Published in The Harmonist (Sree Sajjanatoshani)

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The holy command of Shri Guru has been that we shall serve Godhead in association with one another. By the word ‘we’ he did not mean any one individual. There are many persons who are very selfish, indeed. They say, ‘I alone shall serve. It is incumbent on me alone. No one else has any claim to join me in my service of Godhead.’ But the kind heart of Shri Gurudeva says, ‘Come, let all of us jointly worship Godhead by giving up malice.’ The service of Godhead is the highest of all functions. My Gurudeva does not say that others will be unable to do the work because it happens to be the highest. Neither does he say that he will not allow any other person to serve Godhead, on the ground that it is the highest of all functions. The chant of Hari-Nama that is performed jointly by all persons is Sankirtana. ‘That Kirtana which is performed by many jointly is alone Sankirtana.’ Prayer, praising Godhead, is included in Sankirtana.

Puja or worship is a reverential submission performed by one in favour of another in the shape of service. The suppliant approaches the Revered with fear arising from high respect or what may be termed respectful awe expressed in his words and visible in his body and mind. Verbal adoration, corporal prostration and mental humiliation are the contributory parts of the Puja inviting good wishes of the respected being. In the Puja a higher platform is always offered to the worshipped, and generally in the act of worship, touching the lowest part of his limb (his feet), the offering of delightful encomiums and the cherishing of reverential feelings on the part of a worshipper are involved. When a respected entity can be had directly through our senses, we can render direct service to him without any intervention; but in the case of a distantly located object, we have to transmit our services through symbolized sounds, through lips and scripts only. In both the cases Puja can be conducted by a worshipper with gross articles, as well as through the subtle medium of sound and through a submissive mentality which makes the worshipper consider himself situated in a lower office as a Laghu or less weighty being, while the Guru or heavy objects is in an upper office in comparison to himself; but the case becomes quite different, when the mundane plane is changed for the transcendental one, which has quite distinctive feature.

In this mundane plane, Puja is often performed with an eye on personal gain, when we are desirous of having something in return for our reverential act. Puja may be also conducted for the attainment of our salvation, where we want to annihilate all our desires, and even to become identical with the Object of worship, thereby attaining full impersonality; but no desire whatsoever is traceable in the actual annihilation, nor any gain sought for the Positive Entity of Godhead in the shape of service. So all these Pujas effect the merging of one’s self as well as the Gurudeva, and the personality of Godhead in one neutral position where their different entities are not traceable. These sorts of temporal services should never be confused with the Eternal Servitude or Love. Nor should the Puja, raised even to the most dignified position, ever be confused with the true confidential service. So Paramarthic Puja and Paramarthic Guru are quite different from the activities of pseudo-worshippers who have some other ulterior selfish and personal motive in their acts of submission.

A real Spiritual Preceptor is defined as one who dispels the darkness of ignorance of our relative plane and opens our blind eyes by his prevailing influence. He is the one well-wisher without a second to help us to concentrate our scattered activities in the Personal Absolute. So he has no standpoint which deviates in the least from the Prime Cause of evolution, sustenance and dissolution. He is that true and perfect guide to show us the transcendental track to approach the Eternal Full-Knowledge and Incessant Bliss, as well as the undisturbed all-engrossing acme of magnitude, ignoring all sorts of gradation of relativity. His position will not permit a bona fide approacher, if the latter is not insincere and apathetic, to be a possessor of a partial entity merely, hankering after the supplying of his own personal or selfish needs by means of perishable objects, full of contamination of ignorance and of uncertain factors. His Eternal Personality is never to be ignored by means of any unethical principles which do not register a thorough affection for his disciple while considering all the stages and aspects of his ward’s progress.

The semitic ideas entertained by a section of so-called intelligent people in fixing preceptorship on as [sic] individual of a particular time and place on the basis of ultra-metempsychosis show no cogent ratiocination by which the audience could be dissuaded from accepting the undeviated position of the Personal Absolute Truth. The futility of such speculation of the Absolute position will be apparent when we consider the fluctuations of different mentalities of intransigent sects or persons wrought by unforeseen conditions which have disclosed in detail that their assertive statements are merely cogenial to a particular locality and fulfill only a temporal purpose.

