Attachment To The Instructions Of Sri Guru

You asked me a question about Manah-siksa, first verse. Raghunatha Dasa Goswami says something very important there about guru. He explains that one should have guru apurva rati - unprecedented, exceeding attachment, rati, guru rati, attachment to guru.

But how can a disciple come to a platform of guru apurva rati? It begins with purification of our identity. We all approach a spiritual master and offer obeisances with this prayer:

om ajnana-timirandhasya

jnananjana-salakaya

caksur unmilitam yena

tasmai sri-gurave namah

So the last part is – sri guruve namah, guruve namah… what does this mean? It means, I offer my obeisances unto my guru. And then namah, na – ma, ‘na’ mean not and ‘ma’ means me and mind. ‘Ma’ means aham mameti, I and mine, me and mine.

So namah means no false ego. Say no to false identity, independent desire, independent action. So this phrase, sri guruve namah, it actually means - the internal meaning - is that one should surrender oneself, unconditionally to Sri guru.

What happens when we surrender fully to the spiritual master? When our false ego is purified by the practice of chanting Hare Krsna, then we will give up our false ego and our real ego will emerge, our spiritual ego, our eternal identity…

jivera svarupa haya

krsnera nitya-dasa

The living entity must come to the platform of sri guruve namah. When one gives up his false identity, then he identifies with the will of the guru, the desire of the guru, the heart of the guru. The pure disciple - he mixes his heart, his body, his mind, and senses completely with the lotus feet of Sri guru. Sri also means the beautiful feet of the guru. He mixes his desires… the desires of the guru become his desires.

This is proper disciple, he becomes guru tadatmika, his atma, his body, mind, words, his very self is one, tadatmika,tad-atma-eka. His very self, is one, eka with that of Sri guru.

So Raghunatha Dasa Goswami is preaching this in Manah-siksa, this principle of guru tattva, guru apurva rati, and he himself is the very example of this tattva. He is the acarya of this tattva because he is the prayojana acarya. He is the acarya teaching the prayojan, the final conclusion, the ultimate goal. He is the prema prayojana acarya, he is a guru tattva prayojana acarya, nama tattva prayojana acarya, jiva tattva… he is the prayojana.

So here he is teaching that guru tattva, the prayojana, the conclusion, the culmination, the necessity of guru tattva.

Raghunatha Dasa Goswami, of course he has his diksa guru, Yadunandana Acarya, and after coming to Braj, he completely surrendered to Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami. Especially to Sri Rupa Goswami pada, he surrendered his heart. He gave everything completely, gave up all his independence. He became truly guru tadatmika with Rupa Goswami.

So what happens when a disciple becomes one with his spiritual master? He becomes one with the heart of guru.

s'ri-guru-carane rati,

ei se uttama-gati

And the guru takes them to the param gati (5.33). When one develops guru apurva rati then he connects with the heart of the guru, because the guru’s heart is overflowing with sweet loving services to Radhika and Syama. And with loving services and the bhavas that are there in his heart, they will flow into the heart of the pure and surrendered disciple.

So what happened? How did Raghunatha Dasa Goswami feel when he was separated, when Rupa Goswami left this world? He was crying. He felt like a fish out of water and he expressed his feelings for Braja mandala, which is the transcendental abode, madhurya dhama, cintamani dhama of the Lord, so sweet and so wonderful and so attractive.

But in the absence of his guru, being without his spiritual master, his siksa guru, who is his life and soul, heart and soul, he saw the Braja mandala, the entire caurasi kosh Braja dhama, Braja bhumi, Braja mandala.. it seemed like a desert, empty, wasteland. And Giri-govardhan, that beautiful Mount of Vrndavan, Mount Govardhan, he said Mount Govardhan, it is like a giant python, like a giant snake coming to swallow me. And he said I feel pain even to look at Govardhan, to take darsan.

And Radha-kunda of which he took shelter, of Syama-kunda, he did bhajan on the banks of Syama-kunda for 60 years, Raghunatha Dasa Goswami, it was his ultimate shelter and his everything. But in this mood of guru viraha, intense burning separation from Rupa Goswami, he wrote that Radha-kunda, seems like the gaping mouth of a tigress waiting to chew me up alive and he was crying out, “O Rupa Goswami pada, O Rupa Goswami pada! Ha! Mora prana-nath, ha! Mora Rupa! Where are you? Where are you? He Krsna! He Radhe vrajadevike ca lalite, he nanda suno kutah”

So this type of attachment that Raghunatha Dasa Goswami had with his guru, Sri Rupa Goswami, siksa guru, this is unprecedented. No one could imagine before, such deep attachment for the spiritual master.

So, teaching all of us who maybe in separation from our spiritual master, in his Manah-siksa he is saying that now our guru is gone. What did our guru give us? He has given us some great treasures, some wonderful gifts, some invaluable gifts he has given us and he is present in those gifts.

So if you want to feel the presence of Sri guru and remember his and enter his heart and feel his benign glance and blessings again, then he is telling us through this verse that we should develop love for our ista-mantra, for kama gayatri and gopal mantra, because our guru has given us, we should develop love for them, become attached to them. We should become attached to Hari nama, we should become attached to Braja dhama and the lila sthalis of Radha and Krsna and attached to the brajawasis. We should become attached to the pastimes and Hari katha of Radha and Krsna. We should become lovingly attached to the service of Radha Govinda. Because these are the devotional limbs and devotional practices given to me by Sri guru.

So these instructions our guru has given us, we have to become attached to these things, Braja dhama, the service of Radha Govinda and brajawasis, the lila sthalis and bhagavat patha and Hare Krsna mahamantra and chanting our anek daily gayatris.

Because of mind is so restful, we become lazy and become complacent in these departments. So Raghunatha Dasa Goswami, on behalf of us, he is begging his mind, “O please, my dear mind, become attached to these things, develop love for these things.”

So we can pray to Raghunatha Dasa Goswami, we can pray to ‘Manah-siksa’ that these wonderful feelings and intense attachments that Raghunatha Dasa Goswami is feeling himself and describing, we can pray that these wonderful attachments will come into our heart and we’ll someday develop this and become free from the false ego, develop the pure serving ego, the transparent divine identity, that I am the eternal servant of my spiritual master, life after life after life. He is my eternal well-wisher and friend and dear-most life after life.

And when we are free from this false ego and our pure identity emerges, our pure ego emerges, then we can experience this guru apurva rati, which Raghunatha Dasa Goswami is writing about in the first verse of Manah-siksa.

Raghunatha Dasa Goswami pada ki jai!