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It is the duty of the spiritual master to select a disciple, and at the same time it is the duty of the disciple to select a spiritual master

Expressions researched:
"It is the duty of the spiritual master to select a disciple, and at the same time it is the duty of the disciple to select a spiritual master"

Lectures

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

It is the duty of the spiritual master to select a disciple, and at the same time it is the duty of the disciple to select a spiritual master. Now the selection is very nice. Sanātana Gosvāmī is the right person to understand the science of devotional service, and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the right person to give lesson to the disciple about this science.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.100-108 -- New York, November 22, 1966:

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says,

sad-dharmasyāvabodhāya
yeṣāṁ nirbandhinī matiḥ
acirād eva sarvārthaḥ
sidhyaty eṣām abhīpsitaḥ

He says that "Your desire is to get perfection; therefore you are so much humble." So he quotes one verse from Nāradīya Purāṇa, that anyone who is very serious, one who is serious about knowing himself perfectly, and if he seeks in that way, then his perfection is guaranteed. The only thing is that one should be very serious. The purport, purport of this verse is sad-dharmasyāvabodhāya yeṣāṁ nirbandhinī matiḥ. Nirbandhinī matiḥ means he has already determined that "In this life I shall make my life perfect." Then, for him, perfection is guaranteed. If he thinks, "Oh, let me try. Let me test also this department of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, at the same time test other departments. Let us go this way..." No. One should be very much serious to make complete perfection in this life. So a man should be serious like Sanātana Gosvāmī. And for that purpose he sacrificed everything, he became a beggar. So we should be prepared to sacrifice anything for perfection of this human form of life. Then perfection is guaranteed. Simply we should be very serious, that's all.

Now, Lord Caitanya says that "Yes. I will have to give you instruction." Actually, this Sanātana Gosvāmī is eternal associated, associate of Lord Caitanya. Just like Arjuna, he's also eternal associate of Kṛṣṇa. Now, he placed himself as an ordinary man, and as if he was in illusion of this relationship of this body. Actually he was not so, but by the energy of Kṛṣṇa he was so-called illusion. Otherwise he would not place himself in that condition, would not question Kṛṣṇa, then Bhagavad-gītā would not come. That is the purpose. Just like playing. He is similarly the sum of the associates of Lord Kṛṣṇa. When Lord Kṛṣṇa, His incarnation comes on this earth, His associates are also present there without. So some of the associates, they play like this, a fool, a personality like this ordinary man, and they question to the Lord, and the answer is there for the benefit of us. Just like Lord Caitanya, He's supposed to be Kṛṣṇa Himself. Because people derided at Him when He was actually present as Kṛṣṇa—avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā: (BG 9.11) "Foolish persons deride at Me because I am playing just like a man"—so He came again as a devotee, Lord Caitanya, how to teach, how to grasp Kṛṣṇa bhakti, devotional service. So He practically demonstrated. So He is eternal as Sanātana Gosvāmī is also, he is eternal associate. So as if he is taking lesson, representing ourself, he is taking lesson from the Lord. The Lord is confirming that,

yogya-pātra hao tumi bhakti pravartāite
krame saba tattva śuna, kahiye tomāte

The Lord is also... This is a process. It is the duty of the spiritual master to select a disciple, and at the same time it is the duty of the disciple to select a spiritual master. Now the selection is very nice. Sanātana Gosvāmī is the right person to understand the science of devotional service, and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the right person to give lesson to the disciple about this science. So He says, yogya-pātra: "You are just the proper person to understand this science of devotion." Now, krame saba tattva śuna, kahiye tomāte: "Now I shall gradually explain to you about this devotional service, and you'll understand."

Now the first question was, of Sanātana Gosvāmī, that is, that should be the first question of everyone: "What I am?" Because if I do not know what I am, there is no question of my duties and my destination, everything. Everything will depend first to know what I am. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā Arjuna did not know what he was; therefore Kṛṣṇa first of all taught him that "You are not this body. You are not this body." That was the first instruction. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yau... (BG 2.13). "You are so much absorbed in bodily conception of life, and you are thinking that you are a learned man. That is your foolishness." In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find the first instruction of Lord Kṛṣṇa is there, aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase: (BG 2.11) "You are thinking, you are talking with Me just like a very learned man. You are arguing with me. But from your behavior I can understand you are a fool number one." Because such kind of talk is never, I mean to say, placed by a learned man. So indirectly He said that "You are a fool." And "Why you are fool?" He said that "You are not this body. You are changing every moment your body. Why don't you think that you are not this body? Why you are identifying yourself as with the body?" Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā: (BG 2.13) "You are changing your body at every moment. From the mother's womb up to the death point, you are changing every body. Then why you are thinking that you are body? But you are the same. In spite of all changes, you are the same." I think, my childhood, I think that I am the same. I forget that I am so much grown-up. That is my position. So the first lesson, the inquiry of Śrī Caitanya, of Sanātana Gosvāmī, is that "What I am? What I am?" Arjuna did not place himself "What I am?" but here, because the instruction which is given in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta is practically higher than Bhagavad-gītā—it is postgraduate study, higher than Bhagavad-gītā. In the Bhagavad-gītā the, Arjuna, he did not question "What I am?" He was perplexed with this bodily conception. Now here, Sanātana Gosvāmī he, he thinks that "I'm not..., I do not know what I am." So he's advanced than Arjuna. He accepts that "I do not know."

So because he inquired that ke āmi-ke āmi means "What I am?"—therefore Lord Caitanya directly informs him first that jīvera svarūpa haya kṛṣṇera nitya dāsa (CC Madhya 20.108). Jīva, the living entity, is eternally a servitor of the Supreme Lord. Eternal. He gets, He says, jīvera svarūpa haya kṛṣṇera nitya dāsa. That is his identity. So he refused all nonsensical ideas that "I am God, I am equal with God." In the first beginning, he refused this idea, that "This is wrong. You are living entity. Your position is that you are eternally servitor of Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Lord."

Page Title:It is the duty of the spiritual master to select a disciple, and at the same time it is the duty of the disciple to select a spiritual master
Compiler:Krsnadas
Created:24 of Aug, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=1, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:1