How to See the Guru: Mercy

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Vyasa Puja Day, 25 September 2014

Today I have got an opportunity to serve the devotees, brahmacharis, sannyasis—devotees have come here today to give some mercy to me. Actually, every year when they come on this day I get some energy because I get one more year of my lifetime, and I get inspiration to serve the devotees more and more.

What shall I say to you? Actually, I do not know what I am going to say to you because it is Gurudev who is speaking to you through me.

When Sriman Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was telling sadhya-sadhana-tattva to Sanatan Goswami, He said to him the same, "You are hearing Krishna-katha, but it is Krishna Himself who is speaking to you through Me."

We must understand that. Who knows Guru-tattva? It is not a simple matter. Guru is very powerful—I am a fallen soul, I do not have any power, any quality, or qualification, but my Guru has much power. He is very powerful, and that is why I can tell you something, I can spend time with you, I can serve you—it is coming from my Guru.

When Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was debating with Sri Gopinath Acharya, he said,

"Mahaprabhu is not an avatar [incarnation of the Lord]."

"Yes, He is an avatar—He is Lord Himself."

"I cannot believe that. It is said in the sastra that in the Age of Kali there is no avatar, and that is why His Name is Triyug. So, there is no avatar in Kali-yuga."

"You know the sastra, but have you read, have you studied Srimad Bhagavatam? Have you read Sri Mahabharata? In both of them it is written that there is an avatar in Kali-yuga."

"Go now and take prasad. We will discuss it later." They continued their debate:

"You are saying that I do not know the sastra, scriptures, because I said there was no avatar in Kali-yuga; and you say there is an avatar in Kali-yuga, then you think you know all sastra!"

"You have intelligence, you have brain, but with that intelligence and brain you cannot understand Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. If you have mercy, if you have heart, and if you think through your heart, if you surrender, then you can understand who Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is. Because you have no mercy you cannot understand it; but I have some mercy, that is why I understand He is the Lord Himself. This is your answer."

Guru is always powerful, and his power comes from Krishna, but we do not know it—simple-hearted, we are always cheated by the bogus gurus of the guru business. We do not search, we do not see where that guru comes from, where the main root, the Guru-parampara, is, but you have to find it out, and it must be clear. When you want to make an ornament and you are going to buy some gold, you must find out where that gold is coming from, whether the gold is pure or imitation. You cannot see where the Ganges water is judging by the pot—if you have a golden pot, there may not be Ganges water inside, but there can be Ganges water inside a clay pot. It is necessary to understand these things.

Who is able to see the Guru? Those who have mercy from the Guru can see the Guru. Do you understand?

Suppose there is a pure, sati [সতী, chaste] lady. She may talk to everybody, but she does not give her love, herself to other men. She only gives that to her husband. It is the same with Srimad Bhagavatam: who does Srimad Bhagavatam give itself to? Many people translate it, many people give lecture about Bhagavatam, but whom is Bhagavatam going to give pure things to? To a pure devotee.

You heard, or you can read it in Sri Guru and His Grace, that when Sridhar Swami wrote his tika, commentary, Sankar-sampradaya did not want to follow it, and there was some debate. In the end, they said, "We will follow Sridhar Swami's tika if Sivji Maharaj tells so." They put Sridhar Swami's commentary in a Siva temple. When the book came out, it was written there, "Aham vedmi, Suka vetti, Vyasa vetti na vetti va." Bhagavan Mahadev said, "I know; Vyasadev's son and disciple, Sukadev, knows; but he who wrote, who composed Srimad Bhagavatam—Sri Vyasadev—he may or may not know."

In this way, Krishna's infinite power comes through the Guru: "Acharyam mam vijaniyan, see the Guru as nondifferent from Myself." How should a disciple see their Guru? The Guru is not only a maha-bhagavata, a great devotee; a disciple will see their Guru as nondifferent from Krishna.

Sometimes also in the absence of Gurudev some problem may come—some godbrothers may say, "Oh, your Gurudev is my junior. I am his godbrother." It is not good to say this to the Guru's disciples. The Guru's godbrother can slap the Guru, that is not a problem, but he should not criticise or underestimate the Guru in front of the Guru's disciples, otherwise both of them will fall down. Akalyan haya (অকল্যান হয়): it brings inauspiciousness. There may be some distance between the present Acharya and his godbrothers, sometimes some contradiction may come; but we have to understand that if the Acharya does something wrong, his godbrother can even slap him, but in front of the Acharya's disciples his godbrothers must give respect, must glorify him. It is necessary, otherwise problems will come to the mission. If you try to understand this, you can understand it easily.

When the Pandavas were trying to avoid the war, Krishna brought a peace proposal (শন্তি প্রস্তব, santi prastav) to the Kaurav party, but Duryodhan said, "If we can tie Krishna with a rope and arrest Him, then Pandavs will all become very sad and die of heart failure. Then the war will not be necessary." It was their foolishness. So, when Krishna came there, Duryodhan ordered to tie Krishna. When Duhsasan was going to tie Him, Satyaki came forth and wanted to slay Duhsasan with his big sword, but at that time Krishna showed His Vishvarup, His full form. King Dhritarastha was blind, but he could hear the noise and that something was happening. He was told that Krishna was showing His Vishvarup, and the king prayed, "I am blind—how can I see Him?... Prabhu, please give me some mercy. Remove my blindness, I want to see You." Krishna said," It is not necessary to remove your blindness. You can see Me." Even a blind man can see the form of Krishna! Then we can understand how it is possible to see Krishna: the power to see Krishna comes from Krishna. In the same way, the power to see the Guru comes from the Guru himself.

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told one story: a man was born in a dark place, and somebody asked him,

"Do you want to see the sun?"

"Yes, I do." When he was going to see the sun, he took a kerosene lamp. The other man said to him,

"If you want to see the sun, it is not necessary to take anything."

"You are a fool—if you want to see anything, it is necessary to take a lamp." He does not know; he has been living in a dark place all his life.

"If you want to see the sun, no light is necessary; by the radiance of the sun you can see the sun."

So, if you want to see your Guru, your Guru's form, you can see him by his mercy, and you must understand that chastity is necessary—chastity is above all.

Once there was Vishnupriya, Sachi Mata and many other devotees in the house, and Nityananda Prabhu came there stark naked. Mahaprabhu immediately put a cloth on Nityananda Prabhu, and seeing that something bad could enter some devotees' minds, or a bad comment could come, and they could be offenders to Nityananda Prabhu's lotus feet, Mahaprabhu asked Nityananda Prabhu for His kaupin, a piece of cloth. At first Nityananda Prabhu did not want to give it, but then He agreed. Mahaprabhu tore it into small-small pieces and distributed the pieces to all the devotees, saying, "You can make a kavach, maduli (মাদুলি), and wear it on your neck—if you wear it, all your senses will be controlled." In this way Mahaprabhu saved the devotees.

Nityananda Prabhu is the Adi Guru. Mahaprabhu Himself said to Nityananda Prabhu, "If You go to Bengal, You can preach there," but Nityananda Prabhu did not preach Krishna-katha. What did He preach? He preached, "ভজ গৌরাঙ্গ, লহ গৌরাঙ্গ, কহ গৌরঙ্গের নাম রে, bhaja Gauranga, laha Gauranga, kaha Gauranger Nama re! I will be sold to you if you chant Gauranga's Name!"

So, we must understand what the main things are. Gurudev is powerful—his mantra is powerful, everything is powerful, but that kind of attachment to the Guru has to come. Everybody does some service, but those who do service with heart and soul, they can get mercy from their Guru.

Jaya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

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• PART 2:
How to See the Guru: Chastity