“Moving Forward”
Section “One”
The “Guru” Controvesy & Deception
Segment 15.5
Not Accepting Unqualified Persons as Guru or Disciple, & The Story of Anonymous Prabhu, (AP)
Part 5
Bhaktivinoda Thakur continues:
To gain factual knowledge and realization of that eternal supreme Person, one should find a qualified guru who is learned in the Vedas, who is firmly established in the service of Bhagavan, and who knows the Absolute Truth. One should then approach that guru and should surrender body, mind, and words to him with faith and humility.
Karma, yoga[1], and jnana[2] all produce naimittika-sukrti. The association of devotees, and contact with acts of devotion, produces Nitya-sukrti, (eternal pious activities). Only one who has accumulated Nitya-sukrti over many lifetimes will develop sraddha, (faith). Naimittika-sukrti produces many different results, but it will not lead to the development of faith in unalloyed bhakti.
Thus, all types of sukrti that nourish bhakti are Nitya-sukrti. When this sukrti becomes strong, one gradually develops sraddha in unalloyed bhakti, and one attains sadhu-sanga, (association of sadhu’s).”
Regardless of all this, the bottom line is; improper siksha, results in no advancement, or very little advancement at best, and the complete lack of essential instructions, and knowledge, will result in no advancement at all.
I sincerely implore you to stop and contemplate, and scrutinize, why you have these questions in the first place. Only a beginner Kanistha would not know the answers to these questions. Where an intermediate Kanistha would, for sure, know the answers. Therefore, if you do not know the answers to these three questions, you really need to investigate why.
You also have a wrong understanding of what the process of bhakti is, and how it is executed.
You do not have the proper guru & disciple relationship, which is essential and, which is our siddhanta.
The hardest words, I have to say to you, is that you need to evaluate and scrutinize, how and why you selected your guru. You did not follow the instructions given in shastra, on what is a genuine guru, and what a genuine disciple is, and used them to determine two things,
- Is this person I have chosen as my guru, a genuine guru?
- And, am I a genuine disciple?
.
If you answered these two questions, with some other criteria, other than what is in shastra, and what Srila Prabhupada instructed, then there are these possibilities.
- Your guru is not genuine; therefore, is not qualified to be guru.
- You are not a qualified disciple.
- Your guru is qualified, and you are not.
- You are qualified, and your guru is not.
FOOT NOTES:
[1] Yoga—a spiritual discipline meant for linking one’s consciousness with the Supreme Lord, Krishna; Literally, connection; the discipline of self-realization. One of the six systems of Vedic philosophy, taught by Patanjali. According to Bhagavad-gita, the most sublime form of yoga is bhakti-yoga (the yoga of pure devotion). Through the process of bhakti-yoga, the consciousness of the individual soul connects with its source, Krishna. This is called Krishna consciousness. By Krishna consciousness, the soul rids itself of the bondage of the three modes of material nature and returns back home, Back to Godhead.
[2] Jnana —knowledge. Material jnana does not go beyond the material body. Transcendental jnana discriminates between matter and spirit. Perfect jnana is knowledge of the body, the soul and the Supreme Lord.