"Śrī Krishna Balarām Mandir"
"Perfect question,
Perfect answer"
Devotee #1: You said that we should eternally remain as a disciple. Some devotees say we are eternally the disciple of one particular guru, one jiva. Is that correct?
Śrīla Gour Govinda Swami: Yes.
He is eternally my guru. I am eternally his disciple.
Devotee #1: What does "eternally guru" mean? The person who is appearing as guru may be different in different lifetimes. It may not be the same person.
Śrīla Gour Govinda Swami:
It is the same soul, not the body, 'caksu-dana dila yei, janme janme prabhu sei' — Life after life he is my master. [Narottam Das Thakur's Śrī Guru-vandana]. My master is he who has opened my eyes. Which eyes? Bhakti-caksu, the eyes of devotion.
That person is my master life after life eternally. If you have that eye you can see him. "Oh, here is my guru."
Devotee #1: Some disciples have< /> two spiritual masters. One may have< /> a diksa-guru, and a siksa-guru.
Śrīla Gour Govinda Swami: Diksa-guru is one, siksa-gurus are many.
Devotee #1: So the eternal relationship is with the diksa-guru only?
Śrīla Gour Govinda Swami:</> No. It is with the guru who occupies one's heart.
Devotee #1: Some say that it is< /> only the diksa-guru who is eternally /> my spiritual master life after life.
Śrīla Gour Govinda Swami:
That's not true. It is the guru who has occupied your heart, who has opened your eyes, who has given you prema-bhakti.
Lochan Das Thakur says in Caitanya-mangala (Madhya 11.195):
'se-i se parama bandhu, se-i mata-pita
sri-krsna-carane yei prema-bhakti- data'
He who has given me prema-bhakti at the lotus feet of Krishna, is my supreme friend. He is my father, he is my mother, he is everything.
Devotee #1: Some devotees say that the relationship with the spiritual master is also going on in Vrindavan, in the spiritual world?
Śrīla Gour Govinda Swami: Yes. Eternal means it is always going on — in the past, present and future.
Devotee #1: How can the guru-disciple relationship go on there?
Śrīla Gour Govinda Swami:
Why not? Krishna says, 'radhikara prema-guru, ami sisya nata' — "Radharani is my guru and I am her disciple." When even Krishna says this,
is it not true in your case?
Devotee #1: I was reading in Prema-vivarta that in the perfectional stage one is trained under Vishakha.
Śrīla Gour Govinda Swami: Yes. Sakhis, manjaris, the guru is one of them. He is 'rādhā-priya-sakhi' —
an intimate companion of Srimati Rādhārānī. Your relationship is eternal. You'll go there and serve under them, 'nikunja-yuno rati-keli-siddhyai' —
The guru is expert in making arrangements for the conjugal pastimes of Rādhā Krishna. [Gurv-astaka 6]
Devotee #2: You once said that only a surrendered soul can hear. So what about those who hear, become attracted, and then surrender.
What is their state?
Śrīla Gour Govinda Swami:
Attracted means they are surrendered. Otherwise this katha will never enter...
If he has no faith he cannot hear.
One who is developing faith means
he is a disciple. It means surrender.
Devotee #3: When a disciple has taken such a guru, then becomes perfect and goes to the transcendental world, does he work there under that same manjari?
Śrīla Gour Govinda Swami:
Yes. Or she may hand the devotee over to someone else to take charge.
Devotee #3: So in that way the disciple is always under the same personality, here or in the transcendental realm?
Śrīla Gour Govinda Swami:
When it is an eternal relationship, yes. You cannot understand this with your material mind. It is inconceivable, acintya. How can our material mind conceive it? We just form an idea. But it is not exactly like that. All of these material logics won't help.
Just accept it.
"Śrī Krishna Balarām Mandir"
April 1992
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