The Books Are Our Siksa-Gurus
Autor: Chandra Kala Devi Dasi | Publicado: 2012-02-23T11:37:00-08:00


The Books Are Our Siksa-Gurusby Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami MaharajaIf my heart has accepted Srila Rupa Gosvami as my siksa guru, and I  am accepting all his teachings, no one can challenge this. My heart  accepts this. If I am accepting as my siksa-guru Srila Bhaktivedanta  Svami Maharaja, there are none to challenge. This is the relation  between one heart and Gurudeva.
We should treat all the books of the Gosvamis as our siksa-gurus. We  should offer pranama to the books, and then read them. If we do this, we  will realize that all siddhanta is coming automatically in our heart.  This is the process of reading – not reading, but serving – the books.
Never try to ‘eat’ prasadam. Once someone asked me, “Will you eat  anything?” I replied, “I have never eaten anything in my entire life.”  He then asked, “So, how are you alive?” I said, “I have served  prasadam.” Try to be like this. Don’t ‘chant’ Hare Krsna; try to serve  Hare Krsna. Don’t ‘eat’ maha-prasada, always try to serve.
When you are reading these books, don’t ‘read.’ Serve. Offer pranama,  place the book on your forehead and heart, and pray, “O Prabhu, you are  personally Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami. Please be merciful to me.” This  is the process of reading.
When you are reading the dialogue between Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and  Raya Ramananda on the bank of the Godavari, you can think, “I am on the  bank of Godavari. Raya Ramananda and Mahaprabhu are sitting here. I am  also peacefully sitting with them, and hearing all their topics. O  Mahaprabhu, O Raya Ramananda Prabhu, please be merciful to me. Please  sprinkle your mercy upon me so that I can understand this high-class  siddhanta.”
Without praying in this way, you will have doubts and you will not be  able to realize anything. Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami never met  personally with Srila Rupa Gosvami, Srila Sanatana Gosvami, Srila Gopal  Bhatta Gosvami, or Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami. He only met with  Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami and Srila Jiva Gosvami. How, then, can he  write in Caitanya-caritamrta that they are all his siksa-gurus? The  answer is that everything Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami had in his heart  was from Srila Rupa Gosvami, and then he explained his heart’s  realizations to Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami. Krsnadasa Kaviraja received  rasa-tattva from Raghunatha dasa Gosvami and all siddhanta from Srila  Jiva Gosvami. From where did that siddhanta come? Srila Gopal Bhatta  Gosvami collected appropriate siddhanta from all the scriptures, such as  Veda, Upanisads, and Vedanta. From that he made some notes, but the  information was not organised. Srila Jiva Gosvami put that information  in order; thus everything is coming from them. Srila Sanatana Gosvami  wrote many books, one of which is Brhad-bhagavatamrta. Srila Raghunatha  dasa Gosvami took the essence of all the topics therein and gave it to  Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami. They realized all the knowledge they  received, not like us who think, “Krsna is my siksa-guru, and Rupa  Gosvami is siksa-guru, but I am not taking any essence from them and I  don’t follow them. To follow a guru actually, by heart, is the  acceptance of siksa-guru.
That is why Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami is able to write [in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 1.36-37]:
sri-rupa, sanatana, bhatta-raghunatha
 sri-jiva, gopala-bhatta, dasa-raghunathaMy instructing spiritual masters are Sri  Rupa Gosvami, Sri Sanatana Gosvami, Sri Bhatta Raghunatha, Sri Jiva  Gosvami, Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami and Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami.ei chaya guru—siksa-guru ye amara
 tan’-sabara pada-padme koti namaskaraThese six are my instructing spiritual masters, and therefore I offer millions of respectful obeisances unto their lotus feet.
Los Angeles, California: June 4, 1998

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