The deadened mentality produced by an association with insentients and less sentiments cannot be enlivened, if a wrong interpretation prevails upon them to post themselves in an incredulous position. As we are located in such a situation, all our final decisive conclusions are but products of a particular angle of vision. This hinges on associative reflex actions ef [sic] fallen souls. In order to set us, fallen souls, free from this perverted position, we should crave the help of a transcendental agent who can vouchsafe our march free from the chains of those four-fold agents of irregularities. A bona fide regulator should be sought in order to obtain eternal relief from the maladies by praying to the Fountainhead.

The Prime Cause of all effects should not be mutilated or manufactured through the agency of our unblossomed prerogatives. We are limited entities, but the Unlimited Infinity minus our infinitesimality would give us, as a result, an almost infinite gulf. We are earnestly called upon to search for and establish a tie between us and the Unlimited Entity. And in fact the Agent of that tie is neither an obstacle to the harmony nor a contending entity, but the most kind-hearted personality. We cannot expect to tide over difficulties or pitfalls in our crossing the ocean of Samsara, by catching the tails of puppies as we say colloquially, that is by depending on the supply of our mundane desires. We are no doubt eligible to receive mercy from the All Merciful, when we in our prayer show a clean heart, free from all encumbrances of selfish or personal desires, and cultivate the spirit of unconditional surrender.

Our own personality should not incorporate any outside material to obstruct the full vision of the Personal Absolute, but can seek regulation from the Personality of the Absolute Who is always willing to disclose His own Person when we are actually not prone to be overpowered by anything in our communion with Him. The Absolute will no doubt send an agent to communicate His Personality to our unalloyed personality, thought it may be susceptible to foreign invasions.

This Transcendental mediator or Shri Guru Deva is a loving Agent of the All-love, and so will be kind to us who are seeking for a tie of love with the All-love. This Embodiment of Love will gradually lead our loving mood to that One Who is the Fountainhead and mainstay of all aspects of eternal Love. This messenger is the pioneer leader of Love, the courier of the All-love, the establisher of all relations of Divine love and the regulator and modifier of all our non-loving principles. If we ignore this fundamental principle we will be taking too much responsibility on ourselves.

The Harmonising Energy of the All-love can shower His blessings personally or through his Agents. Our perception of numerous units in this misguided world has given rise to a desire to lord it over others but that act itself is the result of a wrong perspective which engenders apathy towards concentrating our unconditional activities in and for the All-love. If we have a devotional attitude towards the Preceptor, we are sure to get at our Final Goal through him who liberates us by changing our wrong mentality by two processes.

The Deluding Energy of the All-love that is fully opposed to our eternal interest of love towards the Absolute shows a pair of pincers or shafts in order to grip us in her clutches, viz., that of dislocating and that of enwrapping his disciples by means of his kind but sure treatment. So the sincere activities of the Spiritual Guru always tend to give permanent relief to his disciples from those two-fold clutches of maya which have given rise to the worldly measuring mood of disciples. The Guru aims at extending their knowledge of the Absolute and removing the foreign obstacles of double layers of dirt that cover them.

A mere flatterer’s role of lulling and encouraging the wrong aptitudes of a disciple should never be aimed at in the selection of a real and true Guru. A submissive temper with unconditional surrender on the part of a disciple to the All-love will invoke His mercy and He will condescend to fulfill our prayer. The cogent but loving potency of the All-love will then be operating on us to pacify the turmoil arising out of our baneful activities. The Preceptor will never let us fall into the extensive snare of maya as he has no ulterior motive to dissuade us from having a sure access to the Transcendental treasures. He will show us for our inspection or examination a comparative chart of the magnitude of time, space and entity. When we submit to measurement, we see no necessity of any outside help; but when we consider him to be our most intimate friend coming down to us out of causeless mercy, and at the same time to be the bona fide and sure healer of our present maladies we find that he is identical in his activities with the All-love and that he is not only superior to us in every respect but he ever remains in the same direction with Godhead possessed of a transparent pure entity to approach the Absolute; whereas, other so-called preceptors have always an impure opacity, with which they impede our impressions of the Eternity, Full Knowledge and Incessant Bliss of the All-love.

