Vrindavan Das: Excerpt of a lecture by Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja given in Amherst, USA, 2 June 1995:
“There should be complete surrender. Not conditional, not artificial, not partial. That is gurupadasraya. To accept guru means unconditional surrender.
In Bhagavad-gita (2.7), Arjuna says, sisyas te ’ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam. “I become your sisya, disciple.” One who is under strict, discipline, he is a disciple. And karna-dhara guru is the steering holder.
[Referring to Bhag. 1.1.22]
The great sages of Naimisaranya speaking to Srila Suta Gosvami:
tvam nah sandarsito dhatra
dustaram nistitirsatam
kalim sattva-haram pumsam
karna-dhara ivarnavam
“We think that we have met Your Goodness by the will of providence, just so that we may accept you as captain of the ship for those who desire to cross the difficult ocean of Kali , which deteriorates all the good qualities of a human being.”
You cannot go hither and thither. Karna also means “ear.” Guru can catch hold of your ear and slap you. “You rascal! What are you doing?” The guru has that right and you have to accept it because he is guru. You cannot sue him in the court.
If someone catches hold of your ear and slaps you, you can sue him in court. But you cannot sue guru because you have voluntarily accepted it: sisyas te ’ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam — “I become your sisya, I accept you as my guru. Please inflict very severe discipline on me.” Sadhi mam means “inflict very severe discipline on me.” Thereby your strong attachment will be cut off.
Whatever severe discipline guru inflicts upon you, accept it gladly, without grumbling. Then this strong attachment will be cut off. Thereby he is lifting your anchor which is now stuck very deeply in the mud. Then he will row the boat. He is very expert and he knows how to ferry this boat amidst all sorts of obstacles and dangers. But you have to accept his discipline.”
Sisyatva (Discipleship)
From a lecture delivered by Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja
(Bhubaneswar, India – March 18, 1993):
“One who can inculcate pure loving devotion unto you, he is a real guru.
He who has given me prema-bhakti at the lotus feet of Krishna, he is my supreme friend, he is my eternal father and mother. He is a real guru. If you tread this path of prema-bhakti then there is no fear of death, no fear of Yamaraj. No fear. So he has saved me from the clutches of Maya, clutches of Yamaraja. Those who cannot given me prema-bhakti at the lotus feet of Krishna, their guru-ship is partial guru-ship; he who has made me realize this eternity, eternal servitude-ship is my eternal guru, real guru — he has established my relationship with that Supreme Eternal.
“So one who is completely cent percent surrendered unto the lotus feet of such a guru, who is fortunate enough and has gotten such a guru, he will get the mercy. He is really fortunate soul. But if that disciple develops duplicity and is superficial, not serious in the heart only showing outwardly, yes, yes, “Gurudeva shower your mercy on me…” just outwardly showing and speaking from the lips, but inside there is a different mood. There is duplicity there. He deserves cheating, not mercy; therefore sadhu-guru has two things kripa and vancana, mercy and cheating.
So what you deserve will come to you. And Krishna knows the heart, if really in your heart you are purified. If duplicity is there, then your heart is contaminated. All your activities are only for show, only outward and based on duplicity; then you deserve cheating; you cannot get the mercy.
Those who are nama-bhajana-kari (doing worship by chanting the holy name) they have to follow these eight things. First thing is they should develop unflinching faith, strong faith in the words of sadhu-sastra-guru.
Second, he should develop greed for the association of a nama-tattva-vit sadhu, a sadhu which knows nama-tattva, he should always remain in such association.
Third thing, he should be greedy to hear the Krsna Katha, Hari Katha that is coming out from the lotus lips of such a sadhu. What he hears then by the order of that sadhu guru he speaks, he does kirtana. That is sravana-kirtana process. The fourth consideration is if you follow, then all your anarthas will be completely destroyed, anartha nivrtti. Then the sadhaka will come to the platform of nistha. “Nistha” means no oscillation of the mind, because there are no anarthas, no unwanted things are there, no other desire is there.
This is the only thing: How to render loving service unto Krishna and give Him pleasure. It is only for His pleasure; then your mind will be fixed in the holy name, fixed at the lotus feet of Krishna. That is man mana bhava. That is nistha, aikantika nistha. This is the fifth thing.
Then sixth thing is your mellow will be revealed to you: dasya, sakya, vatsalya, madhurya and based on that mellow, on that platform, you will engage constantly in bhajan,
hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare
This is called sarasika ruci. This is ruci based on that mellow.
Then the seventh thing is: It will be very painful for you to give up chanting the holy name even for a moment. You will feel pain, this is asakti, strong attachment to the holy name. Then you will develop bhava. Bhava comes prior to the rising of pure prema, bhava bhakti. And last is prema. When bhava matures then prema arises. That is called sthaya-rati. This are the eight things. This is the instruction of Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Prabhupada Maharaja.
Thank you.
I think you have gotten something at least 30%. It is very difficult to understand. It isn’t an easy thing; but it is the most important. Unless your heart is purified, unless your consciousness is purified, you cannot understand. There is no question of understanding and Srila Kaviraj Goswami says “apana sodhite” — for my own purification I will write. Not for my material purpose or material gain. It is for the pleasure of Guru and Gauranga. Then the heart will be purified. Then you can understand it. Otherwise you cannot understand.
Hare HĂ©!”