THE GUARDIAN OF DEVOTION (2)

(2) Perfect Conclusions of the Scriptures

(Adapted from “The Truth About Guru”, 1983,
translated by Mahamandalesvara Sripad Bhakti Anand Sagar Maharaj.)

Prema pumartho mahan:

The highest perfectional goal of human life is to attain divine love of God. This was especially taught by the Supreme Absolute Truth Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna when He appeared 500 years ago in Bengal as Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Lord Chaitanya is Lord Krishna Himself, the Supreme Predominating Moiety, enriched with the nature and lustre of the Supreme Predominated Moiety, Srimati Radharani. Although Gauda-desh refers to a geographic location of Bengal in India, all the devotees of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu the world over are known as Gaudiya Vaishnavas.

The principal followers and associates of Sriman Mahaprabhu were the Goswamis of Vrindavan. Goloka Vrindavan is the original abode of the transcendental pastimes of the Supreme Lord and His associates, which is manifest in this mundane sphere as Gokula Vrindavan. That divine plane can be perceived only by one who primarily attains the platform of a goswami, or one who conquers the dictates of the senses, viz. speech, mind, anger, tongue, stomach and genitals by progressively following the regulative principles of devotional service. The primary regulative principles are (1) accepting the shelter of the lotus feet of a bona fide spiritual master (2) obtaining initiation from him (3) rendering service unto him, (4) enquiring from him about the principles of true (non-sectarian) religion and (5) following the path chalked out by the great devotees.

In these present estranged days, the fashionable, gluttonous ravishing to the limit of fleshy indulgence within the hellish kaleidoscope of steel, rubber, plastic and glass mechanization, hastens the modern Western man-animal to his sordid grave, only to accept repeated births in lower abominable species of life such as pigs and dogs. Illicit sex, animal slaughter, intoxication, gambling and feverish preoccupation in amassing wealth are the five residences of the devil of this dark age, known as Kali. According to the injunction of Srimad Bhagavatam, these grossly sinful activities are strictly forbidden for kings, public leaders, religious persons and spiritual masters.

In India there are a thousand-and-one so-called religions. But the sincere and thoughtful must embrace the highest path of all, the path of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, which teaches, simultaneously from the standpoint of ontology as well as full-fledged theism, the attainment of divine love based on the science of faith. The ignorant materialists are engaged in exploitation in the plane of misconception. Above them the scholars, poets or littérateurs are engaged in the spiritual darkness of renunciation of this misconception, which merely leads them to the non-differentiated marginal condition. But the Vaishnava path is the path of pure dedication, unalloyed by spurious provincial or vested interests and culminating in divine love which is very rarely found within this world. This is completely free from artificial, rigid indoctrination and psychological conditioning.

The Almighty never needs to be a slave to our puny austerities and rituals, even if we could move the heavens and earth by them. He never needs to be a captive in our fist of suspicious analytical scholarship, grammar, or curiosity seeking. But if He chooses to graciously bestow His mercy upon any fortunate soul, be they either learned sages or sons of dog-eaters, none can impede the flow of such divine grace, divine love proper.

It is indeed unfortunate for the world that in the very name of such divine grace so many imposters have sprung up, and just like businessmen they rally the ignorant, who are like cattle in a stable waiting to be sent to the slaughter-house. Such imposters are helpless to save themselves from the vicious cycle of birth and death, to say nothing of their blind followers, and what to speak of delivering the supreme perfection of divine love?

Still the rarity of a genuine thing does not presuppose its absence, and we are confident that the sincere aspirants of progress in the devotional line of perfection will hail the message of His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj; he is the treasure-house of the Gaudiya siddhanta, or perfect conclusions of devotion according to the authorised scriptures as promulgated by Srila Jiva Goswami, and the embodiment of the sublime teachings of Srila Rupa and Raghunath. He is the affectionate grandfather and greatest living authority of the Sri Saraswata Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya in the world today.

CONTENTS

(1) The Appearance of Sri Gaurasundar
(2) Perfect Conclusions of the Scriptures
(3) Universal Conception of Guru
(4) Vaishnava Siddhanta: Serving the Vaishnavas
(5) Exploitation, Renunciation, Dedication
(6) Faith in the Absolute
(7) The Spiritual Master and the Disciple
(8) Saranagati
(9) The Central Importance of Sadhu-Sanga
(10) The Magnanimous Nature of Sri Nityananda Prabhu
(11) The Worship of Sri Murti
(12) The Significance of Mahaprasad

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