Bhuvaneśvara

Bhuvanesvara
Today is the one day set aside especially for the glorification of our beloved spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Of course, every day we are worshiping His Divine Grace: Sri-guru-carana-padma. The lotus feet of our spiritual master are the only way by which we can attain pure devotional service. This is our daily prayer, but it is on this day, his glorious appearance day, that we stop and make a double appreciation of our lord and master, who so graciously bestowed his mercy on us by appearing on this day. Although every day in the association of a pure devotee is a festive occasion, the day on which he appears for giving us this daily association is doubly important and most dear to our hearts. He has appeared the day after the appearance day of Lord Sri Krsna, which illustrates the ancient Vedic adage "by the mercy of Krsna one gets guru"-now by the guru's mercy we shall be able to get Krsna. Yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasado yasyaprasadan na gatiḥ kuto 'pi. Here in this verse Visvanatha Cakravati Thakura emphasizes, as does Narottama dasa Thakura in Sri-guru-carana-padma, the divine importance of having the transcendental spiritual guide. As the student without a teacher is a fool, the ship without a captain is sunk, the mountain climber without a guide is lost, so similarly the spiritual aspirant without the divine master is doomed to failure on the path to spiritual perfection.
Human life begins at the point when one accepts with faith and devotion a spiritual master for his guidance out of the darkness of ignorance. But who is to be chosen, and how, is of the utmost importance, for to choose an impostor as a guide on the path of transcendence is the paramount danger which one may meet on his sojourn through this material world; nay, it can practically mean his eternal damnation here. As the teacher without a degree cannot teach, as a captain cannot sail without thorough experience, as the mountain guide cannot lead without having gone the path himself before, similarly the spiritual master which one chooses must be full completely with the required qualifications to guide one back along the venerable but difficult path of transcendence. The first and foremost is that he is an acarya in the bona fide line of disciplic succession. Therein all qualifications are contained. First we should examine the disciplic succession and what it means: It is the unbroken chain of spiritual masters who have handed down intact the divine message of pure devotional service as it was enunciated by the original spiritual master, Sri Krsna, to His first disciple, Lord Brahma. There is never any addition or subtraction made. As it was received, so it was given-the transcendental message. It is out of divine love and faith for the Lord that the spiritual masters will never change the message of the Lord, lest their heart of hearts be drowned in a ocean of grief at disappointing their beloved. So the acarya is one who through his thought, word and deeds teaches the message of the disciplic succession, as inculcated to him by the guru, the sastras and sadhus-previous saints in the line, and it is this alone which makes one qualified to be the preceptor of the spiritual path.
Sri Rūpa Gosvami, the eminent scholar and intimate disciple and associate of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and poet among poets in Vaisnava literature, has deftly praised the qualities of an acarya in his concise but powerful and sweet treatise the Upadesamrta. In the first verse he enunciates:
vaco vegam manasaḥ krodha-vegam
jihva-vegam udaropastha-vegam
etan vegan yo visaheta dhiraḥ
sarvam apimam prthivim sa sisyat
Vaco vegam-It is most difficult to control the urge to speak. The tongue is most voracious and eager to speak always and anything, without cessation. It is he who can always control the ever-swaggering tongue and train it to vibrate transcendental sound only. Then he alone can become the acarya.
Manasaḥ krodha-vegam-"My dear Krsna," Arjuna entreats, "is it not more difficult to control the mind than to control the raging wind?" The mind is so stubborn and obstinate that it controls the intelligence at times, but he who trains the mind to concentrate always on the beautiful cowherd boy Govinda, His form, name, pastimes, paraphernalia and associates, he alone can be an acarya. Did not Visvamitra the great sage become angry with Rambha, did not Brahma the creator of the universe become furious with the Kumaras, did not Lord Siva, who is Mahadeva, burn Cupid to ashes in rage, but did not Lord Visnu massage the feet of Bhrgu upon the latter's insult? It is only when one is in the transcendental mode of pure goodness that one can be free of anger, because anger is the product of lust, and lust is the product of attachment via contemplation of the objects of the senses. So it is only one whose mind is fixed on the Supreme Lord, whose speech always glorifies the transcendental Lord, and whose gross senses, the tongue, the mind and the genital, are always withdrawn from the objects of the senses-completely controlled-he can renounce anger, the loss of which brings boundless joy. He alone can become an acarya.
Jihva-vegam- "The only way to a man's heart is through his stomach" is the old American quotation. The lusty desires of the cook are transferred through the food to the mind of the waiting recipient; the wicked desires of the hotel's cook are also readily available in the fancy prepared dishes. The heart is an open receptacle for the wicked and lusty desires of the cooks who prepare foodstuff's, which encourage sinful activities, save and except the foodstuffs prepared by the hands of the ardent devotee of the Lord for the exclusive pleasure of the Lord, the remnants of which are distributed and shared with great relish after being offered to the Lord by the devotee. One who can, with all the determination at his command, remove all desires for tasting anything but Sri Krsna's divine remnants can alone be called an acarya.
Udaropastha-vegam-one should not endeavor to make the body fat and strong, thus increasing the bodily conception of life and clouding the path to spiritual perfection. When the body increases in weight and strength, the urge to enjoy the genital also increases. One who denies the body undue and excessive increase in the vital fluid of life and conserves it therein for memory, determination and enthusiasm for spiritual pursuits, accepting only enough to keep body and soul together, he alone can be an acarya.
The prince among poets in Vaisnava literature, Sri Rūpa Gosvami, says that etan vegan-he who controls all these urges-is visaheta dhiraḥ, the one and only dhira, a sober person in this world. Undisturbed by the influence of the modes of material nature on these six sense gratifying agents, he has conquered the material nature. The dhira is guru, or heavy; that is, he is situated in one place above the material ocean's wave. Therefore Sri Rūpa says, sarvam apimam prthivim sa sisyat-he alone can go throughout the world and make disciples because he alone has become acarya, one who teaches the path of transcendence from the guru, the sastra, and the sadhus, by his thought, word, and deeds.
The acarya is a veritable transcendental repository of spiritual knowledge and thoughts. His association is like touchstone, enlightening everyone he meets via the touch of transcendental sound vibration, which enters and purifies the heart of every true seeker who practically sees with his own eyes that every action of the acarya is a manifestation of his divine knowledge and teachings, an example for all to follow. Such a veritable king should be approached with great caution, for Sri Krsna Himself has said, acaryam mam vijaniyat. The acarya is My very self. Just as the ambassador is given equal reception as the president he represents, so the spiritual master is to be received like Krsna because he is thinking, speaking and acting on behalf of the Lord. He is doing what the Lord Himself would do for us if we were able to see Him with our spiritually blind eyes. We cannot reach the Lord in the heart, so He has come out and manifested Himself as guru, the external manifestation of Paramatma, the Lord in the heart. And because He is in contact with Paramatma, who is everywhere in full knowledge of everything, there is nothing which is secret for the acarya. The acarya may know whatever he may need or choose to know at any given second. As Vyasa was tri-kala-jna, or able to perceive time in all three phases-past, present and future-so the acarya has this power. Therefore it is said, sarva-devamayo guruh: he is the sum total of all the demigods. If one worships the acarya, then he has fulfilled all his commitments to all the demigods. The acarya is a veritable repository of all strength, fame, knowledge, beauty, and wealth. He is unrivalled in the worlds and should be approached with only the utmost respect and veneration. Verily it is said that when one stands before the spiritual master he should think himself a total fool. Further it is stated that one must never be envious of the acarya, for it is enviousness of Krsna. If the ambassador is insulted, the president is insulted, therefore envy is an offense at the lotus feet of the spiritual master, which is known as Vaisnava-aparadha. Such an offense causes havoc on the progressive path back to Godhead. One should strictly avoid it. The acarya should be approached in a humble frame of mind (pariprasnena sevaya), with an innocent and inquisitive mind and a humble service attitude, because this is the only method and combination which endears the guru to enlighten the disciple with transcendental knowledge. It is this knowledge we must obtain to transcend the material world.
No one is more kind and gracious than the acarya. Coming to this rotten, miserable material world! What a great sacrifice for all of us, who are so unworthy-suffering for our sinful reactions, reducing our burden in traversing the path to spiritual progress. He is the greatest servant to all humanity, for he is the greatest servant of the Supreme Lord, Sri Krsna. Therefore he is master, spiritual master, acarya, and it is his path we must follow, holding on tightly to his dhoti, for it is by his merciful glance alone that we can go back to Godhead. He has spared no pains in fulfilling the orders of his guru-maharaja in coming to the Western world, facing terrible conditions of health, weather, eating, sleeping and traveling, giving up all bodily comforts, undaunted in his determination that "I must satisfy my guru-maharaja. "This consciousness we must also attain. This we must also cry out for. We must throw off all of our material desires, shun all hope for liberation, and pray constantly day and night with all the courage at our command that we can in some small way satisfy even minutely our beloved spiritual master, His Divine Grace.
A new day is dawning in the history of the world, the face of all nations will change, their culture, their eating habits, their sleeping habits, their processes of mating and defending, their routine of keeping clean, everything from A to Z is being changed-their thoughts, their words and their deeds-all by the grace of one single personality, a personality so divine, so powerful, so learned, so beautiful, so wealthy, so renounced, so famous that he defies comprehension by the greatest material intellect and the swiftest material mind. Let us all on this day renew our pledge to become an integral part in his plan of changing the entire destiny of mankind by unreservedly surrendering our every thought, word and deed at the lotus feet of our spiritual master, who Thakura Bhaktivinoda predicted would come and preach the message of Lord Caitanya unrestrictedly throughout the world. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the fulfiller of Lord Caitanya's prophecy that "My name shall be heard in every town and village of the world."
Gaura Govinda Svami / Dhirasania dasa brahmacari / Vyapi dasa brahmacari / Bhagavat dasa brahmacari / Prakasatma dasa brahmacari / Hare Krsna dasa brahmacari / Sanjata dasa brahmacari / Premalauna dasa brahmacari / Digpati dasa adhikari / Jitaprana dasa brahmacari / Mahabhuja dasa brahmacari
 

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