Without The Mercy of Gurudev, Everything is Zero
Those who are attracted to Śrīla Guru Mahārāj's lectures through video or personally know that he always quotes this verse from Śrī Gurv Aṣṭakam (Verse 7):
sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair
uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ
kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya
vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam
In translation, it says that Śrī Guru, the Spiritual Master is to be honored as much as the Supreme Lord because he is the most confidential servitor of the Lord. This is acknowledged in all revealed scriptures and approved by all ācāryas. Therefore I offer my obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a spiritual master who is a bonafide representative of Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
His dedication and love for his Gurudev Śrīla Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāj are completely sublime, he is so touched, he is so in love with his Gurudev that he practically cries when he thinks about Gurudev. I also have, not very much as compared to him, but I have some connection with him, I do have affection for him; I do love him actually.
Some devotees come from different backgrounds, especially foreign devotees who are actually brought up with Western education. For example, I am brought up in Malaysia and Singapore and we are a British colony; we are bombarded by all kinds of education from the Western world. One of the things we are taught in Western education is that to be successful in life you should be self-confident and have self-esteem. There is some truth in these words that I can talk about a little later, I do not want to get sidetracked from what I want to say.
But Gurudev has so much confidence and so much relation with his Gurudev Śrīla Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāj that he is so dependent on him and he cries a lot whenever he prays in front of his Gurudev. So regarding this particular verse that I mentioned earlier [Śrī Śrī Gurv Aṣṭakam, Verse 7] we should treat and feel, to treat is one thing and you talk about is another thing, to feel that Gurudev, your Śrīla Gurudev is actually in the same platform or even better platform than Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself. Your relationship with Gurudev is so strong, so meaningful, also connected to your desire to be close to him and depend on him. Just as we should be dependent on Kṛṣṇa we are also dependent on Gurudev.
Now for people who are as western educated as I am, we are talking exactly more or less the opposite, like I can do everything by myself, I am confident by myself that I can do what I want. If I want to learn something I can learn it myself, I can do something, whatever I do I can do, I have the power to change myself and nothing is further needed than this truth. But the truth is that we are nothing. We cannot learn about Kṛṣṇa without Gurudev and his mercy— that must be sunk into our heads, and not only to be sunk into our heads but actualized. In that state, our actions and thoughts radiate in such a way that you are thinking Kṛṣṇa or Gurudev, you are my savior—I cannot do without you, I simply cannot do without you. So, that feeling must come and so it is almost the opposite of what we have been taught in western education.
I will debate a little here. Now in the Western culture, especially the teenagers are saying what is wrong with not having fun? I like to have fun, I just want to have fun and they say it so many times like a mantra; it is a part of their culture. If you want to receive the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, you want to elevate yourself to the spiritual world, it is exactly opposite—you do not want to have fun for yourself but you want to serve Kṛṣṇa, you want to serve Gurudev, you want to serve, that is the attitude, we should reach that sentiment. Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj used to say these very grave words: if you do not see Kṛṣṇa or follow Kṛṣṇa, then your spiritual life is zero, zero, zero. He repeated three times— zero, zero, zero.
We must reach the attitude that without the help, without the mercy of Gurudev, without the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, everything is zero. And Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Mahārāj would repeatedly say zero, zero, zero. And this is something that every one of us must try not to just listen to but feel. That is why when you read the poems of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākur, Śrīla Narottam Das Ṭhākur, and even the speeches of Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj they always convey feeling so small and their humility is so great that you cannot imagine a person with western education can feel that way. So I feel whatever I say is probably very strong but I have to say this.
sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair
uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ
kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya
vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam
In translation, it says that Śrī Guru, the Spiritual Master is to be honored as much as the Supreme Lord because he is the most confidential servitor of the Lord. This is acknowledged in all revealed scriptures and approved by all ācāryas. Therefore I offer my obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a spiritual master who is a bonafide representative of Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
His dedication and love for his Gurudev Śrīla Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāj are completely sublime, he is so touched, he is so in love with his Gurudev that he practically cries when he thinks about Gurudev. I also have, not very much as compared to him, but I have some connection with him, I do have affection for him; I do love him actually.
Some devotees come from different backgrounds, especially foreign devotees who are actually brought up with Western education. For example, I am brought up in Malaysia and Singapore and we are a British colony; we are bombarded by all kinds of education from the Western world. One of the things we are taught in Western education is that to be successful in life you should be self-confident and have self-esteem. There is some truth in these words that I can talk about a little later, I do not want to get sidetracked from what I want to say.
But Gurudev has so much confidence and so much relation with his Gurudev Śrīla Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāj that he is so dependent on him and he cries a lot whenever he prays in front of his Gurudev. So regarding this particular verse that I mentioned earlier [Śrī Śrī Gurv Aṣṭakam, Verse 7] we should treat and feel, to treat is one thing and you talk about is another thing, to feel that Gurudev, your Śrīla Gurudev is actually in the same platform or even better platform than Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself. Your relationship with Gurudev is so strong, so meaningful, also connected to your desire to be close to him and depend on him. Just as we should be dependent on Kṛṣṇa we are also dependent on Gurudev.
Now for people who are as western educated as I am, we are talking exactly more or less the opposite, like I can do everything by myself, I am confident by myself that I can do what I want. If I want to learn something I can learn it myself, I can do something, whatever I do I can do, I have the power to change myself and nothing is further needed than this truth. But the truth is that we are nothing. We cannot learn about Kṛṣṇa without Gurudev and his mercy— that must be sunk into our heads, and not only to be sunk into our heads but actualized. In that state, our actions and thoughts radiate in such a way that you are thinking Kṛṣṇa or Gurudev, you are my savior—I cannot do without you, I simply cannot do without you. So, that feeling must come and so it is almost the opposite of what we have been taught in western education.
I will debate a little here. Now in the Western culture, especially the teenagers are saying what is wrong with not having fun? I like to have fun, I just want to have fun and they say it so many times like a mantra; it is a part of their culture. If you want to receive the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, you want to elevate yourself to the spiritual world, it is exactly opposite—you do not want to have fun for yourself but you want to serve Kṛṣṇa, you want to serve Gurudev, you want to serve, that is the attitude, we should reach that sentiment. Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj used to say these very grave words: if you do not see Kṛṣṇa or follow Kṛṣṇa, then your spiritual life is zero, zero, zero. He repeated three times— zero, zero, zero.
We must reach the attitude that without the help, without the mercy of Gurudev, without the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, everything is zero. And Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Mahārāj would repeatedly say zero, zero, zero. And this is something that every one of us must try not to just listen to but feel. That is why when you read the poems of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākur, Śrīla Narottam Das Ṭhākur, and even the speeches of Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj they always convey feeling so small and their humility is so great that you cannot imagine a person with western education can feel that way. So I feel whatever I say is probably very strong but I have to say this.
Yesterday I was saying to Śrī Rasbihāri Prabhu about trillionaires. A trillion is what you call crore in India; one crore is ten million. I say that in this world at this moment at the present time you can have millionaires and billionaires, there is not a single trillionaire in the entire world right now, on this planet. I consider that Śrīmad Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj is more than a trillionaire, I do not mean in dollars but in terms of how great he is. So, this is how I treat Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj. He is such a great person, not an ordinary person at all.
Actually in many ways Srila Gurudeva is greater than Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself because he blessed me so much. Kṛṣṇa cannot come to me directly because I am so low down, but Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj showed me mercy.
—Śrī Vidyāpati Prabhu
Spoken in English. Transcribed and lightly edited from Vraja-kathamrita Webinar #5. 22.4.2021 facilitated by Rādhāmādhava Das
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