Sri Guru: Mercy at Your Doorstep

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
June 2010

Param Guru Maharaj, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, mentioned in his book Sri Guru and His Grace a very nice expression. I am giving you that example now, and if you read the book, you can easily find it there. Param Guru Maharaj told:

There is a lotus blooming very nicely in a pond, and there is so much heat coming from the sun, but the lotus blooms even more in that heat: the heat cannot cause any damage to the lotus. But once you take that lotus out of the pond—out of the shelter of the soil and the water—and keep it somewhere outside, it will immediately, within two minutes, change its colour, wither, and dry up.

So, when the lotus is under the shelter of the soil and the water, the powerful sun cannot destroy that lotus, but when it is not under the shelter of water and soil, it immediately dries up. So, Guru Maharaj compared the sun to Lord Krishna, the soil and the water to Gurudev, and the lotus to ourselves: when we are under the shelter of Gurudev, Krishna cannot destroy us, cannot break us; but when we are not under the shelter of Gurudev, then any time we can be destroyed. Like this.

That is why we must take shelter of the Guru:

সাক্ষাদ্ধরিত্বেন সমস্ত-শাস্ত্রৈ-
রুক্তস্তথা ভাব্যত এব সদ্ভিঃ ।
কিন্তু প্রভোর্যঃ প্রিয় এব তস্য
বন্দে গুরোঃ শ্রীচরণারবিন্দম্ ॥

saksadd-haritvena samasta-sastrair
uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih
kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya
vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

"I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru, who is said by all the scriptures to be the Lord Himself, and considered to be so by the sadhus, yet is also the Lord's beloved devotee."

Sri Sri Gurvastakam, 7

Vishvanath Chakravarti Thakur wrote this. saksadd-haritvena, Gurudev is Lord Himself, and at the same time saksadd-haritvena means Gurudev is a close associate of Radharani or Nityananda Prabhu. But what has he come for? Krishna sent him to rescue us, to take us home, but we do not want to go. Krishna is pulling us one way, and we are grasping onto our house pillar. Krishna and Gurudev are saying, "Come with me! I have come to take you home." But we reply, "No, I must go take some food... I will go later."

And at the same time, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj also said, "Even if Lord Brahma comes to take me, I will not go. I will tell him that I have so much service to my Guru."

Mahaprabhu went house to house, door to door, and told Nityananda Prabhu also, "Go door to door," but Prabhupad, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, "Not door to door—go heart to heart!"

জীব জাগ, জীব জাগ, গোরাচাঁদ বলে ।
কত নিদ্রা যাও মায়া-পিশাচীর কোলে ॥

jiv jago, jiv jago, gaurachanda bole
kota nidra jao maya-pisachira kole

"How long are you going to sleep? Wake up. You have lost your address and I have come to take you back!" Mahaprabhu went door to door, and some opened the door, some did not; Prabhupad went heart to heart, and somebody's heart was open, somebody's heart was closed. Those who are fortunate souls, open their door. It is called sukriti [good fortune]. There is jnata sukriti and ajnata sukriti: known and unknown sukriti.

Maybe before we were some flower tree, and a flower from our tree was offered to the Lord, then through that kind of sukriti we have got this human body so that we can serve the Lord. Do you understand? Sometimes people go to India as tourists and if they get some association from the devotees, they can immediately come to our Gurudev's lotus feet. You can see that this is ajnata sukriti, unknown sukriti. People get good association, and through that good association their hearts will become clean. Bhakti Devi said, "I do not go to a dirty place. I always go to a clean place." Then how to make our hearts clean? Through good association, sadhu-sanga.

'সাধুসঙ্গ', 'সাধুসঙ্গ'—সর্ব্বশাস্ত্রে কয় ।
লবমাত্র সাধুসঙ্গে সর্ব্বসিদ্ধি হয় ॥

'sadhu-sanga', 'sadhu-sanga'—sarva-sastre kaya
lava-matra sadhu-sange sarva-siddhi haya

"Even a moment's association can give you supreme benefit." (SB, 1.18.13) People serve and serve for millions and millions of lives, but they do not get good association. But once you get some sukriti, you can immediately get that kind of mercy. Through sukriti—sadhu-sanga, sravanam, kirtanam—you will get relief. And Gurudev always says, "It is not necessary to wait for the next life."

দুর্লভ মানব জনম সৎসঙ্গে
তরহ এ ভবসিন্ধু রে

durlabha manava-janama sat-sange
taraha e bhava-sindhu re

"Having attained this rare human birth, cross over the ocean of material existence by associating with sadhus."

'Bhajahu Re Mana' by Srila Govinda Das Kaviraj

It is so rare to get this human body, but at last you have got it! Why wait for the next life?

Krishna Himself says that those who have a good brain and good intelligence (su-medha) can receive the Holy Name. But you have to be a good receiver, otherwise if the telephone line works but your telephone is dead, you will not receive the signal. That is why you must be a good receiver, then easily you can go reach your goal, your destination.

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