Are all gurus pure devotees?
Once, in a class, someone asked me: “Since all gurus in our movement are uttama-adhikari devotees, how can we understand when some of them fall??”
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Once, in a class, someone asked me: “Since all gurus in our movement are uttama-adhikari devotees, how can we understand when some of them fall??”
This is an example of a self-contradictory question. It begins with an assumption, “all gurus in our movement are uttama-adhikaris,” but then collides with reality, “some fall.” This kind of situation is quite common and explains a lot about the contradictions we find in spiritual life. We make incorrect assumptions or hear incorrect assumptions from others, and then become confused when we are confronted with a different reality. This leads to some form of cognitive dissonance that often makes us negate reality and refuse to acknowledge something that is clear. We end up then with some sort of system of blind faith, composed of dogmas (all gurus are pure devotees, the earth is flat, the men never went to the moon, etc.), where Kṛṣṇa Consciousness is packaged together with a set of dogmas that people are pressed to accept in order to be accepted in the group. A much healthier approach, however, is to correct the assumption instead of rewriting reality.
Focusing on the question of the guru, we can say that there is a difference between guru-tattva, the position of the guru, or the guru-system created by Kṛṣṇa, and the person who accepts this role. They are not exactly the same.
In Vaiṣnava tradition, the guru is honored as the representative of Kṛṣṇa. This is not just a matter of sentiment. That’s how the mercy of Kṛṣṇa reaches us. Although Kṛṣṇa is everywhere, we can’t see Him without first becoming free from all material contamination. Since we can’t see Kṛṣṇa, how can we become free? We can do it by accepting a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, someone who is ahead in the spiritual path, and being guided by him. When we accept a guru, we accept the principle that the instructions and mercy of Kṛṣṇa reach us through him. If a disciple does not see his guru as advanced, he will not listen to him and will not be able to advance.
The basic principle is explained by Kṛṣṇa in the Gītā: “Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because they have seen the truth.” Without following this system and accepting a representative of Kṛṣṇa with faith, we will have difficulty in progressing in the spiritual path.
It is not a matter of accepting based on sentiment, however. The standard for one accepting the function of spiritual master is very high. SB 5.5.18, for example, mentions: “One who cannot deliver his dependents from the path of repeated birth and death should never become a spiritual master, a father, a husband, a mother or a worshipable demigod.”
This sets the basic standard. The spiritual master should be capable of guiding the disciple out of material illusion. This implies that the devotee willing to accept this function should know the path himself.
More qualifications are mentioned in SB 11.3.21: “The qualification of the bona fide guru is that he has realized the conclusions of the scriptures by deliberation and is able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, should be understood to be bona fide spiritual masters.”
The spiritual master should have not only studied the scriptures, but deeply realized their conclusions, which implies knowing how to apply them in practice, according to the reality of their disciples. He should also have completely surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, putting aside all other considerations. In other words, serving the Lord should be his only goal.
On the other hand, the scriptures describe different levels of devotional maturity (kaniṣṭha, madhyama, uttama), and explain the disciple’s duty of being serious in discerning between them. This brings us to verse five of the Nectar of Instruction: “One should mentally honor the devotee who chants the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, one should offer humble obeisances to the devotee who has undergone spiritual initiation [dīkṣā] and is engaged in worshiping the Deity, and one should associate with and faithfully serve that pure devotee who is advanced in undeviated devotional service and whose heart is completely devoid of the propensity to criticize others.”
All devotees should be respected, and especially devotees who are properly practicing devotional principles under the shelter of their own spiritual masters (these are presumed to be madhyama-adhikaris). However, one is advised to accept a perfect devotee as spiritual master.
Prabhupāda emphasizes this point in his purport, emphasizing how we all should try to progress, rising from the neophyte platform, at least to the intermediate platform, where we can be fixed in devotional service, and how the relationship with the spiritual master is key to that. He then summarizes the whole explanation in the last paragraph:
“In this verse Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī advises the devotee to be intelligent enough to distinguish between the kaniṣṭha-adhikārī, madhyama-adhikārī and uttama-adhikārī. The devotee should also know his own position and should not try to imitate a devotee situated on a higher platform. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has given some practical hints to the effect that an uttama-adhikārī Vaiṣṇava can be recognized by his ability to convert many fallen souls to Vaiṣṇavism. One should not become a spiritual master unless he has attained the platform of uttama-adhikārī. A neophyte Vaiṣṇava or a Vaiṣṇava situated on the intermediate platform can also accept disciples, but such disciples must be on the same platform, and it should be understood that they cannot advance very well toward the ultimate goal of life under his insufficient guidance. Therefore a disciple should be careful to accept an uttama-adhikārī as a spiritual master.”
