Chapter 4 of Prabhup\u0101da Vijaya, 'How Great is \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da?' puts into historical per\u00adspective the greatness of \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da from an interesting comparison of previous samprad\u0101ya \u0101c\u0101ryas.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>
If we enter the ocean by boat, we can navigate our direction to a destination based on the stars. The stars are compared to the knowledge found in the Vedas<\/em>. One of those stars in the sky is called Dhruva-loka. In modern science, Dhruva-loka is called the Pole Star. When we are in the ocean, if we lose sight of that star then we cannot benefit from all the other stars \u2013 we will be lost in the ocean. The Pole Star doesn\u2019t move. It is fixed in one place.<\/p>\n\u015ar\u012b Guru may be compared to the Pole Star, because with the help of the guru, we can derive great benefit from Vedic knowl\u00adedge. But without the help of the spiritual master, we will be bewildered in our attempt.<\/p>\n
The Vedas<\/em> are sometimes compared to a \u2018jungle of knowledge\u2019 \u2013 not just an ordinary jungle, but a very dense jungle. In this material world we are already in the jungle of material miscon\u00adceptions and if we want to search for God then we must come out of this jungle. To fulfil our search we may enter into the study of the Vedas<\/em>. But if we study the Vedas<\/em> without the help of the guru, we may eventually conclude that there is no God. Or we may con\u00adclude that there are many Gods. Or worst of all, we may conclude that, \u201cI am God. We are all God\u201d. In this way, without the help of the guru, we may become bewildered and meet with ultimate ruin.<\/p>\nIn the Vedic literature there are various opinions. In the Vi\u1e63\u1e47u Pur\u0101\u1e47a<\/em> it says that Vi\u1e63\u1e47u is Supreme. In the \u015aiva Pur\u0101\u1e47a<\/em> it says \u015aiva is the Supreme. In the M\u0101rka\u1e47\u1e0deya Pur\u0101\u1e47a<\/em> it says that Durg\u0101 is Supreme. And in the Upani\u1e63ads<\/em> it is mentioned, aha\u1e41 brahm\u0101\u00adsmi<\/em> \u2013 \u2018I am Brahman\u2019. So one may think that there are many gods, or that there are so many gods that there is no God at all. We may think that what the Vedas<\/em> say cannot be true because there are too many apparent contradictions. Or we may take aha\u1e41 brahm\u0101smi<\/em> as the ultimate conclusion and then believe that we are all God. This is what happens to persons who study the Vedas<\/em> without the help of a bona-fide guru.<\/p>\n\u015ar\u012bla Vy\u0101sadeva compiled the Vedas<\/em> in four divisions \u2013 the Atharva Veda, S\u0101ma Veda, \u1e5ag Veda<\/em> and the Yajur Veda. <\/em>Then he compiled the Pur\u0101\u1e47as<\/em> and other literatures. Lastly, he wrote the Ved\u0101nta-s\u016btras<\/em>. Ved\u0101nta<\/em> means the end of knowledge. After reveal\u00ading so much knowledge, Vy\u0101sadeva tried to bring his writing to an end, to the conclusion of knowledge. After he completed the Ved\u0101nta-s\u016btras<\/em> however, Vy\u0101sa still did not feel satisfied. He was not satisfied within himself \u2013 his mind was troubled. He crossed the ocean of knowledge but still he was unsatisfied.<\/p>\nThen N\u0101rada Muni, the guru of Vy\u0101sadeva, came and Vy\u0101sa\u00addeva inquired from him as to why he did not feel satisfied. N\u0101rada Muni said, \u201cActually you are a cheater. You have cheated the people of the world because you have only indirectly described the truth. Without directly describing the l\u012bl\u0101<\/em> of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, you have not done justice to the truth. Now you have to give the meaning of all these things in one book.\u201d Then Vy\u0101sadeva wrote the Bh\u0101gavata Pur\u0101\u1e47a, <\/em>the \u015ar\u012bmad Bh\u0101gavatam.