Lord Krishna's words on relationship between Guru and Disciple

SB 11.10.12: The spiritual master can be compared to the lower kindling stick, the disciple to the upper kindling stick, and the instruction given by the guru to the third stick placed in between. The transcendental knowledge communicated from guru to disciple is compared to the fire arising from the contact of these, which burns the darkness of ignorance to ashes, bringing great happiness both to guru and disciple.

SB 11.10.13: By submissively hearing from an expert spiritual master, the expert disciple develops pure knowledge, which repels the onslaught of material illusion arising from the three modes of material nature. Finally this pure knowledge itself ceases, just as fire ceases when the stock of fuel has been consumed.

Lord Krishna's instruction on having a Spiritual Master

SB 11.10.5: One who has accepted Me as the supreme goal of life should strictly observe the scriptural injunctions forbidding sinful activities and, as far as possible, should execute the injunctions prescribing minor regulative duties such as cleanliness. Ultimately, however, one should approach a bona fide spiritual master who is full in knowledge of Me as I am, who is peaceful, and who by spiritual elevation is not different from Me.

SB 11.10.6: The servant or disciple of the spiritual master should be free from false prestige, never considering himself to be the doer. He should be active and never lazy and should give up all sense of proprietorship over the objects of the senses, including his wife, children, home and society. He should be endowed with feelings of loving friendship toward the spiritual master and should never become deviated or bewildered. The servant or disciple should always desire advancement in spiritual understanding, should not envy anyone and should always avoid useless conversation.

The Path to unlimited happiness:Detachment, A Lesson from the Hawk

In SB 11.9 " Detachment From All that is Material" the Avadhuta Brahmin speaks at length about how one can detach oneself from all that is material so that one can endeavor towards the highest perfection of life. He begins with what he learns from the hawk.

SB 11.9.1: The saintly brahmana said: Everyone considers certain things within the material world to be most dear to him, and because of attachment to such things one eventually becomes miserable. One who understands this gives up material possessiveness and attachment and thus achieves unlimited happiness.

SB 11.9.2:Once a group of large hawks who were unable to find any prey attacked another, weaker hawk who was holding some meat. At that time, being in danger of his life, the hawk gave up his meat and experienced actual happiness. 

Purport: Incited by the modes of nature, birds become violent and kill other birds to eat them or to steal meat captured by them. Hawks, vultures and eagles are in this category. However, one should give up the envious propensity to commit violence against others and should take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whereby one sees every living entity as equal to oneself. On this platform of actual happiness one does not envy anyone and thus sees no one as his enemy.

The Purport to the verse above is very instructive - it exhorts us to give up the envious propensity to commit violence to others and see every living entity equal to oneself. If I hate and berate the instruments of my karma - its because

• I do not have the humility to accept that everything that happened to me is my karma coming back to me .
• I fail to see the instrument of karma also as a soul who is part and parcel of Krishna
• I am envious of them being in a better and calmer position than me in spite of  them "harming" me
• I fail to see Krishna's will in whatever has happened in my life.

By continually remaining in such a consciousness I am actually committing violence to them in my mind and through my words and actions.Interestingly I am committing violence to myself also by wanting to hold on to such burning coals of my incorrect view of the situation and of them.

The hawk in the above verse could continue fighting for the meat in a losing battle which would eventually consume the hawk's life. However the hawk chose to give up its attachment towards the meat and thus experienced true happiness.

Similarly I can continue fighting a losing battle while holding onto such personally debilitating thought processes and never be able to grow as a devotee and also never receive the love, mercy and blessings of the persons who I think have "harmed" me. Instead I must learn from the hawk and give up the attachment to such a thought process. I must bring my consciousness to the point mentioned in the purport to the verse: "However, one should give up the envious propensity to commit violence against others and should take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whereby one sees every living entity as equal to oneself. On this platform of actual happiness one does not envy anyone and thus sees no one as his enemy."

I must see that I am a servant of Krishna and my job is to serve Lord Krishna and His parts and parcels.I must accept what is happening to me as a token of the reactions I deserve. As a servant I must cultivate my relationship with Krishna through connecting with His parts and parcels. If I cannot connect with that which is KRISHNA'S how will I connect with Krishna.

