The Bona Fide Guru

It is imperative for a serious sādhaka to understand who śrī guru is; how to one recognize a bona fide guru.

It is stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:

भयं द्वितीयाभिनिवेशतः स्याद् ईशाद् अपेतस्य विपर्ययोऽस्मृतिः
तन्-माययातो बुध आभजेत् तं भक्त्यैकयेशं गुरु-देवतात्मा

bhayaṃ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād īśād apetasya viparyayo'smṛtiḥ
tan-māyayāto budha ābhajet taṃ bhaktyaikayeśaṃ guru-devatātmā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.2.37)

Fear arises when a living entity misidentifies himself as the material body because of absorption in the external, illusory energy of the Lord. When the living entity thus turns away from the Supreme Lord, he also forgets his own constitutional position as a servant of the Lord. This bewildering, fearful condition is effected by the potency for illusion, called māyā. Therefore, an intelligent person should engage unflinchingly in the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord, under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, whom he should accept as his worshipable deity and as his very life and soul.

How can one recognize such a bona fide worshipable śrī guru? Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī answers this question in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:

तस्माद् गुरुं प्रपद्येत जिज्ञासुः श्रेय उत्तमम्
शाब्दे परे च निष्णातं ब्रह्मण्य् उपशमाश्रयम्

tasmād guruṃ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam
śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṃ brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.3.21)

Therefore, anyone who seriously desires real happiness must seek a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of the bona fide guru is that he has realized the conclusions of the scriptures by deliberation, and is able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have left aside all material considerations and taken shelter of the Supreme Godhead, should be considered bona fide spiritual masters.

Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī here uses the word tasmād. This indicates that ‘therefore’ or ‘for this reason’ one should approach a spiritual master. So, what is the reason? All living beings desire happiness, and human beings especially always seek happiness and try to avoid distress. However, conditioned souls (baddha-jīvas) are afflicted by the three-fold miseries caused by the body and mind (ādhyātmika), by other living entities (ādhibautika), and by the demigods (ādhidaivika). How can the one become free from these three-fold miseries? And how can one attain one’s ultimate welfare? When this type of inquiry arises in the mind of a person, he should approach a bona fide guru. Ordinary men cannot give the perfect answers to all these questions. The answers can only come from a transcendental source: from guru, from other self-realized souls, and from the scriptures (guru, sādhu and śāstra).

The first symptom and first qualification of a bona fide guru is that he must be expert in all scriptures (śāstra) and is able to remove all the doubts of his disciples. This is the intention of the word śābde in the above śloka. Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī’s next words–pare ca niṣṇātaṃ–are very confidential and will be discussed later.

The next qualification of the a bona fide guru is complete detachment from the material world and mundane enjoyment (brahmany-upaśamāśrayam). Just as a lotus flower is situated above the water in which it lives, so the spiritual master, altough appearing in this world, is totally detached form it.

These two qualities, sabde and brahmany-upaśamāśrayam, are the external qualifications of śrī guru. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda gives a clear warning in this regard. Those who have not surrendered themselves to God and who are attached to some object other than God will foster within their hearts fear, affliction, illusion, sensual desires, greed and feelings of frustration in relation to their bodies, their wealth, their friends and so on. Such individuals who are not surrendered cannot advise others to surrender to the Lord. Their verbal instructions are ineffective because they cannot show a practical example by their own conduct.

Now we will discuss the most important and internal symptom of śrī guru, namely, pare ca niṣṇātaṃ. Pare means that the guru must be a self-realized soul. The bona fide guru is here with us in this world and at the same time he serves Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and the divine couple Śrī Śrī rādhā-Kṛṣṇa in the spiritual realm.

Śrī guru is the representative of Śrīmatī rādhikā, and being Her confidential associate, is non-different from Her.

निकुञ्ज-यूनो रति-केलि-सिद्ध्यै
या यालिभिर् युक्तिर् अपेक्षणीया

nikuñja-yūno rati-keli-siddhyai
yā yālibhir yuktir apekṣaṇīyā

Śrī Gurvāṣṭakam (5)

Śrīla gurudeva is always present with the sakhīs and mañjarīs, arranging for the perfection of the Divine Couple’s amorous pastimes within the kuñjas of Vraja.

Part of the guru gāyatrī mantra that is given at the time of dīkṣā initiation is krsnānandāya dhīmahi. Krsnānandāya is made up of two words: kṛṣṇa and ānandaya. According to Sanskrit grammar, these words may have three meanings:

(1) Kṛṣṇa in kṛṣṇānandaya refers to Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya (who is Kṛṣṇa Himself), who is the embodiment of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. By His own example, He reveals who Kṛṣṇa is, how to serve Him, and what our relationship with Him is. And He defines our ultimate goal of kṛṣṇa-prema. Kṛṣṇānandaya means that śrī guru is always giving pleasure (ānanda) to Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya.

(2) Another meaning of kṛṣnānandaya is that śrī guru is always giving pleasure to Vrajendra-nandana Śyāmasundara Kṛṣṇa, the eternally youthful son of Nanda Mahārāja in Vṛndāvana.

(3) Kṛṣṇa in kṛṣṇānandaya means Vṛṣabhānu-nandinī Śrīmatī rādhikā, the eternal consort and best servant of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

This third meaning of kṛṣṇānandaya is that śrī gurudeva is always giving pleasure to Śrīmatī rādhikā.

A bona fide guru is with his disciples in the material world and at the same time in his svarūpa (eternal form), he directly serves in the spiritual realm. These are the qualifications of śrī guru. A question may arise in the mind, ‘If the soul is a single entity, how can he be present and serving in two places?’ Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura explains in Jaiva-dharma that when a soul performs sādhana-bhajana in the line of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, at the time of achieving perfection he will attain two eternal forms. One will be eternally present in the pastimes of Mahāprabhu and the other will be eternally present in the pastimes of the divine couple Śrī Śrī rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, even while śrī guru is here in the material world, he can simultaneously serve in the spiritual realm in Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s pastimes in one svarūpa and in Śrī Śrī rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes in another svarūpa.

Other than Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself, no one has complete knowledge of the process to attain kṛṣṇa-bhakti. The Lord Himself is the collective or undivided guru, and in His form as the separate forms of bona fide gurus (vyaṣṭi-guru) he destroys the ignorance of the innumerable souls by distributing pure bhakti. That form of Kṛṣṇa as guru is also known as āśraya-bhagavān. Kṛṣṇa, and nobody else, is guru. Kṛṣṇa is one and undivided, yet He manifests Himself as His divine effulgence (nirviṣeśa-brahma), as His localized expansion who is present in everyone’s heart (Paramātma), and in his complete form as Bhagavān. As previously mentioned, He also appears as the undivided gurutattva or the collective guru (jagad-guru or samaṣṭi-guru).

Varāha Purāṇa states:

गुरुः श्री ब्रह्मनो विष्णुः सुरानान्च गुरोर्-गुरुः
मूल्भूतो गुरुः सर्वजनानां पुरुषोत्तमः

guruḥ śrī brahmano viṣṇuḥ surānānca guror-guruḥ
mūlbhūto guruḥ sarvajanānāṃ puruṣottamaḥ

Śrī Viṣṇu is the guru of all the demigods, including Lord Brahma. Hence, Puruṣottama Śrī Viṣṇu is the root of all guru-tattva.

The following verse appears in Bhagavad-gītā:

पितासि लोकस्य चराचरस्य त्वम् अस्य पूज्यश् च गुरुर् गरीयान्
न त्वत्-समो’स्त्य् अभ्यधिकः कुतो’न्यो लोक-त्रये’प्य् अप्रतिम-प्रभाव

pitāsi lokasya carācarasya tvam asya pūjyaś ca gurur garīyān
na tvat-samo’sty abhyadhikaḥ kuto’nyo loka-traye’py apratima-prabhāva

Bhagavad-gītā (11.43)

You are the father of this complete cosmic manifestation, the worshipable chief and the spiritual master. No one is equal to You, nor can anyone be one with You. Within the three worlds, You are immeasurable.

Here, it is mentioned that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is jagad-guru or samaṣṭiguru, which means that He is the guru of everyone. And He is also viṣaya-bhagavān, the supreme enjoyer. This is one aspect of Kṛṣṇa’s manifestation as guru. The other aspect is the bona fide guru who incarnates in this world to deliver conditioned souls from material existence (saṃsāra). He is an expansion of the Lord called servitor Bhagavān (āśraya-bhagavān) or the personal guru (vyaṣṭi-guru).

When Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to Gayā and took initiation from Īśvara Purī, Īśvara Purī told Mahāprabhu:

तुमि से जगद् गुरु जनिल निश्छय
तोमार् गुरुर् योग्य केह कभु नय

tumi se jagad guru janila niśchaya
tomār gurur yogya keha kabhu naya

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, Madhya-khaṇḍa (28.128)

By the mercy of his guru, Śrī Mādhavendra Purī, and by the Lord’s mercy, Īśvara Purī recognized Mahāprabhu as nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa, and said, “Now it is confirmed in my mind that you are jagad-guru. No one in this world is qualified to be your guru, yet you have accepted me as your guru. I can understand that this is only to instruct the whole world and to give an example to people in general.”

Although Kṛṣṇa is the sum total of all gurus (samaṣṭi-guru), He manifests as different personalities in His forms as the personal guru (vyaṣṭi-guru). Śrī guru as the expansion of Kṛṣṇa is to be considered non-different from Kṛṣṇa, yet at the same time He is the intimate servant of Kṛṣṇa. Śrī guru and Śrī Kṛṣṇa only want to deliver the suffering souls from material existence. If śrī guru and Kṛṣṇa were different from each other, śāstra would not clearly instruct us to perform the same type of bhakti for both. The guru is an empowered expansion (aveṣa) of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, but still he never considers himself to be Śrī Kṛṣṇa. rather, he always thinks that he is the servant of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Hence, he is the inconceivably different and non-different worshipable manifestation of the Supreme Lord.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta states that it is a great offence for the soul to consider that the guru is Bhagavān Himself:

जीवे ‘विष्णु’ बुद्धि दूरे—येइ ब्रह्म-रुद्र-सम
नारायणे माने तारे ‘पाषण्डीते’ गणन

jīve ‘viṣṇu’ buddhi dūre—yei brahma-rudra-sama
nārāyaṇe māne tāre ‘pāṣaṇḍīte’ gaṇana

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā (25.79)

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu declares, “To say nothing of ordinary living entities, even Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva cannot be considered on the level of Viṣṇu or Nārāyaṇa. If one considers them as such, he is immediately considered an offender and atheist.”

श्री कृष्ण-चैतन्य प्रभु-नित्यानन्द
श्री अद्वैत गदाधर श्रीवासादि-गौर-भक्त-वृन्द

śrī kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

I offer praṇāma unto Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His five features as Mahāprabhu, the very personification of a devotee (bhakta-svarūpa); as Nityānanda Prabhu, the form of a devotee (bhakta-rūpa); as Advaita Ācārya, the incarnation of a devotee (bhakta-avatāra); as Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita, a devotee (bhakta); and as Gadādhara Paṇḍita, the internal devotional potency (bhakta-śakti).

Mahāprabhu, Advaita Ācārya and Nityānanda Prabhu are considered viśaya-bhagavān, so it is correct to worship Their lotus feet with tulasī leaves. However, it is an offense to offer tulasī at the lotus feet of Gadadhāra Paṇḍita or Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, because they are the servants of the Lord (āśraya-bhagavān).

The bona fide disciple will see his gurudeva as non-different from Kṛṣṇa. The spiritual master is a direct manifestation of the Lord because he is a pure servant and representative of the Lord. The soul gets in touch with such a bona fide guru by Kṛṣṇa's mercy, then in the form of the spiritual master, Kṛṣṇa delivers His devotees. The relationship of the disciple with his spiritual master is therefore as good as his relationship with the Supreme Lord. Lord Balarāma or Lord Nityānanda is the first direct expansion of Kṛṣṇa.

He is therefore the original spiritual master (akhaṇḍaguru-tattva), and the bona fide guru present in this world is his manifestation.

ईश्वर-स्वरूप भक्त ताङ्र अधिष्ठान
भक्तेर हृदये कृष्णेर सतत विश्राम

īśvara-svarūpa bhakta tāṅra adhiṣṭhāna
bhaktera hṛdaye kṛṣṇera satata viśrāma

Śrī Caitanya-caritrāmṛta, Ādi-līlā (1.61)

A pure devotee who is incessantly engaged in the loving service of Śrī Kṛṣṇa is identical with the Lord, for Kṛṣṇa is always seated in his heart.

In this verse, ‘identical’ means ‘one at heart with Śrī Kṛṣṇa’ or ‘very near and dear to Kṛṣṇa’. It does not mean that the spiritual master has merged into Śrī Kṛṣṇa or that he is non-distinct from Him.

