There exist many opinions on various ways of how Bhajana or Spiritual Service can happen in the process of Vaishnava Sadhana.
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There exist many opinions on various ways of how Bhajana or Spiritual Service can happen in the process of Vaishnava Sadhana.
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This is by Bhakti SidhantaSarasvati Prabhupada.
There is no mention of materially contaminated demigod worship in these statements.
The service of vaisnava implies service to all bonafide initiated followers of The guru in parampara.
For service to the vaisnavas we must discriminate who is a vaisnava and who is not.
To say all are vaisnavas not recognising the true vaisnavas from non vaisnavas is offence.
We must learn who is vaisnava guru and serve him and accept guidance and initiation from him.
Without guru seva Krishna will not accept us.
Guru will teach how to recognise the 3 grades of vaisnavas and how to serve ,deal with them.
This is explained in shastra like Upadesamrta and Bhakti rasamrta sadhu.
Thus you will find there is no difference of opinion regarding service to Sri Krishna and His most dear devotees in the teachings of all bonafide gurus in all the sampradayas.
Srila Prabhupada has said,
Both the spiritual master and the Supreme Lord are transcendental. One who has begun to develop a relationship with the Absolute Person also comes to see the spiritual master as good as God. The spiritual master is servitor God, the sheltered. Thus the spiritual master is both God and a devotee. In that sense, although the spiritual master is nondifferent from the Supreme Lord he is also most dear to the Lord. The spiritual master is Kṛṣṇa’s complete energy and Lord Kṛṣṇa is the supreme energetic. The Śāstras confirm that there is no difference between the spiritual master and the Lord.
One should serve that spiritual master, who is Kṛṣṇa’s devotee and who serves the Lord twenty-four hours a day. It is also essential to serve Vaiṣṇavas devoted to their gurus. Nothing is gained by serving pseudo devotees who appear as Vaiṣṇavas. Due to Kali’s influence, we see many pseudo devotees these days, people who pose themselves as Vaiṣṇavas but who are actually atheists. That is why I say that one must serve the bona fide spiritual master and the Vaiṣṇavas if one wishes to make spiritual advancement.
I meant respectful distance from followers of other sampradayas. If someone is already following some sampradaya which says Rama or Krsna or Visnu is God, why disturb them? Keep respectful distance.
If someone is praying to demigods after understanding their position and asking them for devotion, they will get it fast, by the mercy of the demigods. How many do that?
I did not mean real devotee, I meant person in the process of getting devotion.
Hare Krsna Dean Prabhu,
PAMHO.
I would like to comment on your post - let me begin by saying that I do not have your mastery over Srimad Bhagawatam, nor I have brains to understand shastra. What I have seen and do know is -
1) People who wordhip demigods seldom realise that these demigods are servants of the Supreme Lord, they are not the Supreme Lord themselves. How many people do you know who became devotees of hte lord by serving demigods? I dont know any. On the contrary, I know a lot of people who became advanced devotees by surrendering to the lotus feet of vaishnavas and serving vaishnavas.
2) Regarding out sampradaya vaishnavas - why is it discouraged? Because we are supposed to follow one parampara and there are exough acharyas in our parampara who can be vouched for - whose sadhana and life can be studied. I am not at all saying that other sampradayas do not have vaishnavas or exalted devotees, but we are not aware of their philosophy and sadhana, so we keep a respectful distance. At the same time, we respect them, but we cannot follow them, because we have already chosen our path. To reach any destination, we will reach only and only if we choose one path and start walking on that path. There are more than one paths, there is no doubt about it - if we spend our time researching which are the paths and the pros and cons of each, our life will be over and we will still not have decided. Somehow or other, we have come to this path and are following a certain philosophy - so wahts wrong in following it? Our ultimate aim is Krsna prem, so let us move towards it.
If anything and everything anyone does is bhakti yoga, then why acharyas spent so much time writing books on it and explaining it to us?
Haribol,
Your servant,
Rashmi
Actual service to Kṛṣṇa is rendered simply by serving the spiritual master and the Vaiṣṇavas. The sahajiyās cannot understand this. They think that one who worships Kṛṣṇa is great, and therefore they proudly consider themselves Vaiṣṇavas, accept service from others, and renounce their guru-and vaiṣṇava-sevā. Those who have heard the teachings of Śrī Caitanyadeva and the Gosvāmīs, however, know well that it is possible to serve Kṛṣṇa by serving the guru and the Vaiṣṇavas, who are all Kṛṣṇa’s dear devotees. What is the point in making a show of serving Kṛṣṇa while neglecting to serve His devotees?
Those who renounce their subordination and service to the spiritual master pretend to serve Kṛṣṇa and chant the holy name, but they commit offenses at every step. As long as one continues to commit offenses he cannot serve Kṛṣṇa or chant His holy names purely. Only the surrendered devotees engaged in guru—and vaiṣṇava-sevā attain pure devotion by their mercy. Śrī Caitanyadeva and the Gosvāmīs bestow mercy on those who serve guru and the Vaiṣṇavas with love and devotion.
I used to think of myself as a learned scholar in mathematics and philosophy, but by my good fortune I met my spiritual master. When he shocked me by pointing out that my great qualities—my truthfulness, my pure moral life, and my vast learning—were insignificant, I realized how great he must be to consider such qualities insignificant. By his push I could understand that there was no person as fallen and wretched as myself. I understood my actual position. Here was a great soul who placed no value on qualities such as learning and moral character—qualities I esteemed highly. I understood what an invaluable object this great personality must possess! I concluded that he was either extremely merciful or extremely proud. Thereafter I took shelter of the Supreme Lord with humility. By the Lord’s mercy I realized that without the service and mercy of such an akiñcana, I could not achieve spiritual success. When I developed that good intelligence, I received the shelter and unlimited mercy of my spiritual master and my life became successful. Here I am speaking about that most auspicious personality whom I have realized by the mercy of the Supreme Lord, my own spiritual master.
The shock I received from my spiritual master made me realize that unless people are similarly shocked they will not come to their senses. Therefore I declare that I am the most foolish person in the entire world. Do not become foolish like me! Do not try to measure the spiritual master or Kṛṣṇa. Discuss kṛṣṇa-kathā and you will certainly become a great personality.
Bhaktisidhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada's.