Who Can Be a Guru? (Part 2)

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Sādhana-Bhakti Destroys Karmic Reactions

To answer these questions, we will turn to the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (BRS) of Srila Rupa Goswami, considered by Mahaprabhu’s followers to be the most authoritative textbook on the science of bhakti. In the first chapter of this book, Srila Rupa Goswami explains that there are six glorious qualities of uttama-bhakti, or first-class devotional service. The first quality is that bhakti destroys suffering. Srila Rupa Goswami explains that suffering consists of three things: sinful reaction (pāpa), the seed of sin (pāpa-bīja), and ignorance (avidyā). (BRS 1.1.18)

Bhakti is so amazing, that even in the stage of practice, it is able to eradicate all karmic reactions, beginning with what is called prārabdha-karma, or manifest material reactions. Of all the sinful reactions, prārabdha-karma is the least subtle, so it gets destroyed first. In fact, according to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.33.6), as soon as a person even inadvertently calls out to Krishna through His holy names, his prārabdha-karma is destroyed! How amazing is bhakti!

Now, what exactly is prārabdha-karma? This is the karma that determines our material circumstances in the present life—namely, our birth; material qualities; access to education, wealth, and other resources; and even our gender. All of this is determined by karma, and bhakti destroys it all.

Surrendered Devotees Have No Material Designations

Therefore, it is not appropriate for followers of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to consider these kinds of material factors when determining who should or shouldn’t serve as a guru. This is the plain teaching of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 8.128).

From the time a Vaiṣṇava devotee takes shelter of the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna, his prārabdha-karma is destroyed, along with his external material designations—“I am a man; I am a woman; I am a father; I am a husband; I am an American; I am an Indian; etc.” Such worldly considerations, based on material identification, have no place in uttama-bhakti, which is sarvopadhi vinirmuktam, “free of all material designations.” (BRS 1.1.12)

In case you don’t believe me, you don’t have take my word for it. Here is what Srila Jiva Goswami says on the topic in his purport to Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.68: śaraṇam anena prārabdha-nāśāt varṇāśramitva-nāśena na nitya-karmādhikāraḥ, “By taking shelter of the Lord, a devotee’s prārabdha-karma is destroyed, which thus cancels his status within the varṇāśrama system. He is therefore no longer required to perform worldly duties (nitya-karma).”

Impure Chanting (Nāmābhāsa) Grants Liberation

Some devotees do not believe that such statements can really apply to a sādhaka devotee. No matter how many times we repeat the teachings of our ācāryas on this matter, they remain doubtful. However, for followers of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, liberation from karmic bondage is not a very wonderful achievement. Devotees easily attain such liberation even in the stage of sādhana by chanting nāmābhāsa, long before they attain śuddha-nāma and the higher stages of sādhana, culminating in the perfectional stages of bhāva and prema.

Supplemental Evidence

For the pleasure of practioners on the path of uttama-bhakti, I will now present a few relevant quotes:

muktiṁ dadāti karhicit sma na bhakti-yogam 

“Those engaged in getting the Lord’s favor attain liberation from the Lord very easily, but He does not very easily give devotional service in ecstatic love (bhāva-bhakti).” (SB 5.6.18)

siddhayaḥ paramāścaryā bhuktir muktiś ca śāśvatī 

nityaṁ ca paramānando bhaved govinda-bhaktitaḥ

“Astounding mystic powers, material enjoyment, everlasting liberation, and eternal supreme bliss—all these result from the devotional service of Lord Govinda.” (BRS 1.1.31) [Note: This is a description of sādhana-bhakti.]

nāmābhāsa haite haya saṁsārera kṣaya

“Even a faint light from the holy name of the Lord can eradicate all the reactions of sinful life.” (CC Antya 3.63)

‘mukti’ tuccha-phala haya nāmābhāsa haite

“Liberation is the insignificant result derived from a glimpse of the awakening of offenseless chanting of the holy name. (CC Antya 3.186)

haridāsa kahena, — kene karaha saṁśaya?

śāstre kahe, — nāmābhāsa-mātre ‘mukti’ haya

Haridāsa Ṭhākura said, “Why are you doubtful? The revealed scriptures say that one can attain liberation simply by a glimpse of offenseless chanting of the holy name.” (CC Antya 3.195)

Even Kaniṣṭha Devotees Are Liberated by Nāmābhāsa

According to Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, this stage of chanting nāmābhāsa is attained even by the kaniṣṭha-bhaktas:

“The kaniṣṭha-bhakta performs his devotional service at the stage of nāmābhāsa, whereas the madhyama Vaiṣṇava is actually qualified for the real holy name and can understand and discern the various offenses in chanting the holy name. The uttama-adhikārī is above committing offense, as he sees Krishna expanded everywhere.” (Harināma-cintāmaṇi, Ch. 4)

Addressing Common Doubts

Someone may wonder how it is possible for a devotee to remain in the physical body if his prārabdha-karma, which is the body’s very basis, has already been destroyed. To address this doubt, Srila Jiva Goswami explains in his commentary to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.21 that the Supreme Lord keeps such devotees alive by His will alone (tad-icchā-mātreṇaiva). Alternately, by the Lord’s desire, a mere semblance of karma appears to remain so that the devotee’s body can continue to function within the material world.

Another common doubt is that neophyte devotees certainly don’t look like liberated souls! Many of us are quite “rough around the edges,” so to speak. Srila Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakura addresses this point in his commentary to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.2.9–10:

“Therefore, although the holy name of Bhagavān, even when chanted only once, completely uproots sin, it generally reveals the visible signs of its result only after some delay—just as a fruit-bearing tree gives its fruit only in due course of time. And in some cases the holy name does not reveal its effects at all, so as not to undermine the teachings of the externally oriented scriptures [i.e., those that advocate the path of varṇāśrama].”

Conclusion

Given that even nāmābhāsa destroys all karmic bondage, including prārabdha-karma; given that prārabdha-karma alone is what produces material designations such as birth, gender, caste, and social qualification; and given that even kaniṣṭha-bhaktas, neophyte devotees, already chant on the level of nāmābhāsa, it follows that a surrendered devotee, even in the stage of sādhana, is no longer to be judged by material designations when determining eligibility to serve as guru.

This is not a liberal innovation. It is the unavoidable conclusion of the teachings of Lord Chaitanya, Srila Haridasa Thakura, Srila Rupa Goswami, Srila Jiva Goswami, and Srila Prabhupada.

A guru is not authorized by body, caste, gender, or social roles, but by Kṛṣṇa-tattva-jñāna and Vaiṣṇava qualities like humility, tolerance, sense control, mercy, and so forth. All these qualities arise directly from the holy name.

Therefore, to impose varṇāśrama or bodily qualifications upon a devotee who has taken shelter of the holy name is not conservatism—it is a rejection of the very foundations of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism!