Sri K

it
Krrisishhna K
Kaathamr
amrit
itaa

Bindu

Tav k QaaMa*Ta& TaJaqvNaMa(

tava kathmta tapta-jvanam

Fortnightly email mini-magazine from Gopal Jiu Publications

13 July 2004

r Kmik Ekda, 11 rdhara, 518 Gaurbda

Highlights

Issue No. 82

Circulation 1,622

TELEVISION
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

GURU AND DISCIPLE MUST BE QUALIFIED

Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja

TELEVISION
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada
Western civilization is very attractive to the rkasa class. Eat,
drink, be merry, and enjoy. This is
the rkasa mentality. As soon as
there is television, or similar invention, they become very much enthused. They purchase and waste their time. I
have seen in America the old man of the family,
one dog, one television, simply wasting time.
How they are wasting the valuable human life!
How they are kept in darkness! This is life. I have
seen television. All some fictitious stories.

Morning walk conversation in Bombay. 6 January 1976.

GURU AND DISCIPLE MUST BE QUALIFIED

Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja
What is genuine good fortune? That person
who meets guru, the bona-fide representative
of Krishna, is fortunate. Only one who has gotten Krishna, who has bound up Krishna in
his heart, only he can make Krishna appear in
the heart of his devoted disciple. No one else
can give you Krishna. If someone has not gotten, how can he give? If you have one dollar,
you can give fifty cents, sixty cents or one dollar. But if you dont have, then how can you
give? Similarly, we should approach someone
who has obtained Krishna, who has developed
prema-bhakti and has bound up Krishna in his
heart. In his aragati, bhajana-llas (song 7),
Bhaktivinode prays:
ka se tomra,
ka dite pro
tomra akati che
mi to k gla,
ka ka bali,
dhi tava pche pche
next column !

O vaiava
hkura! Krishna belongs to you because you have bound Him up in your heart by
the rope of prema. Only you can give me Krishna
because you have gotten Him. I am kgla, I am a
pauper.
am bereft
of Krishna, TWO
so I am running
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behind you, begging your causeless mercy, Please
give me Krishna! Please give me Krishna!

One may hear pravacanas, lectures, from so

many persons, but if they are not realized souls,
if they have not gotten Krishna, not developed
prema-bhakti, one will not be able to understand
this paramrtha-tattva, this supreme goal. One
cannot understand this tattva by dint of his merit,
scholarship, or intelligence. It can be understood
only by one who is always crying in his heart,
Oh Krishna, how can I know You? How can I
approach You? Krishna is there in the heart.
He understands, This soul is crying for Me. So
He arranges for that person to meet a bona-fide
guru who can give him Krishna, who can teach
him about ka-tattva. That guru is a dear devotee. He is Krishnas bona fide representative and
is the manifestation of paramtm. That is gurutattva. Paramtm only manifests Himself as guru
before a person who is crying for Krishna in his
heart. How can I get Krishna? How can I approach Krishna? How can I serve Krishna? Without Krishnas dear devotee, His representative
the guru, I cannot do so. I dont know who is
guru. I am a conditioned soul having four defects. I cannot recognize such a person with my
defective senses. But Krishna, You know who is
Your dear devotee. Unless You help me, how can
I come to You? This is the prayer to be offered
to Krishna. By Krishnas mercy, one will meet
such a guru who is Krishnas dear devotee and
bona fide representative. Take shelter of him and
completely surrender gurupdraya-dk. As
Gt says, praiptena paripranena sevay serve
!

Issue Eighty-two, Page 2

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him, please him, satisfy him, and then humbly ask questions relating to tattva. By his
causeless mercy, he will impart tattva-jna.
This is the process. Take shelter of him and
do bhajana under his guidance.
You dont know how to do bhajana. Krishna
is the bhajanya-vastu, the worshipable object.
Guru will teach you how to serve Krishna,
how to surrender unto His lotus feet, how to
please Him. He will teach you by his own
example, not theoretically. Under his
guidance, you will do sdhana, bhajana. Thus,
Caitanya-caritmta (madhya 22.25) says:
tte ka bhaje kare gurura sevana
my-jla chu
e, pya kera caraa
If the conditioned soul engages in the service of
the Lord and simultaneously carries out the orders of his spiritual master and serves him, he
can get out of the clutches of my and become
eligible for shelter at Krishnas lotus feet.