It may sound like a contradiction (the disciple should be careful in choosing a pure devotee as guru, but at the same time stating that a neophyte may accept disciples), but it is not.
Contrary to what we may believe, there is no prohibition in the scriptures for devotees who are not at a uttama-adhikārīs level acting as gurus. A disciple is advised to look for a self-realized guru, and a devotee is not advised to accept disciples until he or she attains an advanced level of spiritual realization, but still, intermediate devotees or even neophytes may also initiate, provided they are acting as gurus to devotees who are lower than them in spiritual realization. This makes clear the distinction between the guru-tattva, the system, or position of guru, and the person accepting this position.
Ideally, a guru should be a perfect Vaiṣnava who can guide the disciple all the way back to Godhead. However, such pure devotees are rare, and neophyte disciples may not be able to distinguish them from Māyāvādis and other unbonafide figures. Intermediate, and even neophytes who are properly connected with the paramparā can thus help, by speaking the proper message, and accepting as disciples sincere seekers who come to them. Even if one is a neophyte (provided he is at least properly connected with his own spiritual master) he will at least be able to guide the disciple on basic conclusions (Kṛṣṇa is God, we are His eternal servants, we need to remove our material contamination by chanting the holy names, etc.) and from there connect sincere disciples with higher Vaiṣnavas as the opportunity arises.
The difficulty with a neophyte acting as a guru is that one will be able to guide the disciple only up to a certain point, and, because he is still not perfect, there is a possibility that one may fall down at a certain point.
Still, some disciples may be more attracted to a guru who is not on the highest platform due to charisma or material qualifications, such as speaking or chanting well. There is nothing wrong with that in principle, as long as the guru is not creating illusions about his level of advancement. He or she may still be able to work as a conduit for Kṛṣṇa mercy (at least as long as he is connected with his own spiritual master), but in this case, the wire may become unreliable at a certain point.
If we understand this principle, we will not be bewildered. When we see a guru falling down (or even engaging in immoral or dishonest activities), we can understand that he was trying to use a shoe that was too large. If I presumed he was a pure devotee, this is my own mistake.
There is then the question of how gurus fit into a spiritual institution. One may think that if one is allowed to initiate, one must be on the highest platform, but that’s not how it works. Believing all gurus or all authorities in our movement are completely self-realized uttama-adhikārīs on the ultimate level of prema reveals an institutionalized attitude that is not very positive.
Once, a sannyāsi whom I was translating made an interesting point when confronted with a similar statement in one of his classes. He said it’s just like in a jewelry shop: all the ornaments sold there have a certain value, but it’s foolish to presume they are all of the same value. Some have diamonds or emeralds, some are gold of different gradations of purity, and some are made out of silver or other less expensive materials. Something may even be made out of plastic, although it may still look nice on the outside.
Contrary to what some believe, Prabhupāda didn’t leave direct instructions on how to appoint new spiritual masters after him. He explained the principles and left the practical details for us to figure out. Some even presume that this means there should be no gurus after Prabhupāda, but in doing so, they discard all his other instructions on the matter. It is also foolish, however, to refuse to acknowledge mistakes that were made in the past, and mistakes that may still be committed in the future.
The body in charge of defining policies in our movement is the GBC. In the past, the GBC used to “appoint” or “empower” gurus, but this approach became problematic when several of the appointed gurus started falling from regulative principles. Eventually, this system was abandoned in favor of the current system, where the GBC doesn’t empower or vault gurus, but just gives a vote of non-objection.
The way it currently works is that usually a senior devotee or preacher starts to attract a few followers, and eventually a few of them start asking for initiation. At this point, the devotee in question may apply to become an initiating guru in our movement. Representatives of the GBC then run some background checks, interview devotees, and so on, in an attempt to determine if the candidate is following the regulative principles, has good moral standards, a good understanding of the sastras, etc. If these are confirmed, they pass a vote of “non-objection”, which basically means they don’t have anything against him acting as a guru, and thus interested devotees may seek initiation from him or her.
In other words, the “non-objection” from the GBC works in practice more like a certificate of no criminal record that simply attests that one has been honest, as far as it can be checked up to that point; it does not foresee future conduct. It is not a uttama-adhikārī or nitya-siddha stamp, just a certificate that the candidate passed basic background tests. Anything beyond that is left to the disciples themselves to decide.
In this way, it’s our own responsibility to choose who we want to accept as a spiritual master, be it inside or outside a spiritual institution. There is no guarantee that everyone who initiates in our movement is a pure devotee, and thus one should choose carefully by hearing from different initiating gurus and deciding who he or she can trust, and not just base the choice on external factors such as beauty, musical talent, or number of disciples.
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