously desirous of achieving real happiness must seek out a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of a spiritual master is that he must have realized the conclusion of the scriptures by deliberation and arguments and thus be able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken complete shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, are to be understood as bona fide spiritual masters. [Bhag. 11.3.21]

Though all symptoms should be there in full, two are prominent. The first symptom is sabde pare ca nisnatam brahmany; the guru has complete knowledge of the scriptures. The second symptom is upasamasrayam; he is detached from material desires. He is always so happy serving Krsna. If he is unhappy and feels that his life has so many problems, then he is not qualified to be guru. Haridasa Thakura was beaten in 22 market places, almost to the point of death, but he did not consider this a problem. He kept chanting Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna. Prahlada Maharaja was tortured by his father, yet he never felt he had a problem. Rather, he stood on the head of all problems.

A guru who chants and performs the nine processes of bhakti, and who has taken diksa, but who laments that he has so many problems-that his wife has cheated him, his children are not with him, he cannot manage or make money, or he has no computer or no sufficient material facility, should be rejected at once. The third symptom of guru is that he is realized in Krsna-bhakti. Without his having this realization, because he still has material desires, he is bound to fall.

Besides these three symptoms, a madhyama-adhikari will have an additional four qualities. The uttama-adhikari is of cours e superior and offers a superior result in bhakti, but such a guru is rare in this world. In the absence of such an uttama-guru, the madhyama-adhikari can be accepted as a siksa or diksa-guru. But one should see whether or not he has the following four qualities:

1. prema--He has love and affection for Krsna 1.

2. maitri--He shows friendship towards and offers service to the Vaisnavas.

He has three kinds of relations with three kinds of Vaisnavas: he honors and obeys, with a mood of friendship, one who is more advanced than himself in bhakti. He relates to equals as friends, and he is also friendly to those whose bhakti is less developed. So he has maitri (friendship) with honor for superiors, maitri with mitra (friends on an equal level), and maitri with krpa (compassion) for subordinates.

3. krpa--He shows mercy to those persons who honor and have faith in Vaisnavas. Such person's faith may even be worldly, in other words they may have some material sentiments in relation to the guru and the Deity.

It may be that they have more affection for the Deities than for the devotees; and therefore they may not like to meet with devotees and hear their hari-katha. Such persons may understand that they should obey the scriptures, but they cannot act in the four ways that a madhyama-adhikari can act. Such persons may be ignorant, but they want to learn how to advance in devotional service.

4. upeksa--He neglects offenders, persons who are against the Vaisnavas, or who do not honor them.

He is aware that relating or associating with such persons destroys all traces of bhakti.

We have thus discussed the three main qualities, as well as the four additional ones, which are found in a madhyama-adhikari who is qualified to be guru. Srila Jiva Gosvami warns us in Bhakti-sandarbha that one who accepts a guru for worldly name, fame, and gain, and a guru who accepts disciples for the same reason, will both fall down. Their destination will be naraka, hell.

Srila Sanatana Gosvami writes:

avaisnava-mukhodgirnam
putam hari-kathamrtam
sravanam naiva kartavyam
sarpocchistam yatha payah

One should not hear anything about Krsna from a non-Vaisnava. Milk touched by the lips of a serpent has poisonous effects.

Similarly, talks about Krsna given by a non-Vaisnava are also poisonous. [from Padma-purana quoted in Bhag. 6.17.40]

Therefore one who makes an external show of being a Vaisnava, but who fails to honor the Vaisnavas, giving preference to worldly fame and gain, should be given up without delay, even though you may have taken both harinama and diksa from that person. Such a guru is a so-called guru, and should be given up. This has been explained in the Mahabharata, and other scriptures. If you do not reject such a guru, you will have to go to hell. Be ready for that. No Vaisnava should be dishonored, even a kanistha-adhikari, and what to speak of a madhyama and uttama.

The association of one who is dishonoring or criticizing them should be given up.

If he says that he is a bona fide Vaisnava and that he is the only bona fide disciple of his Gurudeva, yet he commits this offense, then his own guru, if bona fide, will reject him.

Srila Jiva Gosvami gives a very important instruction. We should not criticize anyone. We should not think that because there are quarrels in the transcendental world, such as those between the followers of Srimati Candravali and the followers of Srimati Radhika, that we may also quarrel. We should not take sides and criticize.

Although someone may say that there is a difference between Srila Bhaktiprajnana Kesava Maharaja and Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja, it is not true. There is no difference. They are in the same disciplic line. Swamiji preached in the West and my Gurudeva preached in India, yet they spoke the same message. Their love for Krsna is the same. Their teachings are the same. Their service for Mahaprabhu is the same. One was in the International Society for Krsna consciousness and the other in the Gaudiya Vedanta Samiti. But both are in the family of Caitanya Mahaprabhu (Gaura parivara) so there is no need to quarrel.

One should never dishonor them. We should follow the instructions of the acaryas and try to develop our Krsna consciousness.

. . . . .

On Srila Narayana Maharaja's request devotees sing Nanda-nandanastakam and Radha-krpa-kataksa-stava-raja

You should daily sing these two songs in your sadhana-bhajana. If you know the meaning and are praying sincerely, it will be very beneficial. Even if you don't know the meaning, Krsna and Srimati Radhika will hear you. By singing Nanda-nandanastakam which glorifies Krsna, Srimati Radhika will be so pleased that She will give you all benedictions, whether you want them or not. And when singing Radha-krpa-kataksa, Krsna will be so pleased that He will give you any benediction you desire. If you want Krsna to write your name in the register of Srimati Radhika's maidservants (palya dasis), He will do so at once. He is at the gate, writing the list of Srimati Radhika's dasis-those who want to serve Srimati Radhika. You should therefore add these two kirtanas to your daily routine of bhajana, followed by the singing of Sri Krsna Caitanya and the Mahamantra. In this way your bhakti will become strong.

--------------------------------------------------

Footnotes

1 Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura writes in his Srimad-Bhagavatam commentary that a madhyama-adhikari cannot have real prema. But by thinking of how the gopis loved Krsna, he may receive a shadow of their prema. Thus he achieves the level of asakti, attachment for Krsna.

Nectar Sprinkles on Australia The Role of the Siksa-Guru

Srila Narayana
Maharaja Page