R-s 5a ✨ By the Mercy of Guru and Kṛṣṇa...

❧ Cc Madhya 19.151 ❧

So now we come to the one of the most famous verses of Rūpa-śikṣā:

brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
While wandering throughout this universe, some fortunate jīva,

guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
by the mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa, attains the seed of the vine of devotion.

(Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 19.151)

There is so much to say on this verse. If I didn’t have this Rūpa-śikṣā program organized to end on Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s disappearance day, I would have given an extra week to this verse.

First we’ll go the basic meaning of the words in the verse and then I’ll share my thoughts.

Verse explanation

brahmāṇḍa means “the universe” and bhramite means “while wandering”, so:
brahmāṇḍa bhramite—while wondering throughout this universe

kona—some, a certain

bhāgyavān jīva—fortunate jīva,

guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde—by the prasāda (mercy) of guru and Kṛṣṇa,

pāya—he attains, gets, receives

bhakti-latā-bīja—The seed (bīja) the seed of the vine (latā) of devotion (bhakti)

The word bhāgyavān

Let’s look at this suffix -vān. When you add vān to the end of nouns, it means possessor of. This is a masculine suffix, the feminine equivalent is -vatī.

So some examples are:

artha (money, wealth) + vān (arthavān) = rich, wealthy

aiśvarya (majesty) + vān = majestic

jñāna (wisdom, knowledge) + vān = wise, learned

dhairya (patience) + vān = patient

puṇya (virtue, piety) + vān = pious, virtuous

putra (son) + vān = someone who has a son or sons

bhaga (opulence) + vān = He who possesses the six bhagas in entirety: all beauty, all wealth, all strength, all fame, all knowledge, and all renunciation.  The Lord!

bhāgya (fortune) + vān = fortunate

What makes the jīva bhāgyavān, fortunate? Where does his fortune arise from? The accumulation of sukṛti. There is a beautiful article by Srila Trivikrama Gosvami Maharaja, which contains one of the best descriptions of sukṛti I have ever seen. He tells the story of Mṛgāri the hunter in vivid detail: how cruel he was and how Nārada was heartbroken seeing all these victims of Mṛgāri’s cruelty—everywhere half-killed animals writhing in agony.

How is it that sometimes wicked people take to bhakti immediately after coming in contact with a sādhu and are transformed into pure devotees, whereas seemingly good, pious people who may have lots of exposure to devotees don’t take to bhakti for many lifetimes? How is it fair that the wicked person is the one who is bhāgyavān, but the pious person isn’t? Sukṛti is an amazing thing. This article is so good, I decided to record myself reading it and I uploaded it to Vine of Devotion. You can watch it here:

So why is this particular jīva bhāgyavān? He got something very special by the mercy of Guru and Kṛṣṇa.

Guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde

Guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde – by the mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa. See how these three words are connected by hyphens? So that’s a samāsa like we talked about before. They are taken as a single unit. Prasāda means mercy and prasāde, (the ‘e’ at the end) makes it become “by the mercy”.

By the mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa he attains the bhakti-latā-bīja.

So why does it say Guru and Kṛṣṇa? This is answered in Srila Prabhupada’s purport on this verse. I’m sharing the full purport below:

Śrīla Prabhupāda's Purport

❝When we speak of brahmāṇḍa, we refer to the whole universe, or to the cluster of many millions of universes. In all the universes there are innumerable planets, and there are innumerable living entities upon those planets — in the air, on land and in the water. There are millions and trillions of living entities everywhere, and they are engaged by māyā in suffering and enjoying the results of their fruitive activity, life after life. This is the position of the materially conditioned living entities. Out of many of these living entities, one who is actually fortunate (bhāgyavān) comes in contact with a bona fide spiritual master by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy.

Kṛṣṇa is situated in everyone’s heart, and if one desires something, Kṛṣṇa fulfills one’s desire. If the living entity by chance or fortune comes in contact with the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and wishes to associate with that movement, Kṛṣṇa, who is situated in everyone’s heart, gives him the chance to meet a bona fide spiritual master. This is called guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāda. Kṛṣṇa is prepared to bestow His mercy upon all living entities, and as soon as a living entity desires the Lord’s mercy, the Lord immediately gives him an opportunity to meet a bona fide spiritual master. Such a fortunate person is fortified by both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master. He is helped from within by Kṛṣṇa and from without by the spiritual master. Both are prepared to help the sincere living being become free from material bondage.

How one can become this fortunate can be seen in the life of Śrīla Nārada Muni. In his previous life he was born of a maidservant. Although he was not born into a prestigious position, his mother was fortunately engaged in rendering service to some Vaiṣṇavas. When these Vaiṣṇavas were resting during the Cāturmāsya period, the boy Nārada took the opportunity to engage in their service. Taking compassion upon the boy, the Vaiṣṇavas offered him the remnants of their food. By serving these Vaiṣṇavas and obeying their orders, the boy became the object of their sympathy, and by the Vaiṣṇavas’ unknown mercy, he gradually became a pure devotee. In the next life he was Nārada Muni, the most exalted of Vaiṣṇavas and the most important guru and ācārya of Vaiṣṇavas.