Heavy Responsibility
Such a guru, who is a bona-fide representative of Krishna, has come down from Krishnas
abode. There is a prema-bhakti-stra. Stra
means rope or thread. One end of the
prema-bhakti-stra is attached to the lotus feet
of Krishna in Goloka Vrindavan. The guru has
come with the other end of that rope here. The
conditioned souls, fallen in the deep, dark well
of material existence, are suffering. Such a guru
is outside the well. Hes not under the grip of
my. He throws his end of the rope to the conditioned souls in the dark well of material existence and says, Clasp it very tightly. Then
he pulls you up. This is the process. The guru
does this. It is not an easy affair to deliver even
one conditioned soul from the fort of my. The
guru has to spend gallons and gallons of spiritual blood to deliver just one soul. It is a heavy
responsibility. If even one conditioned soul is
delivered, the guru feels so much happiness.
It is a reciprocal affair. It is not one-sided. You
should clasp the end of the rope very tightly.
That means you should follow the gurus instruction as it is. Dont twist it. Dont add any
of your deliberation to it. Whatever he says, just
do exactly that. He gives some dos and some
donts. You must strictly follow his instructions. Dont be lazy. Then the guru will pull you
up. Otherwise, if you are not serious, if you are
lazy, careless or superfluous, you will never accept gurus instruction. Or you half accept it
!

[q k* Z<ak QaaMa*Ta ibNdu

and half reject it. You add your own deliberations and twist it. Then you cannot be helped. If
you are very serious, very strict, then guru will
pull you up. That is his duty. Otherwise, guru
may lift you up, then you deviate or become lenient and then you again fall down. Seeing this,
the guru feels great pain in his heart, I spent so
many gallons of blood to deliver him, but this
fellow didnt follow, so he fell down. To deliver
just one soul from mys fortress is a very difficult task. It is a heavy responsibility. This is guru.
Devotee: It is said that guru is one. How do
we understand that in the presence of different bona-fide spiritual masters? Is there any
specific distinction?
Gour Govinda Swami: The absolute is one,
not many. But those who do not know this tattva
say, Oh, there are many gods. Rama is a god,
Nrisingha is a god, Vamana is a god, Matsya is
a god. They are confused. But if one understands in tattva, then there is no confusion. As
the Lord is one, the guru is also one in tattva
but there are different manifestations. A conditioned soul cannot understand this. By the
mercy of the guru, one receives this tattva-jna.

Levels of Gurus
Devotee: There are different varieties of gurus?
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes.
Devotee: Can we say that among them
there are different levels of advancement
madhyama-adhikra, kani
ha-adhikra?
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes, different levels
of advancement are there. As one deserves,
one gets. As an example, a shopkeeper may
have varieties of commodities, first class, second class, and third class. Different customers want different qualities of commodities.
The shopkeeper wants to dispose of his goods,
so he shows you a third class item and tells
you it is first class. In this way, he tests to see
whether the customer wants third class or
first class, and how much he can afford.
If, after seeing his goods, you say, No, I dont
appreciate this. Do you have anything better?
Then the shopkeeper replies, Better things are
there, but the price is more fifty dollars. If
you can afford it, you say, All right, show me.
Then he will show you something superior.
And then if you again say, No, no. I want
something better.
I have something better than this, but the
price is one hundred dollars.
!

Sri Krishna-kathamrita Bindu

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If you are prepared to spend the money, you

will say, Yes, I want that thing. Then he
shows you the best quality. Varieties are there.
It is up to you to decide what you want.
Devotee: Where do we get the money to
make our purchase?
Gour Govinda Swami: You have to earn the
money, otherwise how can you purchase the
commodity? It is up to you what variety you
want. One who is really crying, thinks, I want
the best. I dont want second class or third class.
I want the topmost. Krishna knows your heart,
so He arranges. It is up to you. What you desire, you get. Krishna knows what you deserve,
and He makes an appropriate arrangement for
you. If Krishna sees, This fellow is not serious.
He is just speaking externally. He is not crying
in his heart. He wants to be cheated. Then
Krishna tells my to arrange, and you are
cheated. As you deserve, you get.

Hypocrites and Pretenders

Devotee: Prabhupada used to give the example that sometimes persons posing as
sdhus go to holy places, and also some frivolous women go just to capture a sdhu so that
they can have a son. However, the person who
was posing as a sdhu was not really a sdhu.
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes, he is a hypocrite,
a pretender. There are many pretenders and
many hypocrites. But a real sdhu is very rare.
Still, genuine sdhus are there. If there were
no sun and moon, how would this cosmic
manifestation go on? Similarly, if there were
no sdhus, how would Krishnas sasra,
Krishnas ll, go on? Because we are conditioned souls, our vision is defective. Although
a sdhu may come before us, we cannot see
him. Therefore, one should not say that there
are no sdhus. Instead, one should say, I am a
blind person. I cannot see a sdhu. Then one
will be very eager to acquire such vision.
Only by the help of the sunshine can you see
the sun. Similarly, only by the mercy of Krishna
can you see Him or understand Him. That mercy
is received through a pure sdhu. Only by the
mercy of a sdhu can you see or understand
Krishna. You cannot understand Krishna
through your intelligence or merit. You cannot
see Him by your vision. Most people think they
are the seer. You are not the seer. Krishna is the
seer. Sdhu is the seer. You are to be seen. You
think it is just the opposite, so you are cheated.
You have no vision, how can you see? This is
!

Issue Eighty-two, Page 3

our vaiava philosophy. This is Mahaprabhus

teaching. We are very proud of our senses. We
want to see. We want to perceive through our
senses, but they are defective. The only thing required is to cry before Krishna from the core of
the heart. Then Krishna makes a perfect arrangement. Those who have cried, they have gotten.
Those who have not cried, they have not gotten.
You have to cry, then youll meet guru. By gurus
mercy, youll get Krishna. Ka-kp and gurukp are interrelated. In Mahaprabhus teachings
to Rupa Goswami in Caitanya-caritmta (madhya
19.151) he has said, guru-ka-prasde pya
bhakti-lat-bja by the mercy of guru and
Krishna one receives the seed of the devotional
creeper. First comes ka-kp by which you meet
guru, and then, by the mercy of guru, you get
Krishna. That is our process.

Mercy and Cheating

Devotee: I have heard that the disciple has
to be very serious.
Gour Govinda Swami: If one is not serious,
one cannot get anything. You should understand
that the sdhu has two things: kp and vacan.
Vacan means cheating. One who deserves kp,
mercy, gets it. One who deserves cheating, he is
cheated. The example is Pundarik Vidyanidhi.
Pundarik Vidyanidhi was a very elevated devotee, a mah-bhgavata. However, if anyone would
see him they would think he was a bhog, an
enjoyer. He would wear costly garments and
keep valuable rings on all ten fingers. He would
sit on an opulent cushion and chew pan, spitting in a precious pot made of gold and a
adhtu.
How is he a mah-bhgavata? Externally, he
seemed to be a bhog. But what was inside no
one could understand. Only one who has vision
can understand and see his real form. Those who
only see what is on the outside are cheated. Many
people are not serious to see the real thing. They
only want external things. They want to be
cheated, so that is what they get.
Once, Mukunda told Gadadhar Pandit, Let
us go and see Pundarik Vidyanidhi. He is a mahbhgavata. When Gadadhar Pandit arrived
there, he only saw these outward things, and in
his mind he thought, What has Mukunda told
me? He is a mah-bhgavata? No, he is a bhog!
Mukunda could understand what Gadadhar
was thinking, so he immediately recited a verse
from rmad Bhgavatam (3.2.23):
aho bak ya stana-kla-k
a
jighsaypyayad apy asdhv

Issue Eighty-two, Page 4

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leftEighty-two
4
lebhe gati dhtry-ucit tato nya
ka v daylu araa vrajema

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Bak means Putana, the sister of Bakasura. To

kill baby Krishna she smeared a very dreadful
poison on her breast. She then allowed Krishna
to suck her breast. But what did Krishna do?
Krishna sucked her breast, and along with it
He sucked out her life air. She died, but as she
had done the work of a mother, Krishna gave
her the position of mother. Therefore, this verse
is saying, Is there anyone to take shelter of who
is more merciful than Krishna?
As soon as Mukunda spoke this verse,
Pundarik Vidyanidhi became ecstatic. He
rolled on the ground and tears came from his
eyes. All of the a
a-sttvik-bhva symptoms
were manifest in him. He tore his opulent
cushion and smashed his spitting pot.
Gadadhar Pandit thought, Oh, he is a genuine mah-bhgavata. I have committed a great
offense thinking him to be a bhog. Unless I am
punished by him, how will I be free of the reactions to this offense? I must become his disciple. Then he will catch hold of my ear and
slap me. He will inflict discipline on me, and
in that way Ill be freed from my reaction.
Therefore Gadadhar Pandit took mantra from
Pundarik Vidyanidhi and became his disciple.
So Pundarik Vidyanidhis external appearance
!

SRI KRISHNA KATHAMRITA BINDU

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[q k* Z<ak QaaMa*Ta ibNdu

was cheating, his inner nature was different. But

who could see it? Therefore, sdhu has two things,
kp and vacan mercy and cheating. If someone only wants external things, he is cheated.
And if he wants inner things, he gets mercy, kp.
Therefore, I say, you deserve what you get.
Krishna knows what you want and what you
deserve. A suitable arrangement will be made
for you. Although there are many thousands of
Prabhupada disciples, how many have gotten
real mercy? One says, Dont you know who I
am? I am a Prabhupada disciple! In actuality,
he is suffering and suffering. Now he has become a karm and is gliding down to hell. Why is
this? If you are not serious, you cannot receive
mercy. You are such a rascal! He gave you mercy
but you cannot receive it. You are so unfortunate! Sometimes Im amazed! How is it that these
Prabhupada disciples cannot understand this
point? If you are serious, if you are hankering
and crying in your heart, then mercy and help is
always there. It is hanging like a rope in front of
you you just have to grab it. However, you
are careless, not serious. So, although it is hanging right in front of you, still you cannot have it.

Guru Means Heavy

Devotee: It is our responsibility as disciples
and grand-disciples of Srila Prabhupada to
set a good example. The disciples must be serious as well as the devotees accepting the
role of spiritual masters.
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes, one who plays the
role of guru should be guru in the true sense, not
a pretender or a cheater. He must be a real teacher.
He should be conscious of his capacity. If I can
only carry one ton, why should I accept a load
of two tons? If you take more than you can carry,
youll be crushed, degraded. That is the result of
greed. Why develop such greed? One should be
conscious of his capacity. I have no capacity, I
cannot deliver a soul, I am not liberated myself,
so why shall I accept disciples? Accepting disciples when one does not have the capacity is
only cheating and hypocrisy, nothing else. I am
not completely free from anarthas, so how can I
make him free? Guru means heavy. It also means
heavy responsibility. It is not an easy affair to
deliver even one soul from the clutches of my,
the fort of Durga. To do so, the guru has to spend
gallons and gallons of spiritual blood. This is not
childs play. Also, the disciple must be serious.

The Process of Inquiry. Pages 81 to 89. Gopal Jiu Publications. Bhubaneswar. 1998