Sri Guru and His Grace

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About the Book The imperfect would not be so if it was not in need of help, and such guidance must come beyond itself. The Perfect is not perfect if He cannot assert Himself or help the imperfect ones, and that must be of His own sweet will. So the guidance to spiritual perfection and to perfect love is by definition a function of the Perfect Being, the sweet Absolute Truth Sri Krishna. And Krishna’s divine agent through whom this function manifests is Sri Guru, the spiritual guide.

In the talks therein, Prabhupad Srila Premgopal Goswami of the Sri Nityananda Vamsa- the line of Gurus descending directly from Lord Nityananda- gives beautifully compelling explanations of Guru tattva, the spiritual principle of Sri Guru. Guru tattva, the spiritual principle of Sri Guru. Guru is not a person, Guru is a tattva, the embodiment of spiritual truth who links us to transcendental reality and guides us back home to the spiritual realm of pure love. Our prayer is that the faithful readers will find divine inspiration for their spiritual practice within the pages of this book.

Foreword Who is a bona fide Guru? How can we tell if someone is a genuine Guru? This a prominent question because in Kali yuga there are many false ‘Gurus’ but an authentic Guru is very rare. Sastra states: guravo bahavah santi sisya-vittapaharakah durlabhah sad-gurur devi sisya santapaharkah

(Lord Siva told Parvati) "Many so-called ‘Gurus’ take advantage of their disciples and plunder them. They exploit their disciples and use them to amass wealth, whereas a genuine Guru who can remove the material miseries of his disciples is very rare." (Skanda Purana) In recent years, there have been a great many such false Gurus. As Anthony Storrs points out in Feet of Clay: A Study of Gurus, some Gurus" have been entirely unworthy of veneration: false prophets, madmen, confidence tricksters or unscrupulous psychopaths who exploit their disciples emotionally, financially and sexually.

Preface Without accepting the shelter of Sir Guru we cannot have bhakti and cannot understand what real love is. He (or she) gives us the connection to Sri Nitai-Gaurange and to Sri Radha-Krishna. He gives us the knowledge of who we really are and what is our ultimate benefit- love of God, Krishna prema.

We should accept Sri Guru as our life and soul, for he is the manifestation of Krishna’s mercy in this world. A genuine Guru is the expansion of Sri Nityananda, an empowered agent of the Lord whose world of maya- the deluding material potency of Krishna -and gives us real, transcendental love.

By the process of bhakti we can purify our hearts. By chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra in the association of saintly devotees, by hearing harikatha, by any devotional service, our hearts become gradually purified. But this must be under the guidance of a bona fide Guru, a pure devotee. Without receiving proper initiation with diksa the heart will never happen. It is our connection with Sri Guru which gives us the connection to the Divine Couple and the knowledge of our relationship.

Introduction The following are some words from Prabhupad Srila Premgopal Goswami on the subject of love and role of Sri Guru in attaining Krishna prema-pure, transcendental love.

Devotee: What is Krishna prema (Divine Love)?

Prabhupad Srila Premgopal Goswami: Prema is everything for us- our life here; our smiling, our crying, our exchanging of love-everything.

Without this prema, we cannot exchange our love in the material world. The love we exchange with family members, with friends, with everyone, this love we get from the Divine Couple. The love between Radha and Krishna is the source of all love.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages