ALL GLORIES TO SRILA PRABHUPADA
siksa-guruke ta'jani krsnera s varupa
antaryami, bhakta-srestha,--ei dui rupa
Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami states that the instructing
spiritual master is a bona fide representative of Sri Krishna. Sri Krishna
Himself teaches us as the instructing spiritual master from within and
without. From within He teaches as Paramatma-, our constant companion,
and from without He teaches from Bhagavad-gita as the instructing
spiritual master. There are two kinds of instructing spiritual masters.
One is the liberated person fully absorbed in meditation in devotional
service, and the other is he who invokes the disciple's spiritual
consciousness by means of relevant instructions. Thus the instructions
in the science of devotion are differentiated in terms of the objective
and subjective ways of understanding. The acarya in the true sense of
the term, who is authorized to deliver Krishna, enriches the disciple with
full spiritual knowledge and thus awakens him to the activities of
devotional service.
THE VALUE OF SPIRITUAL MASTER
“Narottama dasa Thakura states that one has to ascertain the right path for his activities by following in the footsteps of great saintly persons and books of knowledge under the guidance of a spiritual master (sadhu-sastra-guru-vakya).”
“The more progress is made in devotional service under the guidance of the Bhagavatas, the more one becomes fixed in the transcendental loving service of the Lord… The messages of the book Bhagavata, therefore, have to be received from the devotee Bhagavata,and the combination of these two Bhagavatas will help the neophyte devotee to make progress on and on."
SB 1.2.18 P Divinity and Divine ServiceThe Personality of Godhead may not be present before one's eyes, but if one is sincere in wanting such guidance the Lord will send a bona fide person who can guide one properly back home, back to Godhead.
SB 2.7.46 P Scheduled Incarnations with Specific Functions
Krishna can, however, be known as such by the causeless mercy of the pure devotee and by no other way.
You cannot become a pure, perfect devotee unless you are directed by another pure, unadulterated devotee. Evam parampara-praptam. So therefore Rupa Gosvami has mentioned in his Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, adau gurvasrayam. You have to find out, you have to take shelter, not find out. You have to take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master.When we are further advanced, we do not see only Krsna, but we see His devotees also. We can recognize,"Here is a pure devotee of Krsna." But in the lower stage, a, the devotee's concerned with the Deity worship, but he does not take much care of the devotees. But when one is advanced further, he can see Krsna and His devotees also. Isvara tad-adhina. Tad-adhina means devotees.Devotees are always under the service of Krsna. So anyone who is giving service to Krsna, we should take care of them also. We should offer our respect in... You'll find in Bhakti-rasamrta sindhu, it is stated somewhere, that if, if a devotee is coming, then another devotee who is engaged in worship of the Deity may stop Deity worship for the time being and should go immediately to receive the devotee. So Krsna also says, mad-bhakta-puja abhyadhika. Krsna is satisfied more when a devotee worships His devotee. Krsna says, "If one is worshiping Me and one is worshiping My devotee, then the person who is worshiping the devotee, he's more important than the person who is worshiping Krsna." So it is not the aim of human life, to become a tiger. It is, the aim of human life is to become a devotee of Visnu, Vaisnava. That is perfection of life. So we are, this movement, we are giving the highest benediction to the human society.They are becoming Vaisnava. There is great necessity of Vaisnava at the present moment because everyone has become sudras. Kalau sudra sambhava. And because it is, everywhere the sudras are there, how there can be peace? They do not know. They have no brain how tomake the society peaceful and prosperous. They are sudras. They have no intelligence. There is necessity of creating brahmanas and Vaisnava. This movement is meant for that purpose. So be-careful. Don't be turned again to sudra and mlecchas. Go on making progress to become pure Vaisnava. Then your life is successful and you'll give the best service to the human society.
The qualities of a pure devotee
The Devotee
A person in Kåñëa consciousness who is fully devoted to the
transcendental loving service of the Lord develops all the godly qualities
of the demigods. There are many divine qualities, but Lord Caitanya
describes only some of them to Sanätana Gosvämé. A devotee of the
Lord is always kind to everyone, and he does not pick quarrels. His
interest is in the essence of life, which is spiritual. He is equal to
everyone, and no one can find fault in him. His magnanimous mind is
always fresh and clean and devoid of material obsessions. He is a
benefactor to all living entities and is peaceful and always surrendered to
Kåñëa. He has no material desires. He is very humble and is fixed in his
purpose. He is victorious over the six material qualities such as lust and
anger, and he does not eat more than he needs. He is always sane and is
respectful to others, but he does not require respect for himself. He is
grave, merciful, friendly, poetic, expert and silent. hare krishna hari bol
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