{"id":9057,"date":"2010-11-20T08:03:00","date_gmt":"2010-11-20T07:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=9057"},"modified":"2010-11-20T08:06:09","modified_gmt":"2010-11-20T07:06:09","slug":"9057","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=9057","title":{"rendered":"Guru means heavy"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

From Krishna Kathamrita Bindu issue 238<\/p>\n

\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Devotee 1:<\/strong> Some devotees say that since there are so many people coming to Krishna consciousness now, and since Srila Prabhupada said that we should become gurus, so even if we are not qualified, still, because the need is there for gurus, then we must take up the service to Srila Prabhupada of becoming a guru.<\/p>\n

Gour Govinda Swami:<\/strong> Yes. Prabhupada said, \u201cYou become guru.\u201d But guru means guru. Guru means heavy, not light. \u201cYou become guru\u201d, means to become guru in the true sense. Not an untrue or false guru. Become a true guru. That is what Srila Prabhupada was saying.<\/p>\n

Devotee 2:<\/strong> Is there a need to take the position out of necessity?<\/p>\n

Gour Govinda Swami:<\/strong> What is that necessity? The necessity is to deliver a fallen soul and give him shelter. That is the necessity. What other necessity is there?<\/p>\n

Devotee 2:<\/p>\n

<\/strong> So if you can\u2019t deliver the disciple, then why act as guru?<\/p>\n

Gour Govinda Swami:<\/strong> Yes. Delivering the fallen souls is the necessity. Other than this, what else is necessary? Some may say that there is some material necessity. But we are not after material considerations. We are after spiritual necessity. We are not materialists. We are spiritualists. If you only think of material necessities, then it will be a materialistic organization. This is Mahaprabhu\u2019s movement. He has not said to do like this. Mahaprabhu has not set that example.<\/p>\n

If someone is not qualified, how can he accept disciples? If he is intelligent, he should not accept. \u201cNo. I cannot take up that responsibility. Why shall I accept?\u201d Guru means very heavy. It\u2019s a heavy responsibility, not something light. If he cannot take up the responsibility, why should he accept disciples? Why would such a person accept disciples? He will do so only for his own adoration, honor, and prestige \u2014 pratis\u0323t\u0323h\u0101. Pratis\u0323t\u0323h\u0101 means honor, name, fame, adoration and prestige. Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami says that pratis\u0323t\u0323h\u0101 is \u015bukarera-vis\u0323t\u0323h\u0101, the stool of a hog. If a vais\u0323n\u0323ava is trying to get pratis\u0323t\u0323h\u0101, name, fame, prestige, and adoration, then that is accepting the stool of a hog. A vais\u0323n\u0323ava will never run after this thing.<\/p>\n

\u2014 From a darshan, April 1992, Bhubaneswar.<\/p>\n

Excerpted from issue number 238 of Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu<\/i> the fortnightly email magazine from ISKCON Gopal Jiu Publications. For information about obtaining a free subscription to Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu<\/i>, write to:<\/p>\n

katha@gopaljiu.org<\/p>\n

or visit our website:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.gopaljiu.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Gour Govinda Swami<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prabhupada said, \u201cYou become guru.\u201d But guru means guru. Guru means heavy, not light. \u201cYou become guru\u201d, means to become guru in the true sense. Not an untrue or false guru. Become a true guru. That is what Srila Prabhupada was saying<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9057","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9057\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}