Rely On Gurudev

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Russia
6 August 2002

গুর্ব্বাভীষ্টসুপূরকং গুরুগণৈরাশীষসংভূষিতং
চিন্ত্যাচিন্ত্যসমস্তবেদনিপুণং শ্রীরূপপন্থানুগম্ ।
গোবিন্দাভিধমুজ্জ্বলং বরতনুং ভক্ত্যন্বিতং সুন্দরং
বন্দে বিশ্বগুরুঞ্চ দিব্যভগবৎ-প্রম্­ণো হি বীজপ্রদম্ ॥

gurvvabhista-supurakam guru-ganair asisa-sambhusitam
chintyachintya-samasta-veda-nipunam sri-rupa-panthanugam
govindabhidham ujjvalam vara-tanum bhakty anvitam-sundaram
vande visva-gurun cha divya-bhagavat-premno hi bija-pradam

I offer my obeisance unto he who perfectly fulfils his Gurudev's most cherished desires; who is fully adorned with the blessings of his Gurudev’s associates; who is expert in all aspects of Vedic knowledge, both conceivable and inconceivable; who is the pre-eminent follower of Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu's line; who is known as 'Govinda'—Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj; whose beautiful, effulgent, exalted form is infused with pure devotion; who is the Guru of the entire universe; and who is the giver of the seed of divine love for the Supreme Lord.

This is the pranam-mantra of our Gurudev, Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj; you all know this mantra. I heard that it had actually been written by Srila Sridhar Maharaj—it is a very excellent and very surprising sloka because our Gurudev's Guru himself wrote it.

"Gurvvabhista-supurakam" means, "Gurudever abhista: he fulfilled all desires of his Gurudev, and his Gurudev gave all his mercy to him." It reminds me how Sriman Mahaprabhu Himself actually did not show He was the Lord, He never said, "I have given mercy to you," or, "I have given mercy to everyone," but He did say this to one person only—to Srila Rupa Goswami. He admitted, "Yes, I have given him My mercy."

One day Rupa Goswami wrote the "Tunde tandavaniratim..." sloka, and when Mahaprabhu read it He asked Svarup Damodar, "How did he write this kind of verse? How does he know Me? I am surprised at the sloka he has written!" Svarup Damodar and Ray Ramananda replied, "Prabhu, You must have taught this to him, that is how he knows it, otherwise how will he know it? You have taught him, that is how he learned it." Mahaprabhu agreed, "Yes, I did that... but it is not sufficient! You all must give your mercy to him!" Just like this, our Guru Maharaj got the mercy of all his Guru-varga—all sannyasi disciples of Srila Prabhupad (Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur) always came to Srila Sridhar Maharaj, and our Gurudev got an opportunity to serve them...

সাক্ষাদ্ধরিত্বেন সমস্ত-শাস্ত্রৈ-
রুক্তস্তথা ভাব্যত এব সদ্ভিঃ ।
কিন্তু প্রভোর্যঃ প্রিয় এব তস্য
বন্দে গুরোঃ শ্রীচরণারবিন্দম্ ॥

saksadd-haritvena samasta-sastrair
uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih
kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya
vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

"I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru, who is said by all the scriptures to be the Lord Himself, and considered to be so by the sadhus, yet is also the Lord's beloved devotee."

(Sri Sri Gurvastakam, 7)

Who is the Guru? Gurudev is actually saksadd-haritvena, a full successor of Krishna, nondifferent from Krishna; but at the same time "kintu prabhor yah"—he is fully subservient to Krishna, he is the dearmost of Krishna (like Radharani is). That is why we can say that our Gurudev is like Radharani.

Actually Krishna Himself shows that Radharani is His dearmost, I can remember one story...

You know, one day Krishna Himself came to Nandalaya [house of Nanda Maharaj] as a doctor and said to Mother Yasoda, "Your Krishna is very sick, He needs treatment. To make the medicine, you must get some water that is brought in a pot with many holes, and the person who will bring it must be honest."

Mother Yasoda began to search Gokula, Vraja, for an honest person. At first she could not find anyone, but then she thought of Jatila and Kutila. Jatila was the mother-in-law of Radharani, and Kutila was Her sister-in-law; they both liked to always look for everybody's fault, so Mother Yasoda thought, "Jatila and Kutila must be honest, they can bring that water."

First she went to Jatila, "My Krishna is very sick, please go, bring some water in this holed pot." Jatila said, "How is it possible?! It is impossible to bring water in a pot with so many holes!" Mother Yasoda begged her so much that in the end she could not avoid her request and had to agree. She went to bring the water, but she could not do that. Then, Mother Yasoda came to Kutila. Kutila said, "My mother has already failed to do that, I cannot do it either," but Mother Yasoda requested her also, and in the end she went to bring the water, but she too could not do that.

Mother Yasoda was desperate, "Who is honest in Vraja? If nobody brings the water, what will I do?" Then, the doctor hinted at Radharani, "Maybe this girl can bring the water?" Mother Yasoda came to Radharani and asked Her, "Please, come, bring some water." Radharani took the holed pot and went to the river. She was afraid and prayed, "O Krishna, You can protect Me, You can do that. Without You I cannot bring this water..." When Radharani put the pot with many holes into the water, Krishna appeared in the water and put His hand under the pot. So, Radharani brought the water to Mother Yasoda, and when the doctor mixed some medicine and gave it with that water to Krishna, Krishna got well.

So, Krishna Himself shows that Radharani is most dear to Him. She is actually the highest, dearmost devotee of this line...

I am very happy everybody has come here and everybody is doing some service here, helping Jagannath Prabhu. It is necessary to help him, and I am very happy to see that everybody is doing that. We all actually belong to the same family—we are members of the same family, we are passengers of one boat, and our Gurudev is the captain of that boat. If we can stay in this boat (if we can have enough patience), then we will get to the boat's destination. Many obstacles, much bondage will come to us in our Krishna consciousness practising life, but we should not become hopeless. If we remember Krishna, if we remember our Gurudev and if we serve our Gurudev, then they must protect us.

— : • : —

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