Don't Take Guru as a Pet

Srila Prabhupada used to always say that we should not take the guru like we keep a pet dog trying to manipulate him to satisfy our desires. Rather it is the position of the disciple to satisfy the bona fide spiritual master in every respect. The spiritual master is the external manifestation of the Supreme Lord who is situated within our hearts. If we fully surrender unto him as menial servants, we are immediately connected with the Supreme Lord within our hearts. But if instead we try to manipulate the spiritual master to fulfill our desires we are prolonging our entanglement in this material existence.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: How to Always Be Tolerant?

Please accept my humble obeisances,

May your mercy always be on me,

Srila Gurudeva, is it true that one should be tolerant to both happiness and distress? If yes, how can one increase the threshold of tolerance so that it becomes easy to tolerate and also at the same time increase bhakti?

Regards,
Sunil

Answer: Become Like a Tree

An advanced transcendentalist is someone who has mastered the art of being equally happy both in happiness and distress. In fact, the highest level transcendentalists such as Queen Kunti prefer distress because they find it more conducive for their Krishna consciousness.

A first class technique for increasing one's tolerance is to always remember Lord Caitanya's order that one should be more tolerant than a tree. Just consider how tolerant is a tree. The trees provide us with cooling shade in the summertime and firewood to keep us warm in the winter. And no matter what we may do to the tree it simply tolerates it and continues rendering service. If we cut off its branches, it does not complain. And even if we come to kill the tree by chopping it down, it simply silently tolerates. The tolerance of the tree is the example chosen by Lord Caitanya to teach us how to be tolerant. So if we always remember this sublime example, our tolerance level will increase more and more.

If we are very tolerant, our minds will always be peaceful even in the midst of the most disturbing circumstances. This will make it much easier for us to remember Krishna and thus reawaken the bhakti, which is lying dormant within our hearts.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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