Guru As Good as God?

I was shocked in 1971 when I was a newcomer to the Krishna consciousness movement and His Holiness Visnujana Maharaja told me that I had accept Srila Prabhupada to be as good as God. I thought, "How can we accept a human being to be as good as God?" Although the spiritual master is God's representative, he certainly is not God. So can we take the representative to be as good as what he represents?

Consider a very mundane example in this regard. Is a policeman the government? Or is he an ordinary citizen just like us? He is an ordinary citizen. But when he's on duty he is good as the government because he acts as the government. If we defy the order of the policeman, we are defying the government and the full weight of the government then comes upon us.

So the policeman, although an ordinary citizen, is empowered by the government to act as the government. In the same way the spiritual master is empowered to act as good as God in blessing his disciples and lovingly directing them along their pathway back to home, back to Godhead.

In conclusion, seeing the spiritual master as good as God is not some overly emotional sentiment of the neophytes. It is the cherished realization of those who are advanced in the science of bhakti.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: How Can I Better Serve You?

My dear and respected Gurudeva,

I have been very pleased with the Sankirtana mission of preaching and distributing books that you have allowed me to perform. By the grace of your merciful lotus feet, and the great help of Sri Krishna, I have been able to do it. It is my great desire to be sufficiently qualified to impart Krishna Consciousness by means of the texts of Srila Prabhupada. In addition, I am very happy to have a guru so qualified and merciful as you. Infinite obeisances at your lotus feet. I would like to humbly know what I should do. Tell me how I can better serve you.

Your servant,

Bhaktin Paola

Answer: Serious Sadhana and Preach As Much As Possible

Thank you very much for your sincere dedication to guru and Krishna and to the spreading of the Sankirtana movement. This gives the greatest pleasure to Srila Prabhupada and to Lord Sri Krishna.

Your desire to serve guru is first class. This is the secret of success in spiritual life. Take your sadhana very seriously by strictly following our regulative principles and chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra on japa beads every day without fail. When you chant your japa dive deeply into the holy names with full concentration. Do not divert your consciousness anywhere else. When you hear the classes at your local Hare Krishna temple put your full energy into learning as much as you can from each class. When you do service to Krishna do everything in a first class way. Make sure that the temple and your living quarters are always spotlessly clean. And spend as much time as possible preaching this message and introducing others to the most wonderful books of His Divine Srila Prabhupada. If you will sincerely follow these instructions, your perfection is guaranteed.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari