Jagad guru

Expressions researched:
"jagad guru" |"jagad-guru" |"jagat guru"

SB Canto 8

SB 8.16.20, Purport:

One who trains his subordinate or disciple to worship Vāsudeva is the truly bona fide spiritual master. The word jagad-gurum is very important in this regard. Kaśyapa Muni did not falsely declare himself to be jagad-guru, although he actually was jagad-guru because he advocated the cause of Vāsudeva. Actually, Vāsudeva is jagad-guru, as clearly stated here (vāsudevaṁ jagad-gurum). One who teaches the instructions of Vāsudeva, Bhagavad-gītā, is as good as vāsudevaṁ jagad-gurum. But when one who does not teach this instruction—as it is—declares himself jagad-guru, he simply cheats the public. Kṛṣṇa is jagad-guru, and one who teaches the instruction of Kṛṣṇa as it is, on behalf of Kṛṣṇa, may be accepted as jagad-guru. One who manufactures his own theories cannot be accepted; he becomes jagad-guru falsely.

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 7.64, Purport:

Sometimes they dress gorgeously and travel on the backs of elephants in processions, and thus they are always puffed up, accepting themselves as jagad-gurus. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, however, has explained that jagad-guru properly refers to one who is the controller of his tongue, mind, words, belly, genitals and anger. Pṛthivīṁ sa śiṣyāt: such a jagad-guru is completely fit to make disciples all over the world.

CC Adi 7.83, Purport:

When one is completely fit to chant the holy name in this way, he is eligible to make disciples all over the world, and he actually becomes jagad-guru. Then the entire world, under his influence, begins to chant the holy names of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Thus all the disciples of such a spiritual master increase in attachment for Kṛṣṇa, and therefore he sometimes cries, sometimes laughs, sometimes dances and sometimes chants.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 6.58, Purport:

Because the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs teach Vedānta philosophy to their students or disciples, they are customarily called jagad-guru. This indicates that they are the benefactors of all people. Although Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya was not a sannyāsī but a householder, he used to invite all the sannyāsīs to his home and offer them prasādam.

CC Madhya 18.207, Purport:

After being initiated, the devotees in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement change their names. Whenever a person in the Western world becomes interested in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, he is initiated by this process. In India we are falsely accused of converting mlecchas and yavanas to the Hindu religion. In India there are many Māyāvādī sannyāsīs known as jagad-guru, although they have hardly visited the whole world. Some are not even sufficiently educated, yet they make accusations against our movement and accuse us of destroying the principles of the Hindu religion by accepting Muslims and yavanas as Vaiṣṇavas.

CC Madhya 24.330, Purport:

In India there are many so-called gurus, and they are limited to a certain district or a province. They do not even travel about India, yet they declare themselves to be jagad-guru, the guru of the whole world. Such cheating gurus should not be accepted. Anyone can see how the bona fide spiritual master accepts disciples from all over the world.

CC Madhya 24.330, Purport:

Such a person is called an ācārya because he knows the principles of devotional service, he behaves in that way himself, and he teaches his disciples to follow in his footsteps. Thus he is an ācārya or jagad-guru. Even though a person is born in a brahminical family and is very expert in performing sacrifices, he cannot be accepted as a guru if he is not a strict Vaiṣṇava.

CC Madhya 25.72, Purport:

Māyāvādī sannyāsīs generally call themselves jagad-guru, the spiritual master of the whole world. Many consider themselves worshipable by everyone, although they do not even go outside India or their own district.

CC Antya-lila

CC Antya 5.85, Purport:

A person who knows what is spiritual and what is material and who is firmly fixed in the spiritual position can be jagad-guru, the spiritual master of the entire world. One cannot become jagad-guru simply by advertising oneself as jagad-guru without knowing the essential principles for becoming jagad-guru. Even people who never see what a jagad-guru is and never talk with other people become puffed-up sannyāsīs and declare themselves jagad-gurus. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu did not like this. Any person who knows the science of Kṛṣṇa and who is fully qualified in spiritual life can become jagad-guru.

