Beyond Pain and Misery

In this material world we are always being attacked by various kinds of pains and miseries. If we want to become free from their pinching effect, we must come to the spiritual platform. The spiritual platform is not some kind of imaginative ecstasy or mental adjustment. No. It means to become fully absorbed twenty four hours a day in loving service to Lord Sri Krishna under the expert guidance of the bona fide spiritual master and the revealed scriptures. It is only when we give up material sense gratification and fully absorb ourselves in devotional service that we can become free from the material miseries. As long as we continue to indulge in material sense gratification it is sure and certain that we will be pierced by the sharp arrows of the material miseries

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Aerial View of Govinda Valley Retreat Center

Blissful Participants from Last Year's Retreat

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Guru is Krishna Himself?

Maharaja, I am having a little trouble understanding this point and how it all comes together. Can you please elaborate?

I understand that the spirit soul is part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. In "Thought for the Day" for 11/27, you gave the quote from the C.C.Adi Lila:

"Since one cannot visually experience the presence of the Supersoul, He appears before us as a liberated devotee. Such a spiritual master is none other than Krishna Himself."--Caitanya Caritamrita Adi 1.58

And I have always seen that the bona fide spiritual master is the representative of Krishna. Can you please explain how all of this comes together?

Your servant,

Tiffany

Answer: Guru is as Good as Krishna

The spiritual master is the external manifestation of the Supersoul. Even though he is a jiva soul, because he purely represents Krishna he is as good as Krishna Himself. When he gives us an instruction it carries the same weight as if Krishna personally gave us that instruction.

Here is a mundane example. Let's say that your next door neighbor is a police officer. One day if you are speeding and you happen to be caught in the radar trap that he has set up for speeders, it is his duty to act as the government and issue you a ticket. When he orders you to pull over your car, you must do so because when he is on duty as a police officer he is the government. If you disobey his order to pull over, you are disobeying the government and you are subject to arrest. So in the same way that the government agent, even though an ordinary citizen, is as good as the government, the spiritual master acting under the authority of Krishna is as good as Krishna Himself. Krishna manifests Himself through the spiritual master for engaging you in His service and delivering you back to home, back to Godhead. Is this clear?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari