The Pure Devotee

[Smiley]

Haribol!

 

A friend of mine, Gunga Narayan Das is a direct disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He has explained to me that a pure devotee (like Srila Prabhupada) is not subject to error which is a symptom of the conditioned living being.

 

I am very interested in this teaching -

 

1. Was it always a part of Vaishnavism? If not, when and with whom did it develop?

 

2. Is this to be understood as simply an attitude of respect, i.e. "my guru can do no wrong"

or is it to be taken literally?

 

3. What if two pure devotees ever disagree with one another? I have read in the Srimad Bhagavatam of Lord Shiva and Sri Narada debating about something - are they not both pure?

 

4. Finally, how is the discrepancy resolved when a pure devotee disagrees with observational astronomy data?

 

Thank you for your time.

 

Mark

[gHari]

"Right" means pleasing Krsna. Even when making mistakes, they are right. Apparent disagreements describe paradoxes on this plane or ortherwise complex ideas.

 

Even Lord Caitanya thought that the real Sita was stolen by Ravana. Thus He was able to enjoy that overwhelming feeling of relief when learning that it was actually a fake Sita that had been kidnapped.

 

So 'right' means "right with Krsna's desire". For example, grammatical errors is fine.

[Murali_Mohan_das]

Absolutely.

 

"Errors" and "mistakes" are really a matter of perception.

 

Here's an example from science. There has been a large effort to sequence the genomes of various species. Recently, it was discovered that a species of fruit fly had incorporated the entire genome of a parasite which lives in its digestive system. For a while, the scientists involved in the research had dismissed the finding of the parasite's bacteria in the hosts genome as being "contamination". Eventually, "reality" became apparent.

 

More here:

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=109957

 

So, with our very limited perception, it's very hard to say what's an "error" or a "mistake" with any great confidence.

 

I like to say: there are no mistakes, only regrets.

 

 

"Right" means pleasing Krsna. Even when making mistakes, they are right. Apparent disagreements describe paradoxes on this plane or ortherwise complex ideas.

 

Even Lord Caitanya thought that the real Sita was stolen by Ravana. Thus He was able to enjoy that overwhelming feeling of relief when learning that it was actually a fake Sita that had been kidnapped.

 

So 'right' means "right with Krsna's desire". For example, grammatical errors is fine.