Narayana Maharaja’s Guru-Tattva

This is a reply to Raghavendu’s comment on the All You Need is Love post.

Raghavendu, You are like the proverbial person who can’t see the forest for the trees. In your latest comment you focus on something which has no real bearing, something inconsequential to what Narayana Maharaja consistently and relentlessly teaches about the absolute and pressing need to surrender to and serve a guru — without which you cannot advance, and without which Krishna will disregard you and anything else you do to advance in self-realization.

Your conception is that Narayana Maharaja doesn’t really want to exploit people because in one lecture he says something about when a disciple reaches a high enough level of bhakti, his or her relationship with the guru will be closer and friendly. I tried to find a recording of that lecture because I don’t trust the people who transcribe his English lectures (more on that below). It turns out that the lecture you quoted was spoken in Hindi, and then translated into English. I don’t speak Hindi so I can’t verify if that is an accurate translation, but knowing how they usually transcribe his lectures, I doubt very much the accuracy of that translation.

But, lets for the sake of argument, assume that it is accurate. You have posted quite a few quotes from lectures by Narayana Maharaja, are you his follower or disciple? If so, I have to inform you that you are either being disingenuous, or you are very poorly informed on how Narayana Maharaja teaches guru-tattva.

Anybody who has even a small amount of exposure to Narayana Maharaja’s teachings, like me, knows that he teaches an extremist version of guru-tattva. By extremist I mean that he consistently and regularly teaches that the only way someone can practice or advance on the path of bhakti, is by complete and total surrender and submission to the guru. He teaches that you must do nothing but what the guru wants you to do, that you must give up everything but service to the guru. And that if you don’t, there is no way you can advance on the path of bhakti-yoga. Here are a few examples:

The subject of guru-tattva is the essence of all our bhakti literature. This subject is very heavy, and therefore you should hear it with the core of your hearts. We can only worship Krishna after we have worshiped guru.

All of us in this world have turned away from Krishna. Whether we accept it or not, it is true. Although we are greatly suffering, we do not realize it. Why not? We have drunk such a large quantity of the alcohol of maya that we have become completely mad; and in this madness we think ourselves very happy. You should know that one day you will have to give up your bodies and all that you have collected in this world. One day you will surely have to be old. Old age is very eagerly waiting to embrace you, and none of you will escape it. A devotee of the caliber of Sri Narada Muni can escape this maya and its presentation of old age, but you are not like Narada Muni. You will have to suffer if you are not careful. It is stated in the Vedas:

yasya deve para bhaktir
yatha deve tatha gurau
tasyaite kathita hy arthah
prakasante mahatmanah

(Svetasvatara Upanishad 6.23)

“Only unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master are all the imports of Vedic knowledge automatically revealed.”

This instruction has been given since ancient times: “Yasya deve para bhaktir.” Those who are suffering and who want to be happy in this world and in the next, especially those living in the present age of quarrel and hypocrisy called Kali-yuga, should serve Krishna, the Supreme Lord. And, not less than Him, such persons must serve the bona fide gurudeva. Here in this verse the word para-bhakti has been used, and we should therefore know its meaning:

anyabhilashita-sunyam
jnana-karmady-anavritam
anukulyena krishnanusilanam
bhaktir uttama

(Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu 1.1.11)

“The cultivation of activities which are meant exclusively for the pleasure of Sri Krishna, or, in other words, the uninterrupted flow of service to Sri Krishna, performed through all endeavors of the body, mind and speech, and through the expression of various spiritual sentiments (bhavas), which is not covered by jnana and karma, and which is devoid of all desires other than the aspiration to bring happiness to Sri Krishna, is called uttama-bhakti, pure devotional service.”

Para-bhakti is the continuous, uninterrupted flow of the activities performed by our body, mind, words and moods (bhavas), which are executed only for the benefit of Krishna. Such activities are not disturbed or covered by jnana (mental speculation or knowledge leading to impersonal liberation) and karma (the desire to enjoy the fruits of ones activities), and it is performed under the guidance of guru-tattva. If there is a lack of the above symptoms in a devotee’s activities but bhakti is there to some degree, we can still call it bhakti – but not para bhakti.

The Vedas tell us that para-bhakti is certainly to be applied to Krishna, but first it must be applied to guru. If one has no guru, all his devotional activities will be like zero; only worldly fruits will come. If one thinks, “I am already chanting, remembering and performing arcana (regulative worship of the Deity),” but he is not truly initiated by a bona fide guru, the fruit of his activities will only be worldly. Intoxicated by sense enjoyment such a person may think himself happy, but he will not be actually happy. It is therefore stated in sastra:

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krishna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

(Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya-lila 19.151)

“According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Krishna. By the mercy of both Krishna and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.”

What is the meaning of guru-krishna-prasade? This generally means that one can attain the bhakti-lata-bija – the seed of parabhakti – by the combined mercy of guru and Krishna. In this connection, however, there is another meaning. Here the meaning is that the bona fide guru is a manifestation of Krishna Himself. Krishna does not come to us, but the guru may come, as Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja came and traveled everywhere. You should realize that the mercy of Krishna first manifests as the mercy of guru. From the bona fide guru, who is Krishna Himself as His manifestation (asrayavigraha), we can have the seed of bhakti. What is the the seed of bhakti? It is krishna-seva-vasana, the desire to serve Krishna. This desire will come only from gurudeva, the bona fide Vaishnava, and it does not matter whether he is acting as a siksha-guru or a diksha-guru. He may act as a siksha-guru in the case of a disciple who is initiated by a bona fide guru but he cannot avail his siksha. The seed of the bhakti creeper comes from this high class of gurudeva, and that is why sastra states:

yasya deve para bhaktir
yatha deve tatha gurau
tasyaite kathita hy arthah
prakasante mahatmanah

One can know who is Krishna only from gurudeva, and if a guru is not bona fide, Krishna cannot be known. Among the 64 limbs of bhakti described in Sri Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, the first four are in relation to sri gurudeva. The first is guru-padasraya, which means acceptance of the shelter of the lotus feet of gurudeva, and that shelter is taken through hearing. That is harinama initiation in the real sense. Those who take shelter of such a guru can progress quickly in bhakti. After guru-padasraya, there is diksha and siksha. Diksha means initiation and siksha means instruction. The disciple will begin to understand his gurudeva’s instructions, and then he will try to follow them. You should take initiation from that guru, but be very careful. If a guru is bona fide and you have some doubt in his character or teachings, Krishna will never accept you.

yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasado
yasyaprasadan na gatih kuto ’pi
dhyayam stuvams tasya yasas tri-sandhyam
vande guroh sri-caranaravindam

(Sri Gurvashtakam 8)

“Only by the mercy of sri gurudeva can one receive the mercy of Krishna; without his grace the living entities cannot make any advancement or be delivered. I meditate three times a day on the glories of sri gurudeva and recite stava-stuti (prayers) unto his lotus feet.”

ajnas casraddadhanas ca
samsayatma vinasyati
nayam loko ’sti na paro
na sukham samsayatmanah

(Bhagavad-gita 4.40)

“Ignorant and faithless persons who doubt the revealed scriptures do not attain God consciousness; they fall down. For the doubting soul there is happiness neither in this world nor in the next.”

Suppose a guru is bona fide, and he is preaching and serving his gurudeva. If anyone doubts him and thinks, “My gurudeva is an ordinary man and he does not know this and that,” or “I know better than him, at least in ordinary matters,” that person falls down from Krishna consciousness and no one will be able to save him. We should be very careful not to associate with such a person. Also, do not associate with anyone who associates with that type of wretched person. Try to behave as you would behave regarding the passing of stool. If we can pass stool easily, we are very happy. We feel great relief if there is a motion. If the stool remains inside the body, we will be restless. We will not be able to do bhakti or anything else. Similarly, you will surely have to give up bad association for your entire life. If you want bhakti, if you want to become Krishna conscious, then do not mix with those persons who doubt a guru who is bona fide, who is serving his gurudeva, and who is preaching throughout the world.

And also another example:

Have you heard of Upamanyu? His guru once told him,

“Oh, you go out to graze cows all day and you do not bring with you anything to eat, and yet you are very healthy and fat.
Why is that? Do you drink milk from the cows’ udders?”

Upamanyu replied, “Yes I do.”

His guru told him, “Don’t drink it anymore,”

But he did not tell him what he would be allowed to eat or drink. During
the next days, Upamanyu continued to go out. After some days his
guru said,

“You still look very fat. Are you drinking milk? What are
you doing?”

Upamanyu told him,

“I am only eating the foam that accumulates on the mouth of the cows – nothing else.”

His guru then asked him,

“Have I told you to eat that? Don’t eat it.”

Then, without Upamanyu asking what to eat and without his gurudeva telling him what he would be allowed to eat, gurudeva went away. His gurudeva was not actually displeased with him. He was only acting displeased in order to test his disciple’s obedience. On the next day the cows returned without Upamanyu, and his guru went out in search for him. He called out,

“Upamanyu, where are you? Where are you?”

He heard a sound from the well, and that sound was the voice of Upamanyu calling,

“Gurudeva, I am here in this well.”

Gurudeva asked,

“What are you doing in there?”

Upamanyu replied,

“Gurudeva, you told me not to take milk or foam. So I became so hungry that I drank the milk of a leaf of an ekwan plant – and then I discovered that it was poisonous. By drinking it, I became totally blind.”

Now showing his pleasure, Upamanyu’s guru said,

“You have followed my instructions!”

He took him out of the well and blessed him by saying,

“All the knowledge of the Vedas will now enter your heart.”

Then, at once, all the scriptures (like Srutis, Vedas, Upanishads) and all varieties of knowledge were inspired in his heart. In the history of Aruni, and also in the history of Sudama and Krishna, we find similar miraculous results as the fruit of surrender to sri gurudeva. There is no possibility of attaining bhakti if we do not totally follow our gurudeva.

As I have repeated many times before, the teachings about the positions of the guru taught in sastra, or by past acharyas, are relative to the kala, desa, patra — time, place and circumstance, and person. In the pre-modern age the written word was very rare, only a few knew how to read sanskrit in comparison to the whole of Indian society, and the tradition was therefore mostly an oral one.

Brahmins were supposed to be trained in memorizing the sastra, then they would teach Vedanta to the rest of society. Brahmins were the gurus of society. Of course not all brahmins were qualified to be spiritual masters. But the ones that were is what sastra and past acharyas speak of. Because they were repositories of Vedic knowledge, and because they were the sole source for most everyone for comprehensive Vedanta, therefore they are given great emphasis as the most important people in society. They were to be respected as God because they were the sole source, for most everyone, for God’s instructions from sastra.

Sastra says the guru is to be seen as God’s representative because they were walking talking sastra. Almost everyone was completely dependent on gurus for knowledge on self-realization and Vedic tattva. Surrendering to them was meant in the context of a teacher/student relationship, and service to them was guru-daksina, payment in kind for the guru’s services, i.e. teaching you. That guru-daksina could be in physical service or it could be in gifts. If you were poor you would do some service for the guru, or his family if he was married. If you could afford it you would give the guru money and gifts.

It was all about making sure the guru didn’t have to make a living other than by teaching. You paid the guru just like you pay to go to the university today. It wasn’t about what so many modern gurus teach today, where they interpret surrender and submission and service to a guru to mean giving your entire life as a slave to a guru. Surrender and submission originally meant to surrender your time to learn the teachings of the guru, and to submit to what he taught, e.g. chanting, meditation, archana, yajna, etc.