Following in the footsteps of Nārada Muni, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is rendering service to humanity by giving everyone a chance to come in contact with Kṛṣṇa. If one is fortunate, he becomes intimately related with this movement. Then, by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, one’s life becomes successful. Everyone has dormant kṛṣṇa-bhakti — love for Kṛṣṇa — and in the association of good devotees, that love is revealed. As stated in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 22.107):

nitya-siddha-kṛṣṇa-prema ‘sādhya’ kabhu naya
śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya

Dormant devotional service to Kṛṣṇa is within everyone. Simply by associating with devotees, hearing their good instructions and chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, dormant love for Kṛṣṇa is awakened. In this way one acquires the seed of devotional service. Guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja.❞

The process to find guru and the importance of brutal self-assessment

Śrīla Prabhupāda here explains the process to find a spiritual master. If I try to find a spiritual master on my own without depending on Kṛṣṇa’s prasāda (mercy), I’ll simply end up selecting someone who pleases me, makes me happy, someone I like. But my emotions and material judgment so often deceive me. It is very difficult to tell what feelings I experience are coming from a pure place, from the mercy of bhakti, and what feelings I think are coming from the mercy of bhakti, but are actually born of my own selfish hankerings.

A friend of mine, after watching the previous video I made here, said he thought that some of the things I was saying was almost like a form of “soft ritvikism”, especially that part in regard to hearing a conditioned soul, becoming attracted and wanting to give my heart to him, I acted out: “Oh, such beautiful harikatha with the conclusions of sastras so perfectly presented, oh he has so many nice devotional qualities, etc. etc.” and then I said, “may I never become allured like this and fall into such a trap.” So he disagreed with how I was implying this skepticism, withholding one’s faith from everyone like that. He said it doesn’t need to be so black and white.

So I’d like to explain myself a little more, and I don’t think this is entirely off-topic. It’s related to this guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde.

Back many years ago, I came to the realization that… I have bad taste in harikathā. (Of course pure harikatha is directly, Kṛṣṇa Himself. I’m using the word in a general sense to mean devotional classes.)

The time I realized I had bad taste like this is when I was going to hear from someone I understand to be a mahā-bhāgavata. How can a kanistha like me recognise a mahā-bhāgavat, when I’m not able to discern who’s on what level? This is beautifully answered by my Paramgurudeva, but that’s a topic for another time. So anyways, this great Vaiṣṇava was giving class and I would sometimes get really bored. And boy, would I die of embarrassment when anyone asked me what the class was about afterwards! There would be an awkward silence, because… I usually didn’t catch much. I would catch my mind though, wandering all over the place during his classes. Obviously, there was nothing lacking his class. In fact, his classes were infinitely more powerful than the classes from the many harikathā speakers I’d so love to listen to and would pay rapt attention to with deep relish.

Just like the supremely, sweet, pure kṛṣṇa-nāma tastes bitter to someone afflicted with jaundice, sometimes the supremely, sweet, pure harikathā of even one of Krsna’s direct companions tastes bitter to a jaundiced person like me.

What do I consider a good class? What makes me feel inspired and love it? When someone is able to present complex devotional topics, tattva, all clearly backed by śāstra — pulling especially from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the Sandarbhas, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, and our ācāryas coming after him — and lay it all out in a very clear, logical and easy to understand way so I’m able to leave the class feeling that I’ve learned a lot that I wouldn’t have been able to figure out on my own. I especially love it when the points in the class are made relevant to my own life with nice examples, and the speaker is a good person that I like and look up to, although I am aware that the person is a conditioned soul. (We know how rare it is to find someone who is not.) So I feel invigorated after listening to these kinds of classes. Sometimes the class causes me to feel deep emotion. I might get teary-eyed. I’ll get a desire to chant more, become more serious in bhakti. It’s a similar case with kirtan for me.

So this isn’t a bad thing. We are meant to gather together with like-minded devotees and engage in speaking and listening to harikathā in this way. But a tendency I know I have in myself—and I’ve seen in many others—is that I have a need and hankering to put my faith in someone somewhere. When I say faith, I don’t use the word lightly. In the next video we’ll go through how śraddhā, faith, and śaraṇāgati, surrender, are synonymous.

If someone is helping to inspire us in our spiritual life, we should surely have gratitude and appreciation, but offering our deep, heartfelt śraddhā is another thing. And sometimes a conditioned soul can slowly make his or her way into our heart without us even realizing it. I’ve seen it happen so many times—it’s actually been happening in a big way now—that this can cause devotees on a much higher level than I am, to leave the conceptions and teachings they have received from our guru-varga.

“But this kathā is inspiring me in bhakti. What is wrong with that? Ok, I know this person isn’t perfect, but I’m not leaving the shelter of Śrīla Gurudeva and the Vaiṣṇavas.”

Lots of times, we can be overly confident in our ability to properly discern the situation. The fact is my judgment is often poor. Just because someone is inspiring me and causing me to feel something “deep”, doesn’t mean that I’m moving in the right direction.

Sometimes I even feel deep emotion when I watch an intense drama film based on real events. I realize that this world is a terrible place, life is short, what am I doing wasting my time?! and I go to pick up my japa-mālā. This blockbuster movie made me cry and it inspired me to pick up my bead-bag and seriously chant. Does that mean watching movies like this is favorable for developing bhakti and I should keep watching?

“Ok, but this case is different because the person I’m listening to has such a vast knowledge of śāstra, and everything he says is coming from authoritative sources. He’s not speaking any of his own stuff.”

This is the most dangerous one because the damage being done inside is undetectable. Someone may seem to be following perfect sadācāra (pure conduct) and speaking so “authentically”, and so that person will gain my trust and have special, secret access into my heart. He’ll be able to make his way deep within there and plant poisonous things that will grow slowly and eventually cause me to doubt the teachings of śrī gurudeva and Vaiṣṇavas without my even knowing it. I shared a strong, eye-opening quote on this topic from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada in the Rūpa-śikṣā commencement video.

That’s why I need to depend on the direction of antaryāmi, the Lord within the heart. And if one has a mahā-bhāgavat guru, then that śrī guru is also antaryāmi; the pure Vaiṣṇava is antaryāmi. I have to be careful of what I happen to be feeling at any given moment and what attracts me. Kṛṣṇa’s guidance within, the caitya-guru in my heart, is much more deep than my own feelings and judgment.

Again, just to be absolutely clear, I’m not at all saying that we should never hear from or associate with a devotee who is not a mahā-bhāgavata and that we should be constantly looking at each person with critical, skeptical vision. We would be a real lonely, miserable bunch if that was our policy. But what I’ve understood from all the classes, articles and letters I’ve read from my Gurudeva, Śrīla Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja, my Paramgurudeva, Prabhupāda, Śrīla Śrīdhara Gosvāmī Mahārāja, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda and the rest of our guru-varga is how we always have to very deeply and carefully examine our heart and be completely brutal in our assessment of what’s going on there. And we need to be regularly and sincerely reading these articles and books they left for us, which give us the guidelines for how to brutally assess ourselves. We assess ourselves through their words. Also, we need mature, like-minded devotees to call out our BS. Otherwise, it’s very likely that while I’m thinking I’m doing pretty good in my spiritual life, I’m in fact moving off this razor-edge narrow path of bhakti. I’ll consider what is not bhakti developing in me to be bhakti. So vando mui sāvadhana-mate.

Only through the mercy of guru...

Just one more quick thing on the mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa. So it is by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa that we get guru and  by the mercy of guru that we get Krsna. We talked about the first part, but not the second part.

I heard a nice explanation of the first verse of Gurvastakam, where it is said that guru is a heavy, condensed rain cloud of mercy. I’m being scorched by this blazing forest fire of material existence (saṁsāra dāvānala). I need water, but how can I get it? I'm dying of thirst! But there is water everywhere. This is a water-based planet, right? Our bodies are made mostly of water. There are water molecules floating in the air everywhere. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is everywhere. In verse 143, we heard how our very composition, substance, is coming from Kṛṣṇa. So how can a person dying of thirst access the water that is all around in the air everywhere? All these little floating water molecules need to be condensed together. So the water of Kṛṣṇa’s mercy condenses together in the form of guru, the kāruṇya-ghanaghana – condensed rain-cloud of mercy. Then śrī guru showers that rain of his mercy on us and we are relieved of our miserable condition. This is guru-kṛṣṇa-prasād. There are other important explanations on guru-kṛṣṇa-prasād, but I don’t want this to become too lengthy.

What we'll discuss in the next articles

By the mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa, what does this fortunate jīva get? The bhakti-latā-bīja, the seed of the vine of devotion.

Sometimes we hear our guru-varga say that this seed is śraddhā (faith), and sometimes we hear from them this seed is kṛṣṇa-sevā-vāsanā (the tendency to serve Kṛṣṇa). So what is it? It is both. We’ll get into that in the next article and also discuss all the various definitions and explanations in the scriptures on what is śraddhā.

One thing in this verse that is sometimes misunderstood is this word pāya. Pāya means receives, gets. So if someone “gets” the seed of the vine of devotion by the mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa, then that must mean that the seed wasn’t already there, right? How can you get it if it is already there?  So then does that mean that before coming in contact with śrī guru our soul is just an empty spiritual shell with a sense of I, but with no inherent tendency to serve Kṛṣṇa?

That, also, we’ll briefly discuss in the next one.