<\/em><\/p>\nBh\u0101gavatam<\/em> is the natural commentary on the Ved\u0101nta-s\u016btras<\/em>. The message of the Bh\u0101gavatam<\/em> is summarised in the First Canto \u2013 k\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47as tu bhagav\u0101n svayam. <\/em>Of all the Devas and incarnations of the Supreme Lord, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is the Supreme and original God\u00adhead. Vy\u0101sadeva revealed in the Bh\u0101gavatam<\/em> that K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is the \u0101<\/em>\u015braya-tattva<\/em>. In other Vedic literatures, Vy\u0101sadeva only revealed the \u0101\u015braya-tattva<\/em>. in part, not in full. If you are a ghost, then \u015aiva, who is known as Bh\u016btan\u0101tha, is your \u0101\u015braya<\/em> (shelter). \u015aiva stays in the cremation grounds and he gives shelter to so many ghosts. If you are a materialist, then Durg\u0101 is your \u0101\u015braya<\/em>. If you are a mate\u00adrialist then you get everything from this material nature by the grace of Durg\u0101. But when we are ready for the perfection of life, Vy\u0101sadeva revealed that N\u0101r\u0101ya\u1e47a is the \u0101\u015braya-tattva<\/em>, because N\u0101r\u0101ya\u1e47a resides in Vaiku\u1e47\u1e6dha, which is above the material world and everything is under His shelter.<\/p>\nIn the \u015ar\u012bmad Bh\u0101gavatam, <\/em>Vy\u0101sa revealed that the highest plane is called Goloka. If we journey to the highest place in Vai\u00adku\u1e47\u1e6dha and look towards the spiritual sky, from there we will see a land known as Goloka V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana. Goloka V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana is above Vaiku\u1e47\u1e6dha and in that place \u015ar\u012b \u015ar\u012b R\u0101dh\u0101-K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a are Supreme.<\/p>\nK\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a resides eternally in Goloka V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana, giving shel\u00adter to all His devotees. Vy\u0101sadeva therefore described that the lotus feet of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a are the Supreme shelter of all living beings. K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a confirms this also \u2013 j\u012bva bh\u016bta san\u0101tana<\/em>. K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a says in the Bhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101<\/em> that all these j\u012bvas<\/em> have come from Him. All living beings are His parts and parcels. He is their ultimate shelter.<\/p>\nSo the dear-most representative of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a comes to the world to represent this message of Vy\u0101sadeva -K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is the Supreme Per\u00adsonality of Godhead. There have been many gurus in the world since the time of Vy\u0101sadeva, but all of them did not represent the ultimate conclusion. Someone may ask, \u201cIs there anything special about your Prabhup\u0101da, your guru?\u201d Naturally we will say, \u201cOh, of course, there are many special things about my guru.\u201d Even if our guru never left the village in which he was born, still we will think that our guru has many special qualities. And if we are asked, we will say, \u201cMy guru saved me from the ocean of igno\u00adrance. That is the special quality that makes our guru different from all others and especially dear to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
o\u1e41 aj\u00f1\u0101na-trimir\u0101ndhasya j\u00f1\u0101n\u0101\u00f1jana-\u015bal\u0101kaya<\/em>
\ncak\u1e63ur unm\u012blita\u1e41 yena tasmai \u015br\u012b-gurave nama\u1e25<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cI offer respects unto \u015ar\u012b Guru who opened my eyes, that were covered with the darkness of ignorance with the salve of divine knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Without guru, our eyes are sealed in darkness. We are born into darkness, into ignorance, but our guru opens our eyes with the torchlight of knowledge. This is a common aspect found in the relationship between all bona-fide gurus and bona-fide disciples.<\/p>\n
But about our Guru Mah\u0101r\u0101ja, \u015ar\u012bla A.C. Bhaktived\u0101nta Swami Prabhup\u0101da, we must say that there is a special character\u00adistic found in him that is very rare, and to this day we have not seen it duplicated. What is that characteristic? It is something that was previously only known in the most cultured spiritual sec\u00adtions of Indian society. He took that out of India and distributed that to every town and village in the whole world.<\/p>\n
p\u1e5bth\u012bvite \u0101che yata nagar\u0101di gr\u0101ma<\/em>
\nsarvatra prac\u0101ra haibe mora n\u0101ma<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cIn every town and village of the world, My Holy Name will be sung.\u201d (Caitanya-bh\u0101gavata, Antya-kha\u1e47\u1e0da<\/em> 4.126)<\/p>\nThis is the prediction of \u015ar\u012b Caitanya Mah\u0101prabhu, that the Holy Name of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a will be spread in every town and village. By the mercy and instruction of \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da, the Holy Name of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a was spread all over the world. From faraway places in the north such as Siberia and deep into the southern reaches of Africa and Australia, to China in the Far East and throughout the western world \u2013 the Holy Name and the worship of R\u0101dh\u0101-K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a was carried everywhere under the guidance of \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da.<\/p>\n
A guru, or a great \u0101c\u0101rya, <\/em>may spread K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a Consciousness in a village or even in a state or a country, but to spread K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a con\u00adsciousness throughout the whole world, that indeed is very rare. For example, R\u0101m\u0101nuj\u0101c\u0101rya, a great Vai\u1e63\u1e47ava saint, spread vi\u1e63\u1e47u-bhakti<\/em> in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. R\u0101m\u0101nuja is considered to be the \u015bakti<\/em> of Ananta \u2013 still when he preached in Kerala they did not accept and they told him to leave. Who can speak better than Ananta, who has a thousand mouths and knows all the Vedas<\/em>? But even so, R\u0101m\u0101nuja was not successful in Kerala.<\/p>\nThere is a place called Tonnur in Karnataka where R\u0101m\u0101nuja debated with sixty-thousand Jain philosophers and defeated them. At that time Ananta personally manifested through R\u0101m\u0101nuja and defeated and converted the Jains. If you visit the Yoga-Narasi\u1e41ha temple in Tonnur, you will see a deity of R\u0101m\u0101nuja and behind him is Ananta. The sthala-pur\u0101\u1e47a<\/em> there says that Lord Ananta Himself came there and, with many mouths, debated with the Jain scholars and defeated them all. So R\u0101m\u0101nuja was indeed a very great personality, yet he could only spread his mission successfully in three states, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.<\/p>\nAnother very great saint in India was Madhv\u0101c\u0101rya. He is considered to have been an avat\u0101ra<\/em> of Bh\u012bma and V\u0101yu. But he was only able to spread his mission successfully in Karnataka. Practically speaking, outside of Karnataka nobody has heard of<\/p>\nMadhv\u0101c\u0101rya. Of course, on occasion he preached in V\u0101r\u0101\u1e47as\u012b, but the people of V\u0101r\u0101\u1e47as\u012b never became the followers of Madhv\u00ad\u0101c\u0101rya. V\u0101r\u0101\u1e47as\u012b remained what it had always been, a place of M\u0101y\u0101v\u0101d\u012b philosophers.<\/p>\n
Both R\u0101m\u0101nuja and Madhv\u0101c\u0101rya were indeed very great per\u00adsonalities, but their spiritual inf luence was more or less regional. However, in the time of \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da, he not only had an inf luence in a few states in India but he travelled around the world twelve times and successfully spread his mission. Because of his preaching, the name of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a and Vai\u1e63\u1e47avism is known in almost every country in the world. With this consideration we may ask, \u201cHow great is \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da?\u201d<\/p>\n
When the mission of R\u0101m\u0101nuja, who held the \u015bakti<\/em> of Ananta, was successful in only three states and the mission of Madhv\u0101\u00adc\u0101rya, who is Bh\u012bma and V\u0101yu combined, was successful in only one state then what is the power and greatness of that person who spread K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a Consciousness throughout the whole world? How great is \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da?<\/p>\nWhen R\u0101m\u0101nuja and Madhv\u0101c\u0101rya toured India for spreading their missions, they had to contend with the opposing elements of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, the materialists and the M\u0101y\u0101v\u0101d\u012bs. But when \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da went out into the world to spread K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a consciousness, he had to contend with all of the above and more. The scientists, who hold a grip on the whole world, were especially a formidable opposition to K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a consciousness, but \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da defeated them and many of them surrendered and became his disciples.<\/p>\n
\u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da had to fight with many opposing elements in countries where the culture was not at all favourable for spiritual advancement in K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a consciousness. Yet he established over one hundred temples, \u0101\u015bramas<\/em>, and K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a conscious communities throughout the world.<\/p>\nWith our mind we might try to imagine who he was, what power stood behind him and what his eternal spiritual identity is. Some of the greatest Vai\u1e63\u1e47avas I have ever had the good for\u00adtune to meet considered that \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da was the \u015bakti <\/em>of Nity\u0101nanda-Baladeva.<\/p>\nR\u0101m\u0101nuja held the \u015bakti<\/em> of Ananta, but Ananta is an a\u1e41\u015ba<\/em> of Baladeva. A\u1e41\u015ba<\/em> means a part \u2013 Baladeva is the source of Ananta. Baladeva means the full spiritual potency and energy of Godhead. In gaura-l\u012bl\u0101<\/em>, Nity\u0101nanda Prabhu and Baladeva are considered non-different. Many great transcendentalists in our times who witnessed what our Guru Mah\u0101r\u0101ja achieved, have concluded that he was the \u015bakti<\/em> of Nity\u0101nanda Prabhu, a \u015bakty\u0101ve\u015ba-avat\u0101ra. <\/em>That means that he was empowered with the \u015bakti<\/em> of \u015ar\u012b Nity\u0101nanda Prabhu to spread K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a consciousness throughout the world.<\/p>\nNowadays we may meet a swami or guru (especially in India) who has many disciples and when asked, \u201cWho are you?\u201d he will say, \u201cI am Bhagav\u0101n, I am God!\u201d or he may say, \u201cI am the jagat-guru<\/em> (the spiritual master of the universe).\u201d But when our Guru Mah\u0101r\u0101ja, \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da was asked \u201cWho are you?\u201d he would say, \u201cI am the humble servant of my Gurudeva. My only credit is that I am the obedient servant to the order of my guru. All the success that I have is due to the grace of my guru.\u201d<\/p>\nAlthough it is the opinion of many great devotees that our Guru Mah\u0101r\u0101ja was a \u015bakty\u0101ve\u015ba-avat\u0101ra<\/em> of Nity\u0101nanda Prabhu, still in his own words, he considered himself to be the humble servant of his guru. Our Guru Mah\u0101r\u0101ja had such a vision that he could see that the whole world could become God conscious, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a conscious, but he still considered himself the humble serv\u00adant of his guru.<\/p>\nIf we have love for someone then we may naturally exaggerate their qualities, because that is the natural way of love. But even without any exaggeration due to love for our Guru Mah\u0101r\u0101ja, if we say that \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da was one of the greatest saints to have ever come to this Earth, it cannot be taken as an exaggeration \u2013 his life and achievements stand as evidence for his greatness.<\/p>\n
(From a lecture given on \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s appearance day at Govindaj\u012b Gardens, India, on September 1st, 2002)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chapter 4 of Prabhup\u0101da Vijaya, ‘How Great is \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da?’ puts into historical per\u00adspective the greatness of \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da from an interesting comparison of previous samprad\u0101ya \u0101c\u0101ryas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[207],"tags":[206,208],"krishna_talk_article":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5604"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5604"},{"taxonomy":"krishna_talk_article","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/krishna_talk_article?post=5604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}