All of that reality changed once mass communication made sastra easily available for most people. Modern technology combined with translations of sastra has made the teachings on the necessity of a guru found in sastra and from previous acharyas — no longer relevant. We are no longer dependent on an oral tradition, therefore we are no longer dependent on the keepers of that tradition.

But today we see that most all gurus will not admit that reality, in fact they go in the extreme opposite direction, insisting that even if you have all the knowledge and mantras necessary, that without surrendering to and serving a guru, you still cannot advance, your mantras will be useless, and Krishna will despise or ignore you.

That is ignorance and or exploitation Raghavendu, nothing more, nothing less.

Next I wanted to showcase how Narayana Maharaja’s English lectures are changed when they are transcribed. I don’t speak Hindi so I can’t judge his Hindi to English transcriptions, nor his transcriptions into other langauges.

What follows is a comparison between his actual words and what appears on his website as a transcription of the same part of the same lecture. This is mostly about guru-tattva according to Narayana Maharaja. The part in bold is what Narayana Maharaja actually says, the other part is what is transcribed on his website.

If Sri Krsna is embracing Srimati Radhika or kissing Her, it may seem like mundane lust, but there is so much difference between the two.

If Krsna is embracing Radhika, making (hindi word, someone from audience says “kissing”) what is that? They say like, mundane prem. But so much difference, so much difference.

Raganuga sadhana-bhajana is more powerful then vaidhi sadhana. I have told you so many truths about this topic, and about the sweet pastimes of Krsna and Srimati Radhika.

So, raganuga sadhana-bhajana is more powerful then vaidhi sadhana. I’m telling so many things about these things. Sweet pastimes of Krsna and Radhika.

I have explained to you Caitanya-caritamrta; that is, Raya Ramananda Samvad, Rupa-siksa, Sanatana-siksa and so many other topics. You should understand that all these topics are raganuga.

I’m telling you Caitanya Caritamrta. Ramananda Samvad, Rupa-siksa, Sanatana-siksa, so many things. All are raganuga, you should understand.

If you are sincere, loyal to Guru and our scriptures like Srimad-Bhagavatam and others, and have no envy towards anyone, you can very quickly achieve this path of raganuga.”

Very soon it will take you, if you are sincere, loyal to guru, loyal to all these scriptures, Srimad Bhagavatam and others, no (hindi word, someone in audience says “envy”) to anyone, then very soon, you can achieve this raganuga marg.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura writes in his book, Bhagavata-arka-marici-mala, “First I will first explain vaidhi-bhakti, and then raganuga-bhakti.” He quotes the following verse:

nr-deham adyam su-labham su-durlabham
plavam su-kalpam guru-karnadharam
mayanukulena nabhasvateritam
puman bhavabdhim na taret sa atma-ha

First I will tell, on vaidhi bhakti, who is telling? Bhaktivinoda Thakura. First I will tell something about vaidhi bhakti and then I will about raganuga.

(has conversation with devotees about having a kirtan, then they have kirtan, when kirtan ends he starts chanting this verse)

nr-deham adyam su-labham su-durlabham
plavam su-kalpam guru-karnadharam
mayanukulena nabhasvateritam
puman bhavabdhim na taret sa atma-ha

In this verse Srila Sukadeva Gosvami is indicating to Maharaja Pariksit, “Katvanga Maharaja attained Krsna-bhakti and went to Vaikuntha in only twelve minutes. You have seven days left to live, and so you can achieve more than he did.”

Sukadeva Goswami is telling to Pariksit “If Katvanga may can have Krsna bhakti, and went to where? Vaikuntha, in only twelve minutes, You have seven days, You have seven days, oh, you can do more than him?

In this human form of life you can fulfill all your desires. Although it is very rare to attain this human form, we now have it.

nr-deham adyam su-labham su-durlabham, this human form, adyam, by this you can fulfill all you desires, su-durlabham, nr-deham, su-labham. Very, very, rare, what, now that he have human form. And how? (talks with devotees about some music he hears in the background) What is this?