Our own eternal function is to associate ourselves with the Eternal, to sever our connection with everything temporal, to engage ourselves in All-Knowledge, to dispel all darkness of ignorance as well as to develop and progress with our inherent enthusiasm for the transcendental.

I myself have individual business with the Integral All-love. I do not require any second person (you) who have got some other position than my Object, viz., the All-love. I need not trouble myself with the company of ‘him’ who has no true kindness to me or who has no whole-hearted love for the All-love. So the Personality has a singular significance quite distinct from such Impersonation as we have here, owing to our apathy to the Personality of Godhead, which is improper in itself and which is, in other words, a contamination with incompatible concomitants. I myself should not be polluted by that discord which is always found in the plurality of this miserable manifestation, but I have every inclination to make my friends quite compatible with the All-love, provided you or they count me as one of you or them. I will then be in a position to accept comradeship in that plurality, as all of us shall there have one aim and object and no conflicting discord due to our mutual rivalries. I will be all the more pleased if I find that another competes in my line to serve my All-love in a better way perhaps than I can. This lower gradation of myself will not harm or prejudice me in the least, but will develop and augment the cause of my unalloyed devotion to and love for Him; I will rather regulate and conciliate my wrong elements harmoniously and count my co-sharer’s singular service in the proper light of my Guru. My co-sharer, by rendering closer service to the All-love from than my humble devotion, must needs draw more love from my Guru, and on my part I should please my Guru by not interfering with the greater facility of closer service rendered by my co-sharer. My friends who have greater aptitude of love for the All-love Krishna would not then despise me, but will kindly count me as their humble friend by graciously allowing me to be blessed with an unalloyed devotion to and love for my own Guru who is identically the same with the Predominated Counter-Whole of the Predominating Aspect of the All-love. I will ‘therefore’ never be hostile and apathetic to those who have a tendency to be devoted to the All-love, but I will reckon them as confidential members whom I should serve with all intimacy and love for their close services to Him in a plane where I have also got a humble position.

Here are the words spoken by Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself: ‘It is necessary to be humbler than a blade of grass if one is really anxious to take the Name of Godhead.’ One never supplicates another unless one realizes his own littleness. When we pray for the help of other persons we consider ourselves helpless. A certain work cannot be done by myself; it is, therefore, necessary to take the help of others, if I want to do the work at all. Any work that can be done only by five persons acting together is not possible to be performed by one’s own un-aided efforts. Shri Gaursundar has told us to take the Name of Godhead. These tidings flow to us from the lotus feet of Shri Gurudeva. Shri Gaursundar has told us to call upon the Name of Godhead, which means that he also told us to be humbler than a blade of grass when we call upon the Name of Godhead. If we call upon Godhead for converting Him into our servant or want to take His help for doing any work on our own account we cannot preserve the quality of humility greater than that of the blade of grass. External exhibition of humility is not that quality of lowliness which makes one humbler than the blade of grass. Mere show of humility is nothing but insincerity or hypocrisy. That manner of calling which is responded to by one’s subordinate does not reach Godhead. Because He is the Supreme Independent, Perfect, Self-conscious Entity Who is subject to none. It is necessary to fully establish one’s individuality in the state of guileless humility. If this is not done one’s prayer does not reach the Perfect Autocrat.

There is another condition. It is necessary to fall upon Godhead by being humbler than a blade of grass. It is also necessary at the same time to be possessed of the quality of patience. If we are not patient we cannot call upon Godhead in the manner that will reach Him. We become impatient whenever we covet anything. Covetousness is the opposite of humility. We must fully believe in Godhead. We must believe in His Plenitude. We can have no wants if we call upon Him. If we have this perfect faith we cannot be wanting in patience. On the other hand if we are covetous if we are betrayed into inconstancy by our impatience, if we secretly cherish any plan of gaining our object by means of any ability or merit of our own, then we are no longer in the condition to call upon Godhead. Prayer to Godhead is also impossible if on the contrary one is occupied with the attempt merely to destroy one’s self-conceit.

On many occasions we suppose that it is due to our own innate kindness that we at all pray to Godhead or recite His praises, that it is open to us to be engaged in any other work without calling upon Godhead as a matter of necessity. Such judgment is also indicative of want of patience. It is necessary to have a Protector to save us from such inclination of the mind. It is necessary to have a Protector to save us from being deprived of the quality of guileless humility greater than that of a blade of grass`. It is necessary to have a Refuge for being saved from such evil tendency. Thakur Narottam has said, ‘He who serves after obtaining protection is never abandoned by Krishna. All the rest die needlessly.’

It is first of all necessary to sit at the lotus-feet of Shri Guru and obey his commands. It is recognised as necessary to have to submit to a teacher to obtain capacity for work, knowledge or the fulfillment of any desires other than Krishna that are available in this world. But the knowledge that those teachers give produces only a variety of small results. But the lotus-feet of Shri Gurudeva who teaches about the highest good, do not give trivial fruits like the above. The lotus-feet of Shri Gurudeva provide for our real good. The moment there is cessation for the mercy of Shri Gurudeva, diverse evil desires are bound to make their appearance in the world. It is necessary to have the constant help of the spiritual teacher to show us the way. It is necessary to be constantly advised regarding the method of seeking the protection of the lotus-feet of Shri Gurudeva, to be instructed about the mode in which to deal with the lotus-feet of Shri Gurudeva. If the spiritual teacher does not constantly teach us all these matters we are bound to lose in no time even the treasure that we might receive.

The service of the Holy Name is undoubtedly the only method by which we can really serve Godhead. It is Shri Gurudeva Who bestows on us the gift of this method of service. It, therefore, stands to reason that it should be our duty, above every other thing, to worship the lotus-feet of Shri Guru at the beginning of the new year. In the Bhakti Rasamritasindhu Shri Rupa Goswami Prabhu has said, ‘Accepting the protection of the feet of Shri Guru is, therefore, the first duty. The next duty is to learn from him about Krishna by the processes of sikshaa, etc. Then follows the duty of serving Shri Guru on a footing of intimacy. This is the path that is followed by the Sadhus. It is our duty to follow their example.’

It is possible for a person to possess a great variety of abilities. It is not possible to make any progress in a realm that is wholly un-known, or which has to be known with great difficulty, by means of any ability however great which we may happen to possess. As an example we may take the case of those future worlds which are kept out of our view or the entity that is known as the future. It is not possible by our own efforts to make any progress in the knowledge of these matters. The mode of judgment that is applicable to this world is not able to lead us into the realm that is only intelligible to transcendental judgment. In regard to all those periods that are past we have obtained knowledge born of the senses. But we have no knowledge regarding to-morrow. Our eyes can see only to a distance of one or two miles. Our ears can catch the sound from a limited distance only. By means of knowledge that is accessible to such senses we cannot know anything about the transcendental Realm which is full of all perfection. If we try to advance into such a Realm by no other method than our own ability we can never reach the goal. The demon Ravana tried to build steps by means of which it might be possible for all persons to reach heaven without difficulty. But this structure could not be completed. It tumbled down after it had been constructed to a certain height, for want of support. Nothing can remain for any length of time in the open space without any support. It is bound to break to pieces and fall down. If we try to ascend into the unknowable realm by depending on the stock of our own ability we only tumble down by such effort. We also fall down if we choose to fancy what is trivial or light to be of much consequence or weighty.

It is our duty to judge as to who is Guru and who is of no consequence (laghu). He alone is Guru who serves that complete substantive Entity Who is the only Object of worship of all persons of any consequence (Gurus). I am not speaking of those Gurus who teach the sitar or the art of wrestling. Such Gurus cannot save us from death. We find in one of the Shlokas of the Bhagavatam that ‘That Guru is no Guru, that father is no father, that mother is no mother, that devata (god) is no devata, that kinsman is no kinsman, who cannot save us from the jaws of death, who cannot give us the eternal life, who cannot save us from the ignorance of death in the shape of addiction to this material world.

We fall into the jaws of death certainly by reason of our ignorance. We do not fall into the jaws of death by reason of wisdom. We gain a certain kind of knowledge in this world. But that knowledge is of no avail if we become made, or are stricken with paralysis or after we are dead. If we do not seek the real truth we lose the power of knowing. He who cannot rescue us from the jaws of death can only delude us for a certain number of days. He who tempts us by the sensuous impulses of his words, hands, feet, anus and the organ of generation is a cheat. But Shri Gurudeva has power to save us from all deception. It is, therefore, certainly our duty to worship only the lotus-feet of Shri Guru Deva who is so merciful, at the beginning of every year, at the beginning of every month, at the beginning of every day and even at the beginning of every moment, of our lives.

