19980407 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.17.27 | Vyāsa-pūjā Address

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Maharāja on April  7^th, 1998 in Śrī Māyāpur, India. The class was given on Vyāsa-pūjā day and begins with a reading from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Eleven, Chapter Seven, Verse Twenty-seven.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.17.27

ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān
navamanyeta karhicit
na martya-buddhyāsūyeta
sarva-deva-mayo guruḥ

Translation: One should know the ācārya as Myself and never disrespect him in any way. One should not envy him, thinking him an ordinary man, for he is the representative of all the demigods.

Purport: This is a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.17.27) spoken by Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa when He was questioned by Uddhava regarding the four social and spiritual orders of society. He was specifically instructing how a brahmacārī should behave under the care of a spiritual master. A spiritual master is not an enjoyer of facilities offered by his disciples. He is like a parent. Without the attentive service of his parents, a child cannot grow to manhood; similarly, without the care of the spiritual master one cannot rise to the plane of transcendental service.

“The spiritual master is also called ācārya, or a transcendental professor of spiritual science. Manu-saṁhitā (2.140) explains the duties of an ācārya, describing that a bona fide spiritual maser accepts charge of disciples, teaches them the Vedic knowledge with all its intricacies, and gives them their second birth. The ceremony performed to initiate a disciple into the study of spiritual science is called upanīti, or the function that brings one nearer to the spiritual master. One who cannot be brought nearer to a spiritual master cannot have a sacred thread, and thus he is indicated to be a śūdra. The sacred thread worn on the body of a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya or vaiśya is a symbol of initiation by the spiritual master; it is worth nothing if worn merely to boast of high parentage. The duty of the spiritual master is to initiate a disciple with the sacred thread ceremony, and after this saṁskāra, or purificatory process, the spiritual master actually begins to teach the disciple about the Vedas. A person born a śūdra is not barred from such spiritual initiation, provided he is approved by the spiritual master, who is duly authorized to award a disciple the right to be a brāhmaṇa if he finds him perfectly qualified. In the Vāyu Purāṇa, an ācārya is defined as one who knows the import of all the Vedic literatures, explains the purpose of the Vedas, abides by their rules and regulations, and teaches his disciples to act in the same way.

“Only out of His immense compassion does the Personality of Godhead reveal Himself as the spiritual master. Therefore, in the dealings of an ācārya there are no activities but those of transcendental loving service to the Lord. He is the Supreme Personality of Servitor Godhead. It is worthwhile to take shelter of such a steady devotee, who is called āśraya-vigraha, or the manifestation or form of the Lord of whom one must take shelter.

If one poses himself as an ācārya but does not have an attitude of servitorship to the Lord, he must be considered an offender, and this offensive attitude disqualifies him from being an ācārya. The bona fide spiritual master always engages in unalloyed devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By this test he is known to be a direct manifestation of the Lord and a genuine representative of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu. Such a spiritual master is known as ācāryadeva. Influenced by an envious temperament and dissatisfied because of an attitude of sense gratification, mundaners criticize a real ācārya. In fact, however, a bona fide ācārya is nondifferent from the Personality of Godhead, and therefore to envy such an ācārya is to envy the Personality of Godhead Himself. This will produce an effect subversive to transcendental realization.

“As mentioned previously, a disciple should always respect the spiritual master as a manifestation of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, but at the same time one should always remember that a spiritual master is never authorized to imitate the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. False spiritual masters pose themselves as identical with Śrī Kṛṣṇa in every respect, to exploit the sentiments of their disciples, but such impersonalists can only mislead their disciples, for their ultimate aim is to become one with the Lord. This is against the principles of the devotional cult.

