shopkeeper
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The Lord is not like a shopkeeper trying to please all sorts of customers in the mental speculator exchange. There is an intimate relationship between the swan and the lotus stem. So the comparison is very appropriate: without becoming a swan or paramahamsa, one cannot enter into the network of the lotus feet of the Lord. The mental speculators, as it is stated in the Brahma-samhita, even by dint of learned scholarship, cannot even dream of the Absolute Truth by speculating over it for eternity. The Lord reserves the right of not being exposed to such mental speculators. And because they cannot enter into the network stem of the lotus feet of the Lord, all mental speculators differ in conclusions, and at the end they make a useless compromise by saying "as many conclusions, as many ways," according to one's own inclination (yatha-rucam). But the Lord is not like a shopkeeper trying to please all sorts of customers in the mental speculator exchange. The Lord is what He is, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, and He demands absolute surrender unto Him only. The pure devotee, however, by following the ways of previous acaryas or authorities, can see the Supreme Lord through the transparent medium of a bona fide spiritual master (anupasyanti). The pure devotee never tries to see the Lord by mental speculation, but by following the footsteps of the acaryas (mahajano yena gataḥ sa pantha). Therefore there is no difference of conclusions amongst the Vaisnava acaryas regarding the Lord and the devotees. Lord Caitanya asserts that the living entity (jiva) is eternally the servitor of the Lord and that he is simultaneously one and different from the Lord. This tattva of Lord Caitanya is shared by all the four sampradayas of the Vaisnava school (all accepting eternal servitude of the Lord even after salvation), and there is no authorized Vaisnava acarya who may think of the Lord and himself as one.
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