Guest guest Posted October 19, 2002 Report Share Posted October 19, 2002 Dandavats, Vaisnavas. Jaya Srila Prabhupada. I came across an interesting quote the other day; the following verse is allegedly Hari-bhakti-vilasa, 4.139: gurur brahmA gurur viSNur gurur devo mahezvaraH | guru-devo paraM brahma tasmAt saMpUjayet sadA || 139 || "The bonafide spiritual master is Brahma, Vishnu, God, Mahesvara. Gurudeva is the supreme brahman; therefore one should always worship him." I don't have a copy of the HBV text; has anyone seen this verse there? It seems a lot like the similar and well known sloka cited by mayavadis, which Srila Prabhupada objected to. Thanks for any help. Hare Krsna. Your servant, Mukunda Datta dasa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2002 Report Share Posted October 20, 2002 achintya, "M. Tandy" <mpt@u...> wrote: > > Dandavats, Vaisnavas. Jaya Srila Prabhupada. > > I came across an interesting quote the other day; the following verse > is allegedly Hari-bhakti-vilasa, 4.139: > > > gurur brahmA gurur viSNur gurur devo mahezvaraH | > guru-devo paraM brahma tasmAt saMpUjayet sadA || 139 || > > "The bonafide spiritual master is Brahma, Vishnu, God, Mahesvara. > Gurudeva is the supreme brahman; therefore one should always worship him." > I was actually under the impression that this was from one of the Upanishads. I don't know which one, though. Incidentally, it was sung by George Harrison in one of his Krishna songs, the name of which I do not recall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2002 Report Share Posted October 20, 2002 haribol george harrison sings this verses at the end of my sweet lord(before: my sweet lord--hare krishna...... next: my sweet lord -- guru brahma... ecc.) one time a devotee asked to Srila Prabhupada if this mantra has to be chanted..... S.P. said that for us this prayer is useless because it has an impersonal flavour, the guru is brahma /vishnu /shiva etc or the guru is everything yasodanandanadasa italy _______________ MSN Foto: condividi, ritocca e stampa le tue foto online http://photos.msn.it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2002 Report Share Posted October 20, 2002 On Sun, 20 Oct 2002, krishna_susarla wrote: > > Hari-bhakti-vilasa, 4.139: > > > > gurur brahmA gurur viSNur gurur devo mahezvaraH | > > guru-devo paraM brahma tasmAt saMpUjayet sadA || 139 || > > > > "The bonafide spiritual master is Brahma, Vishnu, God, > Mahesvara. Gurudeva is the supreme brahman; therefore one should always > worship him." > > I was actually under the impression that this was from one of the > Upanishads. I don't know which one, though. Incidentally, it was sung > by George Harrison in one of his Krishna songs, the name of which I > do not recall. It's quoted in one form or another by just about everyone. The most popular version, often attributed to Sankaracarya (and the one favored by George and other musicians), ends in the equivalent lines: guruh sAkSAt paraM brahma tasmai zrI gurave namah || Incidentally, I'm also told that it is actually HBV 4.352, although BBT Sanskritist Ekanatha prabhu also has it as HBV 4.139. He says it is introduced there without attribution (though following a quote from Manu); Jiva Gosvami merely comments: "saMpUjayed gurum eva,It is, in fact, the guru one should worship." I think we should take this verse in the spirit of "saksad dharitvena samasta-sastrair uktah," i.e., that all authorities proclaim the guru to be *as good as* God--but not God directly. The term "saksat" literally means "before one's eyes"--not necessarily the looser sense in which it sometimes suggests "directly" or "entirely." In other words, the bonafide guru is the form in which Krsna's authority and grace are most tangibly manifested for the benefit of conditioned souls (cf. Bhagavata, 11.14.16). However, the guru is not God. For this reason we address him as "His Divine grace," or "Krsna-krpa srimurti." Obviously, it would be unwise to reject any verse our own acaryas have quoted, although we may accept it judiciously (i.e., with sensitivity to context), in deference to Srila Prabhupada's stated opinion. Thanks for all replies, MDd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2002 Report Share Posted October 20, 2002 "M. Tandy" <mpt@u.washington.edu> wrote: I think we should take this verse in the spirit of "saksaddharitvena samasta-sastrair uktah," i.e., that all authorities proclaimthe guru to be *as good as* God--but not God directly. The term "saksat"literally means "before one's eyes"--not necessarily the looser sense inwhich it sometimes suggests "directly" or "entirely." In other words, thebonafide guru is the form in which Krsna's authority and grace are mosttangibly manifested for the benefit of conditioned souls (cf. Bhagavata,11.14.16). However, the guru is not God. For this reason we address himas "His Divine grace," or "Krsna-krpa srimurti."Obviously, it would be unwise to reject any verse our own acaryashave quoted, although we may accept it judiciously (i.e., with sensitivityto context), in deference to Srila Prabhupada's stated opinion. I once happened to ask the same question to H.H.Bhanu Swami Maharaja, as to why the Mayavadi's say" Guru Sakshad Parabrahma" etc, & how to understand it if it is an upanishadic statement. The reply was that"( not verbatim) we too have "sAkshAd Haritvena" , that doesn't mean the Guru is Sakshad Hari. The Guru is as good as Hari but not Hari himself" and hence this verse too has to be understood in a similar way. R.Narasimhan Y! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your web site Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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