CC Antya 7.12, Purport:

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura explains that unless one is directly empowered by the causeless mercy of Kṛṣṇa, one cannot become the spiritual master of the entire world (jagad-guru). One cannot become an ācārya simply by mental speculation. The true ācārya presents Kṛṣṇa to everyone by preaching the holy name of the Lord throughout the world.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 22:

Trying to stop him, Lord Caitanya said, "Oh, you are the spiritual master of the whole world, jagad-guru, and I am not even equal to your disciples. You should therefore not worship an inferior like Me. You are exactly like the Supreme Brahman, and if I allow you to fall down at My feet, I will commit a very great offense.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 13.3 -- Hyderabad, April 19, 1974:

So it is not optional that "I may go or I may not go." No. You must go. That is Vedic injunction. So here is the perfect teacher, Kṛṣṇa, real jagad-guru. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it appears in due course of time. There is a time when Kṛṣṇa appears. Everything is there in the calculation of the śāstras.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.8.25 -- Vrndavana, October 5, 1974:

We are taking information from whom? Kṛṣṇa, jagad-guru, the supreme guru, the original guru. Guru means Kṛṣṇa's representative. A guru cannot be manufactured. Guru means... Kṛṣṇa is jagad-guru, and one who speaks on behalf of Kṛṣṇa or one who speaks as Kṛṣṇa says, he is guru.

Lecture on SB 1.8.25 -- Vrndavana, October 5, 1974:

"You just become guru on My order." You cannot become guru automatically without following the order of jagad-guru. The government servant... Who is government servant? Who is strictly following the government order, that is government servant. Anyone can say, "I am government servant." No. How you can be? Similarly, guru means who is following the principles given by the jagad-guru. The... He's guru.

Lecture on SB 1.8.25 -- Vrndavana, October 5, 1974:

This is the definition of guru. There is no difficult to understand who is guru. One who follows strictly the principles laid down by jagad-guru, he is guru. So the jagad-guru says... Because we have to learn everything, especially spiritual subject matter, from guru. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). This is the injunction of the Vedas.

Lecture on SB 1.8.25 -- Vrndavana, October 5, 1974:

So Kṛṣṇa is jagad-guru. He is the original teacher. That teacher is teaching personally in the Bhagavad-gītā, and we rascals, we do not take the lesson. Just see. Therefore we are mūḍhas. Anyone who is unfit to take the lessons given by the jagad-guru, he is mūḍha.

Lecture on SB 1.8.25 -- Vrndavana, October 5, 1974:

Of course, you may say all these things in soft language just to, not to make any agitation, but anyone who does not accept Kṛṣṇa as the jagad-guru and does not take His lessons, he is a rascal. Just like this mūḍha in Jagannātha Purī. He says that "You take next birth. Then you can..." That mūḍha, take him as rascal. Why? He is jagad-guru; he also says, "I am jagad-guru." But he is not jagad-guru. He has not even seen what is jagat. He is a frog. And he is claiming jagad-guru. So he's mūḍha. Kṛṣṇa says. He is mūḍha because he has not taken the lessons given by Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 1.8.25 -- Vrndavana, October 5, 1974:

We do not take instruction from the jagad-guru, Kṛṣṇa, and still, we are M.A., Ph.D., "Doctor Frog." So this will not help. This will not help. He must know that this māyā... Just like a police. Police business is to give trouble to the criminal so that he can understand that "Government is most powerful.

Lecture on SB 1.8.25 -- Vrndavana, October 5, 1974:

Therefore the aim should be... Real happiness is apunar bhava-darśanam. Apunar bhava. This is going on. The jagad-guru is teaching, na jāyate mriyate vā. It requires little intelligence, that "Kṛṣṇa, the jagad-guru, is teaching that living entity is never born and never dies.

Lecture on SB 1.8.25 -- Vrndavana, October 5, 1974:

So why I am taking birth and I am dying?" This much intelligence they haven't got... Because they do not take the instruction of the jagad-guru... He is describing, na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit. Kadācit, at any time. Not that in the past he was dying. Kṛṣṇa says again in the Second Chapter that "All these soldiers and kings who have assembled there, so also you and Me, we existed in the past, we are existing now, and we shall continue to exist in the future." Therefore kadācit. Kadācit means "at any time."

