A Sadhu is Always
Present
by Sri Srimad Gour
Govinda Swami Maharaja
Devotee:
Srila
Prabhupada always emphasized that he was eternally present in his books,
instructions, tapes and letters. So when you say we should take association of a
sadhu, can we do that through Srila Prabhupada’s books?
Gour
Govinda Swami: If Prabhupada says he is there, then you try to see him, to
associate with him and listen from him.
Do you see Prabhupada? Do you
hear from Prabhupada? Is he speaking to you?
Devotee:
Through
his books.
Gour
Govind Swami: Through his books, yes.
All sadhus speak through their
books. Jiva Goswami, Rupa Goswami, Sanatana Goswami, Bhaktivinode Thakura,
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarswati and Srila Prabhupada all say that they speak through
their books. This is not a new thing.
This is our vaisnava procedure. But you should see him. Can you see
Bhaktivinoda Thakura? Can you see Jiva Goswami? You may say, “Oh I have read
their books; I have their asociation.”
That won’t help you. You cannot understand what they have said merely by
reading their books. Your consciousness
is very low, so you cannot understand their words. They are very, very merciful, but you should follow the proper
path. If you are intelligent you will
understand how they are still here, not only in the form of their books but
also they are here. You should see them. Why are you thinking so
foolishly? So many books were already
there, so why has Srila Prabhupada said this? You are thinking, “We need only
to read books. There is no need of associating with a sadhu who is physically present. Is there any sadhu? No, there is no sadhu at
all.” Your motto is, “Seeing is believing.” You cannot see, so you cannot
believe. Because you are a conditioned
soul, your vision is defective. You cannot see a sadhu. Krishna is there, can you see Him? No, you cannot, because you are not endowed with proper vision.
First develop the proper vision, and then you can see Krishna. Then you can see how a sadhu is there. It is not a fact that sadhus are not present. How is everything going on? How does the
sun rise, the wind blow, and Indra give rain?
All these things are going on. No sadhu?
No Krishna? It’s nonsense, foolishness.
We are so proud and puffed up.
We are identifying ourself as the body, mind and false ego. We think we
are very great. So we say, “Oh, there is no sadhu.”
We are in the category of identification with the body and mind.We have not
come to the beginning of the stage of purity. No!
Devotee:
So
we have to associate with a living sadhu? 1
Gour
Govinda Swami: Definately. 2
There is always one there. But he is not a cheap person. Such a person is very
rare. If you can get his mercy then you can see him. Otherwise, by your own
effort and perceptoin, you cannot see him. No, no, no.
You always think that you are drasta, the seer, and that the sadhu
is drsta, the one to be seen.
Everyone is like this. They think they are the seers. But it is just the
reverse. You are to be seen and they are the seer! Think this over very deeply.
I think you cannot completely understand what I say. We always think that we are the seer and that they are to be
seen, but this is not a fact. It is just the reverse. They are the seers and we
are to be seen.
Devotee:
How
are we seen by sadhu? By our service?
Gour
Govinda Swami: Yes, the sadhu is
the seer. If he showers his mercy upon you, he sees you. If you receive that
merciful glance then you are very fortuntae. However, you are in the category
of bodily consciousness. How can you have
it? Guru is the manifestation of the Supersoul, caitya-guru in the heart. He manifests a body and appears. He knows your heart.
Devotee:
I
don’t quite understand.
Gour
Govinda Swami: Yes, try to understand. As I told you, just hear patiently.
A new bhakta cannot understand it
because it is a topic of the highest class. You are in pre-primary class, how
can you understand? You are not even in
the primary class. How can you
understand this topic of the highest class?
Just accept the bona fide authorities. That will help you. The teacher says, “Two plus two is four.”
The primary student accepts it. If the
teacher asks the child, “What is two plus two?” The child will reply, “Two plus
two is four.” “ Why is two plus two four?”
“My teacher says.” He will answer like this. That means he has accepted
authority. This is the only principle in the beginning. How is two plus two
four? Why not three or five? That will be explained in a higher mathematics
class, not in the beginning. You have
to have patience and get a promotion. My guru maharaja says in his purport that
the beginning is purity of consciousness. First come to this beginning stage,
then gradually other things will come up.
You are not in the beginning stage, so how will the higher topics come
up? This is a very, very subtle and
very deep philosophy.
Putting full faith in the sadhu, you need only
submissively hear --- sravanam, sravanam, sravanam. In that way you can
get the mercy of that sadhu. That will help you. Only one thing is
required, nothing else --- sravanam,
sravana, sravanam. Just hear. Serve that sadhu, please him, hear
submissively, surrender yourself at his lotus feet and submissively ask
questions. Out of mercy the sadhu
will impart this tattva jnana to
you. This is the only process.
Unless you get association with a living sadhu, what can you do? Will you put
some question to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Prabhupada will answer you? This
process is a living thing. It is always there, and it is always current. It is
not that inquiry was done a certain way in the past and now things are done
differently. No! It is an eternal
process, pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya.
---The
Process of Inquiry, Chapter Six.
Gopal Jiu Publications.
APPENDIX
1
TEXT 53
bhattera hrdaye drdha abhimana jani'
bhangi kari' mahaprabhu kahe eta vani
SYNONYMS
bhattera hrdaye--in the heart of Vallabha
Bhatta; drdha--fixed; abhimana--pride; jani'--understanding; bhangi
kari'--making a hint; mahaprabhu--Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu; kahe--spoke; eta
vani--these words.
TRANSLATION
Knowing that Vallabha Bhatta's heart was
full of pride, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu spoke these words, hinting at how one
can learn about devotional service.
PURPORT
Vallabha Bhatta was greatly proud of his
knowledge in devotional service, and therefore he wanted to speak about Lord
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu without understanding the Lord's position. The Lord
therefore hinted in many ways that if Vallabha Bhatta wanted to know what
devotional service actually is, he would have to learn from all the devotees He
mentioned, beginning with Advaita Acarya, Lord Nityananda, Sarvabhauma
Bhattacarya and Ramananda Raya. As
Svarupa Damodara has said, if one wants to learn the meaning of
Srimad-Bhagavatam, one must take lessons from a realized soul. 2 One should not proudly think that one
can understand the transcendental loving service of the Lord simply by reading
books. One must become a servant of a Vaisnava. As Narottama dasa
Thakura has confirmed, chadiya
vaisnava-seva nistara payeche keba: one cannot be in a transcendental position
unless one very faithfully serves a pure Vaisnava. One must accept a Vaisnava
guru (adau gurv-asrayam), and then by questions and answers one should
gradually learn what pure devotional service to Krsna is. That is called the
parampara system.
Cc.
Antya lila, Ch. 7. Txt 53
Translation
and Purport by
His
Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
2
TEXT 131
"yaha, bhagavata pada vaisnavera
sthane
ekanta asraya kara caitanya-carane
SYNONYMS
yaha--just go; bhagavata pada--read
Srimad-Bhagavatam; vaisnavera sthane--from a self-realized Vaisnava; ekanta
asraya kara--fully surrender; caitanya-carane--at the lotus feet of Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
TRANSLATION
"If you want to understand Srimad-Bhagavatam," he said,
"you must approach a self-realized Vaisnava and hear from him. You can do this when you have
completely taken shelter of the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu."
PURPORT
Herein Svarupa Damodara Gosvami instructs
the poet from Bengal to hear Srimad-Bhagavatam from a pure Vaisnava and learn
from him. In India especially, there is now a class of professional Bhagavatam
readers whose means of livelihood is to go from village to village, town to
town, reading Bhagavatam and collecting daksina, or rewards, in the form of
money or goods, like umbrellas, cloth and fruit. Thus there is now a system of
Bhagavata business, with recitations called Bhagavata-saptaha that continue for
one week, although this is not mentioned in Srimad-Bhagavatam. Nowhere does
Srimad-Bhagavatam say that the Bhagavatam should be heard for one week from
professionals. Rather, Srimad-Bhagavatam
(1.2.17) says: srnvatam sva-kathah
krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah. One should regularly hear Srimad-Bhagavatam from
a self-realized Vaisnava. By such hearing, one becomes pious. Hrdy
antahstho hy abhadrani vidhunoti suhrt-satam. As one thus hears the Bhagavatam
regularly and sincerely, his heart is purified of all material contamination.
nasta-prayesv abhadresu
nityam bhagavata-sevaya
bhagavaty uttama-sloke
bhaktir bhavati
naisthiki
"As one regularly hears the Bhagavatam or renders service unto the
pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is practically destroyed,
and loving service unto the glorious Lord, who is praised with transcendental
songs, is established as an irrevocable fact." (Bhag. 1.2.18)
This is the proper process, but people are
accustomed to being misled by professional Bhagavatam reciters. Therefore Svarupa Damodara Gosvami herein
advises that one should not hear Srimad-Bhagavatam from professional reciters.
Instead, one must hear and learn the Bhagavatam from a self-realized Vaisnava.
Sometimes it is seen that when a Mayavadi sannyasi reads the Bhagavatam, flocks
of men go to hear jugglery of words that cannot awaken their dormant love for
Krsna. Sometimes people go to see professional dramas and offer food and money
to the players, who are expert at collecting these offerings very nicely. The
result is that the members of the audience remain in the same position of grham
andha-kupam, family affection, and do not awaken their love for Krsna.
In the Bhagavatam (7.5.30), it is said,
matir na krsne paratah svato va mitho 'bhipadyeta grha-vratanam: the
grhavratas, those who are determined to continue following the materialistic
way of life, will never awaken their dormant love of Krsna, fur they hear the
Bhagavatam only to solidify their position in household life and to be happy in
family affairs and sex. Condemning this process of hearing the Bhagavatam from
professionals, Svarupa Damodara Gosvami
says, yaha, bhagavata pada vaisnavera sthane: "To understand the
Srimad-Bhagavatam, you must approach a self-realized Vaisnava." One
should rigidly avoid hearing the Bhagavatam from a Mayavadi or other nondevotee
who simply performs a grammatical jugglery of words to twist some meaning from
the text, collect money from the innocent public, and thus keep people in
darkness.
Svarupa Damodara Gosvami strictly prohibits
the behavior of the materialistic so-called hearers of Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Instead of awakening real love for Krsna, such hearers of the Bhagavatam become
more and more attached to household affairs and sex life (yan
maithunadi-grhamedhi-sukham hi tuccham). One
should hear Srimad-Bhagavatam from a person who has no connection with material
activities, or, in other words, from a paramahamsa Vaisnava, one who has
achieved the highest stage of sannyasa. This, of course, is not possible
unless one takes shelter of the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The
Srimad-Bhagavatam is understandable only for one who can follow in the
footsteps of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Cc. Antya lila, Ch. 5, Txt 131
Translation
and Purport by
His
Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
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