Evidence on Gurvastaka and who it is for

SP re praise and insult

Books : Srimad-Bhagavatam : Canto 4: “The Creation of the Fourth Order” : SB 4.15: King Prthu’s Appearance and Coronation : SB 4.15.23 : PURPORT :

Gentle devotees of the Supreme Personality of Godhead know perfectly well who is God and who is not. Nondevotee impersonalists, however, who have no idea what God is and who never offer prayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are always interested in accepting a human being as God and offering such prayers to him. This is the difference between a devotee and a demon. Demons manufacture their own gods, or a demon himself claims to be God, following in the footsteps of Rāvaṇa and Hiraṇyakaśipu. Although Pṛthu Mahārāja was factually an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he rejected those praises because the qualities of the Supreme Person were not yet manifest in him. He wanted to stress that one who does not actually possess these qualities should not try to engage his followers and devotees in offering him glory for them, even though these qualities might be manifest in the future. If a man who does not factually possess the attributes of a great personality engages his followers in praising him with the expectation that such attributes will develop in the future, that sort of praise is actually an insult.

Dear _______ Prabhu,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

The following will establish the truth based on what Prabhupada said.

Letters : 1969 Correspondence : September : Letter to: Jayapataka — London 26 September, 1969 : 69-09-26 :

Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated September 11th, and I have noted the contents. Enclosed please find one photograph of the Radha-Krishna throne, so you may begin constructing it as soon as possible. When the Radha-Krishna Deities are installed, you may turn your main attention to Them, rather than to the Lord Jagannatha Deities. You continue to keep Jagannatha nicely though, and sometimes change His dress. So far as your having already ordered instruments from India, that is all right. Regarding your question about the verse in the prayers to the Spiritual Master, the Spiritual Master is one of the associates of Krishna. The prayers offered by VisvanathaCakravarti to his Spiritual Master have a special significance. His Spiritual Master was one of the assistant gopis, so the prayer was offered like that. On the whole, the Spiritual Master is an agent of Krishna. But either He is assistant to the gopis or assistant to the cowherds boys, He is on the level of Krishna. That is the verdict of all scriptures. Krishna is worshipable God and the Spiritual Master is worshipper God. The exact words are sebya (worshipable) and sebak (worshipper)

And who is his spiritual master?

Bombay, April 17, 1976 : 760417SB.BOM :

Dakṣa śraddadhānaḥ: faithful. Faithful to whom? To the spiritual master. Whatever he says, the brahmacārī should take it: “Yes, it is my life and soul.” That is the explanation given by Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura. He is explaining with reference to the verse vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana [Bg. 2.41]. He very nicely explains. You have perhaps read it, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura’s… Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has taught very, very nicely about guru. Therefore he has written in Gurvaṣṭaka, yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. He is example, practical example of guru-bhakti,Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura. He accepted his guru, Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura. So he said that “I am not interested for my salvation or going back to Godhead. I am not interested.” Interested means it may come; it may not come. “That I don’t mind. But I am interested only with the words of my guru.” Viśvanātha Cakravartī said. “That is my life. Whether I will be successful or not successful, it doesn’t matter. I must take the words of my Guru Mahārāja as my life and soul.”

Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures : Canto 6: Lectures : SB 6.3: Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.3.16-17 — Gorakhpur, February 10, 1971 : 710210SB.GOR :

There is another version that Kṛṣṇa says… These are stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatamwhile He was talking with Uddhava, Eleventh Canto. Just like Kṛṣṇa had talks with Arjuna, which is known as Arjuna-gītā, similarly, He had talks with Uddhava, another devotee. That is known as Uddhava-gītā. So in that Uddhava-gītā these statements are there, that ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyāt nāvamanyeta karhicit: “Ācārya should be known as good as God.” That is confirmed in Viśvanātha Cakravartī… Sākṣād dharitvena samasta-śāstraiḥ. He also refers to the śāstra, not that he is opining by his own intellect. No. That is the speciality of learned scholars and devotees. They should immediately give evidence from the śāstra.Viśvanātha Cakravartī said that “Guru is as good as God by the verdict of the śāstra.” Sākṣād dharitvena samasta-śāstraiḥ. And Kṛṣṇa says, ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyāt: “Ācārya should be known as good as Myself.” Nāvamanyeta karhicit: “Never become disobedient to ācārya.” Na martya buddhyāsūyeta: “Never be envious of the ācārya, considering him to be an ordinary person.” Nāvamanyeta karhicit. Sarva-deva-mayo. By worshiping ācārya… And Bhagavad-gītā it is said, ācāryopāsanam. Tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā[Bg. 4.34]. These things are there.

And the proof that Narottama dasa Thakura accepted Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura as his servitor even though 100 years separated their times on the earth.

Books : Sri Caitanya-caritamrta – 1975 Edition : Cc. Adi-lila : Adi 1: The Spiritual Masters :

The direct disciple of Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī was Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, who accepted Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī as his servitor. Śrīla Viśvanātha CakravartīṬhākura accepted Śrīla Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī, who initiated Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, who in turn initiated Śrīla Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī, the spiritual master of Oṁ Viṣṇupāda Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja, the divine master of our humble self. (More…)

Also when we worship Srila Prabhupada in Mangal aratrika we face the deities and later we offer Guru Puja to Prabhupada in front of the deities.

Prabhupada’s vyasasana is in the temple room and he is on the altar. He is qualified to be worshipped in front of Krishna. Others are not and in fact it is offensive to do so.

Hope this helps. There is so much more.

Your servant,

Jitarati das