nikuñja-yūno rati-keli-siddhyai
yā yālibhir yuktir apekṣaṇīyā
tatrāti-dākṣyād ati-vallabhasya
vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam
"The Spiritual Master is very dear because he is expert in assisting the gopis, who at different times make different tasteful arrangements for the perfection of Radha and Krishna's conjugal loving affairs within the groves of Vrindavana. I offer my most humble obeisances unto the lotus feet of such Spiritual Master".
The Spiritual Master is an intimate companion of Srimati Radharani. The gopis are eternally engaged in performing all kinds of arrangements for the purpose of making possible the joyous reunion of Radha and Krishna in the pleasure groves of Vrindavana. Such is the exalted position of Srila Prabhupada! Only a Spiritual Master of this caliber could have the potency to make true the prophecies of both Caitanya-mangala (mor senapati bhakta) and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura! Or as Rupanuga Prabhu put it:
"Be that as it may, whatever Krsna Consciousness exists outside of India is due to the humble [and heroic, without parallel A.d.] efforts of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who openly challenged the scientific voidism and sectarian impersonalism dominating the world. Like Bhaktivinode Thakur and Bhaktisiddhanta Thakur, his predecessors in bringing Lord Caitanya's causeless mercy of Harinama out of India, His Divine Grace remains undefeated, and is prepared to commission any and all of his followers to carry on the tradition of victory."
On account of his close proximity to the Supreme Lord, as well as for his own exceptional spiritual power, the all-merciful Spiritual Master grants the desires of his/her follower, irrespective of what those desires are. Below I transcribe an excerpt of an essay written by Sri Bhakti Prajñana Kesava Goswami —the sannyasa-guru of our Srila Prabhupada— which wonderfully elucidates upon this assertion:
"For example, once when Mother Yasoda was breastfeeding baby Krsna, the milk she had been heating began to boil over. At once, she removed Sri Krsna from her lap, much to His displeasure, and ran to save the milk. Krsna was so enraged that, biting His lips, He smashed a nearby clay pot that was full of yoghurt. He was so intensely unhappy at being denied His mother's breast milk to His full satisfaction that He burst into tears.
When Mother Yasoda denied Sri Krsna full satisfaction, He was not even slightly pleased with her. Hence, in this case, defining bhakti as krsnanusilanam alone prevents the definition from extending to include these actions. In other words, avyapti-dosa has arisen.
Mother Yasoda is the presiding goddess of immaculate prema-bhakti in vatsalya-rasa (parental love of God). Her every endeavour is for the sake of serving Sri Krsna. In this pastime, she had thought to herself, "My breast milk alone will not fully nurture Sri Krsna, but the milk on the stove, which is now boiling over, will protect His life!" Although Mother Yasoda was the queen of Vraja and was always surrounded by unlimited servants and maids, she would personally milk the best cows and heat their excellent milk. Then, with her own hands she would prepare the finest butter for Krsna.
'Even if I displease Krsna for the time being,' she had thought, 'I must save this milk for Him.' Thoughts like this would cause her prema-bhakti to swell to exceptional heights and thereafter permeate all of Her actions. Her actions can never be anything but bhakti.
The word anukulyena prevents the faults of under-extension (avyapti-dosa) and over-extension (ativyapti-dosa) from tainting the definition of bhakti. In the instrumental case, the adjective anukula (kind) becomes anukulyena (by means of kindness). If some-one aspires to perform krsnanusilanam —perpetual, ardent endeavours meant exclusively for Sri Krsna, then he must first become anukula —genuinely kind to Him. It must be his sole ambition to please and satisfy Sri Krsna and he must completely expel even the slightest trace of hostility (pratikulata) from his heart. Even if someone's krsnanusilanam temporarily seems to be entirely favourable for Sri Krsna, if it is not utterly devoid of any underlying adversity and any craving for personal gratification, then it is not bhakti. Although his endeavors may momentarily please his worshipful Lord, if they harbor any personal, selfish, ulterior motives or any motivation besides pleasing the Lord, he will fail to procure the actual fruit of bhakti, namely superlative love of Godhead (prema). Instead, the result he obtains will simply correspond to his underlying motivations.
"Many of the disciples of our Srila Gurudeva, jagad-guru paramaradhyatama Sri Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvti Maharaja Prabhupada, gave their bodies, minds, words and wealth to assist in fulfilling his heart's deepest ambitions. Although he was immensely pleased by their service, or anusilana, it is seen that some of them, even after serving him in this way for so many years, were willing to abandon him, their own guru (guru-tyaga), and that others have developed guru-bhoga, the propensity to exploit him. That is, instead of striving to imbibe the ideal and character of our Sri Gurupada-padma, who was perpetually rapt in bhajana, they have simply imitated his external activities and audaciously costumed themselves as gurus. Not even the first stage of bhakti has manifested in their hearts.
"If we contemplate the cause for this, we find that as they served him, they failed to maintain the attitude, "Srila Gurudeva will be pleased by accepting my service and pleasing him gives me life." Since they served him with many other motives and not exclusively with the hope of pleasing him, they were cheated out of obtaining the principal fruit of serving a sadhu and have instead attained whatever they secretly desired. If someone's purpose is genuine then as bhakti appears in his heart all its symptoms, which are mentioned in the scriptures, will manifest in him and all hankerings and aspirations opposed to bhakti will gradually diminish."
All glories to Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada!
Srila Bhakti Prajñana Kesava Goswami
Translated from Sri Gaudiya Patrika, Year 1, Issue 3, 1949