“Plavam” – to cross a river or ocean, a very strong boat is needed, and this human form is compared to that well-constructed boat.

This is durla labham, so durlabham plavam. Sukadeva (garbled word) to cross a river or ocean, very strong boat is needed.

“Guru karnadharam” – if you are sitting on a boat that is without a captain, you will drown in the ocean.

So this is boat, and guru karnadharam, if boat is there, and he was sitting on that, (someone from audience says “and no captain”) and no captain, that will be, oh, you’ll drown, in ocean.

You have received a very elevated Guru, like Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja, like our guru-parampara, like Srila Rupa Gosvami and others.

So guru karnadharam, like shipyard, very high class of guru, like Swamiji, like your all guru parampara Rupa Goswami and others.

Sri Guru is very expert in sailing the boat and giving directions, telling us where to go. He will say, “Our goal is radha-dasyam. Our boat will go there.”

He’s karnadharam, very expert in sailing boat, giving direction, giving direction where? His goal is back to God, that I told, Of Krs, Radha dasyam, our boat will go there.

“Mayanukulena” – if there are favorable winds and the boat has good sails, and if the boatman is very expert, we will cross the river or ocean in no time.

And guru is very expert, mayanukulena. If, there is terrible wind, and we have, sail, in no time we cross. (hindi or sanskrit garbled) and with very fast, (hindi or sanskrit garbled) what is that? (sanskrit word) sadhu sanga.

I have given you very high sadhu-sanga. Having all these facilities and favorable situations, if you do not take advantage, you will be hurled into the cycle of endless birth and death – coming, going, coming, going – for many future births.

You see? How boat is sadhu sanga? Having all these facilities and favorable things, you have all, but (sanskrit word) if you are not crossing (people give suggestions for words) what, what, (garbled sanskrit) endless (garbled sanskrit) coming going, coming going, endless, and in front of us, future, also many. No end, but guru he is expertive, anukula, by he is there, sadhu sanga is there, boat in no time you can cross.

Despite having all these facilities, if you are envious, if you are quarrelling with others, criticizing others and always searching for some hole in others; if you are not seeing what you yourself are doing wrong, you will be committing spiritual suicide. You will be the killer of your own soul, and others’ as well

And those having all these facilities quarreling themself, have envious, criticizing others, not seen to us them what I’m doing. Wrong, but always searching some hole in others, then what will be? Atmaha, atmaha means? all suicide. You’re suiciding your own soul and others also.

This next bit is from the same lecture a little further along where he talks more about guru-tattva:

Don’t have any duplicity. Don’t try to hide anything from Gurudeva. Totally surrender to him. All your actions should be to please that perfect Guru.

Don’t have any (hindi) malice (someone in audience says duplicity) duplicity. Anything, nothing, amaya niskapa, impure way, nothing hiding anything from gurudeva, totally surrendered. Always, his all action will be to please gurudeva.

The real Guru is not an ordinary human being, like so-called gurus here and there.

And gurudevas will be also standard, not like here and there.

If one opens his heart to that bona fide Guru, without hiding anything, he will then open his own heart; he will give everything to that surrendered disciple.

And then (hindi or sanskrit) without him hiding anything, purely. And then, what gurudeva will tell? Then he will open his heart, and give everything to them.

On the other hand, to those who try to hide something, that Guru, who has learned everything from “tricky” Krsna, will also be very “tricky.”

And those who will hide something, he’s expert, in (hindi or sanskrit) because gurudeva has learned everything from tricky Krsna (laughter from audience)

Sri Guru has two forms. One is God, Krsna, and one is Krsna’s devotee. Krsna is most rasika and has all other unfathomable qualities.

Then he can to see (sanskrit) atma, atma (sanskrit) means Krsna. He’s most rasik, he’s everything. (sanskrit) nothing (sanskrit) so, you should have strong belief in this things and have such kind of faith in guru.