Srila Narottam Das Thakur has explained perfectly the position of Sri Gurudev [the spiritual master] in one of his songs.
Sri-guru-charana-padma kevala bhakati-sadma
vando muni savadhana mate
«The lotus feet of Gurudev are the one and only abode of pure devotion.»
We must always be serious in our practice of spiritual life and serious about the glorification of the lotus feet of Gurudev. We do not actually know properly the position and glory of our Gurudev’s lotus feet, so we must always be careful in glorifying Gurudev (vando muni savadhana mate). We do not want to make any offence to Gurudev when we glorify him because offences to Gurudev are great obstacles in our spiritual life.
Lord Krishna Himself has explained Gurudev’s position to us for our benefit in Srimad Bhagavatam:
acharyam mam vijaniyan navamanyeta karhichit
«Carefully remember and consider Gurudev to be Me. Never think he is an ordinary man with a mundane form. As Gurudev, I Myself take on a human form to rescue the conditioned souls and give them a connection with the transcendental abode. You must consider Gurudev to be a nondifferent form of Myself.»
Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur also explained in an even more clear way the position of Gurudev:
Saksad dharitvena samasta-sastrair
uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih
kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya
vande guroh sri-charanaravindam
«It is written in all the scriptures that Bhagavan Himself manifests in a human form in front of me as Gurudev.»
When Gurudev gives initiation, Krishna reveals Himself, that is, Gurudev is revealed to be Krishna Himself. Krishna reveals Himself through the heart of Gurudev in His transcendental sound vibration form, Sri Hari-nam. Krishna descends through the preceptorial line of Gurus (parampara) into the heart of the disciple through the heart of Gurudev. In that way Gurudev acts as Krishna Himself. Still, Gurudev also has his own personal identity as a servitor of the Lord. He never thinks, «I am Krishna», but always thinks, «I am the servitor of the servitor of the servitor of Krishna». In this way Gurudev is Krishna’s dearmost devotee (kintu Prabhor yah priya eva tasya).
Gurudev is a servant of Krishna, but a disciple must still always consider that Krishna is revealing Himself in human form in front of him as Gurudev. The disciple sees Gurudev as a human but knows that Gurudev is not actually human. Gurudev’s actual form is transcendental: he is nondifferent from Krishna Himself. Because this conception of Gurudev is very important and we must be very careful to never lose faith in Gurudev, Narottam Thakur sang: «Vando muni savadhana mate: be careful to not improperly glorify Gurudev in any way.»
When Krishna takes form as Gurudev, He is so merciful to the conditioned souls. There is no doubt about that.
yahara prasade bhai e bhava tariya yai
krsna-prapti haya yaha haite12
When Gurudev is worshipped as Sri Krishna Himself, and sincere seekers try to understand the service of Krishna through Gurudev, Krishna is more happy than when He is approached directly. When He is approached through Gurudev, Krishna gives much more help to the sincere seekers; He inspires them in their hearts: «Yes, what you are doing is right. Proceed on.»
The vital conception is that Krishna distributes Himself and no one else can do that. Only when Krishna Himself shows His greatly merciful nature and takes the form of Gurudev can transcendental knowledge be spread to someone’s heart, and only then will someone understand Gurudev’s position.
guru-mukha-padma-vakya chittete kariya aikya
ara na kariha mane asa13
If any sincere seeker can follow the advice of Gurudev he must receive Krishna’s mercy. Krishna Himself has given us 200 per cent assurance of that. We must have full faith in the transcendental knowledge that is revealed through Gurudev. It is actually not necessary to follow any advice from any other quarter. It is only necessary to wholeheartedly follow with full faith the teachings, orders, and service responsibilities which come from Gurudev.
Sri guru-charane rati sei se uttama-gati
ye prasade pure sarva asa14
If you are determined to follow the order of Gurudev properly with chastity and sincerity, then you will get everything through his service (ye prasade pure sarva asa).
Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur gave us this most clear conception: «Gurudev is a teacher and Gurudev is a servitor.» Gurudev is actually Krishna’s supreme servitor (kintu Prabhor yah priya eva tasya). He shows us his form in this way. You will receive full spiritual benefit when you see what Gurudev is doing and how he is satisfying the Lord. You will be most benefitted when you see that he is giving you service for the satisfaction of his divine Lord. When you see Gurudev in this way you will receive all hope and facility to satisfy the Lord.
chaksu-dana dila yei janme janme prabhu sei
divya-jnana hrde prokasita15
Proper transcendental vision comes to us through Gurudev. Everything in this world is mundane, but the transcendental plane can be revealed anywhere and everywhere within this material world. That’s what makes the transcendental plane transcendent. For example, when a flower falls from a tree we do not care so much for that flower. It may have fallen on the road, and we may smash it as we walk by without caring. But when a flower is offered to the lotus feet of the Deity, or offered to a respectable Vaisnava or Gurudev, then we no longer ignore or disrespect that flower. We take it on our head and give it proper honour. Why? Not because we see anything different about the flower but because our knowledge tells us that it has been offered to the Lord, and whenever anything is offered to the Lord it takes on a transcendental form. This is transcendental vision. Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur said,
ye-dina grhe, bhajana dekhi
grhete goloka bhaya
«When I see my whole family satisfying the Lord through their activities; when I see their practices like chanting the Holy Name, worshipping the Deity, and offering foods to the Deity; when I see all of the activity in my family is God-centric, then I feel: ‘My family is not mundane and does not live in a mundane environment: it actually has a transcendental form.’»
This sort of transcendental knowledge comes to us through Gurudev, and if we carefully try to observe the environment with that knowledge, then we will be able to see everything transcendentally. If we are a proper practitioner then transcendental feelings must come into our heart. When transcendental knowledge reveals itself in our heart, our vision of the environment automatically changes and we see that what appears to be mundane can actually expand into something spiritual. Our children become spiritual children, and the flowers in our garden become spiritual flowers; everything and everyone we see becomes transcendental when we see them related with the Lord.
Through transcendental vision we will see that Krishna lives in the heart of everyone. We will see that He lives not only within the hearts of humans but within the hearts of all species, all 8,400,000 species in this world. Through our transcendental knowledge our vision changes. Then, whenever we meet anyone, we first courteously say, «Namaskar Sir». We offer honour in this way to everyone. And who are we honouring? We see that the Lord lives inside everyone’s heart, so we are honouring the Lord: we offer our respect to Him and to the person in whose heart He resides. This type of transcendental knowledge and the mood it brings to our heart of giving honour to others is actually natural for everyone, even though we so often forget it.
I have seen it in many Western countries also. Today when we let someone pass before us they happily said, «Thank you. Happy Christmas.» The person’s heart was melted by our activity, and she expressed her happiness through her blessing. If it was only mundane courtesy that is also very good. When that courtesy will have transcendental feelings behind it, when that courtesy comes from the vision that, «The Lord is living everywhere, and the Lord’s mercy is spread everywhere», then it will create even more happiness for her, for us, and for everyone.
Anyone who can see the environment in this way must have transcendental knowledge, and that type of transcendental knowledge is revealed in our heart through Gurudev. Gurudev is not a man actually. He shows himself in that way, but as an instrument of the Lord, he has a transcendental form.
Gurudev distributes the full love, beauty, charm, and ecstasy that is existing within Krishna.
prema-bhakti yaha haite avidya vinasa yate
vede gaya yahara charita16
Krishna is very near and dear to us as the enjoyer of the universe. Krishna happily enjoys everything we offer to Him, and He also Himself tries to satisfy us: He takes service from us and gives us more and more loving inspiration to continue serving Him. As our loving inspiration increases we feel more and more attachment, love, and ecstasy for Him. This comes to us through service. So our service, our love for Him, our satisfaction, and His satisfaction all continuously increase. This is called prema-bhakti, ecstatic loving devotion.
In the mundane world people use the word love very freely for many different purposes, but love really means ‘satisfying our beloved’. Full attachment, with affection and the mood of trying to satisfy, is the real meaning of love.
We see in this mundane world that some people are very happy to feed others. If guests come to their home, with or without an invitation, they cook with great satisfaction, and give affectionate nourishment and enjoyable food to their guests. When they are feeding their guests they actually feel more satisfaction than their guests because of their mood of service and giving. That is the sparking light of transcendental love and affection, which will take full form when we use it to satisfy our divine Lord. When love for our Lord comes into our hearts in a very overflooded way and increases continuously it is called Krishna-prema.
prema-bhakti yaha haite avidya vinasa yate
vede gaya yahara charita
When Krishna-prema reveals itself in our heart, automatically our mundane knowledge, all mundanity actually, disappears, just as darkness disappears from a room when a bulb is lit. Avidya vinasa yate: automatically all of our mundane feelings disappear when Krishna-prema is revealed in our heart. Vede gaya yahara charita: everywhere all the scriptures — the Vedas, Vedanta, Upanisads, and so on — glorify Gurudev as the giver of that type of transcendental knowledge.
tasmad gurum prapadyeta jijnasuh sreya uttamam
sabde pare cha nisnatam brahmany upasamasrayam17
All the scriptures advise us: «A teacher is necessary. Without a teacher you cannot understand anything. When the proper teacher comes in front of you, you must surrender to him and honour him. Guru means a bearer and messenger of transcendental knowledge. Guru can be and must be honoured as your Lord Himself. This is because a genuine Guru is established with full knowledge on the spiritual platform and directly represents the Lord.»
By ‘knowledge’ we do not mean knowledge gathered from books and scriptures. That type of knowledge is not sufficient. A genuine Guru has feelings in his heart that have been revealed by his Guru which come from the Lord Himself. A genuine Guru who has such real revealed knowledge in his heart can preach, and his students learn the proper thing.
gu-sabdas tv andhakarasya ru-sabdas tan-nivarakah
andhakara-nirodhitvad gurur ity abhidhiyate
«Guru means ‘gu’-’ru’: one who can destroy, ru, the darkness of ignorance, gu, which is present in the mundane world and in our hearts, by giving us knowledge that has descended from the spiritual world.»
om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya
chaksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah18
We pray to Gurudev with this pranam mantram every day. Ajnana means illusion, the illusory environment that covers our whole existence. Under the influence of illusion we think we are our body and become attached to our house and so many temporary things. Everything material is really a passing show, but in illusion we think it will remain with us forever. Gurudev removes the darkness of this mundane illusion by opening our transcendental eyes and giving us transcendental vision — transcendental knowledge.
It is necessary for a Guru to be genuine. Not everyone has that quality or qualification. Now in this world everyone can see that there are many self-made gurus, bogus gurus, and so on. I do not know who is bogus and who is not. It is not my business to criticise others, and I do not know who everyone is. I can only comment about the general character of a guru. The scriptures say:
guravo bahavah santi sisya-vittapaharakah
durlabho sad-gurur devi sisya-santapa-harakah
«There will always be many gurus who can expertly give their followers some mundane nourishment, take their wealth, and then leave them. But a real Guru destroys the dark mundane feelings of ignorance within everyone and makes everyone’s hearts temples of the Lord. A true Guru who has this capacity, and who never tries to do anything other than this, is very rare in the mundane world.» This is the character and activity of a genuine Guru, and that is the type of Guru glorified in the scriptures.
Once we saw a very poor man come to take initiation from Srila Guru Maharaj. He apologised: «O Maharaj, I have no money. I can only give you a donation of a few rupees.»
Srila Guru Maharaj said, «What are you thinking? I do not want any money from you. It is only a courtesy that you give some money. If you do not have much money and cannot contribute enough money to equal the value of Hari-nam mala [chanting beads] I am giving you, I still must give them to you if you are a sincere seeker. Don’t worry about that. What I need is your faith, sincerity, and chastity. You must promise me that you will serve Krishna and through your mood of service try to satisfy Krishna. I want you to make this promise in front of me, and that is all I want from you.»
Srila Guru Maharaj explained everything to the poor man in this way. That is the real mood of distributing Krishna consciousness and the real behaviour of a genuine Guru.
