Faith in Sri Guru

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..Faith in Sri Guru

 

Q & A with Swami B. V. Tripurari

 

"We should approach Sri Guru bearing our heart in hand, offering it in

divine service. Sri Guru will then take our heart and offer it to Sri

Krsna, who has lost his own heart to his unalloyed devotees."

 

Q. What is the position of devotees who had been approved by Srila

Prabhupada and were waiting to receive initiation from him but had not

yet received initiation when he departed? Are they considered direct

disciples of Srila Prabhupada?

 

A. The basic idea is that the will of the Vaisnava is the substance of

initiation. Because Srila Prabhupada agreed to initiate them, they are

his disciples. This is, of course, in consideration of the fact that

his system of initiation often involved accepting a disciple and then

having the formalities of initiation carried out by one of his senior

disciples, who acted as the priest (rtvik). In such cases the substance

of the initiation took place on his giving his consent. At that time

the disciple heard the diksa mantras from Srila Prabhupada on tape,

while the other formalities of initiation were carried out by the

rtvik. This was the opinion of Pujyapada Sridhara Maharaja, whom Srila

Prabhupada sent us to for insight into these matters.

 

Further information on this issue can be found in the following Sanga:

 

Receiving Diksa Mantra by Tape Recording

http://www.swami.org/sanga/archives/pages/volume_four/m195.html

 

Q. How does Gaudiya Vaisnavism define faith and how is it attained?

 

A. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, sraddha--sabde visvasa kahe sudrdha

niscaya krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya: "Faith (sraddha)

means confidence that simply by serving Krsna all of one's karmic

obligations are fulfilled." He cites this definition while instructing

Sri Sanatana Goswamiji. In doing so he references the Gita's most

confidential instruction, man mana bhava mad-bhakto: "Become my

devotee." (Bg. 18.65)This verse of the Gita is of course followed by

sarva dharman parityaja mam ekam saranam vraja: "Give up all dharma

(within the realm of karma) and simply surrender to me." (Bg. 18.66) In

this way faith and surrender (saranagati) correspond with one another.

 

Sraddha implies faith in and understanding of scripture (sastra).

Bhagavad-gita 2.45 says, trai-gunya-visaya veda: that sastra (the

Vedas) deals mostly with the realm of karma and its corresponding

religious injunctions. Faith in bhakti is beyond karma and religiosity

in the sense that a person involved in bhakti has understood the

essence of scripture and therefore is no longer directly concerned with

so-called Vedic dharma. This kind of faith comes from association with

a qualified guru. Such a guru is a superlative devotee whose authority

is derived from command of scripture--not merely academic command, but

realization. Ideally, he or she is sastra su-nipuna, a scriptural

genius who expertly represents the essential teachings of scripture.

Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita (4.34) that through such a great soul

transcendental wisdom can be imparted to the sincere disciple.

 

Q. Are there different levels of faith?

 

A. According to Sri Rupa Goswami, there are three levels of faith:

tender faith, firm faith strengthened by scriptural understanding, and

firm faith combined with scriptural genius. The intermediate position

involves firm faith in scriptural conclusions and the words of one's

guru, even though when challenged or questioned one may not be able to

cite either of these in all instances. Such a devotee does not,

however, suffer from a lapse in sraddha altogether, as one of tender

faith might.

 

These levels of faith correspond with one's capacity to engage in

sadhana-bhakti, thus suspicion leads to suspension. Tender faith is

strengthened with the help of scripture as one gradually learns the

scriptural conclusions (siddhanta). It is faith that is fully supported

by scripture (sastriya sraddha) that we are interested in. Indeed,

quoting from Brahma-yamala, Sri Rupa Goswami writes that devotion that

is not in compliance with scriptural conclusions is not bhakti at all,

sruti-smrti-puranadi pancaratra-vidhim vina, aikantiki harer bhaktir

utpatayaiva kalpate. In Gaura-lila, Caitanya Mahaprabhu's intimate

disciple Svarupa Damodara screened all written offerings presented to

him to see if they were in accordance with scriptural conclusions. Any

offerings that were not in accordance would not reach the eyes of

Mahaprabhu.

 

Q. How can I reconcile reason and faith?

 

A. Sraddha means faith in the efficacy of all aspects of bhakti: tattva

vicara (philosophy), sadhana vicara (spiritual practice), and

purusartha vicara (the goal), all of which are explained in scripture.

It requires reasoning to understand scriptural conclusions, thus

sastriya sraddha is not blind faith but rather well-reasoned faith

based on the premise that comprehensive knowledge is possible only

through revelation. This kind of reasoning is called sastra-yukti. It

arises out of ongoing discourse on sastric conclusions conducted in the

association of advanced devotees. Such reasoning seeks to strengthen

the scriptural argument in consideration of time and circumstance and

in general to shed new light on it.

 

Q. Can imperfect beings like us truly hope to find perfect knowledge?

 

A. Sri Jiva Goswami states that one suffering from the four defects of

material existence, namely imperfect senses, confusion,

inattentiveness, and the cheating propensity, cannot understand the

absolute truth without help from above. He concludes that in order to

attain perfect knowledge of the Absolute one must hear from scripture

(revealed knowledge). A person who actually takes shelter of scripture

will no longer be subject to the four imperfections that impede one

from arriving at perfect knowledge. Such a "reliable person" is not

confused as to what is ultimately real and what is not, therefore he or

she will never fail to acknowledge God as the true proprietor, nor will

he or she cheat others by giving them something other than the whole

truth.

 

Perfection in this case refers to a person who is perfect in devotion,

not one who makes no mistakes whosoever. On the relative plane, even

perfected souls may make mistakes. Some have been known to be

illiterate, and the famous Bilvamangala Thakura was blind, his sense of

sight was apparently defective in spite of his standing in perfect

knowledge. Some would like us to believe that mistakes made by

perfected souls are some type of lila to test students. However, such

an explanation is not based on a very deep understanding of the nature

of ultimate reality.

 

Due to being absorbed in another plane of reality, a perfected soul in

trance might experience something to be other than what it is. We

witness this phenomenon many times in the lila of Caitanya Mahaprabhu,

who in his ecstasy of love for Krsna once mistook a sand dune in Puri

for Govardhana Hill. Another instance was when his disciple Jagadananda

mistook the saffron turban of Sanatana Goswami to be the cloth of

Mahaprabhu, when in fact he had received it from another sannyasin.

Also, in his youth Hanuman once mistook the sun for a fruit and tried

to capture it. There are, of course, many other examples of such

ecstatic spiritual emotion.

 

Q. In his book Sri Guru and His Grace, Srila Sridhara Maharaja says,

"We shall serve that higher knowledge; we won't try to make it serve

us. We must give our pledge to serve that plane (of knowledge)." What

does he mean by service to higher knowledge?

 

A. Higher knowledge refers to Guru and scripture. The spirit of these

words from Pujyapada Sridhara Maharaja is that one should come to Sri

Guru to serve, not to take. Service means to learn from Sri Guru what

he or she wants of us, knowing that our guru's desire will tender to

our actual necessity for spiritual growth because he or she has no

material ambition to fulfill. We may, of course, put forward our

request to serve in a particular capacity, but only if we are prepared

to take "no" for an answer. We want to know what is best for us--for

our spiritual life. That's all. This should be the spirit. We should

not ask our guru to serve us in terms of our material necessities and

thereby burden him or her. Rather we should approach Sri Guru bearing

our heart in hand, offering it in divine service. Sri Guru will then

take our heart and offer it to Sri Krsna, who has lost his own heart to

his unalloyed devotees.

 

Q. I am interested in becoming one of your students. I regularly attend

programs at the International Society for Krsna Consciousness (Iskcon)

and have friends there who are supportive of my decision to seek

initiation from you. Can you assist me?

 

A. I will be honored to assist you in your spiritual pursuit, but you

should be forewarned that I am not a member of Iskcon and that some

Iskcon members are hostile to my students and myself to the point of

not allowing those affiliated with me to visit their temples. Therefore

if your spiritual life, as you understand it, is dependent on

association with Iskcon members, becoming my student may at times cause

you conflict. If, on the other hand, you feel that your spiritual life

is dependent on my guidance and you are prepared to pursue that at any

cost, then any hostility you may experience from members of Iskcon will

not be an issue.

 

Further information on this issue can be found in the following Sangas:

 

Iskcon, Exile, and the Conflict of Vows

http://www.swami.org/sanga/archives/pages/volume_three/m134.html

 

Never Leave Iskcon

http://www.swami.org/sanga/archives/pages/volume_seven/m260.html

 

Q. Some members of another Gaudiya institution have told me that

hearing about Krsna consciousness from you is not a good idea for me

and my family as we are so "new" to all of this. However, I am

attracted to your teachings, so I am going to seek out what I feel is

truly helpful to me, regardless of what they say. My question is: What

can a working person like myself possibly do to serve a guru? What form

might this service take?

 

A. I am happy to know that I have been helpful to you in your spiritual

life. Regarding your question, hearing and chanting are the main

service and as a working person you can also serve the mission by

contributing financially towards its maintenance and expansion.

Householders often have responsibilities that make it difficult for

them to render service directly to the mission of Sri Guru and

Gauranga. Still, there will be special opportunities for service that

arise from time to time, and when they do, you should take them

seriously. We live for such opportunities.

 

In conclusion, I must say that I am encouraged by your response to the

negativity you have experienced regarding your connection with me. Be

certain that this negativity has absolutely no spiritual basis

whatsoever. It is purely misplaced sentiment, sentiment that is not

philosophically grounded in the transcendental precepts of Sri Caitanya

Mahaprabhu.

 

 

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

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

sangaeditor (AT) swami (DOT) org Tuesday, December, 12, 2006, Vol. VIII, No. 9

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