“The real Vedic philosophy is acintya-bhedābheda-tattva, which establishes everything to be simultaneously one with and different from the Personality of Godhead. Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī confirms that this is the real position of a bona fide spiritual master and says that one should always think of the spiritual master in terms of his intimate relationship with Mukunda (Śrī Kṛṣṇa). Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, in his Bhakti-sandarbha (213), has clearly defined that a pure devotee’s observation of the spiritual master and Lord Śiva as one with the Personality of Godhead exists in terms of their being very dear to the Lord, not identical with Him in all respects. Following in the footsteps of Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, later ācāryas like Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura have confirmed the same truths. In his prayers to the spiritual master, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura confirms that all the revealed scriptures accept the spiritual master to be identical with the Personality of Godhead because he is a very dear and confidential servant of the Lord. Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas therefore worship Śrīla Gurudeva (the spiritual master) in the light of his being the servitor of the Personality of Godhead. In all the ancient literatures of devotional service and in the more recent songs of Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and other unalloyed Vaiṣṇavas, the spiritual master is always considered to be either one of the confidential associates of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī or a manifested representative of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu.”

Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta Translation and Purport to Text Twenty-seven, Chapter Seventeen, Canto Eleven of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, with the Chapter entitled, “Lord Kṛṣṇa’s Description of the Varṇāśrama System”.

* * *

Jayapatākā Swami: We are taking the translation from Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, Chapter One, Verse Forty-six. Although this verse is from the Eleventh Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Seventeenth Chapter, Twenty-seventh Verse, but Prabhupāda did not translate there, he translated here in Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. In the verses leading up to the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, it mentions:

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 1.44

yadyapi āmāra guru — caitanyera dāsa
tathāpi jāniye āmi tāṅhāra prakāśa

Translation: “Although I know that my spiritual master is a servitor of Śrī Caitanya, I know Him also as a plenary manifestation of the Lord.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this simultaneously, oneness and difference is demonstrated here in this verse. I know my guru is a devotee of Lord Caitanya but I also know he is a representative or he is a manifestation of the Lord. These two diverse understandings are possible when they are inconceivable. That is why acintya-bhedābheda-tattva. In the purport, Prabhupāda explains Lord Nityānanda, who is Balarāma Himself, the first direct manifestation or expansion of Kṛṣṇa, is the original spiritual master. He helps Lord Kṛṣṇa in His pastimes and He is the servant of the Lord. Prabhupāda also mentions the spiritual master’s eternal occupation is to expand the service of the Lord by training disciples in a service attitude.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 1.45

guru kṛṣṇa-rūpa hana śāstrera pramāṇe
guru-rūpe kṛṣṇa kṛpā karena bhakta-gaṇe

Translation: “According to the deliberate opinion of all revealed scriptures, the spiritual master is nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa. Lord Kṛṣṇa in the form of the spiritual master delivers His devotees.”

Purport: The relationship of a disciple with his spiritual master is as good as his relationship with the Supreme Lord. A spiritual master always represents himself as the humblest servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but the disciple must look upon him as the manifested representation of Godhead.

Jayapatākā Swami: The pure devotee... In the verse we ready today from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in all the descriptions of an ācārya, it mentions how he knows the Vedas, follows the Vedas, teaches the disciples to practice the Vedas, gives initiation and so on. Nowhere, does it say specifically that one has to be a self-effulgent uttama-adhikārī. Then when he goes into a dark room, you do not need to turn the lights to be turned on it automatically lights up because of his effulgence or something. Somehow, some people in ISKCON or out of ISKCON, give a definition of a guru, which is taking from Prabhupāda’s books like... the description of the highest level of the guru and say that anyone who does not come up to(that), in all respects to that level, then they cannot be a guru and they avoid all the other verses that Prabhupāda says that the guru means he is representing his guru, he follows the Vedas, teaches disciples and so on and that they say, “Why the guru is worshipped?” Because, “Okay, if he is in that level then he can be worshipped. Otherwise he should not be worshipped, it is offensive.”

