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Tuesday, November 29, 2005

The Wrong Road

From Jīva Gosvāmī's Bhakti Sandarbha 238 -

guror apyavaliptasya kāryākāryam ajānataḥ
utpatha pratipannasya parityāgo vidhīyate

Synonyms : guroḥ - Of the Guru; api - even; avaliptasya - of the arrogant; kārya - to be done; akāryam - not to be done; ajānataḥ - not knowing; utpatha - wrong road (deviant); pratipannasya - of the ascertainment; parityāgaḥ - wholly rejected; vidhīyate - compulsory.

"One must wholly reject the Guru who is arrogant, who does not know what is to be done and what is not to be done and who is deviant."

The word ut-patha means 'the wrong road', 'off the track', 'evil ways' or 'deviant'. Having lost the way, either deliberately or out of ignorance. So any Guru who deviated from the six Gosvāmīs and other foundational ācāryas' teachings must be rejected. This is an elaboration on Jīva Gosvāmī's own edict 'vaiṣṇava vidveṣī cet parityajya eva' - "If the Guru is a Vaiṣṇava-hater he must be fully rejected."

But there is more to it than that - with the word utpatha the parameters are widened. If he lost the way he should be wholly rejected, too.....

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