Spiritual Master of the Universe

Spiritual master of the universe in Sanskrit is jagad-guru. This term describes that spiritual master who is a pure devotee of the Lord. He is called spiritual master of the universe because he possesses the full empowerment of Lord Sri Krishna to deliver all of the conditioned souls in the universe from their entanglement in the cycle of birth and death. I was most fortunate to be accepted as the disciple of such a jagad-guru, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

So how does this description relate to struggling neophytes like us who are battling it out every day with the material energy trying to curb down our material desires? What this means that according to our degree of surrender to the Lord He empowers us proportionately for uplifting the consciousness of the inhabitants of this universe. Therefore out of compassion on the suffering souls of this world we should try to become as Krishna conscious as much as possible so that we can render to them the best possible humanitarian service by helping them to come the transcendental plane.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: The Seven-Fold Coverings of the Universe

Millions of humble obeisances to the Lotus feet of Sri Gurudeva, who is Krishna Himself taking so much pain to guide the humble souls like me.

You have mentioned the seven-fold coverings of the universe on Saturday 4th of September 2010 in Thought for the Day. Kindly give some details on this seven fold covering

Anupam

Answer: Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Ether, etc.

Kindly note that the spiritual master is not Krishna Himself. Rather he is the humble servant of Krishna. Although he is considered to be as good as Krishna because Krishna acts through him to deliver the fallen souls back to Godhead, He must never be considered to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself.

The seven-fold universal coverings are listed as follows in the Srimad Bhagavatam in this prayer from Maharaja Citrketu to the Supreme Lord:

kṣity-ādibhir eṣa kilāvṛtaḥ
saptabhir daśa-guṇottarair aṇḍa-kośaḥ
yatra pataty aṇu-kalpaḥ
sahāṇḍa-koṭi-koṭibhis tad anantaḥ

"Every universe is covered by seven layers--earth, water, fire, air, sky, the total material energy and false ego--each ten times greater than the previous one. There are innumerable universes besides this one, and although they are unlimitedly large, they move about like atoms in You. Therefore You are called unlimited [ananta]."
--SB 6.16.37

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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