We are conditioned souls, and when we think about our conditioned position we may think we are hopeless. But we can pray to Gurudev, «You have full power and you are kind to the fallen souls. Please give your merciful attention to me and make me a good servitor of yourself, Lord Sri Krishna, and Srimati Radharani.»
Sri-guru karuna-sindhu, adhama janara bandhu,19
Gurudev is very merciful to the conditioned souls, and his attention specially goes to those who are most fallen. Gurudev is like an affectionate father. If a father has five sons but one of his sons feels some deficiency because he is unqualified or unhappy, then the father gives special attention and nourishment to that son so that he may be promoted.
Finally Srila Narottam Thakur mentions his Gurudev’s name,
lokanatha lokera jivana
«Lokanath Prabhu is my Gurudev. He is my life and soul, my everything, and these are the glories of his mercy.»
ha ha prabhu kara daya deha more pada-chhaya
tuya pade laila sarana
Then Narottam Thakur prays, «O Gurudev, I want your full attention. Please be merciful to me. Again and again I am taking shelter at your lotus feet. I do not know if I am properly surrendering to you, but please give your full attention to me. Only through your divine grace will I be connected with Lord Krishna, receive transcendental knowledge, and be engaged in Lord Krishna’s service. Please be merciful to me.»
On the logo of our Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math you can see the sun, some water, and a lotus. These are symbolic. The lotus represents the jiva-soul, the servitor of Krishna; the sun represents Krishna; and the water represents Gurudev. When a lotus lives in the protection of water, it blooms and the sun’s rays give life to the lotus, but when a lotus is taken out of water and kept in a dry place, the sun burns it. The logo of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math means that when we live under the protection of Gurudev, Krishna will always be merciful to us, but that without the shelter of Gurudev we have no hope.
harau ruste gurus-trata gurau ruste na kaschana
If Krishna becomes angry with us, our Gurudev can save us from Krishna’s anger; he can give us some nourishment and life. But if our Gurudev becomes angry with us, nothing can save us, not even Krishna can help us. Gurudev’s mercy is even more beneficial and essential than Krishna’s mercy. This is the essential point. Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur said,
yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasado
yasyaprasadan na gatih kuto ’pi
dhyayam stuvams tasya yasas tri-sandhyam
vande guroh sri-charanaravindam20
We must consider that Krishna’s mercy appears to us in the form of our Gurudev’s mercy. This means that when our Gurudev is happy with us Krishna must also be happy with us, and when Krishna is happy with us our Gurudev will be happy with us. This is our Gurudev’s position, and in this way we will always see that all auspicious and beneficial wealth comes to us through Gurudev. Gurudev is our true shelter.
Guru-parampara, the preceptorial lineage of Gurus, is like a telescopic system. Within a telescope there are many lenses, and when they are properly adjusted one by one we can see through them things we do not have the power to see with our own vision. The Gurus in our parampara are like lenses in a telescope. There is power within each of the lenses which deepens our vision and shows us how to satisfy Srimati Radharani and Lord Krishna.
In the line of the Sri Rupanuga sampradaya, our vision and devotion is going up through our Guru Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, and Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur, to Sri Rupa Manjari and from there to Radharani. Srila Prabhupad Saraswati Thakur taught that we will think of our Gurudev at the highest level as Radharani Herself; we will think that our Gurudev is a nondifferent form of Radharani. Gurudev has different forms. Sometimes we will see that Gurudev is nondifferent from Krishna, but more exclusively we see that he is the supreme servitor of Krishna — Radharani.
Gurudev’s full mercy and gift, which he bestows through his different forms, has been described by Srila Raghunath Das Goswami in his super pranam mantram, which we always use to pray to our Gurudev:
nama-srestham manum api sachi-putram atra svarupam
rupam tasyagrajam uru-purim mathurim gostha-vatim
radha-kundam giri-varam aho radhika-madhavasam
prapto yasya prathita-krpaya sri-gurum tam nato ’smi
Nama-srestham: Das Goswami expresses that Gurudev mercifully gave him the Hare Krishna mahamantra, the supreme mantram within the mundane and transcendental worlds. The mahamantra can rescue anyone from any position. It can everyone within all the universes. Hare Krishna actually means Radha-Krishna. Gracefully Gurudev gives us the chance to call Radha-Krishna into our heart and pray that They will mercifully appear there.