But then in these verses, it says we worship the guru not because of what level we consider him to be on, otherwise then we would have to calibrate worship of uttama-adhikārī guru, madhyama-adhikārī guru and kaniṣṭha-adhikārī guru and so on but we respect the guru because he is representing Kṛṣṇa. He is an external manifestation of Kṛṣṇa. That is why we worship the guru on the Vyāsa-pūjā day as representative of the entire guru-paramparā. It does say a guru has to follow the rules and regulations, he has to be in the service attitude to Kṛṣṇa, that is some minimum requirement. Somebody says, “I am God”, he is not (God)... Somebody is totally fallen, entangled in sense gratification and not having that service attitude of engaging in devotional service, there are certain things like that, obviously then that (someone) is not able to represent Kṛṣṇa fully as a spiritual master. These are the, in the tradition actually, every disciple should help to spread the guru-paramparā, be qualified and... be guru in different ways to represent Kṛṣṇa.

In the purport here, Prabhupāda explains that a guru is like a parent – “Without the attentive service of the parents, a child cannot grow up to manhood. Similarly, without the care of the spiritual master, one cannot rise to the plane of transcendental service.” This is important for ISKCON managers to facilitate the spiritual master to give care to the disciples. In ISKCON today, where gurus may also be GBCs, may also be temple presidents in some places, maybe many things, it is somehow sometimes difficult to equate and consolidate and balance all of these different roles.

Even the ISKCON deputies said they would like to see the GBCs take a more spiritual role, they did not say the śikṣā-guru, but something like that, more of a type of caring role for ISKCON. Although, according to our present definition, a GBC has little of that role, but more of supervisory, administrative roles. So, these things in ISKCON are going, the topics of discussion even this year at a worldwide level, we can see here that the role of a guru in ISKCON is to care for devotees.

And one of the definitions that the GBC was evaluated on this year is that to be a śikṣā-guru, that means that whether they care for all the devotees in ISKCON in an equal way, and not only care about their own disciples. So, the situation in ISKCON as a spiritual family, where actually the leaders not only are concerned about their own initiated disciples, who of course they are directly responsible for, but in a broader sense they are also concerned that everybody in ISKCON is properly situated in their guru-disciple relationship, is being cared for properly, is able to advance effectively in their Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So, to find a balance between all of these things is actually a very critical matter.

I do not think I could develop that theme fully in this short period of time given. But in principle, you can see how the function of guru is carried. That is also mentioned later on in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, in Text Sixty-two, which is quoting Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto Nine, Chapter Four, Text Sixty-Eight,

““Saints are My heart, and only I am their hearts. They do not know anyone but Me, and therefore I do not recognize anyone besides them as Mine.” [ŚB. 9.4.68]

These two... In the purport, Prabhupāda explains, “The Lord, being full and free from problems, can wholeheartedly care for His devotees. His concern is how to elevate and protect all those who have taken shelter at His feet. The same responsibility is also entrusted to the spiritual master. The bona fide spiritual master’s concern is how the devotees who have surrendered to Him as a representative of the Lord may make progress in devotional service. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is always mindful of the devotees who fully engage in cultivating knowledge of Him and having taken shelter at His lotus feet.”

How the Lord, He wholeheartedly takes care of His devotees and how the guru is entrusted to take care of those who have surrendered to Him or in ISKCON, if you are GBC, then those who have taken shelter at ISKCON, in a broader sense, one needs to watch out for. So, the caring aspect is very important. It is a principal point that Prabhupāda said nobody can advance without the care of a spiritual master.

In the Kṛṣṇa-bhajanāmṛta, Narahari Ṭhākura mentions that a disciple has to inevitably hear from many different people. Not only the guru is giving the lectures, you hear lectures from all kinds of Vaiṣṇavas. We experience that in ISKCON. And that one also sees these Vaiṣṇavas as kinds of gurus, because if we hear from them, we respect them as a kind of guru. But amongst all the gurus, the dīkṣā-guru and śikṣā-gurus are special, because these are gurus that we have accepted as directly our representatives of Kṛṣṇa.

Therefore, it says that whenever we hear something that is new, we never heard before, a new idea, a new concept, before we store it in our consciousness and then at some point we ask our own guru, “Is this concept alright?” Everything we get in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness goes to the filter of the spiritual master. Just like nowadays, bottled water in India is a huge industry. Some say filtered so many times, osmosis filter, this filter, that filter, so many filters, ozone, carbon. But in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness we have the guru filter. This is to protect us from concepts which may lead us down the wrong path.

