What is Initiation?

Gaudiya Darshan: 1 October 2015

Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj explains the definition of dīkṣā.

What is dīkṣā?

divyaṁ jñānaṁ yato dadyāt kuryāt pāpasya saṅkṣayam
tasmād dīkṣeti sā proktā deśikais tattva-kovidaiḥ

The spiritual specialists say it is the process through which spiritual knowledge is imparted. Divyaṁ jñānaṁ yato dadyāt: new knowledge, new estimation about the environment, about the world, awakens in one’s heart. A new angle of vision arises within. What we saw was false. It was māyā. Now we want to realise what is reality.

Kuryāt pāpasya saṅkṣayam: the reactions that were due to me for my activities resulting from my false calculation, these are cleared off. Pāpa means the reaction I acquired because of my false estimation and transaction with the environment. That is cleared when I get a real estimation of the environment, of the world outside. This is the result of dīkṣā, divya-jñān [divine knowledge]. Not knowledge from my narrow standpoint but from the standpoint of the most wide view. I see with my narrow selfish outlook, but I must get rid of that false notion of selfish enterprise and replace that with the proper and true estimation of the environment, of the world outside. Accordingly, we shall learn to interact with the world. This is dīkṣā. By doing that, we are to understand what is the nature of the world we are living in.

I am not a master of what I see. I am not the monarch of all I survey. This is totally wrong. It is down right falsehood. But there is a monarch. I am not that monarch, but there is a monarch, and I am within His survey. “I am monarch of all I survey.” No. I am not the surveyor. Rather, I am an object being surveyed. The world is being surveyed, and I am a part of the world. I am also being surveyed by the monarch of the world. And what is the result of that survey? To know that and go on accordingly, to learn to go on according to the instructions of the surveyor proper, the absolute surveyor, that is dīkṣā, divya‑jñānam.

What is divine knowledge? Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvaṁ (Īu: 1): not only it is false that I am the owner, but no one is owner. There is only one onwer, and that one is not myself. The master of the whole is God, the Lord, Kṛṣṇa. Not only does the world belong to Him, but we also belong to Him. This is knowledge.

What are we? We are slaves to the master of the world. Divine knowledge means to feel that this is the truth.

jīvera svarūpa haya kṛṣṇera nitya dāsa
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya-līlā, 20.108)

[“The soul is by nature an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa.”]

I am very small and insignificant. My condition is very pitiful. I have to create mercy, help, from the higher for my misguided life, my misunderstood life. All these things are to be dealt with every day. This is the purpose of getting dīkṣā, divya-jñān. Divya-jñān means to do away with our local experience and to invite the perspective, the estimation, of the centre and the surveyor from the centre. What is what? Divine knowledge means to be introduced newly to the environment, to forget my previous estimation and to invite a new estimation about  things and go on accordingly, control my conduct accordingly. What we see around us has an owner. It is not ownerless, and I am not the owner. I am not the owner of what I survey, and at the same time, no one like myself is the owner either. There is one owner, and He is also my owner. Now, how to go on? It is a mathematical calculation: this is His property, and I am also His property. I am His servant, and this is His substance. So, according to the master’s will, I am to deal with everything. That is, I am to serve. The Lord is to be served, not to be enjoyed, and His things are also to be served, not to be enjoyed. That will be the deduction. That will be deduced from divya‑jñān. I am a serving unit in this world.

I cannot take to the side of renunciation either. I have no right to renounce. A slave cannot go on strike: “I won’t do the work.” You are bound to do your duty. Neither can you go on with the work according to your own whim, nor can you go on strike, saying, “I won’t cooperate.” Only one side is open: you have to discharge your duty. If you do not do that, then you commit offence, and offences are punishable. So, you will be punished. The fact is so stark. The reality is so cruel.

We have no independence of our own. We must not think that we are an owner. We cannot think that we are the owner of our own self and that according to our will we can deal with our environment. No. You are duty‑bound to treat your environment in a particular way: in a reverential and serving way. Then, you are normal. Otherwise, you are abnormal and you are to be punished. That is aparādha, offence. Sevā [service] is neither bhoga nor tyāga, neither enjoyment nor renunciation. We have no right to enjoy and no right to renounce, to not cooperate. Only one side is open: to serve. We are to face this cruel reality.

At first, it may seem to be rough, cruel, but if we can understand the underlying purpose in it, then we shall gradually find, “This is the one and only key to a happy life.” We should not engage in self‑aggrandisement with the help of others. Wanting to live on others’ energy is insulting. It is cowardice, and it is improper. Or because we cannot utilise something only for our selfish purpose, we must leave it—that is also not honourable or justifiable.

We are living together. So, we must have some sort of duty towards the environment. I cannot see myself as a thing cut‑off from the environment. In an organic whole, the parts are correlated. So, we also have a correlation with our environment, with all things on all four sides. This is natural. We are a part of an organic whole, and we have got our respective duty to one another just as one part of our body has some duty to discharge for the whole of the body and through that performs a duty to every part of the body.

Neither the tyāga like that of the jñānīs, the Buddhists, and the Śaṅkārites, neither their formula or estimation is right, nor are the exploitationists: “Whatever I see is for me; I am the monarch of all I survey.” That view is also not true. We have to understand this deeply. Someone may be a good scholar but be perplexed or nonplussed by this. Intellect is not sufficient to make us understand all the difficulties of this life. Independent reading of the scriptures cannot impart us the necessary light to understand the things contained in the scriptures.

yāha bhāgavata paḍa vaiṣṇavera sthāne
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Antya-līlā, 5.132)

Mahāprabhu says, “Go and study the Bhāgavat from a Vaiṣṇava. Try to get the angle of vision from him.”

tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 4.34)

[“Learn divine knowledge through surrender, enquiry, and service. Those who know and see the truth will teach it to you.”]

āchāryavān puruṣo veda
(Chāndogya-upaniṣad: 6.14.2)

“You must have an Āchārya if you want to study the revealed scriptures.”

You can’t study alone, independently. Not in an empirical way will you be able to understand. Only by the descending method it is possible. Divine knowledge comes in a descending method, and it does not depend on our literary education. “A literate man will understand more, and an ordinary illiterate person won’t be able to understand spiritual truth.” This is not true. The illiterate can understand, and the literate may fail to understand. It is independent of worldly scholarship. Only praṇipāt [surrender], paripraśna [enquiry], sevā, a serving attitude, will help. These things are necessary to be illuminated by the higher revealed truth. Through Guru and Vaiṣṇava, it will come down to my heart and then to my brain, but really it will come down to my soul. The soul will be awakened, and the soul’s body will grow. We will see the soul come out from bondage.

Divya-jñān, dīkṣā, means all these things: to engage oneself in the quest of the revealed truth through a particular process. Praṇipāt, parispraśna, and sevā—surrender, honest inquiry, and serving attitude—we can acquire that sort of knowledge and understanding in this way, and we are to adjust ourselves accordingly to catch the benefit of dīkṣā.

It is not a mere formal thing. It is not that only we shall repeat the mantram we receive. The mantram wants to say something to us. The mantra has its meaning. The mantra wants to say something to us and asks us to do that, and we have to do that. Then, we will get the desired result. Then, the purpose of dīkṣā will be fulfilled. Mere repetition of a few technical sounds does not complete dīkṣā. Dīkṣā means knowledge is transmitted, and you must utilise that sort of knowledge in favour of your realisation of higher life, your real life, your proper life, your eternal life, your life after death, your life after so many deaths. This will continue: it is eternal knowledge. It is eternal knowledge of the eternal soul about eternity. The knower, the known, and the knowing—these three things are all eternal. You will find yourself: “I am an eternal part of this world, and I have a part in eternity also. An eternal relationship is there, and from that relationship, so many functions and activities are presupposed. They should be done.” This sort of duty should be discharged. This is dīkṣā, divya-jñān. Divya means ‘not mundane’; it means supernatural, transcendental.

Reference

divyaṁ jñānaṁ yato dadyāt kuryāt pāpasya saṅkṣayam
tasmād dīkṣeti sā proktā deśikais tattva-kovidaiḥ

“Because it imparts divine knowledge and destroys sin, the expert teachers of the scriptures call it dīkṣā.”

Reasoning and the Crooked Flow of Lila

Harmonist, August 17, 2015

By Srila B. R. Sridhara Deva Goswami

God works wonders. God’s ways are filled with miracles. We, should be prepared for that. We should be prepared that all the knowledge of this world, all our experience, will prove to be wrong. So it is said, jnane prayasam udapasya namanta eva: Be clear of your past experiences, what you have drawn from the world of the senses, empiric knowledge (pratyaksa-jnana). Your tendency will always be to try to push your way into the transcendental world on the strength of mundane knowledge. But this verse is saying, “You fallen people, your capital is the experience of this world, of the senses. But it won’t do, it won’t have any value in that higher plane. What is found there is a new thing, so approach that world with an open mind; understand that everything is possible with the infinite. All your expectations, your past experience, has no value. Why don’t you give up trying to dodge this point?”

The transcendental world is something quite new to us. It is very difficult to get out of this superstition of so-called “truth” here. But still it is necessary that we accept that anything and everything is possible with God. He is the master of impossibilities. Possibility and impossibility are found only in our dictionary, yet even Napoleon wanted to remove the word “impossible.” He said, “‘Impossible’ is a word in a fool’s dictionary.”

How are we to understand that the original guru of our sampradaya becomes bewildered?1 It is “impossible.” We must suspend our “knowledge” (jnane prayasam udapasya namanta eva). We may take it that Krishna is playing hide and seek, perhaps, with Brahma, our gurudeva. It is like a game of hide and seek. Sometimes Krishna is defeating others and sometimes he is defeated.

When Krishna and Balarama are playing with their friends in the jungle, they generally play in two groups. Krishna is in one group and Balarama is in another. Krishna is considered to be less strong than Balarama. Balarama was the strongest person there, and the next strongest was Sridama, so Sridama used to play on the side of Krishna. Whenever Balarama was defeated, he would become enraged. Krishna would diplomatically help his own team, and when Balarama saw that his own team was disloyal due to Krishna’s tricks, he would turn to his younger brother Krishna and say, “I shall punish you!” But Krishna would say, “No, you cannot punish me; Mother Yasoda has entrusted me in your care. You can’t mistreat me.”

One day, Balarama slapped Krishna, but Krishna went to Mother Yasoda and told on him. Balarama was very disturbed and said, “I slap you once, and you complain to your mother that I do not love you? Krishna, how could you do this?” At last Krishna was perplexed and accepted his defeat.

So Krishna lila moves in a crooked way (aher iva gatih premna…). This fundamental point, the foundation of our understanding about Krishna lila has been given by Rupa Goswami in this verse. He says, “Don’t be eager to find reason everywhere in the pastimes of divinity. They are naturally crooked. In Krishna lila we shall find that although no party is defective, still, one will find fault with another and begin a quarrel. No defect can be found there. But still, for the necessity of lila, false defects are found, and some quarrel begins. This is the meaning of lila, pastimes: what we find here by necessity, flows there automatically. We can’t try to apply our reason or our standard of measurement to the movements of the infinite. And whatever gain we have made by connecting with that flow of lila will be lost in our attempts to measure it; that will be the only consequence of our analysis. So we should try to have a taste of lila with a submissive attitude. Sometimes reason, logic, and analysis are necessary, but only to preach to the people in general. Only for the purpose of preaching to people addicted to reason do we have to take the help of reason. But when devotion becomes automatic, anuraga, then both reason and scripture are left in the subterranean position. There is no place for scriptural arguments there. To a certain extent, reason is necessary for our development up to vaidhi-bhakti, the elementary stages of devotion. But above that, it has no use.
———

Sridhara Maharaja is here reffering to the Brahma-vimohan lila, wherein Brahma, in some ways the original founder of the Gaudiya sampradaya, becomes bewildered about Krishna’s position.

The Appearance of Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev Goswami

17 October 2014

Śrīla Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj’s poem describing the descending grace of Śrī Guru and Śri Gaurāṅga.

Om Aṣṭottara-śata-śrī Paramahaṁsa Parivrājakāchārya-varya

Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Viṣṇupādera

Ṣaṭ-ṣaṣṭitama Śubha-prakaṭa-vāsare

Śrī Guru-praśasti

Praise for Śrī Guru

on the 66th anniversary of the appearance day of

Om Aṣṭottara-śata-śrī Paramahaṁsa Parivrājāchārya-varya

Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Viṣṇupād

by

Śrīla Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj

Published in the pen name of Śrī Kṛṣṇamayī Devī

in Śrī Gauḍīya Darśan, Volume 6, Issue 3,

on Thursday 13 October 1960.

veda-tantra-purāṇādi-śāstra mahājana
yei avichintya-rasa kare anveṣaṇa
sei rasa mūrtimāna govinda-sundara
gītā-bhāgavatādite vyakta charāchara [1]

The embodiment of the inconceivable rasa that the great souls and the scriptures—the Vedas, Tantras, Purāṇas, and so on—search for, Śrī Govindasundar, has been revealed in the world by Śrī Gītā, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, and other scriptures.

sei rasa-rāja mūrti ātma-vitaraṇe
nija nitya-śakti dvāre vyakta āsvādane
śrī-rādhā-govinda-rūpe tāhāte prakāśa
prema-bhakti dvāre labhya apūrva vilāsa [2]

This embodiment of the highest rasa is manifest by His own eternal energy to distribute and taste Himself. When He is manifest in the form of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govinda, His unprecendented Pastimes are attained by loving devotion.

sei avichintya veda-gopya mahārasa
āpanāre luṭāite kariyā mānasa
śrī-rādhā-govinda du̐he eka-mūrti dhari’
śrī-gaura-sundara-rūpe apūrva mādhurī [3]

When They desire to personally distribute the inconceivable supreme rasa, which is hidden by the Vedas, Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govinda assume one form and become unprecedentedly beautiful as Śrī Gaurasundar.

ei navadvīpa jñāna-pīṭha mahādhāma
jñāna-śirobhāge śobhe kṛṣṇa-prema-nāma
ānande unmāda kara kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtana
ei saba saṅge mahāprabhura āgamana [4]

Nabadwīp, the seat of knowledge, is the supreme abode. There, Kṛṣṇa’s Name and divine love for Kṛṣṇa shine atop the head of knowledge, and, mad with joy, Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govinda chant the Name of Kṛṣṇa. All of this came with the appearance of Śrīman Mahāprabhu.

āpana parama prema-sudhāra bhāṇḍāra
ujāriyā āsvādaya kariyā huṅkāra
hā̐se kā̐de nāche gāya unmāda prāya
vilāiyā prema-dhana chāridike dhāya [5]

Roaring, Śrīman Mahāprabhu empties the storehouse of the nectar of His own supreme divine love and relishes it. As though mad, He laughs, cries, dances, sings, and runs in all directions distributing the wealth of divine love.

āchāṇḍāle dilā dāna devera durlabha
paśu-pakṣī tṛṇa gulme se prema-sulabha
abhāgā vañchita hala hena avatāre
ahetuka dayā-sindhu sahibāre nāre [6]

He gives outcasts a gift that is difficult for the gods to attain. He makes divine love easily attainable to even animals, birds, grass, and shrubs. The unfortunate were deceived during His descent, but He, as an ocean of unconditional mercy, cannot tolerate this.

dike dike kāle kāle āpana vaibhava
vistāriyā vitarichhe kṛṣṇa-premāsava
adyāpio sei līlā kare gorā-rāya
bhāgyavāna jana luṭe se pada-dhulāya [7]

So, from place to place and time to time, He sends His personal expansions and distributes the liquer of divine love for Kṛṣṇa. Still today, Śrī Gorā Rāya performs such Pastimes, and fortunate souls roll in the dust of His feet.

guru-rūpe gaura-kṛṣṇa śraddhāñjana-mākhā
hṛdaya-nayane māyā bhedi’ dena dekhā
nitya līlāmaya-mūrti rasera vilāsa
śuddha-sattve premamaya chetane prakāśa [8]

In the form of Śrī Guru, Gaura Kṛṣṇa pierces through the illusory environment and reveals Himself to eyes and hearts that are anointed with the collyrium of faith. His eternal, playful form and His Pastimes of tasting rasa manifest within pure hearts—within consciousness that is filled with divine love.

“yathā deve tathā gurau”, “guru-devatātmā”
“gurv-ātma-daivata” śāstra, anye “nāyamātmā”
kṛṣṇa guru e vijñāne avamati hale
divye martya-buddhi nīcha-asuyāra phale [9]

The scriptures say: “As you serve the Lord, so you should serve Śrī Guru (Śu: 6.23)”, “Śrī Guru is your Lord and beloved (SB: 11.2.37)” Śrī Guru is your beloved and Lord (SB: 11.3.22)”, and “The Supreme Soul is not attained by reasoning, intelligence, or extensive learning; He is attained by one whom He chooses; He reveals His form only to them (Ku: 1.2.23)”. If we disregard this conception of Kṛṣṇa and Guru, then, as a result of pettiness and envy, we think the divine (Śrī Guru) to be mortal.

“guru kṛṣṇa-rūpa hana śāstrera pramāṇe
guru-rūpe kṛṣṇa kṛpā kare bhakta-jane”
sad-guru lakṣaṇe yei tattva vibhūṣita
tattvābhinna sei deha kṛṣṇa-vikrīḍita [10]

“The scriptures confirm that Guru is a form of Kṛṣṇa. In the form of Guru, Kṛṣṇa bestows His mercy upon the devotees (Cc: Ādi, 1.45).” One who is in truth decorated with the characteristics of a genuine Guru is nondifferent from the Truth, and Kṛṣṇa performs Pastimes in their body.

bāhya dṛṣṭye sad-gurura viṣaya grahaṇa
kṛṣṇārthe cheṣṭita chitte kṛṣṇe nivedana
goloka bhūloka guru setura svarūpa
nīcha-jane uttolana-mūrti aparūpa [11]

According to external vision, a genuine Guru engages in material affairs, but at heart Śrī Guru acts only for Kṛṣṇa’s sake and offers everything to Kṛṣṇa. Śrī Guru is the bridge from the earth to the Lord’s abode. He is the miraculous embodiment of the deliverance of the fallen souls.

brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona sukṛti sampade
āmā āni’ dila kona gaura-jana pade
gaura-kṛṣṇa-gāthā śuni’ juḍāila prāṇa
se gāthā-tātparye chitta hala āguyāna [12]

While wandering throughout the universe, some good fortune brought me to the feet of a devotee of Śrī Gaura. Hearing the glories of Gaura Kṛṣṇa from them soothed my heart, and my heart was moved by the purport of those glories.

roge bhoge śoke tāpe jaḍa-jaḍa mana
achintya śrī-kṛṣṇa-līlāya pela āsvādana
guru-kṛpā-bale āgusari dhīre dhīre
bahu bādhā māyādevī hāne mora śire [13]

Although it was worn and torn by disease, suffering, lamentation, and misery, my heart got a taste of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s inconceivable Pastimes. Now, I progress gradually by Śrī Guru’s mercy, but Māyā Devī hurls many obstacles at my head.

āpāta darśane tāhā baḍa-i duḥsaha
prasārita dṛṣṭye kintu maṅgala vigraha
māyāra bandhana saba kramaśaḥ ṭuṭila
ekānta śrī-kṛṣṇa-sevāra suyoga karila [14]

At first sight, these obstacles are extremely difficult to bear, but from an expanded angle of vision, they are forms of good fortune. Gradually, all of Māyā’s snares break apart, and ultimately they give me opportunities to serve Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

ye guru-kṛpāya nava jīvana sandhana
svataḥ-siddha ātma-jñāne praphullita prāṇa
patita-pāvana-pada-gaurāṅga-bharasā
śrī-rādhā-govinda-līlā-sudhā-lābha-āśā [15]

