jñāna-dīpa-prade gurau

jñāna-dīpa-prade gurau

martyāsad-dhīḥ śrutaṁ tasya

sarvaṁ kuñjara-śaucavat

For a person having faulty intelligence who thinks that the guru, who gives the lamp of knowledge and is a spiritual expansion of the Lord, is an ordinary mortal, all that he has heard from guru becomes as useless as cleaning an elephant who merely becomes dirty again.

Though this is true, if one thinks the guru is an ordinary mortal, everything becomes useless. For one who thinks by faulty intelligence that the guru, who is an aṁśa of the Lord (sākṣāt bhagavati), or in whom the Lord is directly present, is an ordinary mortal, whatever he has heard, such as the Lord’s mantra, his process of hearing, and his contemplation become useless.

|| 7.15.27 ||

eṣa vai bhagavān sākṣāt

pradhāna-puruṣeśvaraḥ

yogeśvarair vimṛgyāṅghrir

loko yaṁ manyate naram

Kṛṣṇa and Rāma, whose feet are sought by great yogīs, are certainly the Supreme Lords, though persons who appeared along with them thought of them as human. (Similarly some may think the guru is human, but he is not.)

“But the sons and father of the guru will consider him a human. How can the student then think of him as the Lord?” Bhagavān, Kṛṣṇa or Rāma, is definitely the Supreme Lord, but people who appeared at the time of the Lord’s descent think of him as a human. But how can he become an ordinary human? Similarly some may think of the guru as human, but how can he be? 

 

|| 7.15.28 ||

ṣaḍ-varga-saṁyamaikāntāḥ

sarvā niyama-codanāḥ

tad-antā yadi no yogān

āvaheyuḥ śramāvahāḥ

Since dedication to controlling the senses and following all the rules, caused by complete absorption in those processes, do not produce meditation on the Lord, they are only useless labor.

Conquest of lust and other obstacles which is accomplished by guru bhakti is the actual result of various practices mentioned in the scriptures. All the rules and regulations such as accumulating performance of sacrifices, dedication to controlling the six senses, if they do not lead to meditation on the Lord, are useless. By guru-bhakti one conquers lust and attains the Lord, for the Lord says: 

 

nāham ijyā-prajātibhyāṁ tapasopaśamena vā

tuṣyeyaṁ sarva-bhūtātmā guru-śuśrūṣayā yathā

 

I, the Soul of all beings, am not as satisfied by ritual worship, brahminical initiation, penances or self-discipline as I am by faithful service rendered to one's spiritual master. SB 10.80.34

 

nanv artha-kovidā Brahman varṇāśrama-vatām iha

ye mayā guruṇā vācā taranty añjo bhavārṇavam

 

Certainly, O brāhmaṇa, of all the followers of the varṇāśrama system, those who take advantage of the words I speak in my form as the spiritual master and thus easily cross over the ocean of material existence best understand their own true welfare. SB 10.80.33

 

“Similarly, can one not conquer the sense by rules and then attain the Lord?”

 

Because one becomes completely dedicated to these processes (tad-antāḥ), these processes do not produce meditation on the Lord (yogān), what to speak of attaining the Lord. Since they do not accomplish this, they are useless labor. What doubt is there about this?

 

|| 7.15.29 ||