Guru Pūrṇimā 2013

Sītānāth Kula-kaustubha paramārādhyatama Prabhupāda

Nitya-līlā praviṣṭa

Śrī Śrīmad Nikunja Gopāl Goswāmī

Guru Pūrṇimā 2013

On the occasion of Guru Pūrṇimā, I like to quote the following verses and / or comments –

Śrī Nārada told King Yudhiṣṭhira in Śrīmad Bhāgavata (7.15.22-25)  -

asaṅkalpāj jayet kāmaṁ krodhaṁ kāma-vivarjanāt

arthānarthekṣayā lobhaṁ bhayaṁ tattvāvamarśanāt

ānvīkṣikyā śoka-mohau dambhaṁ mahad-upāsayā

yogāntarāyān maunena hiṁsāṁ kāmādy-anīhayā

kṛpayā bhūtajaṁ duḥkhaṁ daivaṁ jahyāt samādhinā

ātmajaṁ yoga-vīryeṇa nidrāṁ sattva-niṣevayā

rajas tamaś ca sattvena sattvaṁ copaśamena ca

etat sarvaṁ gurau bhaktyā puruṣo hy añjasā jayet

            "To give up lust one must give up one's determination to enjoy, to give up anger one must give up lust and to give up greed one must see the evil of money. Fear can be given up by considering the truth, lamentation and illusion can be given up by considering what is material and what is spiritual (rational thinking), pride can be given up by serving a great soul and obstacles in yoga-practise (which serves the purpose of fixing the mind) can be overcome by perfecting a vow of silence. Violence is conquered by giving up endeavours for sense-gratification, suffering caused by other living entities can be mitigated by developing the quality of compassion, suffering caused by the elements can be mitigated by entering into samādhi (psycho-religious trance) and suffering caused by the own body and mind can be mitigated by practising the eight-fold path of mystic yoga (aṣṭāṅga-yoga). When the mode of goodness increases sleep is conquered, along with the modes of passion and indolence, and by controlling the senses the mode of goodness is transcended. But all these vices and obstacles together can be conquered simply by devotion to the guru."

Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda comments on this verse -

añjasā śīghram āyāsābhāvena sarvaṁ jayet. sarva-rogopaśamanaṁ mukhyam ekam eva mahauṣadham ivety arthaḥ.

“One overcomes all obstacles quickly and easily by bhakti to the Guru. This is like taking just one principal medicine which cures all other diseases.”

Śrīdhara Swāmī comments on the last verse of Bhagavad Gītā (18.78):

sva-prāgalbhya-balād vilobhya bhagavad-gītāṁ tad-antar-gatam

tattvaṁ prepsur upaiti kiṁ guru-kṛpā-pīyūṣa-dṛṣṭiṁ vinā

ambu svāñjalinā nirasya jaladher āditsur antarmaṇī

nāvarteṣu na kiṁ nimajjati janaḥ sat-karṇa-dhāraṁ vinā

“Does a person who desires to attain the Truths contained within the Bhagavad-Gītā by trying to understand them on the strength of his own proficiency, realize them without the merciful nectar-glance of the Guru? Is a person who desires to get the jewels that lie at the bottom of the ocean by scooping out the water with the hollow of his hands, not doomed to failure unless he is helped by an able captain?”

The texts have been added to page 3 and 9 of my anthology of Guru-glorifications from śāstra on my website. 

Śrīpāda Kānupriya Goswāmī writes in his book ‘Nāma Cintāmaṇi’, vol. 3, p.120 –

“The symptom of a sheltered person or āśrita is that he takes shelter wholeheartedly and exclusively so. If the sheltered does not consider the shelter the greatest of all but thinks others are equally or even more worshipable then this cannot truly be called taking shelter, because the main symptom of a sheltered soul is the exclusive nature of his surrender. No one can be equal or superior to the shelter in excellence – such a mentality is called an ‘exclusive attitude’. If one respects many things equally, the shelter of one of them can never be called true shelter. Experiencing all super-excellence in one shelter and being attracted just to that shelter, such an exclusive shelter is called true śaraṇa or shelter. The characteristic of the sheltered is that he has exclusive one-pointed focus on the shelter. If one does not take exclusive shelter such a shelter is a mere pretense, a theater play.”