The Guru by whose mercy new life is attained, by whose mercy the heart blooms with self-manifest knowledge of the self, by whose mercy faith in the feet of the saviour of the fallen, Śrī Gaurāṅga, is attained, by whose mercy the hope of tasting the nectar of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govinda’s Pastimes is attained …

ye guru-kṛpāya ati kāṅgāla adhama
brahmādi durlabha labhe kṛṣṇa-prema-dhana
se guru-charaṇa-sparśa pāila avanī
kārtikī navamī dine sādhu-mukhe śuni [16]

The Guru by whose mercy very poor and fallen souls attain the wealth of divine love for Kṛṣṇa, which is difficult to attain even for Brahmā and the other gods—I hear from the mouths of the sādhus that the earth received the touch of this Guru’s feet on the ninth day of the month of Kārtik.

aṣṭa-daśa-śata sapta-daśa śakābdāte
saurāśvine śani-bāra ṣaḍ-viṁśa dinete
gauṇachāndra dāmodara kṛṣṇa-navamīte
puṣyā-yoge madhya-rātre udaya mahīte [17]

In 1817 of the Śaka era, on Saturday the 26th day of the solar month of Ashvin, the ninth day of the dark fortnight in the lunar month of Dāmodar calculated from the first day of the waning moon, in the middle of the night during conjunction with the Puṣyā star, he appeared on the earth (on 12 October 1895).

sei śubha-varṣa māsa pakṣa tithi bāra
rajanī nakṣatra kṣaṇa vandi bāra bāra
āji ei śubha-dine mahājana mate
sei-kṣaṇa avatīrṇa hala avanīte [18]

I offer my obeisance to this auspicious year, month, fortnight, lunar day, solar day, night, star, and moment again and again. According to the conception of the great souls, this moment occurred on the earth today, on this auspicious day.

bahu bhāgyavāna mili’ ei śubha-kṣaṇe
pūjichhe pavitra chitte śrī-guru-charaṇe
tā̐dera paśchāte thāki’ pūji ai pada
jīvane maraṇe hoka e mora sampada [19]

Gathering at this auspicious moment, many fortunate souls are worshipping the feet of Śrī Guru with pure hearts. Remaining behind them, I also worship his feet. In life and in death, let his feet be my wealth.

ai divya dīrgha deha divya avayava
divya-jñāna-dīpta netra divya anubhava
divya bhāṣā divya-bhāva divya-jyotirmaya
divya-dayāmaya-mūrti chitte nitya raya [20]

His lofty divine form, his divine limbs, his eyes illumined with divine knowledge, his divine perception, his divine language, his divine mood, his divine lustre, and his merciful divine figure remain in my heart forever.

gambhīra pratibhāmaya sarala udāra
jaḍa-jñāna-giri-vajra divya dīkṣādhāra
svajane suśīla snigdha, durjane durjaya
guru-gaurānuga mūrti sadā chitte raya [21]

Grave, brilliant, sincere, and magnanimous, a thunderbolt atop the mountain of mundane knowledge, a conduit for divine revelation, cordial and affectionate to the good and unconquerable by the bad, Śrī Guru’s form as the follower of Śrī Gaura always remains in my heart.

gauḍīya-āchārya-goṣṭhī-gaurava-bhājana
gauḍīya-siddhānta-maṇi kaṇṭha-vibhūṣaṇa
sarva daraśana-tattva yā̐hāra vichāre
avichintya-bhedābheda sāmañjasya dhare [22]

He is revered in the assembly of Gauḍīya Āchāryas, and the jewel-like precepts given by the Gauḍīya school are the bright ornaments around his neck. In his conception are the truths within all worldviews, and he harmonises everything with the axiom of inconceivable difference and nondifference.

gaura-sarasvatī-sphūrta siddhāntera khani
āviṣkṛta yā̐ra vākye artha chintāmaṇi
eka-tattva varṇanete nitya-nava-bhāva
susaṅgati, sāmañjasya, e saba prabhāva [23]

He is a mine of the precepts revealed by Śrī Gaura, and the wish-fulfilling jewels of the meanings of these precepts are discovered by his words. He feels ever-new joy in describing the Absolute, and his strengths are adjustment and harmony.

sakala satīrtha-varga sabe eka-mate
śrī-guru-siddhānta-dhārā dekhena yā̐hāte
tulasī-mālikā haste śrī-nāma-grahaṇa
dekhi’ yā̐ra tā̐hādera ‘prabhu’ uddīpana [24]

Unanimously, all his godbrothers see within him revelation of the precepts taught by their Guru. Seeing him chant the Holy Name with tulasī beads in his hand, they are reminded of Śrīla Prabhupād (Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur).

“śrī-nātha jānakī-nātha yadyapi abheda
tathāpi sarvasva mora rāmachandra-pada”
ei hanumat vākya mastakete dhari’
jīvane maraṇe chāi ai pada-tari [25]

“Although Rāmachandra is nondifferent from Nārāyaṇ, the feet of Rāmachandra are everything to me.” Holding this statement of Hanumān on my head, in life and in death, I desire to be in the boat of his feet.

“rādhā-bhajane yadi mati nāhi bhela
kṛṣṇa-bhajane tava akāraṇe gela”
mahājana śikṣā śire kariyā dhāraṇa
śrī-guru-charaṇa-sevā-rata rahu mana [26]

“If you do not aspire to serve Rādhā, then your service to Kṛṣṇa goes for nothing.” Holding this teaching of the great souls on my head, I pray, “May my heart always remain engaged in the service of the feet of Śrī Guru.”

References

yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau
tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante mahātmanaḥ
(Śvetāśvatara-upaniṣad: 6.23)

“The meaning of the scriptures is revealed to the great soul who has pure devotion to the Lord, and so also to Śrī Guru.”

bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād
īśād apetasya viparyayo ’smṛtiḥ
tan-māyayāto budha ābhajet taṁ
bhaktyaikayeṣaṁ guru-devatātmā
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.37)

“Those who turn away from the Lord, forget their true self by the influence of the Lord’s illusion, consider themself to be the opposite of their true self, and become intent upon selfish enjoyment become stricken with fear. Therefore, the wise should serve the Lord with unalloyed devotion, considering Śrī Guru to be their Lord and beloved.”

tatra bhāgavatān dharmān śikṣed gurv-ātma-daivataḥ
amāyayānuvṛttyā yais tuṣyed ātmātma-do hariḥ
(SB: 11.3.22)

“Considering Śrī Guru to be one’s beloved and Lord, one should sincerely and submissively learn from him the dharma by which Śrī Hari, He who gives Himself (to His devotee), is satisfied.”

nāyamātmā pravachanena labhyo
na medhayā na bahunā śrutena
yam evaiṣa vṛṇute tena labhyaḥ
tasyaiṣa ātmā vivṛṇute tanūṁ svām
(Kaṭha-upaniṣad: 1.2.23)

“The Supreme Soul is not attained by reasoning, intelligence, or extensive learning. He is attained by one whom He chooses. He reveals His form to them.”

śrīnāthe jānakīnāthe chābhedaḥ paramātmani
tathāpi mama sarvasvaṁ rāmaḥ kamala-lochanaḥ
(Prema-bhakti-chandrikā: 29)

“Nārāyaṇ, Rāmāchandra, and the Paramātmā are all nondifferent. Still, lotus-eyed Rāma is everything to me.”

rādhā-bhajane yadi mati nāhi bhela
kṛṣṇa-bhajane tava akāraṇe gela
(Gītāvalī: Rādhāṣṭakam, 8.1)

“If you do not aspire to serve Rādhā, then your service to Kṛṣṇa goes for nothing.”



Source gaudiyadarshan.com

Audio: Disappearance of three Goswamis

Srila Bhakti Raksak Sidhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj talks about the exemplary lives of Sri Raghunath Bhatta and Raghunath Das amongst the Six Goswamis of Vrindavan; and Sri Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami to whom we are greatly indebted for he has given us Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita. Discourse by Srila Bhakti Raksak Sidhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj in remembrance of the disappearance festival of Srila Raghunath Das Goswami, Srila Raghunath Bhatta Goswami and Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami on 25th October 1985.

Download, or listen online 

(57+ minutes, 13+ MB mp3 audio)



Source scsmath.com