It is my Gurudeva who is graciously present in all the different forms. If he is not graciously present in all these different forms who would then preserve me? Those whom my Gurudeva had made his own are my saviours. But may I never have occasion to see the face of that wicked person who is a source of evil, who maligns the lotus-feet of my Shri Gurudeva or who countenances in any way such a slanderer.

The moment I fall away from the lotus-feet of Shri Guru or forget them, I certainly fall away from the Truth. As soon as I fall away from the lotus-feet of Shri Guru I find myself encompassed by innumerable wants. I run in a hurry for my bath. I become busy for preventing a cold. I run after other occupations different from the service of Shri Gurudeva. It is the lotus-feet of Shri Gurudeva that alone protect me constantly from all this attachment for objects other than the Truth. If I do not remember the lotus-feet of Shri Guru at the beginning of every new year, every new month, every new day and every new moment, then I am sure to fall into far greater inconveniences. If I do not do so I want to dress myself in the garb of the Guru. I become liable to the bad desire of seeking to be worshipped by other people as Guru. It is this which constitutes addition to other things than the Truth.

Gaurasundar is directly the same Entity as Krishna. He has appeared here as the world-Teacher. He conveyed His teachings in eight stanzas of verse. The Mahanta-Guru and all the other Vaishnavas who are submissively attached to the Mahnata-Guru instruct me in every way in those teachings of Shri Gaurasundar. All the other Vaishnavas who are submissively attached to the Mahanta-Guru, save me from all dangers.

The order of the Gurus who have in their nature the protecting power of the Divinity, are always present in different forms and figures to bestow their mercies on me. All of them are specific manifestations of Shri Guru who confers spiritual knowledge.

Krishna as Object of worship is one-Half, and, as the Support of His worshipper, He Himself is the other Half of the Whole. The variety of reciprocal activity of these Two Moieties constitutes the Fullness of the Divinity. Krishna is the complete realization of the Support of His worship. The transcendental reflections which are also of the nature of supporters are the worship of the Divinity, which appear in the different planes of cognitive existences, are my Gurudeva in His different forms. He who is constantly showing us how to serve Godhead, throughout life, is no other than our Shri Gurudeva. Shri Gurudeva is present in every object as the supporting principle. He is graciously present in every object. ‘All ye trees that be resident on the bank of the Yamuna for benefiting others, Chuta, Priyala, Pnasa, Asana, Kobidara, Jambu, Arka, Bilwa, Bakula, Amra, Kadamba, Neepa and others, tell us the way by which Shri Krishna has been seen by you to pass. Our hears are bereft of all their contents and are feeling very lonely, by separation from Krishna.’ [1]

Krishna has gone away from the place of the Rasa-dance. The Gopis, who are un-fettered souls, are seeking for Krishna by approaching every object. Was the external sense-perception of the Gopis then very strong? Was their sensuous knowledge then very powerful? There comes an occasion to hear about all these matters if we just fall at the lotus-feet of our Shri Gurudeva. Nanda-Govinda, Yasoda-Govinda, Shridama-Govinda, Chiraka-Patraka-Govinda, Bansi-Govinda, Go-Govinda, Kadamba-Govinda, etc., are the various Pastimes of the pure cognitive principle. They are the Pastimes of the Shri Radha-Govinda replete with all Rasas. If one obtains the blessed sight of the lotus-feet of Shri Guru in his heart it is only then that the true nature of these words manifests itself. It is Shri Guru who enlightens us in every matter to enable us to worship Godhead. There is no other way of obtaining the service of the absolute Integer except by the method of the worship of Shri Guru.

We have had occasions enough to hear many sweet words expressive of constancy. May we show such constancy to the lotus-feet of Shri Guru! The reflected form of the lotus-feet of Shri Guru in different receptacles constantly reveals many new matters for our instruction. I am a little jiva, full of arrogance. Why then am I enabled to hear such words of constancy? The lotus-feet of Shri Guru have afforded me this opportunity of hearing all those words expressive of constancy. In this manner he is telling me every moment, ‘O you little soul, do you show such constancy to the lotus-feet of Shri Guru.’ As I observe the disposition to serve Godhead of the reflected forms of the lotus-feet of my Shri Guru in different receptacles, I pray that I may be born crores of times in order to practise the service of Hari in their company, that my aversion to the service of Godhead that has accumulated during crores of births may be dispelled by their companionship.

I once went to Mangalgiri in the Southern part of the country for installation of the Shrine of the Foot-Prints of Mahaprabhu. At that time certain persons from among ourselves put this question while we were still at Mangalgiri. “When we first came to the Math we felt great hope and enthusiasm by noticing the character and love of the service of Godhead of our friends. Now-a-days our out-look is being gradually stunted. We have begun to think in different ways. Several Brahmacharis have turned house-holders by accepting the method of Samavartan.’ In answer to this I said, ‘I am unable to say that it becomes necessary to give up the service of Hari if one becomes a house-holder. On my part I see round about us many wonderful Vaishnavas. I find that their Vaishnavism, devotion to Hari, has grown a good deal more. What a great pasanda I was! How greatly my impiety has diminished by associating with them! I find that, although I am averse to Godhead, they are all serving Hari. I have been enabled to know by the mercy of the lotus-feet of Shri Raghunath Bhatta Goswami Prabhu that he never lent his ears to listen to the tidings of condemnable actions of the Vaishnavas and that it sufficed for him to know only this much, that all serve Krishna.’

I find that every one is serving Hari by making progress on the path of devotion. The house-hold of Godhead has prospered in every way. Only no benefit has accrued to me. All have been undoubtedly benefited. You have become agitated by small insufficiencies. Your anxiety for serving Godhead is very great. It is for this reason that you want that they should serve Hari in still greater measure. You are unable to feel satisfied even when you find them in the very act of serving Hari. You want that they should serve the Lord of your life with a billion-fold greater devotion. But my heart is a little one, my vessel is small. It is for this reason that I am unable to contain their great service of Hari in my small vessel. Their endeavour for the service of Hari is over-flowing my little cup. I feel it impossible any longer to keep squeezed within the limits of my small vessel the vastness of their service of Hari. They are fast passing away setting an example of the most wonderfully ideal life of service. I alone am unable to serve Hari. I alone am busy to detect the defects of others. I ought to have progressed on the path of service. But I have chosen to be busy in searching for the defects of Vaishnavas instead.

Who are those that try to find the draw-backs of the Vaishnavas? They are the community of empiricists whose only resource consists of the eye, ear, nose, etc., deluded by external objects, in short, all those who are averse to the service of Hari. When anyone tells me that a particular person has given up chanting the Name of Hari I think in my mind that the service of Hari of such a person must have certainly increased to an extraordinary extent, that his heart must have been very much improved and that it is for this reason he has been enabled to be engaged in other work by giving up the service of Hari which is the only path to well-being. He has grown immensely wealthy. He has been satisfied and, therefore, does not want to undergo the trouble of earning more riches.

Shri Bhagavan has said in the Gita that no harm can ever befall the devotees of Godhead, that they can never die, “My devotee is not destroyed”. ‘Even if one whose habits of life are highly condemnable serve Me with a singleness of purpose, he should certainly be considered as righteous. His conduct is surely altogether perfect. He becomes virtuous in no time and quickly attains the eternal peace of the soul. Son of Kunti, do thou know for certain that My devotee never comes to grief’. [2]

Can those who serve with a singleness of heart ever fall away from devotion? They have certainly gained the state of well-being. My eye-sight is bad. It is for this reason that I am unable to obtain my own good. ‘Never either praise or condemn the character and activity of other persons seeing that the whole world is one by its proper nature, by mutual union of Prakriti and Purusha, the Support and the Object of worship’.

If I turn an empiricist I am deprived of the service of the transcendental, the service of Shri Guru. It is when evil overtakes myself, and by reason of being in such evil plight, that I am put in mind of the misfortunes of other persons. It is because I am myself honeycombed by a thousand defects that I am attracted by the task of seeking for the defects of other persons. If I am in a position to secure my own good I have no longer leisure for finding the faults, the misfortunes of other people. ‘If any person, after being initiated at the lotus-feet of the Sad-Guru, chant the Name of Krishna it is our duty to entertain for him high esteem in our hearts. If such a person being even intent on devotion to Shri Hari serve the holy Name on the spiritual plane it is our duty in every way to honour him by means of obeisance and other marks of submission. The best of devotees, the Maha-bhagavata, is possessed of exclusive reliance on Krishna. Being devoid of any other consciousness excepting that of Krishna the heart of such a person is free from any discordant mood leading to slander or malice against any person. The Maha-Bhagavata is thoroughly versed in the process of intimate spiritual service of Godhead. One who has made considerable progress on the path of spiritual service is alone in a position to recognize that the Maha-bhagavata is the best of friends with whom it is possible to cultivate the closest relationship as he never feels disturbed by the claims of intimate relationship of the nature that should subsist between pure souls. If we are fortunate enough to realise the supreme excellence of the Maha-Bhagavata we should be able to recognise that it is our duty to express our loving regard for such a person by the methods of obedience, sincere inquiries regarding the Truth and rendering loyal service.

This life is of short duration. Even in that short space we are continuously and actively engaged in this realm of Devi in the enjoyment of the objects of this world and for the purpose of seeking out the defects of other people and becoming thereby a supreme example of the utter absence of the quality of humility greater than that of the blade of grass.

At the lotus-feet of Shri Guru there is no search for the defects of other people. Yet there is no other function of submission at the lotus-feet of Shri Guru than to be constantly made aware of my hundreds of thousands of defects and to be cautioned constantly against any evil that is likely to befall me. May we not be deprived of the ideal of sitting at the lotus-feet of Shri Guru. I will give up criticizing other people. ‘I am very clever. I am very learned, very intelligent. I am a great speaker. That person is illiterate, and foolish, and cannot properly talk about anything’: such talk is out of place. If we try to diminish the practice of discussing the defects of other people in this manner, and discourse only about Hari, instead, I think it would do us good.

Shri Guru is the predominated moiety of the son of the Chief of Braja Who is indivisible knowledge. Krishnachandra Himself in the role of Shri Guru is engaged in Beholding Himself as the Object of contemplation by seeking His own support. I am also under the protection of Shri Krishna, being incorporated with the lotus-feet of Shri Guru. “I have recently passed a brief spell of time on the wings of hope, which has, indeed, been like an Ocean of nectar. If you do not vouchsafe your mercy to me I certainly have nothing to do by living. O Possessor of the Form most pleasing to Krishna what are life, Braja and even the Slayer of Baka Himself to me if I am devoid of your mercy?”

I have been asked sometimes by different persons why we do not give away the realized method of service to all persons. As for myself I cannot understand how the condition of self-realised souls and that of novices may be supposed to be identical. It passes our judgment to understand how the service and realization of souls free from all defects can be practicsed during the period of novitiate which is full of many defects. If any person happens to belong to the order of self-realised souls he may kindly intimate to me the fact. I can then know about the specific nature of his realized self.

Shri Gurudeva is the daughter of Brishabhanu (Shri Radha) in the Madhura-rasa (Spiritual quality of sweetness of Divine amour). There are different ways in which different persons, whose faculty of spiritual consciousness has been aroused, judge about their own requirements. Every enlightened person is privileged to have a sign of Shri Gurudeva in accordance with his particular mode of judgment. Shri Gurudeva is that real Entity who thus revels himself to the view of enlightened souls in a variety of ways. Realised by the method of the Rasa of parental affection Shri Gurudeva reveals himself as Nanda-Yasoda. In the Rasa of friendly affection he is Shridama-Sudama. In the Rasa of the devotion of servants to the master the lotus-feet of Shri Guru act as Chitraka-Patraka. The consideration of all these Aashrayas of the Vishaya rises in the heart as one progresses in the service of Shri Guru. These subjects do not manifest themselves in the course of any artificial process. They are aroused spontaneously in the consciousness of fortunate souls on the appearance of the disposition for spiritual service of the Divinity. We have no other function than the service of Shri Guru. By means of the adulterated consciousness of the material world it is not possible to discuss the eternal Pastimes of Godhead that are inaccessible even to Shesha, Shiva, Brahma, and their peers.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Bh. X.30.9.

[2] Gita IX.30-31.