There are four types of spiritual masters or gurus:

(1) Vartma-pradarśaka-guru is one who shows the path and guides us to a bona fide guru.

(2) Caitya-guru is Śrī Bhagavān Himself as the Supersoul (Paramātm ā), and inspires the living entity from within the heart.

(3) Dīkṣā-guru is one who gives initiation and bestows dīkṣā Mantras. He gives knowledge of sambandha^[1], the relationship between jīva and Kṛṣṇa. After initiation, one should serve such a guru with intimacy.

यद्यपि आमार गुरु-चैतन्येर दास
तथापि जानिये आमि ताङ्हार प्रकाश

yadyapi āmāra guru-caitanyera dāsa
tathāpi jāniye āmi tāṅhāra prakāśa

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā (1.44)

Even though I know that my spiritual master is a servitor of Lord Caitanya, I also know Him as a direct manifestation of the Lord.

(4) Śikṣā-guru is one who gives knowledge of the process of bhakti (abhideya-jñāna). Śrīla rūpa Gosvāmī is the foremost śikṣā-guru in our line.

The śikṣā-guru is as highly qualified as the dīkṣā-guru and mercifully shows one how to render devotional service. Dīkṣā-guru and śikṣā-guru are non-different manifestations of Kṛṣṇa. Both are eternally liberated. All bona fide gurus and Vaiṣṇavas other than one’s dīkṣā-guru are to be considered śikṣā-guru.

It may be necessary for devotees to take shelter of a śikṣā-guru who has an intimate relationship with their dīkṣā-guru. This is necessary when the dīkṣā-guru does not have enough time to spend with the individual disciples to teach them how to enter into the process of bhakti, or if the dīkṣā-guru has departed from this world. The śikṣā-guru should be as highly qualified as the dīkṣā-guru and should have faith and affection for those who take shelter of him.

The disciple should also have great faith in the śikṣā-guru because it is from him that he can learn how to render devotional service. Śrīla Kṛṣṇa dāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī has explained that dīkṣā-guru is the form (rūpa) of Kṛṣṇa, and śikṣā-guru is the personality (svarūpa) of Kṛṣṇa.

The Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad states:

यस्य देव परा भक्तिर् यथा देवे तथा गुरौ
तस्यैते कथिता ह्य् अर्थाः प्रकाशन्ते महात्मनः

yasya deva parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau
tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante mahātmanaḥ

Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (6.23)

The conclusive essence of the scriptures is revealed only to those great souls who have transcendental devotion (parā-bhakti) unto Śrī Bhagavān and equal devotion for śrī gurudeva.

Here, Śrīla Gurudeva explains that parā-bhakti refers to bhakti which is under the direct shelter of Śrīmatī rādhārāṇī. The essence and all the meanings of the Vedas will manifest along with bhakti in the hearts of those who have supreme bhakti for the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa and who also have equal bhakti for the lotus feet of their gurudeva (who reveals Lord Kṛṣṇa to them).

There are three principles of eternal truths (pāramārthika-tattva):

(1) Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

(2) the living entity (jīva)

(3) the illusory energy of the Lord (māyā).

Amongst these three principles, Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the supreme eternal principle and is the source and foundation of the other two principles, namely, the living entity (jīva) and the illusory energy of the Lord (māyā).

This is confirmed in Kaṭha Upaniṣad (2.2.13):

नित्यो नित्यानां चेतनश् चेतनानाम् एको बहूनां यो विदधाति कामान्
तम् आत्मस्थं ये’नुपश्यन्ति धीरास् तेषां शान्तिः शाश्वती नेतरेषाम्

nityo nityānāṃ cetanaś cetanānām eko bahūnāṃ yo vidadhāti kāmān
tam ātmasthaṃ ye’nupaśyanti dhīrās teṣāṃ śāntiḥ śāśvatī netareṣām

Among the innumerable eternal conscious beings, there is one Supreme Being who fulfills the desires of all the others. Only those who are sober and perceive the Supreme Lord within their hearts through the transcendental directions of guruparamparā can attain perpetual peace.

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura explains in Jaiva-dharma that Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the original supreme controller, with full control over māyā. The jīva, on the other hand, being marginal, is controlled by the influence of māyā unless they engaged in pure bhakti which is beyond the modes of nature.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Sambandha-jñāna (the relationship between Śrī Bhagavān and the devotee) is discussed in more detail in the section entitled ‘Preaching to the Son of the Family Guru’.