Guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpayā pāya bhakti-latā bīja.
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta)
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, Śrīla Prabhupāda, once said that religion without philosophy is fanaticism and philosophy without religion is mental speculation. For a sincere student engaged in God realization, major philosophical points should be understood in the light of the guru, scripture and practical devotional service. One of the first points to understand is the position of the spiritual master. How is he related to Kṛṣṇa? Is he Kṛṣṇa? Is he an ordinary man? How should the disciple approach him? How can one know that the spiritual master is bona fide? What is the duty of the spiritual master? What are his symptoms? These and other questions concerning the spiritual master and Kṛṣna are discussed herein by way of authoritative evidence compiled from the writings of Śrīla Prabhupāda, the spiritual master himself. (Page references are given for his books.) In addition to rendering devotional service to Kṛṣṇa through the spiritual master, the student should come to a philosophical understanding—based on scripture—of his own identity and the identity of the Supreme Person, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and His emissary, the bona fide spiritual master. This understanding should correlate with the basic teachings of the spiritual master and other great saints and sages.
The Ultimate Truth
In the Fourth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa informs Arjuna that one should learn the Absolute Truth by approaching a spiritual master. “Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master, inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.” (Bg. 4.34) As a result of approaching a spiritual master, the disciple is benedicted with the truth by the mercy of the spiritual master. And what is the ultimate truth to be realized? It is this: Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or, as stated by Śrī Kṛṣṇa in Bhagavad-gītā: “And when you have thus learned the truth, you will know that all living beings are My parts and parcels—and that they are in Me, and are Mine.” (Bg. 4.35) What is the result of this knowledge? Śrī Kṛṣṇa also gives this information: “He who knows in truth this glory and power of Mine engages in unalloyed devotional service; of this there is no doubt. I am the source of everything; from Me the entire creation flows. Knowing this, the wise worship Me with all their hearts. Their thoughts dwell in Me, their lives are surrendered to Me, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss enlightening one another and conversing about Me.” (Bg. 10.7–9)
Definition Of Krsna
One will never make a mistake about the identity of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa if one has a good idea of what is meant by Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. “When we speak of Kṛṣṇa we refer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, along with His many expansions. He is expanded by His plenary parts and parcels, His differentiated parts and parcels and His different energies. Kṛṣṇa, in other words, means everything and includes everything. Generally, however, we should understand Kṛṣṇa to mean Kṛṣṇa and His personal expansions. Kṛṣṇa expands Himself as Baladeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Vāsudeva, Aniruddha, Pradyumna, Rāma, Nṛsiṁha and Varāha, as well as many other incarnations and innumerable Viṣṇu expansions. These are described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to be as numerous as the uncountable waves. So Kṛṣṇa includes all such expansions, as well as His pure devotees.” (The Nectar of Devotion, xxi) Thus the pure devotees, some of whom are spiritual masters, are part of the internal energy of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, but they are certainly not the totality of His internal energy. They are subordinate. “The relationship of the living entities, therefore, is to be always subordinate to the Supreme Lord, as with the master and the servant, or the teacher and the taught.” (Bg., p. 71)
No one knows the extent of the energy of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, not even His pure devotees. As is stated by the Lord Himself: “Neither the hosts of demigods nor the great sages know My origin; for, in every respect, I am the source of the demigods and the sages.” (Bg. 10.2) Although no one can understand the extent of the Lord’s glory, nor of the origin of the Lord, who has no beginning, still it is stated, “The devotees of the Lord surrender unto Kṛṣṇa and are thus able to understand Him.” (Bg., p. 209) Thus by “Kṛṣṇa” we refer to the Supreme Entity and His activities. “… In the Vedic literature, whether the Upaniṣads or the Vedānta-sūtras or the Bhagavad-gītā or the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in every scripture it is declared that the Lord is the sentient Being, supreme over all other living entities. And His glorious activities are identical with Himself.” (Śrī Īśopaniṣad, p. 93)
The Spiritual Master: Kṛṣṇa’s Representative
It is important to understand the position of the spiritual master as Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s pure devotee. The disciple is enjoined by Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa to worship the spiritual master as he would worship the Supreme Lord Himself: “Sage Prabuddha continued to speak to the King as follows: ‘My dear King, a disciple has to accept the spiritual master not only as spiritual master, but also as the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the Supersoul. In other words, the disciple should accept the spiritual master as God because he is the external manifestation of Kṛṣṇa.’ ” (NOD, 59) The Spiritual master is stated here to be the representative of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the Supersoul. It is clearly not stated that he is Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa or the Supersoul, but that he represents them as a viceroy represents a king. “One can know God and one’s relationship with God only when one actually meets a representative of God. A representative of God never claims that he is God, although he is paid all the respect ordinarily paid to God because he has knowledge of God. One has to learn the distinction between God and the living entity.” (Bg., p. 144)
Although it is stated that the spiritual master is “the external manifestation of Kṛṣṇa,” he should not be considered mundane or material. “… Lord Caitanya states that it is a fortunate person who comes in contact with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. One who is serious about spiritual life is given by Kṛṣṇa the intelligence to come in contact with a bona fide spiritual master, and then by the grace of the spiritual master one becomes advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In this way the whole jurisdiction of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is directly under the spiritual energy—Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master. This has nothing to do with the material world.” (NOD, xxi) By “external manifestation” it is meant that the spiritual master can be perceived as being in the material world by the conditioned souls whom he deigns to liberate.
The followers of Ramakrishna and Meher Baba, as well as adherents of other cults generally found in India, proclaim their spiritual masters to be God Himself. Usually a spiritual master does not contradict this flattery because in this age of Kali there are many pseudo-spiritual masters who claim to be God. But we do not understand the position of the bona fide spiritual master to be cent percent identical with that of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. For example, in our daily prayer to the spiritual master (nama om viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine) we offer our respectful obeisances to our spiritual master Śrīla Prabhupāda “who is most dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa on this earth, having taken shelter of His lotus feet.” Śrīla Prabhupāda is most dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa on this earth because he has indeed taken shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord. “The definition of a pure devotee, as given by Rūpa Gosvāmī in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, can be summarized thus: his service is favorable and is always in relation to Kṛṣṇa.” (NOD, xxxii) Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself states that one who explains the science of Bhagavad-gītā is most dear to Him: “There is no servant in the world more dear to Me than he, nor will there ever be one more dear.” (Bg., 18.69) In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam the position of the pure devotee is further explained: “The asuras [demons] are gradually rectified into God consciousness by the mercy of the Lord’s liberated servitors in different countries and climates according to the supreme will. Such devotees of God are very confidential associates of the Lord, and when they come to save the human society from the dangers of godlessness, they are known sometimes as the powerful incarnation of the Lord, the Son of the Lord, the servant of the Lord or the associate of the Lord, but none of them declare falsely that they are themselves God. This blasphemy is declared by the asuras, and the demoniac followers of such asuras also accept a pretender as God or His incarnation.” (Bhāg., Canto I, p. 123–124)
When does one know that one is declaring himself falsely to be God, or when does one know whether the followers of the spiritual master are declaring their spiritual master falsely to be God? The criterion for the acceptance of an incarnation of the Lord Himself is also stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: “In the revealed scriptures there is definite information of these incarnations of God. One cannot be accepted as God or as an incarnation of God without reference to the above-mentioned revealed scriptures.” (Bhāg., Canto I, p. 124) A list of incarnations can be found in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, First Canto, Third Chapter, and for this yuga or age these include only Buddha and the Kalki avatāra yet to come. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself, is also mentioned in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.5.32).
The distinction is always made between the devotee of God and God Himself, but a neophyte servant of the devotees should respect the servants of God as God. “These servants of God are to be respected as God by the devotees who actually want to go back to Godhead. Such servants of God are called mahātmās [great souls] or tīrthas [saints able to deliver fallen souls], and they make various propaganda according to the particular time and space. The standard quality of the servants of God is that they canvass people to become devotees of the Lord, and they never tolerate the blasphemy of being called God. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was God Himself according to the authoritative indications of the revealed scriptures, but He played the part of a devotee. When a person knew Him to be God Himself and addressed Him as God, He used to block His ears with His hands and murmur the name of the Lord Viṣṇu. He strongly protested being called God, although undoubtedly He was God Himself. This behavior of the Lord is just to warn unscrupulous men who take false pleasure in being called God.” (Bhāg., Canto I, p. 124)
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta)
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, Śrīla Prabhupāda, once said that religion without philosophy is fanaticism and philosophy without religion is mental speculation. For a sincere student engaged in God realization, major philosophical points should be understood in the light of the guru, scripture and practical devotional service. One of the first points to understand is the position of the spiritual master. How is he related to Kṛṣṇa? Is he Kṛṣṇa? Is he an ordinary man? How should the disciple approach him? How can one know that the spiritual master is bona fide? What is the duty of the spiritual master? What are his symptoms? These and other questions concerning the spiritual master and Kṛṣna are discussed herein by way of authoritative evidence compiled from the writings of Śrīla Prabhupāda, the spiritual master himself. (Page references are given for his books.) In addition to rendering devotional service to Kṛṣṇa through the spiritual master, the student should come to a philosophical understanding—based on scripture—of his own identity and the identity of the Supreme Person, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and His emissary, the bona fide spiritual master. This understanding should correlate with the basic teachings of the spiritual master and other great saints and sages.
The Ultimate Truth
In the Fourth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa informs Arjuna that one should learn the Absolute Truth by approaching a spiritual master. “Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master, inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.” (Bg. 4.34) As a result of approaching a spiritual master, the disciple is benedicted with the truth by the mercy of the spiritual master. And what is the ultimate truth to be realized? It is this: Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or, as stated by Śrī Kṛṣṇa in Bhagavad-gītā: “And when you have thus learned the truth, you will know that all living beings are My parts and parcels—and that they are in Me, and are Mine.” (Bg. 4.35) What is the result of this knowledge? Śrī Kṛṣṇa also gives this information: “He who knows in truth this glory and power of Mine engages in unalloyed devotional service; of this there is no doubt. I am the source of everything; from Me the entire creation flows. Knowing this, the wise worship Me with all their hearts. Their thoughts dwell in Me, their lives are surrendered to Me, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss enlightening one another and conversing about Me.” (Bg. 10.7–9)
Definition Of Krsna
One will never make a mistake about the identity of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa if one has a good idea of what is meant by Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. “When we speak of Kṛṣṇa we refer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, along with His many expansions. He is expanded by His plenary parts and parcels, His differentiated parts and parcels and His different energies. Kṛṣṇa, in other words, means everything and includes everything. Generally, however, we should understand Kṛṣṇa to mean Kṛṣṇa and His personal expansions. Kṛṣṇa expands Himself as Baladeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Vāsudeva, Aniruddha, Pradyumna, Rāma, Nṛsiṁha and Varāha, as well as many other incarnations and innumerable Viṣṇu expansions. These are described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to be as numerous as the uncountable waves. So Kṛṣṇa includes all such expansions, as well as His pure devotees.” (The Nectar of Devotion, xxi) Thus the pure devotees, some of whom are spiritual masters, are part of the internal energy of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, but they are certainly not the totality of His internal energy. They are subordinate. “The relationship of the living entities, therefore, is to be always subordinate to the Supreme Lord, as with the master and the servant, or the teacher and the taught.” (Bg., p. 71)
No one knows the extent of the energy of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, not even His pure devotees. As is stated by the Lord Himself: “Neither the hosts of demigods nor the great sages know My origin; for, in every respect, I am the source of the demigods and the sages.” (Bg. 10.2) Although no one can understand the extent of the Lord’s glory, nor of the origin of the Lord, who has no beginning, still it is stated, “The devotees of the Lord surrender unto Kṛṣṇa and are thus able to understand Him.” (Bg., p. 209) Thus by “Kṛṣṇa” we refer to the Supreme Entity and His activities. “… In the Vedic literature, whether the Upaniṣads or the Vedānta-sūtras or the Bhagavad-gītā or the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in every scripture it is declared that the Lord is the sentient Being, supreme over all other living entities. And His glorious activities are identical with Himself.” (Śrī Īśopaniṣad, p. 93)
The Spiritual Master: Kṛṣṇa’s Representative
It is important to understand the position of the spiritual master as Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s pure devotee. The disciple is enjoined by Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa to worship the spiritual master as he would worship the Supreme Lord Himself: “Sage Prabuddha continued to speak to the King as follows: ‘My dear King, a disciple has to accept the spiritual master not only as spiritual master, but also as the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the Supersoul. In other words, the disciple should accept the spiritual master as God because he is the external manifestation of Kṛṣṇa.’ ” (NOD, 59) The Spiritual master is stated here to be the representative of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the Supersoul. It is clearly not stated that he is Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa or the Supersoul, but that he represents them as a viceroy represents a king. “One can know God and one’s relationship with God only when one actually meets a representative of God. A representative of God never claims that he is God, although he is paid all the respect ordinarily paid to God because he has knowledge of God. One has to learn the distinction between God and the living entity.” (Bg., p. 144)
Although it is stated that the spiritual master is “the external manifestation of Kṛṣṇa,” he should not be considered mundane or material. “… Lord Caitanya states that it is a fortunate person who comes in contact with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. One who is serious about spiritual life is given by Kṛṣṇa the intelligence to come in contact with a bona fide spiritual master, and then by the grace of the spiritual master one becomes advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In this way the whole jurisdiction of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is directly under the spiritual energy—Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master. This has nothing to do with the material world.” (NOD, xxi) By “external manifestation” it is meant that the spiritual master can be perceived as being in the material world by the conditioned souls whom he deigns to liberate.
The followers of Ramakrishna and Meher Baba, as well as adherents of other cults generally found in India, proclaim their spiritual masters to be God Himself. Usually a spiritual master does not contradict this flattery because in this age of Kali there are many pseudo-spiritual masters who claim to be God. But we do not understand the position of the bona fide spiritual master to be cent percent identical with that of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. For example, in our daily prayer to the spiritual master (nama om viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine) we offer our respectful obeisances to our spiritual master Śrīla Prabhupāda “who is most dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa on this earth, having taken shelter of His lotus feet.” Śrīla Prabhupāda is most dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa on this earth because he has indeed taken shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord. “The definition of a pure devotee, as given by Rūpa Gosvāmī in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, can be summarized thus: his service is favorable and is always in relation to Kṛṣṇa.” (NOD, xxxii) Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself states that one who explains the science of Bhagavad-gītā is most dear to Him: “There is no servant in the world more dear to Me than he, nor will there ever be one more dear.” (Bg., 18.69) In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam the position of the pure devotee is further explained: “The asuras [demons] are gradually rectified into God consciousness by the mercy of the Lord’s liberated servitors in different countries and climates according to the supreme will. Such devotees of God are very confidential associates of the Lord, and when they come to save the human society from the dangers of godlessness, they are known sometimes as the powerful incarnation of the Lord, the Son of the Lord, the servant of the Lord or the associate of the Lord, but none of them declare falsely that they are themselves God. This blasphemy is declared by the asuras, and the demoniac followers of such asuras also accept a pretender as God or His incarnation.” (Bhāg., Canto I, p. 123–124)
When does one know that one is declaring himself falsely to be God, or when does one know whether the followers of the spiritual master are declaring their spiritual master falsely to be God? The criterion for the acceptance of an incarnation of the Lord Himself is also stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: “In the revealed scriptures there is definite information of these incarnations of God. One cannot be accepted as God or as an incarnation of God without reference to the above-mentioned revealed scriptures.” (Bhāg., Canto I, p. 124) A list of incarnations can be found in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, First Canto, Third Chapter, and for this yuga or age these include only Buddha and the Kalki avatāra yet to come. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself, is also mentioned in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.5.32).
The distinction is always made between the devotee of God and God Himself, but a neophyte servant of the devotees should respect the servants of God as God. “These servants of God are to be respected as God by the devotees who actually want to go back to Godhead. Such servants of God are called mahātmās [great souls] or tīrthas [saints able to deliver fallen souls], and they make various propaganda according to the particular time and space. The standard quality of the servants of God is that they canvass people to become devotees of the Lord, and they never tolerate the blasphemy of being called God. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was God Himself according to the authoritative indications of the revealed scriptures, but He played the part of a devotee. When a person knew Him to be God Himself and addressed Him as God, He used to block His ears with His hands and murmur the name of the Lord Viṣṇu. He strongly protested being called God, although undoubtedly He was God Himself. This behavior of the Lord is just to warn unscrupulous men who take false pleasure in being called God.” (Bhāg., Canto I, p. 124)
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