Jai Chaitanya Dasa
Vyasapuja - 2025
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
Dear Srila Prabhupada,
On this auspicious day of your divine appearance, I would like to dwell on your position and the principle of guru tattva.
Bhagavata sampradaya or Gaudiya sampradaya involves right understanding of many tattvas - ishwara tattva, jiva tattva, rasa tattva etc. Guru tattva is one among the important tattvas. To absorb the correct understanding of guru tattva is very difficult, nevertheless very important, especially to be the recipient of the mercy needed to understand the intricacies of rasa tattva, the nature of the Divine Couple Sri Sri Radha and Krishna.
A disciple who is properly situated in his relationship with Sri Guru is known to be in the position of gurutva. Gurutva is the state of consciousness in the disciple, of being receptive and subordinate to the descending process of knowledge. This consciousness opens the flow of paramatmic knowledge from infinite sources to the heart of the disciple.
This mood starts from the initiation of the spiritual aspirant into the sampradaya. Starting with him accepting subordination to the representative of the Lord - the spiritual master - to whom he gets connected due to causeless mercy. The voluntary submission of the disciple to worship and follow Sri Guru’s instruction, facilitates the continuous flow of mercy of the Lord Sri Krishna who is the Adi Guru of all.
The desire of the disciple to accept the descending process and his submissiveness make him qualified for the mercy of the Lord who brings him to the lotus feet of His pure devotee, the spiritual master, who provides the instructions and reveals his desires which become the life's goal of the disciple. Thus the disciple gains full mercy of the Lord. That is the prerequisite desired by the Lord Himself.
The pure devotee spiritual master acts in inconceivable ways in providing divya jnana to the disciple through various mediums. And the disciples with such mood stands to gain immensely by this flood of mercy flowing through unlimited gates of this material world in their day -to-day lives.
It becomes the paramount duty of the disciple to follow 100 % the shastric injunctions on the absolute position of such an initiating spiritual master, in the form of worship, glorification and 100 % dedication of his life to the initiating spiritual master.
We, the devotees of ISKCON Bangalore group are fortunate to have this opportunity to glorify, worship and place, Your Divine Grace - our spiritual master on such an absolute position as required by the shastras.
Let me thank you, Srila Prabhupada, for being this pure devotee master for us in our group, where we can give you the actual position and opportunity to fully dedicate our lives unto your lotus feet without any kind of restriction. Thank you for the opportunity to limitlessly glorify you to our hearts' content in every way - again without restriction.
This being our position, I pity the unfortunate position of the devotees in the other ISKCON camp, where they have to take initiation from unqualified personalities who are named as initiating spiritual masters, supposed to take them back to Godhead. This is truly unfortunate. Further, even when they have accepted an initiating spiritual master, the organisation does not permit these devotees to place him in the absolute position, due to various restrictions imposed on such gurus, to keep them in line. This system is against the shastras and tradition, and promotes guru aparadha, endangering the lives of these devotees.
To not to give the initiating spiritual master the position of sakshad Harittva and to not follow him absolutely is nothing but institutionally promoted guru aparadha and such leaders who promote this are in grave danger.
We, on the other hand, are fortunate to keep you, Srila Prabhupada, at the center of our thoughts, words, and action - again, unrestrictedly. And without having to toggle or balance between you and the new generation gurus, as is unfortunately followed in the other ISKCON camp.
I again thank you, Srila Prabhupada, for making the opportunity permanent within ISKCON Bangalore group of devotees to worship you only, as the pure representative of the Divine Couple Sri Sri Radha Krishnachandra and accepting your achala peetha at the Acharya sthana in your temple at Vaikunta Hill for the next 1000s of years.
We all are eternally grateful to Your Divine Grace.
Your aspiring disciple,
Jai Chaitanya Dasa
GBC Member & Sr. Vice President, ISKCON – Bangalore.