Sri Guru Carana-rati

Date: 2007-12-21 Author: Kalacakra Krsna das

Dear Vaishnavas, Hare . Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

Just like the father and mother play the most important role in bringing up the child, the spiritual master plays the most vital role in bringing us up in spiritual consciousness. Hence it is never correct to underestimate the role of the spiritual master in our lives.

The great Mahatma reinstates this point while receiving knowledge from Maitreya muni in SB 3.7.19 as follows:

yat-sevayā bhagavataḥ kūṭa-sthasya madhu-dviṣaḥ rati-rāso bhavet tīvraḥ pādayor vyasanārdanaḥ

By serving the feet of the spiritual master, one is enabled to develop transcendental ecstasy in the service of the Personality of Godhead, who is the unchangeable enemy of the Madhu demon and whose service vanquishes one's material distresses.

Service to the spiritual master is the only way by which we can get entry into the intricate subject matters of the Supreme Lord and the science of self-realization. Hence it is always important for us to remember how much we are indebted to him. He gives his own life to uplift all of us and this we can value very much when we try to do the same to the other suffering souls, of course not by imitation but by following in his footsteps, by going out and preaching to the world and feeling for the other living entities. Every drop of blood we shed for those souls is worth the effort because there is no better way to please the spiritual master than by playing a tiny role in his unsurpassable mission. Of course it is easy to do an imitation of the spiritual master's activities, trying to show ourselves as feeling for everyone but it is very difficult to follow in his footsteps. Imitation will stay for a very brief period and fades away very soon but sri guru carana-rati, attachment to the lotus feet of the spiritual master and following in his footsteps is very difficult but even once if we had tasted it, we have attained the goal of our life.

Our dear spiritual master's 87th puja anniversary is falling on the Sunday the 23rd of Dec and it is the best chance for all of us to redeem ourselves from all the difficulties and re-energize spiritually to serve the lotus feet of our spiritual master eternally. Let us all take the vow to chant as many holy names as possible, study as many chapters of Srimad Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita as possible and lovingly preach to as many souls as possible. He has given us unlimited service for the rest of our lives in Krishna consciousness. Let us all pray to our most loving spiritual master H H Goswami Maharaj to bestow his ever loving causeless mercy upon us because we cannot survive even a moment without it.

Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Kalacakra Krsna das.