{"id":85566,"date":"2022-11-24T13:12:24","date_gmt":"2022-11-24T12:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dandavats.tumblr.com\/post\/183888755681"},"modified":"2022-11-24T13:13:11","modified_gmt":"2022-11-24T12:13:11","slug":"two-foundations-of-a-guru-disciple-relationship-there-are-two-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=85566","title":{"rendered":"Two Foundations of a Guru-Disciple Relationship"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Two Foundations of a Guru-Disciple Relationship.
\nThere are two elements that have to come together for a healthy and responsible relationship between guru and disciple. The first element is that the disciple needs to be free of the motive to improve him- or herself materially by this relationship. The second element is spiritual good fortune.<\/p>\n

The first element presupposes a sense of exhaustion with material illusions. The disciple needs to understand: \u201cI need solutions to overcome material illusions. I understand that I can\u2019t be happy in the material world without Krsna consciousness. I\u2019ve tried, but now I\u2019m exhausted and I want to search for a higher solution.\u201d This is expressed by queen Kunti in Srimad-Bhagavatam: \u201cMy Lord, Your Lordship can easily be approached, but only by those who are materially exhausted. One who is on the path of [material] progress, trying to improve himself with respectable parentage, great opulence, high education and bodily beauty, cannot approach You with sincere feeling.\u201d (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 1.8.26.) In the purport to this verse, Srila Prabhupada explains that wealth, education, personal attractiveness, etc. tend to make one puffed up and when this happens one becomes incapable of uttering the Holy Name and addressing Him with feeling. In other words, feeling \u201cOh Krsna, I really need you!\u201d or \u201cYou are my all and everything\u201d is only possible when we are not \u2018full of ourselves\u2019. Queen Kunti had observed that Krsna is far away from those who don\u2019t feel materially disillusioned and that He is very close to those who do. She says: \u201cMy obeisances are unto You, who are the property of the materially impoverished [akincana-vittaya]. You have nothing to do with the actions and reactions of the material modes of nature.\u201d (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 1.8.27.) Our wealth is our lack of illusion. The moment we become filled with illusions and attachments to that which is here today and gone tomorrow and which doesn\u2019t satisfy the soul, we become poor.<\/p>\n

The second element is something that the spiritual master has received from his own spiritual master and lineage, and which he brings into the life of the disciple. When the disciple comes into contact with the guru all of a sudden the disciple experiences good fortune (bhagya): encouragement, inspiration, spiritual strength, clarity, enthusiasm, etc. This happens when you have chosen a qualified spiritual master not because of a psychological need or out of external pressure but because you came to understand: \u201cThis person can encourage me in Krsna consciousness. I can feel this, I can experience it.\u201d When these two elements come together and remain together, the guru-disciple-relationship is a healthy relationship, a good relationship, a dynamic relationship, and a well-nourished relationship, not a starving one.<\/p>\n

From a lecture by Sacinandana Swami in Goloka Dhama, Germany<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Two Foundations of a Guru-Disciple Relationship.
\nThere are two elements that have to come together for a healthy and responsible relationship between guru and disciple. The first element is that the disciple needs to be free of the motive to improve him- or herself materially by this relationship. The second element is spiritual good fortune.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10650,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[152],"class_list":["post-85566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recent-media","tag-nectar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10650"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85566"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103977,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85566\/revisions\/103977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}