"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#950808"">Who Should Become Guru?
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#950808"">A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
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“So we got this information from His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta SarasvatiThakura, and that knowledge is still going on. You are receiving through hisservant. And in future the same knowledge will go to your students. This iscalled parampara system. Evam parampara prap… It is not that you have become astudent and you’ll remain student. No. One day you shall become also guru andmake more students, more students, more. That is Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission,not that perpetually… Yes, one should remain perpetually a student, but he hasto act as guru. That is the mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. It is not thatbecause I am acting as guru, I am no longer student. No, I am still student.Caitanya Mahaprabhu taught us this instruction that we shall always remain afoolish student before our Guru Maharaja. That is the Vedic culture. I may bevery big man, but still, I should remain a foolish student to my guru. That isthe qualification. Guru more murkha dekhi’ karila sasana. We should be alwaysprepared to be controlled by the guru. That is very good qualification. Yasyaprasadad bhagavat-prasadah. Ara na kariha mane asa. So we should become alwaysa very obedient student to our guru. That is the qualification. That is thespiritual qualification.”
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“There is no consideration of material impediment. So it is open for everyone.Catur-varnyam maya srstam. That is a chance given, that you can become abrahmana, you can become a great devotee of Lord Krsna, and you can become thespiritual master of the world. That is the… And I think you should takeseriously.”
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“And to become acarya is not very difficult. First of all, to become veryfaithful servant of your acarya, follow strictly what he says. Try to pleasehim and spread Krsna consciousness. That’s all. It is not at all difficult. Tryto follow the instruction of your Guru Maharaja and spread Krsna consciousness.That is the order of Lord Caitanya.”
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“Now, this spiritual master’s succession is not very difficult. Of course, mystudents, they offer me so much respect, but all these respects are due to myspiritual master. I am nothing. I am just like peon. Just like peon deliversone letter. He is not responsible for what is written in that letter. He is notresponsible for what is written in that letter. He simply delivers. But a peon’sduty is that he must sincerely carry out the order of the postmaster anddeliver the letter to the proper person. That is their duty. Similarly, thisparampara system is like that. Every one of us should become a spiritual masterbecause the world is in blazing fire. (aside:) You can give them prasadam. Now,of course, time is very high. So to understand the spiritual master… Spiritualmaster is not a new invention. It is simply following the orders of thespiritual master. So all my students present here who are feeling so muchobliged… I am also obliged to them because they are helping me in thismissionary work. At the same time, I shall request them all to become spiritualmaster. Every one of you should be spiritual master next. And what is their duty?Whatever you are hearing from me, whatever you are learning from me, you haveto distribute the same in toto without any addition or alteration. Then all ofyou become the spiritual master. That is the science of becoming spiritualmaster. Spiritual master is not any… To become a spiritual master is not verywonderful thing. Simply one has to become sincere soul. That’s all. Evamparampara-praptam imam rajarsayo viduh. In the Bhagavad-gita it is said that“By disciplic succession this yoga process of Bhagavad-gita was handed downfrom disciple to disciple. But in course of time that disciplic succession isnow lost. Therefore, Arjuna, I am teaching you again the same philosophy.”
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We should always remember that the spiritual master is in the disciplicsuccession. The original spiritual master is the Supreme Personality ofGodhead. He blesses his next disciple, just like Brahma. Brahma blesses hisnext disciple, just like Narada. Narada blesses his next disciple, just likeVyasa. Vyasa blesses his next disciple, Madhvacarya. Similarly, the blessing iscoming. Just like royal succession–the throne is inherited by disciplic orhereditary succession–similarly, this power from the Supreme Personality ofGodhead has to receive. Nobody can preach, nobody can become a spiritualmaster, without obtaining power from the right source. Therefore the very word,it is stated here, praptasya. Praptasya means “one who has obtained.” Praptasyakalyana. What he has obtained? Kalyana. Kalyana means auspicity. He hasreceived something which is auspicious for all the human kind. Praptasyakalyana-gunarnavasya. Here is another example. Gunarnava. Arnava means ocean,and guna means spiritual qualities. Just like the same example is going on. Itis very nice poetry. There is nice rhethorics and metaphor. The example is set,blazing fire, and it is to be extinguished with the cloud. And wherefrom thecloud comes? Similarly, wherefrom the spiritual master receives the mercy? Thecloud receives his potency from the ocean. Therefore the spiritual master alsoreceives his power from the ocean of spiritual quality, that is, from theSupreme Personality of Godhead. So praptasya kalyana-gunarnavasya. Such kind ofspiritual master, one has to accept, and vande guroh sri-caranaravindam, andone has to offer his respectful obeisances to such authorized spiritual master.(end)
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“Prabhupada: Yes. All of them will take over. These students, who are initiatedfrom me, all of them will act as I am doing. Just like I have got manyGodbrothers, they are all acting. Similarly, all these disciples which I ammaking, initiating, they are being trained to become future spiritual masters.”
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“Prabhupada: “Like father, like son.” You should be. Gaurangera bhakta…, jane.Everyone. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, amara ajnaya guru hana tara’ eidesa. He asked everyone, “Just become guru.” Follow His instruction. You becomeguru. Amara ajnaya. Don’t manufacture ideas. Amara ajnaya. “What I say, you do.You become a guru.” Where is the difficulty? “And what is Your ajna?” Yaredekha tare kaha krsna-upadesa. Bas. Everything is there in the Bhagavad-gita.You simply repeat. That’s all. You become guru. To become a guru is notdifficult job. Follow Caitanya Mahaprabhu and speak what Krsna has said. Bas.You become guru.”
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“So you are hearing this philosophy daily. Try to understand more and more. Wehave got so many books. And this is the mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and, bydisciplic succession, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, then my spiritual master. Then weare trying our level best. Similarly, you will also try your level best on thesame principle. Then it will go on. Same principle. It doesn’t matter whetherone is born in India or outside India. No. When Caitanya Mahaprabhu said,prthivite ache yata nagaradi-grama, “As many towns and cities and villages arethere,” He did not say it to make a farce. He is the Supreme Personality ofGodhead. So sometimes I am very much criticized that I am making foreigners abrahmana. The caste brahmanas in India, they are very much against me. But thisis not fact. When Caitanya Mahaprabhu said that all over the world His messagewill be broadcast, does it mean that it will be simply a cinema show? No. Hewanted that everyone should become perfect Vaisnava. That is His purpose.”
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“So we have got this message from Krsna, from Caitanya Mahaprabhu, from the sixGosvamis, later on, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Bhaktisiddhanta Thakura. And we aretrying our bit also to distribute this knowledge. Now, tenth, eleventh,twelfth… My Guru Maharaja is tenth from Caitanya Mahaprabhu, I am eleventh, youare the twelfth. So distribute this knowledge. People are suffering. They aresimply fighting on some false thing, maya. They should be given the real factof happiness.”
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“Next January there will be an examination on this Bhagavad-gita. Papers willbe sent by me to all centers, and those securing the minimum passing grade willbe given the title as Bhakti-sastri. Similarly, another examination will beheld on Lord Caitanya’s Appearance Day in February, 1970 and it will be uponSrimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita. Those passing will get the title ofBhakti-vaibhava. Another examination will be held sometimes in 1971 on the fourbooks, Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Teachings of Lord Caitanya, and Nectarof Devotion. One who will pass this examination will be awarded with the title ofBhaktivedanta. I want that all of my spiritual sons and daughters will inheritthis title of Bhaktivedanta, so that the family transcendental diploma willcontinue through the generations. Those possessing the title of Bhaktivedantawill be allowed to initiate disciples. Maybe by 1975, all of my disciples willbe allowed to initiate and increase the numbers of the generations. That is myprogram. So we should not simply publish these books for reading by outsiders,but our students must be well versed in all of our books so that we can beprepared to defeat all opposing parties in the matter of self-realization.”
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