May Krishna Bless You

You have been entrapped in the cycle of birth and death for uncountable lifetimes. It is a most miserable, abominable situation to be in. So may Lord Krishna bless you that you can fully revive your lost loving relationship with Him in this lifetime for attaining the supreme perfection of going back to home, back to Godhead.

Lord Krishna Awaits Your Return to His Transcendental Kingdom

Lord Krishna Awaits Your Return to His Transcendental Kingdom

Answers by Citing the Vedic Version:

Question: Is Sannyas Guru Equal to One's Diksha Guru?

Gurudeva, if one takes sannyasa from other Guru that is not from his diksha Guru because of his disappearance from the world then what is the relation with Guru other from whom one takes the sannyasa . Is it that now he becomes his authority and now he is his initiating spiritual master. What we call the other Guru from one takes sannyasa . Is he is also respectful on the equal level to the Guru from one takes his first initiation.

Thank you

Your unworthy servant
N.D.D.

Answer: He Who First Initiates You Is Your Only Real Guru

When one takes sannyasa he does not become the disciple of the sannyasi who gives him sannyasa. In a Bhagavad-gita lecture given by Srila Prabhupada in Los Angeles on 27 November 1968 he compares the sannyasa guru to a priest who performs one's wedding ceremony. The sannyasa guru performs the ritual of awarding sannyasa but does not become the spiritual master of the new sannyasi. If you look at the list of the disciplic succession given in the Bhagavad-gita, you will see that Lord Caitanya is listed as a disciple of Isvara Puri, not Kesava Bharati, the sannyasi who gave Him sannyasa.

Regarding who is one's guru Srila Prabhupada has written as follows:

"Actually, you have only one spiritual master, who initiates you, just as you have only one father. But every Vaisnava should be treated as prabhu, master, higher than me, and in this sense, if I learn from him, he may be regarded as guru. It is not that I disobey my real spiritual master and call someone else as spiritual master. That is wrong. It is only that I can call spiritual master someone who is teaching me purely what my initiating spiritual master has taught."

So the conclusion is that the spiritual master who first initiates the devotee, chanting on his japa beads and giving him his spiritual name is his one real guru, not others. Others can only be accepted as guru if they teach the disciple purely what his initiating spiritual master has taught him. Is this clear?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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