View source for One who remains a great fool number one before his guru, he is guru. And one who says that "I'm advanced so much that I can speak better than my guru," then he's rascal. This is the process

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[[Category:One Who]]
[[Category:Remain]]
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[[Category:Fool Number One]]
[[Category:Before]]
[[Category:Guru]]
[[Category:Say]]
[[Category:I Am]]
[[Category:Advance]]
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[[Category:Speak]]
[[Category:Better Than]]
[[Category:Then]]
[[Category:Rascal]]
[[Category:This is the Process]]
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<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
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<div id="General_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="11" parent="Lectures" text="General Lectures"><h3>General Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureWhatisaGuruLondonAugust221973_0" class="quote" parent="General_Lectures" book="Lec" index="137" link="Lecture What is a Guru? -- London, August 22, 1973" link_text="Lecture What is a Guru? -- London, August 22, 1973">
<div class="heading">Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that "My Guru Mahārāja saw Me a great fool number one." So one who remains a great fool number one before his guru, he is guru. And one who says that "I'm advanced so much that I can speak better than my guru," then he's rascal. This is the process.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture What is a Guru? -- London, August 22, 1973|Lecture What is a Guru? -- London, August 22, 1973]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">The Vedic instruction is, tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). Gurum eva, "one must." Eva means "must." Abhigacchet, this verb is used when there is the sense of "must." It never says "Go to a guru," but he says "Must approach the guru." Guru is one. Guru cannot be two. Gurum evābhigacchet. And we see also, practically, in the disciplic succession of guru, the same thing is spoken by the guru. Same thing. Repetition of the same subject matter, no other. Kṛṣṇa said that man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru: ([[Vanisource:BG 18.65|BG 18.65]]) "Just think of Me," man-manā. "Just become devotee of Me," man-manā bhava mad-bhakto. "Just worship Me and just offer your obeisances unto Me." Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja ([[Vanisource:BG 18.66|BG 18.66]]). "Just surrender unto Me." You'll find this instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā. The same thing was spoken by all the ācāryas. Rāmanujācārya also says the same, Madhvācārya says the same thing, Caitanya Mahāprabhu says same thing, the Gosvāmīs say the same thing, and we are also speaking the same thing. There is no difference. We do not interpret the words of Kṛṣṇa, that "In my opinion, Kurukṣetra means this body." This is rascaldom. The whole situation has been spoiled by these so-called rascal gurus who gives his own opinion. This is our plain declaration: Let any rascal guru come. We can convince him that he is not guru, because he is speaking differently. We can challenge any rascal. Just like somebody came here, he said that he's God, every one of us God. (aside:) Stop this. So I asked that "Just find out in the dictionary what is meaning of God. Let us see whether he is God." The dictionary, as soon as dictionary was consulted, the meaning of God is "the supreme being," meaning of God. So I asked him, "Are you supreme? If you cannot understand, then find out the meaning of supreme." Then when he consulted dictionary, the supreme, it is said "the greatest authority." So I asked him, "Are you the greatest authority?" The rascal could not answer. He does not know even the dictionary meaning, and he's claiming that he's God. This rascaldom is going on, whole world. Big, big rascal swamis, they say, "Why you are finding out God anywhere? You do not see so many rascal gods are loitering in the street?" This is going on. If you simply consult dictionary, you can understand what is the meaning of God. God is so cheap thing, huh? Supreme being. Are you supreme being? Supreme means the highest authority. Highest authority means nobody is equal to him, nobody is greater than him. That is supreme. So these rascals who are claiming to become God, is it a fact that nobody is equal to him, nobody is greater than him? There are so many.</p>
<p>So this kind of guru, this kind of rascal, will not help you. Guru must come from the paramparā system by disciplic succession. Five thousand years or five millions of years, what was spoken by the supreme God or guru, the present guru also will say the same thing. That is guru. That is bona fide guru. Otherwise, he's not guru. Simple definition. Guru cannot change any word of the predecessor. There is one instance in Caitanya Mahāprabhu's life. One gentleman, (he) is Vallabha Ācārya. He was very much devotee of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He wrote one comment on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Subodhinī-ṭīkā, it is called. That is recognized, nice ṭīkā, comment. But he approached Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He was very great devotee of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So he simply said that "Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Lord Caitanya, if You hear my comment on the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, You'll find it is far better than Śrīdhara Svāmī's." Śrīdhara Svāmī is the very old commentator. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately rejected: "Oh, you are claiming that you have written something better than Śrīdhara Svāmī?" He chastised him. Svāmī means another... He sarcastically remarked, the word svāmī, Śrīdhara Swami, svāmī, another svāmī means "husband." So He said, svāmī jīva nahi mane besa bali guni(?): "I think one who does not recognize svāmī, he's a prostitute." He immediately said. "You do not recognize Śrīdhara Svāmī, then you are a prostitute. How can I hear from a prostitute?" He refused. Only word, that "I have written better than Svāmī." So this is the process of guru. You cannot disobey the previous ācārya or guru. No. You have to repeat the same thing. Not research. Sometimes rascals come, that "You are speaking the same thing. Why don't you speak something new by research work?" We say that we have no intelligence, we cannot make any research. We are... Guru more mūrkha dekhi koriyā vicāra ([[Vanisource:CC Adi 7.71|CC Adi 7.71]]). Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that "My Guru Mahārāja saw Me a great fool number one." So one who remains a great fool number one before his guru, he is guru. And one who says that "I'm advanced so much that I can speak better than my guru," then he's rascal. This is the process.</p>
:evaṁ paramparā-prāptam
:imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ
:sa kāleneha (mahatā)
:yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa
:([[Vanisource:BG 4.2|BG 4.2]])
<p>Kṛṣṇa said in the Fourth Chapter.</p>
<p>So guru is one. Guru cannot be two. As soon as you find two opinions of guru, either both of them are rascals, or one is still at least rascal. There cannot be two. This is guru. Another place it is said,</p>
:tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta
:jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam
:śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṁ
:brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam
:([[Vanisource:SB 11.3.21|SB 11.3.21]])
<p>Who needs a guru? A third-class, fourth-class man, ordinary man, doesn't require a guru. Guru, to keep a guru or to have a guru is not a fashion. One who is very serious to understand spiritual life, he requires a guru. Otherwise, there is no need of guru. Just like you keep a dog as a fashion, don't keep a guru. Guru means..., is a question of necessity. One must be very serious to understand what is spiritual life, what is God, what is my relation with God, how to act. When we are very much serious about this subject matter, then we require a guru. Don't go to a guru as a matter of fashion. That is useless. That is useless. Therefore śāstra says, tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta. Because we have to go to guru and surrender there. Without surrendering, you cannot learn anything. If you want to challenge guru, it is not possible. Then you'll learn nothing. Tasmad guruṁ prapadyeta. Praṇipātena. So, just like Arjuna accepted Kṛṣṇa as guru, he said, śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam: ([[Vanisource:BG 2.7|BG 2.7]]) "I am now surrendered to you." That is the process. Tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā ([[Vanisource:BG 4.34|BG 4.34]]). To... Guru means Kṛṣṇa's representative, former ācāryas' representative. Kṛṣṇa's... All ācāryas are representative of Kṛṣṇa; therefore guru should be offered the same respect as you offer to God. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta ([[Vanisource:SB 11.3.21|SB 11.3.21]]). Therefore Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says, yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo **. Because guru is bona fide representative of Kṛṣṇa, or God, so if you surrender to guru, bona fide guru, that means you surrender to God. God is accepting your surrender through the guru. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo. If you surrender to guru, that means Kṛṣṇa is pleased. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: ([[Vanisource:BG 18.66|BG 18.66]]) surrender. That somebody argues, "Where is Kṛṣṇa? I shall surrender." No. You surrender to His representative, then you surrender to Kṛṣṇa. This is the process.</p>
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