The Gifts of Sri Guru

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The Gifts of Sri Guru

 

Q & A with Swami B. V. Tripurari

 

"Saranagatas will feel themselves making progress daily. If you do not

feel like this, you have to do whatever it takes to focus your mind and

give your heart to your nama japa, mantra, and kirtana. Nama and mantra

are the real gifts of Sri Guru. Use them wisely; they are your real

wealth."

 

Q. I attended two of your lectures last week when you were speaking in

the area. I am very appreciative of the time you took and your example

of deep reflection and surrender. As a disciple of Bhakti Tirtha Swami,

who is now confronting his greatest challenge, I would be most grateful

if you would share with me your perspective on deepening the inner

connection with one's spiritual master.

 

A. Thank you for your kind words. I think that the answer to how one

can deepen the relationship with one's guru lies in the desire to do

so, and this is often born of apparently disconcerting circumstances.

This appears to be your situation.

 

Otherwise, the spiritual master is the embodiment of the scriptures. We

can find the guru and that which he or she lives for in sastra. When

Srila Prabhupada left the world, I had the good fortune of associating

with my siksa guru, Pujyapada B. R. Sridhara Maharaja. He helped me to

enter more deeply into the spirit of the sastra and this in turn helped

me to better understand all that Srila Prabhupada represents.

 

Your guru, Sripad Bhakti Tirtha Swami, has written many books, and

these books are all drawn from a common source and brought to life by

his realization. This common source is sastra. You must learn to bring

the sastra to life as he has done and then live with him in the realm

beyond the mind and senses. These two, mind and senses, as well as

intellect, can tell you very little about Sri Gurudeva. To know him you

must go to him through the sastra. In so doing, use your head to soften

your heart. Do this with guidance, and the tender faith (komala

sraddha) that you have at present will become strong. It will become

sastriya sraddha, faith well informed by sastra. With this kind of

faith, you will know that your spiritual master is always with you.

 

[Editor's note: Swami Tripurari and the Sanga editorial staff would

like to acknowledge Bhakti Tirtha Swami's 35 years of sincere service

to the worldwide Gaudiya Vaisnava community. We pray that Bhagavan Sri

Krsna will continue to bless the Gaudiya community with Bhakti Tirtha

Swami's inspiring association.]

 

Q. Some Gaudiya sects teach that because the guru is a devotee he or

she should be worshipped after Krsna is worshipped, not before. Neither

should Krsna be offered the prasad of the guru, rather the guru should

be given the prasad of Krsna. What is your opinion?

 

A. In Gaudiya Vaisnavism there are two systems of worship--one

ascending, the other descending. Both systems are valid but in his

institution Srila Prabhupada introduced the ascending method in order

to stress that one must approach Krsna through the guru. However, he

also told his disciples that they could learn more about procedures for

arcana from Gaudiya Matha and the Radha-Ramana Mandira in Vrndavana.

 

In the ascending method one offers the article first to the guru with

the idea that the guru will then offer it to his or her own guru and so

on until the item is offered to Krsna. Externally the ritual appears

inconsistent with this idea because the devotee offering arati

physically offers the article to everyone on the altar. Therefore with

regard to ritual it is important to understand that the spirit in which

the ritual is performed is more important than the external

formalities.

 

The offering of food also presents a bit of a dilemma. In his Harinama

Cintamani, Thakura Bhaktivinoda describes the details of offering food

to Krsna. There he says, "The spiritual master is to be worshipped

first; only then may one worship Lord Krsna. The spiritual master

should be offered different paraphernalia like a nice seat, shoes, foot

bath, cloth, etc.; then with the spiritual master's permission one may

worship the Deities of Sri Sri Radha and Krsna. Food should be first

offered to the Deities and then offered to the spiritual master, then

to the demigods and other Vaisnavas. Without the spiritual master's

sanction one cannot engage in Radha-Krsna worship. Before chanting the

holy name, the disciple should remember the spiritual master and his

instructions."

 

The idea is that we cannot offer the guru's prasad to Krsna, and we

cannot offer food to Krsna without first worshipping the guru. So in

offering bhoga we first worship the guru, taking his or her permission

to worship Krsna. Then we worship Krsna and offer his prasada to the

guru. If we worship in this consciousness, the ascending and descending

methods of worship are harmonized.

 

Q. In the early days of the movement Srila Prabhupada gave disciples

what we call harinama initiation very liberally, asking them only to

avoid the four pillars of sinful life (meat eating, intoxication,

gambling, and illicit sex) and to chant a minimum number of rounds of

nama japa. His requirements for initiation gradually increased to the

point that one had to vow to chant 16 rounds every day as well as to

avoid the four pillars of sin without fail for the rest of one's life.

While I understand that there must be certain requirements for diksa,

or what we call second initiation, the above-stated requirements seem

somewhat severe for receiving first initiation. I know of many devotees

who have given up on the idea of ever getting initiated due to these

strict standards. What is your opinion on this, and what do you require

of your prospective disciples in order to bestow harinama initiation?

 

A. Srila Prabhupada's standards for initiation were stricter than those

required by his spiritual master. Perhaps this is because the so-called

normal behavior that Srila Prabhupada encountered in the West was so

much more permissive than normal behavior in India. Srila Prabhupada

confronted western permissiveness by setting very strict standards for

initiation, and those who took initiation from him were required to vow

to adhere to those standards for life. However, the truth be told, very

few of his approximately 5,000 initiated disciples were always able to

keep the vows that they took at initiation. Therefore it may be time to

reconsider the idea of requiring people to take such strict vows for

initiation, knowing that hardly anyone will be able to keep them.

Especially considering that as far as the Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition is

concerned, sraddha (faith) is the only requirement for initiation.

 

The idea behind sraddha as the standard for initiation is that once one

is initiated into chanting harinama, one will be encouraged toward

spiritual practice, which will in turn cause bad habits to begin to

disappear. Indeed, without chanting, one's bad habits are unlikely to

ever go away. The example cited is Nityananda Prabhu who gave harinama

liberally to anyone who had faith in Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Krsna.

In Gaudiya Vaisnavism this is the only scriptural qualification for

receiving harinama. Explaining the conclusion of the Bhagavad-gita,

Mahaprabhu instructed Srila Rupa Goswami, ei ajna-bale bhaktera

'sraddha' yadi haya sarva-karma tyaga kari' se krsna bhajaya, "If a

devotee has faith in this order (become my devotee), he or she worships

Krsna and gives up all other activities." In this way sraddha and

saranagati are synonymous. Srimad-Bhagavatam states:

 

tavat karmani kurvita na nirvidyeta yavata mat-katha-sravanadau va

sraddha yavan na jayate

 

"As long as one is not satiated by fruitive activity and has not

awakened faith in hearing and chanting about me, one has to act

according to the regulative principles of the Vedic injunctions

(varnasrama dharma)."

 

Mahaprabhu also told Sri Rupa:

 

'sraddha'-sabde-visvasa kahe sudrdha niscaya krsne bhakti kaile

sarva-karma krta haya

 

"Sraddha is confident, firm faith that by rendering transcendental

loving service to Krsna one automatically fulfills all subsidiary

duties (varnasrama dharma)."

 

Through the association of sadhus, either accidentally or by choice,

faith is acquired. Once faith is awakened in someone, that person then

deliberately associates with sadhus with the intention of finding his

or her guru. When one's guru is found, one takes shelter and receives

the guru's blessing to chant Krsna nama. This in essence is harinama

initiation. At that time the guru will instruct the disciple how to

lead a life of spiritual practice (bhajana kriya). As the disciple

advances in bhajana kriya, the guru may then introduce further

restrictions and practices.

 

In my case I consider each student individually and advise him or her

accordingly as to how to engage in spiritual practice--its spirit and

details tailored to each individual.

 

Q. In our movement there are so many cases of re-initiation. Is it

necessary to take re-initiation if one's guru leaves the movement?

 

A. In some cases accepting a siksa guru is sufficient, but if the

previous guru has become an aparadhi (offender), re-initiation is

necessary. This is the general rule. However, there are often

extenuating circumstances, and in my experience every case needs to be

dealt with individually, placing oneself in the learned and

affectionate hands of a qualified devotee.

 

Q. Hindu religious culture dictates that only persons born in brahmana

families are allowed to perform yajnas and certain other socioreligious

functions. Sri Jiva Goswami mentioned this in one of his Sandarbhas and

seemed to accept this idea. Also in Jaiva-Dharma, Bhaktivinoda Thakura

agrees saying that everyone, regardless of birth, has the right to

practice bhakti but those who are not born in brahmana families are not

eligible to perform yajnas until they acquire seminal birth in a

brahmana family. He further explains that if one violates social

customs, one is guilty of secular impropriety, and members of society

who take pride in their social respectability do not condone such

activities. Thus Sri Jiva Goswami and Bhaktivinoda Thakura wrote that

only hereditary brahmanas should perform Vedic rites, even if otherwise

one is spiritually qualified. This conclusion, however, contradicts

what Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati taught in this regard. How should

we reconcile this?

 

A. In the Sanga titled "Women Diksa Gurus," I cited how Gaudiya acarya

Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura said the opposite of Jiva Goswami with

regard to this issue. His answer is in keeping with the power of

bhakti, while Sri Jiva's is in consideration of social concerns of the

time. The same applies to the difference between what Bhaktivinoda

Thakura wrote on this point in Jaiva-Dharma and the position of his

disciple Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati. The socioreligious stance is

that Vedic rituals are performed by hereditary brahmanas. However,

Bhagavata-dharma, or Vaisnavism, teaches that the power of bhakti

purifies one beyond the position of a hereditary brahmana, thus one is

qualified to perform any Vedic ritual.

 

This is another case of absolute versus relative considerations. In

preaching we might consider the relative position, which in this case

are the socioreligious rules of varnasrama culture. However at heart we

abide by the absolute vision of Bhagavata-dharma. This is what Srila

Prabhupada did when he allowed women to perform seva puja for the

temple Deity except in some places in India, where he felt that strong

opposition from orthodox Hindu brahmanas might cause problems for his

movement. Our position is that Vaisnavism is always above brahmanism,

but it seems that over the centuries the details of preaching this

point has been subject to certain time and place considerations.

 

Q. What does Krsna mean when he says in Bhagavad-gita to give up all

dharma and surrender unto him, and how does this relate to having a

guru?

 

A. The basic idea of surrender in the Gita--sarva dharman parityaja--is

to give up socioreligious pursuits (dharma), including the worship of

any demigod or demigoddess, and serve only Krsna. Krsna calls on us to

serve him alone. Faith that by doing so one is relieved of any other

duties both religious and secular amounts to eligibility for treading

the path of bhakti. In this sense, bhakti proceeds from saranagati. As

we engage in the practices of bhakti under the care of a guru--such as

hearing, chanting, and remembering--we acquire both theoretical and

practical knowledge of spirituality, saranagati intensifies, and our

taste for hearing and chanting increases.

 

Thus our concern should be twofold: we should take exclusive shelter of

Krsna, forgoing all other spiritual practices, and we should begin a

guru-guided life of hearing and chanting, evaluating our progress by

the extent to which our interest in hearing and chanting is increasing.

Saranagatas will feel themselves making progress daily. If you do not

feel like this, you have to do whatever it takes to focus your mind and

give your heart to your nama japa, mantra, and kirtana. Nama and mantra

are the real gifts of Sri Guru. Use them wisely; they are your real

wealth.

 

Questions or comments may be submitted at the Q&A Forum

http://www.swami.org/sanga/ or email sangaeditor (AT) swami (DOT) org.

 

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Tuesday, January, 11, 2005, Vol. VII, No. 1

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