So, in our devotional service we actually have an invisible but very deep dependence on the spiritual master. Everything we do for Kṛṣṇa we are to offer as offering to guru, who in turn offers it to Kṛṣṇa. So, all of our services are offered to Kṛṣṇa through the guru. Whatever knowledge we get which is not directly from Prabhupāda’s books, even sometimes we may not, we may want to clarify our understanding of Prabhupāda’s books. Some people get different ideas of the same teaching. So, whatever we get then we want to be sure that we accept someone as our spiritual master means that we want to hear from him.

The dīkṣā-guru’s permission is needed to take a śikṣā-guru. So, if the dīkṣā-guru approves someone to be a śikṣā-guru, that means that we know that this person is also approved to approve philosophy, approve filter, approve sanction. Now, we say like Sāndīpani Muni, he had a few, you know, do not think he had so many when he was taking care of Kṛṣṇa, it did not seem like he had so many disciples at one time. Traditionally maybe we hear, of course Durvāsā Muni had was it fifty thousand or ten thousand disciples walking with him.

We heard how Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he had ten thousand initiated disciples. Śrīla Prabhupāda had five thousand initiated disciples. Prabhupāda did delegate, he did want that GBCs and temple presidents should take a major role in guiding his disciples, but not to present different things than what he is presenting. So, in ISKCON we also have infrastructure meant for caring for devotees. Leaders are also representing a guru. But sometimes there is almost a competitive mood between a local leader and the guru and this is something that needs to always be balanced.

In my zone I do not find that so much, that problem especially from of course those are my disciples are temple presidents, there is no such problem and most of them are godbrothers. But sometimes there may be that misunderstanding. So, always the harmony between the leader, GBC, the gurus, this is something that needs to always be worked on. So, that devotees feel well cared for and feel connected with Kṛṣṇa and their guru or gurus.

Previously maybe for Vyāsa-pūjā or even in some places it is primarily only initiated disciples come. But you can foresee that... in ISKCON already it is happened, the broader vision of devotees that they take care of other devotees. Many devotees would feel grateful and would feel maybe like to also participate in such respect of the guru as representative of Kṛṣṇa. In ISKCON we have dīkṣā as the only link, whereas there may be many lateral links on the śikṣā level.

I know many disciples appreciate the guidance given by His Holiness Bhānu Swami, especially in South India or even here in Māyāpur, or similarly Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja, Harikeśa Swami and many others, Indradyumna Swami, Dṛḍha-bāhu Prabhu, and others. There are so many spiritual masters who are trying to help each other and caring for the disciples in different ways.

Different moods may be there but the goal is the same. So, when we see ISKCON as a family, what is the whole family business? It is caring for the devotees. And what is that care? To see that everyone develops a proper service attitude. The guru is serving the disciple by trying to engage them in Kṛṣṇa’s service, protect them from influences of Māyā, encourage them in their devotional service, and then he is helped by many other devotees, because how can the spiritual master do all this alone?

Rādhānātha Swami is coming here. He has organized the counsellor groups in Chowpatty to help. Couple of years I have been mentioning that having such a system for caring for disciples and devotees – Bhakti-vṛkṣa and Bhakti-vṛnda groups are also supposed to help spiritual masters in caring for their disciples. And the critical personality, of course the temple president, is the most responsible for helping and caring for all of the devotees.

I am very grateful to the temple presidents in my zone that are helping me or taking care of devotees and even in other zones to take care of my, help my disciples, help devotees that are dependent on me. I could start mentioning many names but like Madhu Paṇḍita Prabhu or Sad-aiśvarya Prabhu, Śrījī and a number of others, Bhakti Puruṣottama Swami and many others, but if I start mentioning everybody there is no limit, I mean it is quite a number. So, I do not want to just limit it to a few, everyone...

And devotees, they need also to consider, you know I remember one time when Prabhupāda was walking down the stairway in Calcutta and you know Calcutta is this narrow horrible stairway because it is divided in half because of a dispute over who owns the stairs and so on. This is going on – who owns the different property. The whole property was divided between two family shares. Then, you know how devotees crowd behind the guru sometimes, and almost, you can easily get pushed from behind.

Like yesterday in the procession, I was on this cart, some devotees are pulling from behind, many are pushing, and then they are actually pushing the devotees who are pushing faster than they can pull, and it is totally out of control. So, anyway, there was such a kind of situation, and then Prabhupāda almost slipped and fell down the stairs, and some devotee from behind shouted out, “Watch out! Be careful, Prabhupāda!” And then Prabhupāda stopped and turned around, and looked, and he said, “My responsibility is to look, to care for you, your spiritual life. Your responsibility is to care for my body. If I fall down the stairs, in other words, it is your responsibility. I am not watching out for myself. I am too busy watching out for you to worry about my body. That is a disciple’s domain, care for their guru’s body, care for their guru’s infrastructure. And the guru there, he can just focus on how to care for the devotees.” It was an interesting point, interesting message that Prabhupāda gave there.

Sometimes Prabhupāda got sick, and then we had to do everything for him. Brahmānanda Mahārāja, when he was Brahmānanda Prabhu, he mentioned that in nineteen sixty-seven, one-time Prabhupāda had a minor stroke, and he actually became partially paralysed. He could not move at all. His whole side of the body became like, I did not know about this. It is not so explicitly mentioned anywhere. He said they had to actually bathe Prabhupāda. They had to do so many things for Śrīla Prabhupāda. He had to sit there, and they had to help him to pass urine and everything. And still, Prabhupāda, he was just concerned. Mentally, everything was on him. He was concerned about the devotees and preaching, but physically, he was not able to move very well. So, sometimes, Prabhupāda said the guru gets sick or has something that Kṛṣṇa gives the opportunity to the devotees, the guru becomes less self-sufficient, and disciples have to take more care.

Maybe in this personal experience, we see different times that disciples take different amount of concern about the spiritual master. And I think sometimes it is difficult, because maybe the spiritual master like Prabhupāda, he did not sleep, only two hours, three hours a day. So, actually, but the disciples, the secretaries, they cannot keep up with that. So, they have to have like shifts to keep up with it. Like when we are on the recent boat Safari, Gaṅgā Safari, I get up in the morning, everybody else would be asleep. So, I had to go myself in the early morning to find where to bathe and what to do. Sometimes there was somebody there, sometimes I had to wake up somebody to help me. Sometimes I did not want to wake up anybody, so I went on my own. And then that is how basically I slipped and fell, broke a bone.

But it is like that when Kṛṣṇa is showing. The guru has to also let the disciples be dependent, but disciples have to take the responsibility to see to one side of the guru’s care and facilitate that the guru can give back some time in caring for the devotees. Actually sometimes, the devotees, they cannot approach the guru. They feel, “I cannot approach the guru.” So, I am always thinking how to make myself more accessible in different ways. So, there is a big conflict, there is so much service to do, you want to be accessible. Sometimes they go through the secretaries and appointments, by the time it is all over, they are not able to see you. It is actually to create the proper situation so that one can care for all the devotees that need it.

Prabhupāda had this wonderful system, wherein in Māyāpur, he just opened the door from five to six every night. It was open door. Anyone wanted to, they could go and see him. So, that way, he was accessible to devotees and only those who had some very personal problem would get a personal interview or those who were directly working with him. So, on one side, we see that how Kṛṣṇa cares for the devotee through the spiritual master. Another side, the spiritual master also has to lead the preaching. He has to teach, see that the devotees spread the movement, engage everyone in devotional service.

That is actually very full-time engagement. Spiritual masters do not have any private life. Their whole life is dedicated to serving Kṛṣṇa and caring for devotees. So, there is no time when they are alone or they have any privacy, so to speak. That is why some great Vaiṣṇavas, they did not want to be a guru. They just wanted, they were in a more bhajanānandī mood or whatever. They wanted to serve Kṛṣṇa and be absorbed in His pastimes. And once you are a guru, it means that you give out your life to your disciples to help them. And the disciples in reciprocation are to help the guru so that he can also do his service.

So, these are some of the technical circumstances that come from this. And in the midst of all this, the disciples also, although sometimes with the guru, see that guru has all these material activities like eating and sleeping and everything, but he is not supposed to consider the guru to be an ordinary man, but to see the guru as a representative of Kṛṣṇa. So, how do you equate all these things? It is quite complicated.

The way we do it is we see that I am not pure enough to directly see Kṛṣṇa. So, Kṛṣṇa is working through this person to help me, to bring up my consciousness, to force me in different ways to develop a serving attitude, to encourage me, enliven me, however it is, somehow or other to get my service attitude, my surrender to Kṛṣṇa, more refined.

And by developing a more personal relationship in our hearts with the spiritual master, that is acceptance. Prabhupāda explained in the purport that that is not different, that is equal to our relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Right? So, that we do not become offensive. That is why we, because we are working intimately with the guru and many devotees, sometimes we have to work intimately. That is why we do such things as guru-pūjā and beg for forgiveness. We do Vyāsa-pūjā to get rid of all our offences. When we do the puṣpāñjali and bow down three times, Prabhupāda says that it clears up whatever offences were there in the previous year in our guru-disciple relationship. We clear it up and it is like what Nirjalā Ekādaśī is for Ekādaśī.

The puṣpāñjali and Vyāsa-pūjā is for offending the guru. And from that time, we really try to establish ourselves in a better consciousness than what it was before. We can always improve. So, the idea is that through respecting the guru, at least in the formal ceremonies, it helps us to remind ourselves not to just see the spiritual master as an ordinary person, but that he is a devotee, and how Kṛṣṇa is working through this devotee to help him.

And Kṛṣṇa gives the power of attorney to the guru to give blessings to the disciples, the devotees. So, that is why the guru is not identical in all respects with the Lord, but in the particular aspect of giving mercy and caring for devotees, in that respect, there is a oneness. The guru is not the Supersoul. He may not know exactly whatever every disciple is thinking. But through the Supersoul, he may get some idea that this disciple is in good consciousness or this disciple is not in good consciousness. But it is the duty of the disciple, part of our loving exchange, to open the mind to the guru, reveal the mind, express doubts, get all doubts cleared up, offer respects and so on.

And for the guru to receive that, to open the mind, to also give instruction. And for those who are helping the guru and caring for devotees, they also need to be very sensitive about all these issues as well as try to represent their guru in caring for devotees and inspiring devotees in their relationship with their spiritual masters, the guru, their guru (their gurus). We have a guru – our dīkṣā-guru is a guru and we may also have gurus, others who are showing us the way, who are śikṣā-gurus. So, within the very next verse after this one in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, there it mentions:

śikṣā-guruke ta’ jāni kṛṣṇera svarūpa
antaryāmī, bhakta-śreṣṭha,—ei dui rūpa
[Cc. Ādi 1.47]

“One should know the instructing spiritual master to be the Personality of Kṛṣṇa. Lord Kṛṣṇa manifests Himself as the Supersoul and as the greatest devotee of the Lord.”

We have two śikṣā-gurus. One śikṣā-guru is Kṛṣṇa in the heart, who guides us, He is antaryāmī and the other śikṣā-guru is external, he is bhakta-śreṣṭha. So, in ISKCON, our dīkṣā-guru is also our śikṣā-guru, although there may be more śikṣā-gurus. Generally, dīkṣā-guru is also śikṣā-guru in normal circumstances, in ISKCON at least. That is the standard Prabhupāda established. We say Prabhupāda is our foundational śikṣā-guru. That means, by reading his books, we also get instruction. So, we have internal, we have Prabhupāda, we have our initiating guru, who is our śikṣā-guru, and we even have more. So, devotees need to be very conscious about how to deal with the different types of gurus, types of devotees. And in this way, we can grow in a spiritual family environment in a healthy, in a very healthy way.

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare