śrī śrī guru gaurāṅga jayataḥ!
Year 4 & Year 17, Issue 2
Posted: 24 March, 2011 & 30 March, 2024
Dedicated to
nitya-līlā praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda
Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja
Inspired by and under the guidance of
nitya-līlā praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda
Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja
Transcendence Is at Śrī Guru’s Lotus Feet
It is only by surrendering ourselves to the Preceptor’s feet that we attain residence in Mathurā, otherwise, we cannot get entrance into the transcendental realm. We should approach that guru who will confer on us the eight things beginning with the holy name and the [dīkṣā] mantra.*
_____________________
* Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Gosvāmī Mahārajā writes in Śrī Guru and His Grace:
nāma-śreṣthaṁ manum api śacī-pūtram atra svarūpaṁ
rūpaṁ tasyāgrajam uru-pūriṁ māthurīṁ goṣthavāṭīm
rādhā-kuṇḍaṁ giri-varam aho! rādhikā-mādhavāśāṁ
prāpto yasya prathita-kṛpayā śrī-guruṁ taṁ nato’smi
Śrī Muktā-carita (Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī)
I am fully indebted to Śrī Gurudeva. Why? He has given me so many things: the highest conception of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, the highest form of sound which contains the highest form of thought, aspiration, ideal, everything. And he has given me the service of our great savior, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and His dearmost assistant, Svarūpa Dāmodara. He has brought me in connection with Śrī Rūpa, who was ordered to distribute the heart’s innermost dealings, the highest devotional love, rāgānugā-bhakti. Gurudeva has given me Śrīla Sanātana Goswāmī, who gives us sambandha-jñāna, a proper understanding of our relationship with Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and he has given me Mathurā Maṇḍala, which will help me in my remembrance of Rādhā and Govinda wherever I shall cast my glance. By his grace Gurudeva has revealed the superexcellent position of Rādhā-kunda, the favorite place of Rādhā and Govinda for Their pastimes and this Girirāja Govardhāna. Lastly, he has given me the hope that one day I can get the service of Śrī Śrī Rādhikā and Mādhava. I have been given all these assurances by my gurudeva, so I bow my head with all my respects to his lotus feet. If we are conscious of all these spiritual matters, we can think that we have approached our gurudeva properly. What is our guru? What is his mission? It is filled with all these things. Devoid of that, what is our self-interest?
The name is the transcendental sound and our [dīkṣā] mantras are incantations. The name is identical with the named. The [dīkṣā] mantra is required in order to reach the state in which the name can be properly chanted.
The son of Śacī is the Supreme Lord Himself. Dāmodara Svarūpa is the head of the Gauḍīyas, who are the transcendental servitors of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. Rūpa and Sanātana were sent to Mathurā by Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya to disseminate transcendental knowledge. There are several eternal cities (purīs) that can give salvation, and among them, Mathurā is supreme. Goṣṭhavāṭi signifies the place where Śrī Kṛṣṇa fed His cows. (The Sanskrit word go has various meanings such as knowledge, the senses, the cow, etc.)
Another holy spot, Śrī Rādhā Kuṇḍa, is the pond where Śrī Kṛṣṇa purged Himself of the sin of killing a bull named Ariṣṭānemi. In fact, when Śrī Kṛṣṇa killed Ariṣṭānemi, He was killing Aristotelianism. That is, He annihilated the validity of the strictly rational process of depending solely on reason within the jurisdiction of this imperfect world.
When Kṛṣṇa wanted to hold the hand of Rādhikā, Ariṣṭānemi came in the form of a bull to disturb Him. Rādhikā was thought by most to be the wife of the gopa named Abhimanyu. Ariṣṭānemi was the incarnation of all such mundane understanding and knowledge, and therefore Śrī Kṛṣṇa annihilated him. Kṛṣṇa then atoned [for the sin of killing a bull] by bathing in Rādhā-kuṇḍa.
This kuṇḍa has manifested from the mind of Śrī Rādhā. The land of our eternal abode should be Rādhā-kuṇḍa. We should make our forest groves on the transcendental banks of Śrī Rādhā-kuṇḍa. There are millions of groves on the banks of Rādhā-kuṇḍa.
* * *
This world is a perverted reflection of the original world, which is our real home. Instead of passing our time here, we want to go back to our eternal abode. We are now very busily engaged in pursuing pleasant sensations from phenomenal objects. We firmly resolve to eradicate the root cause of our presence in this world of delusion: so-called pleasure, and endless misery and strife.
The mind is at the source of all evils and it is the root of our inclination to seek worldly pleasures. So the mind should be subjugated first. That is, it should not be allowed to take initiative in anything. Ordinarily the mind controls our senses while the soul lies dormant. The soul has delegated its power of interacting with the external world to the mind, and the mind has five ministers to help in administrating its interactions with the phenomenal world.
But the mind is not a dutiful agent of the soul. It always tries to injure the interest of the soul. The soul has descended to this material plane, and in doing so, it has incorporated two envelopes – one subtle and the other gross. Consequently the soul is now in a drowsy condition. Hence the soul cannot exactly compel the mind to look after his own interest. Due to this crisis, the ever-merciful Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa sends His messengers with the transcendental sound.
This transcendental sound is to be received through the ears. The transcendental sound is meant to regulate the five senses, which are wrongly engaged in fostering the ambitions of the mind and injuring the purposes of the eternal soul. So aural reception is the first thing we should seek from the agent – the deputed messenger from the transcendental plane. The transcendental sound is transmitted through the lips of the messenger in the form of pure transcendence, which can regulate the senses.
Go on chanting the name, constantly repeat transcendental nomenclature, and you will find that energy is being injected into you. But this name should come to you from a good source, from a transcendental source, and not from any mundane source. The name should not be confused with the other sounds of this world. The transcendental sound regulates the senses and does not submit to the senses for scrutiny. When the Supreme Lord Śrī Caitanyadeva met Śrī Rūpa at Allahabad, He first of all transmitted something into the entity, Śrī Rūpa, which empowered him to receive the transcendental sounds from Him, and then He imparted those transcendental sounds to him with all explanations.
Adapted from The Gaudiya Volume 27, Number 6
by the Rays of The Harmonist team