Manum api Sachi-putram: by the causeless mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who is the nondifferent form of Radha-Krishna, the Hare Krishna mahamantra came down to the mundane world. Das Goswami also received the mercy of the Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu through Gurudev.
Atra Svarupam: then Srila Raghunath Das Goswami says that not only has he received the mercy of Mahaprabhu and the Holy Name, but that Mahaprabhu has mercifully handed him to His dearmost associate and nondifferent form, Srila Svarup Damodar. Das Goswami expresses here that he has also received Srila Svarup Damodar’s mercy through Gurudev.
Rupam tasyagrajam: then by the grace of Gurudev, Das Goswami received the mercy and association of Mahaprabhu’s dearmost disciples, Srila Rupa Goswami and Srila Sanatan Goswami.
Uru-purim Mathurim gostha-vatim: then by the mercy of Gurudev, Das Goswami was given entrance into Mathura–Vrndavan Dham, where Krishna is always engaged in His Pastimes with the gopas and gopis.21
Radha-kundam: by the mercy of Gurudev, Das Goswami was given shelter at Radha Kunda, where the supreme opportunity for service to Radha-Govinda exists.
Giri-varam: by the mercy of Gurudev, Das Goswami received from Mahaprabhu a Govardhan-sila, a nondifferent form of Krishna. to worship, as well as shelter at the lotus feet of Govardhan Hill near Radha Kunda in Vrndavan Dham.
Aho Radhika-Madhavasam: and by the mercy of Gurudev, Das Goswami received all hope for the service of Radha-Madhava. This means Radharani Herself in the form of Gurudev gave mercy to Das Goswami, because without the special mercy of Radharani no one can enter where the Divine Couple are playing.
Prapto yasya prathita-krpaya: lastly in his pranam mantram to Gurudev Das Goswami says that he has been given everything by Gurudev. Sri Gurum Tam nato ’smi: so he bows down to Gurudev’s lotus feet in full surrender.
Das Goswami expressed his heart through this verse. Das Goswami is very humble, but he is clearly confessing in his prayer, «I have received this, this, this, this, and everything, by the grace of Gurudev. I have received the mercy of Krishna, Radharani, Mahaprabhu, Their associates, Their abode — everything.»
Srila Raghunath Das Goswami was a very dear associate of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and he was also very dear to all the devotees of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Srila Svarup Damodar, who was a nondifferent form of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, was his personal guardian. So Das Goswami had no deficiency; he was unlimitedly fortunate by the grace of Gurudev. But after living with Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Srila Svarup Damodar, Raghunath Das Goswami came to Vrndavan to stay with Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu.
Das Goswami thought he would leave his body after the disappearance of his Lord, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and his master, Svarup Damodar. But when he found Srila Rupa Goswami in Vrndavan, he got new life. While living in Vrndavan, Das Goswami followed many very extreme practising processes in his devotional life. Living under the shelter of Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu, he would pray to Radharani as his Gurudev in a very exclusive way, in a mood of ista-labha vine, unfulfilled desire.
asa-bharair amrta-sindhu-mayaih kathanchit
kalo mayati-gamitah kila sampratam hi
tvan chet krpam mayi vidhasyasi naiva kim me
pranair vrajena cha varoru bakarinapi
«O Radharani, I worship the Krishna who lives with You, plays with You, is joyful with You, and tastes ecstasy with You. I worship that Krishna, Your Krishna. You are the nectarean ocean of Krishna-lila, and for that I have so much hope. I want to taste a little bit of that nectar, and with great hope I have passed such a long time here in Radha Kunda, praying for Your mercy and hoping I will receive Your connection. You are my Mistress. and I have been waiting on the bank of Your kunda, Radha Kunda, for such a long time, hoping that You will bestow Your mercy upon me. I have spent so long waiting, and now I am going to die. I have passed eighty years here in Vrndavan, and I am living only to receive Your mercy.
«O Radharani! Please bestow Your mercy upon me. I need Your mercy, and my only hope is that one day You will bestow it upon me. I have passed year after year not receiving You mercy, but still I am hopeful I will receive it one day. I am living only for that, and that is my only desire. I will leave my body soon but I pray, ‘O Radharani, please bestow Your mercy upon me.’
«When will You be merciful to me? O Radharani! Without Your mercy I do not want Krishna’s mercy. I do not want to meet or serve Krishna without You. Only when Krishna is with You is Krishna so glorious to me. Without Your mercy Krishna’s mercy is useless to me. I only want to serve You and see that my service goes to Krishna through You. That is my desire. Krishna is not a factor for me; You are my life and goal. Your service is my only desire and expectation, nothing else. I have passed eighty years praying for Your service and still I am keeping my hope that I will receive Your mercy.
«If I do not receive Your mercy then I consider Krishna’s mercy useless and undesirable. I do not want Krishna to bestow His mercy upon me in an independent way. What will I do with Him? I do not want anything directly from Krishna. Your lotus feet are my only shelter. I only want Your service.»
radha-sange yada bhati tada ‘madana-mohanah’
anyatha visva-moho ’pi svayam ‘madana-mohitah’
«O Radharani, when Krishna lives with You, He is fully satisfied and His mood is greatly merciful. When Krishna lives with You, He is Madan Mohan: He is liberated from any attraction by Cupid, and Cupid is stunned to see Krishna’s beauty. But Krishna’s beauty and attractive power come only from You. Without You, Krishna’s beauty cannot attract His exclusive devotees. And more than that, without You, Krishna Himself is attracted by Cupid.»
«O my Goddess, if You do not accept me, if You are not merciful to me, then what will Krishna be for me? His position will not be Madan Mohan: He will be like Bakari, the killer of Putana and other demons. What will I do with Krishna in His form of a demon-killer? I want to exclusively worship the Krishna who is holding hands with You, and I want only to worship Him through You. So I need Your mercy. Without Your mercy everything is useless to me. When will You bestow Your mercy upon me, O Radharani? Your mercy is my only hope.»
In this attentive and exclusive mood of devotion Raghunath Das Goswami prayed to Radharani, trying to draw Her grace to him. In this prayer Das Goswami expresses our highest vision of Gurudev.
Das Goswami lived on the banks of Radha Kunda for some time with this mood of extreme hope and hankering. But when Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu disappeared, Das Goswami became deeply disturbed and felt he could not tolerate the environment of Vrndavan.
Sunyayate maha-gostham girindro ’jagarayate
vyaghra-tundayate kundam jivatu-rahitasya me
Das Goswami felt, «My life has left my body. Now Radha Kunda is not the joyful place of Radha-Krishna. Vyaghra-tundayate kundam: I now see Radha Kunda as the open mouth of a tiger coming to eat me. Girindro ’jagarayate: I now see Giriraj Govardhan like a python coming to attack me. Sunyayate maha-gostham: now the whole of Vraja Bhumi, where the cows, gopas, and gopis play, appears void and empty to me. I do not see anyone, and everything seems to have been demolished. Everything appears to me in this way because I have lost my heart, my jivatu [my very life], Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu.»
Srila Raghunath Das Goswami expressed his feelings of hope to receive the mercy of Radharani and his feelings of separation from his Gurudev Srila Rupa Goswami through his verses asa-bharair amrta-sindhu-mayaih kathanchit and sunyayate maha-gostham. Das Goswami was an exclusive follower in the line of Srila Rupa Goswami and Radharani, and in this way his feelings went from deep to deeper. Srila Guru Maharaj used the philosophical phrase, «Dive deep into Reality». It is necessary for us to touch that reality, at least from a distance. Then we can understand everything. All of it comes through Guru-susrusaya (SB: 10.80.34), the service of Gurudev. All property will gradually come to us in that way. That is our line, our process, our method.22
Srila Raghunath Das Goswami is in one way saying, «I have been given everything by my Gurudev.» He openly said this in his beautiful verse Nama-srestam manum api Sachi-putram atra Svarupam. But he also expressed his extreme hankering and hope to attain more mercy from Gurudev, that is, Radharani and Srila Rupa Goswami. This is the nature of Krishna consciousness. These two types of feelings are always present in the devotees’s hearts. In one way they are saying, «I have been given everything», and in another way they are saying, «I have nothing; I am in need.»
If anyone receives mercy from Gurudev, they will never feel it to be insufficient. Yet, they will also feel that Gurudev’s mercy is unlimitedly attractive and infinite. So the more they taste it, the more they will desire to taste more of it. Because their hankering becomes greater and greater in that way, they feel, «I am empty. I have not received anything.» The feeling of the devotee is, «Tad dure tad v antike (Iu: 5): it is so far, and it is so near.»
By hope we feel we are so near to Krishna and Radharani, but by action we may feel we live so far from Their abode and Pastimes. The harmonising conclusion about this situation has been given by Sri Chaitanyadev: achintya-bhedabheda. Inconceivably, both moods are present in the hearts of the devotees: «It is so near to us, and in another way it is so far.»
Through the extreme example of Raghunath Das Goswami we can understand that if we open the door of our hearts to Gurudev, we will find his mercy is waiting for us right behind the door. If only we open our hearts, Gurudev’s mercy will enter us. We will discover our fortune and find that our Guru-parampara, beginning with Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu, has a spoonful of nectar ready for us. When we receive that, we will feel unable to ever fully glorify Gurudev. We will feel his infinite mercy.23
12 «By Sri Guru’s grace the soul crosses over this world and reaches Krishna.»
13 «Make the teachings from the lotus mouth of Sri Guru one with your heart; do not desire anything else.»
14 «Attachment to Sri Guru’s feet is the best path. By his mercy all desires are fulfilled.»
15 «He who gave me the gift of eyes, who revealed divine knowledge in my heart, is my lord birth after birth.»
16 «Sri Guru gives pure devotion and destroys ignorance. The Vedas sing of his character.»
17 «(Having become indifferent to the material world), one in search of the ultimate good should surrender to a Guru who is equipoised and adept in both the scriptures and the divine.»
tatra bhagavatan dharman siksed gurv-atma-daivatah
amayayanuvrttya yais tusyed atmatma-do harih
«Considering Sri Guru to be one’s beloved Lord, one should sincerely and submissively learn from him Bhagavat-dharma: that by which Sri Hari, He who gives Himself (to His devotee), is satisfied.»
18 «I offer my obeisance unto Sri Guru, who opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance, with the salve of divine knowledge.»
19 «Sri Guru is an ocean of mercy and the friend of the fallen.»
20 «I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru, praising and meditating upon His glory at the three junctions of the day. By his grace, one gains the Lord’s grace. Without his grace, one has no shelter anywhere.»
vaikunthaj janito vara madhu-puri tatrapi rasotsavad
vrndaranyam udara-pani-ramanat tatrapi govardhanah
radha-kundam ihapi gokula-pateh premamrtaplavanat
kuryad asya virajato giri-tate sevam viveki na kah
«Above Vaikuntha is Mathura, where Krishna took birth. Above Mathura is Vrndavan, where Krishna enjoys the Rasa festival. Above Vrndavan is Govardhan, where Krishna plays amorously. Above Govardhan is Radha Kunda, where the nectar of love overflows. What wise soul would not serve Radha Kunda beside Govardhan Hill?»
naham ijya-prajatibhyam tapasopasamena va
tusyeyam sarva-bhutatma guru-susrusaya yatha
[Krishna:] «I, the Soul of all beings, am not satisfied by fire sacrifices, raising children, austerities, or self-control (by adherence to the duties of a brahmachari, grhastha, vanaprastha, or sannyasi) as much as I am by service to Sri Guru.»
adadanas trnam dantair idam yache punah punah
srimad rupa-padambhoja-dhulih syam janma-janmani
«Taking a blade of grass between my teeth, I pray again and again, «May I be a particle of dust at Sri Rupa’s lotus feet birth after birth.»