The success of my devotional service depends upon the depth of my relationships with Krishna nd His devotees. Why is that? To have deep relationships based on service with devotees I will have to work on my false ego. Thus deep relationships with devotees are possible only when one is situated in the real ego- I am Krishna's servant , He is my master, they are His parts and parcels and my duty to is to serve them favorably with love.
I must respect and love the individual because they are a part of Krishna by separating the act from the person. The act was ordained by the Lord.

Qualities of a disciple

SB 11.10.6: The servant or disciple of the spiritual master should be free from false prestige, never considering himself to be the doer. He should be active and never lazy and should give up all sense of proprietorship over the objects of the senses, including his wife, children, home and society. He should be endowed with feelings of loving friendship toward the spiritual master and should never become deviated or bewildered. The servant or disciple should always desire advancement in spiritual understanding, should not envy anyone and should always avoid useless conversation.

One achieves a state of existence according to one's concentration

SB 11.9.22: If out of love, hate or fear an embodied soul fixes his mind with intelligence and complete concentration upon a particular bodily form, he will certainly attain the form that he is meditating upon.

SB 11.9.23: O King, once a wasp forced a weaker insect to enter his hive and kept him trapped there. In great fear the weak insect constantly meditated upon his captor, and without giving up his body, he gradually achieved the same state of existence as the wasp. Thus one achieves a state of existence according to one's constant concentration.

from the purport for 11.9.23:

Similarly, although we are conditioned souls, if we absorb our consciousness in Lord Kṛṣṇa we can become liberated even before giving up our present body. If our intelligence becomes steady on the spiritual platform by understanding that Lord Kṛṣṇa is everything, then we can give up unnecessary consciousness of the external body and absorb ourselves in the spiritual pastimes of Vaikuṇṭha. Thus even before death one can raise oneself to the spiritual platform and enjoy life as a liberated soul.

Patience, Tolerance, Self-control & Faith- Lessons from the python

The Avadhuta Brahmana was asked by Maharaj Yadu to explain the reason for his great internal happiness and ecstasy. He responds by saying that he has taken shelter of the 24 gurus. One of those Gurus is the python and the Avadhuta Brahmana shares different lessons that a saintly person must learn from the python.

We discussed one of those(SB 11.8.1)  in the post

Material Happiness comes of its own accord- do not waste time seeking it.

Further the Avadhuta Brahmana speaks the following verses:

SB 11.8.2: Following the example of the python, one should give up material endeavors and accept for one's maintenance food that comes of its own accord, whether such food be delicious or tasteless, ample or meager.

SB 11.8.3: If at any time food does not come, then a saintly person should fast for many days without making endeavor. He should understand that by God's arrangement he must fast. Thus, following the example of the python, he should remain peaceful and patient.

Pythons are ambush predators/hunters. Ambush predators or sit-and-wait predators are carnivorous animals that capture prey by stealth or cunning, not by speed or necessarily by strength. These organisms usually hide motionless and wait for prey to come within striking distance.Also once they eat they can stay without food for a very long time.Also the pythons will not kill unnecessarily if they are not in need of food unless they fear harm to themselves.

In these verses the Avadhuta Brahamana is indicating that just like the python we must also not indulge in atyahara - we must not overindulge for unnecessary things.

Another important point has been raised in 11.8.3 above that if at any time food doesn't come one must fast without making an endeavor and we must take it as Gods arrangement and remain peaceful and patient.

As explained in the purport:

" If by God's arrangement one is forced to suffer material hardship, then one should think, "Due to my past sinful activity I am now being punished. In this way, God is mercifully making me humble." The word śayīta means one should remain peaceful and patient without mental agitation. Diṣṭa-bhuk means one must accept the Personality of Godhead as the supreme controller and not foolishly give up one's faith due to material inconvenience. Tat te 'nukampāḿ su-samīkṣamāṇo bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaḿ vipākam (Bhāg. 10.14.8). A devotee of the Lord always accepts material hardship as the mercy of Lord Kṛṣṇa; thus he becomes eligible for supreme liberation."

Thus we learn three things from the Python:

1. Do not indulge in atyahara
2. Remain peaceful and patient without mental agitation in the face of material distress
3. Accept the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the Supreme controller and not foolishly give up one's faith due to material inconvenience
4. Tolerate every situation because it is God's arrangement for us to become humble.

 

 

 

Material Happiness comes of its own accord- do not waste time seeking it

I was reading today from SB 11th canto and found this very nice verse spoken by the Avadhuta Brahmin to Maharaj Yadu.It says an intelligent person does not waste time trying to go after material happiness because it comes on its own just like distress. He instead reserves a major protion of life in serving Lord Sri Krsna and His devotees.
By pleasing the Supreme Lord one can attain permanent happiness.

Quoting the verse below and other related verses from SB explaining the same concept:

Maharaj Yadu once observed a certain brahmana avadhuta who appeared to be quite young and learned, wandering about fearlessly. Being himself most learned in spiritual science, the King took the opportunity and inquired from him about why he was wanering about like that and what was the cause of his ecstacy.The avadhuta brahmin spoke at length with Maharaj Yadu and shared the secrets for being how he was an how he has taken inspiration from the 24 Gurus. while thus speaking the avadhuta also spoke the following verse:

SB 11.8.1: The saintly brāhmaṇa said: O King, the embodied living entity automatically experiences unhappiness in heaven or hell. Similarly, happiness will also be experienced, even without one's seeking it. Therefore a person of intelligent discrimination does not make any endeavor to obtain such material happiness.

Narada Muni explains the same thing to Srila Vyasadeva while inspiring him to write Srimad Bhagavatam

SB 1.5.18: Persons who are actually intelligent and philosophically inclined should endeavor only for that purposeful end which is not obtainable even by wandering from the topmost planet [Brahmaloka] down to the lowest planet [Pātāla]. As far as happiness derived from sense enjoyment is concerned, it can be obtained automatically in course of time, just as in course of time we obtain miseries even though we do not desire them.

Also Prahlada Maharaj says the same to his school mates in the Seventh Canto:
SB 7.6.3: Prahlāda Mahārāja continued: My dear friends born of demoniac families, the happiness perceived with reference to the sense objects by contact with the body can be obtained in any form of life, according to one's past fruitive activities. Such happiness is automatically obtained without endeavor, just as we obtain distress.

The purport to SB 11.8.1 quoted above explains the concept very nicely:
PURPORT
One should not uselessly waste his life pursuing material sense gratification, because a specific quantity of material happiness will automatically come to one as a result of one's past and present fruitive activities. This lesson is learned from the ajagara, or python, who lies down and accepts for his maintenance whatever comes of its own accord. Remarkably, in both material heaven and hell happiness and unhappiness come automatically, due to our previous activities, although the proportions of happiness and unhappiness certainly vary. Either in heaven or in hell one may eat, drink, sleep and have sex life, but these activities, being based on the material body, are temporary and inconsequential. An intelligent person should see that even the best material situation is actually a punishment for previous unlawful activities executed outside the scope of loving devotional service to God. A conditioned soul undergoes great trouble to obtain a little happiness. After struggling in material life, which is full of hardship and hypocrisy, one may receive a little sense gratification, but this illusory pleasure in no way offsets the burden of suffering one must bear to obtain it. After all, a pretty hat is no cure for a homely face. If one really wants to solve life's problems, one should live simply and reserve the major portion of one's life for loving service to Kṛṣṇa. Even those who do not serve God receive a certain standard of maintenance from Him; therefore we can just imagine the security the Lord affords to those who dedicate their lives to His devotional service.
Unrefined fruitive workers foolishly worry only about the present life, whereas more pious karmīs imprudently make elaborate arrangements for future material sense gratification, unaware that all such enjoyment is temporary. The real solution, however, is to understand that by pleasing the Personality of Godhead, who is the master of all senses and all desires, one can attain permanent happiness. Such knowledge easily solves the problems of life.