Lecture on SB 1.8.25 -- Vrndavana, October 5, 1974:

Just like animal. He does not know that death can be avoided. So the animal civilization. This very question... In the Bhagavad-gītā, jagad-guru is teaching that try to understand this fact first of all. This is beginning of Bhagavad-gītā, tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13).

Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Vrndavana, October 25, 1976:

Then who will deliver these pāpa-yoni? If "I am a big sannyāsī and big devotee, I do not go out side Vṛndāvana, I do not go outside India. I am jagat-guru..." "Have you seen jagat?" "No. I'm self-made jagat-guru." This is going on. Cheating. sprThen who will deliver these pāpa-yoni? If "I am a big sannyāsī and big devotee, I do not go out side Vṛndāvana, I do not go outside India. I am jagat-guru..." "Have you seen jagat?" "No. I'm self-made jagat-guru." This is going on. Cheating.

General Lectures

Speech to Devotees -- Vrndavana, April 7, 1976:

So we have to take the authority of become guru from Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the same thing. Within five hundred years His order is that āmāra ājñāya guru hañā: (CC Madhya 7.128) "You cannot become guru all of a sudden. You must take order from Me." He is jagad-guru. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says you, all of you, to become guru and deliver.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 20, 1973, Los Angeles:

Karandhara: Yes. (pause)

Prabhupāda: The car looks like governor's car.

Devotee: Jagad-guru (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa

Morning Walk -- December 10, 1973, Los Angeles:

Sudāmā: Therefore you are Jagad-guru.

Prabhupāda: I may be whatever it is. That is the business.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 12, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: That's all right.

Prajāpati: From our Kṛṣṇa conscious standpoint, this means a person who is jagad-guru, who is fully living śāstra, and therefore non-different from the word of God?

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Because he is following the words of God, therefore he is not different from the words of God. It is practical.

Morning Walk -- April 18, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Kṛṣṇaṁ vande jagat guru.

Prabhupāda: Yaṁ brahma-varuṇendra-rudraḥ stunvanti divyaiḥ stavaiḥ. Sometimes the impersonalists argue, "If nobody has seen Him, then where is His form?" But here is. Brahmā, yaṁ brahma. Here is Brahmā praying. So why you say nobody has seen? Brahmā has seen. Therefore he is offering.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- September 9, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: That is another thing. That is another thing. They, "If you believe that Lord Śiva is the Supreme, why don't you go and establish? Why you are sitting here and declaring jagad-guru?" Their purpose was that "Either you worship Śiva or Kṛṣṇa, it doesn't matter, but if you would have done something that would have spread the Hindu conception of... But you are not doing there anything. Why do you call yourself jagad-guru?" (Hindi) "A jackal is the king in the forest."

Morning Walk -- November 8, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Guru is there, but they won't come. They won't come.

Dr. Patel: That jagat guru is, you are, sir.

Prabhupāda: It is injunction of the śāstra. Tad-vijñānārtham sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). But who is coming to guru? Guru is canvassing whole world, "Please come to me."

Morning Walk -- December 20, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Nehi, kṛṣṇaṁ vande jagat-gurum. He is a jagat-guru, if you approach Him also, there is no, I mean physical guru nearby, kṛṣṇaṁ jagat-gurum, kṛṣṇaṁ vande jagat-gurum.

Prabhupāda: Yes...

Dr. Patel: He is jagat-guru...

Prabhupāda: ...you have to go to Kṛṣṇa not directly: yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. You have to go through the devotee of Kṛṣṇa.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 3, 1976, Nellore:

Prabhupāda: Everywhere you have to learn from the perfect person. Then his knowledge is perfect. So our proposition is that: learn from Kṛṣṇa and you get perfect knowledge.

Keśavalāl Trivedi: That is why he is jagat guru.

Harikeśa: We've invented this pen, so we can invent how to use the pen.

Prabhupāda: You have not invented. Some experienced more than yourself, he has done. You have been given the pen to use it for that purpose.

Morning Walk -- March 15, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Among the higher, to speak among the higher circle, philosophical, I'll go immediately.

Hṛdayānanda: Jagad-guru.

Prabhupāda: Jaya. (break) ...to change your dress like gentleman.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's not difficult.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That doesn't matter.

Prabhupāda: Both of you become as gentlemen, American gentlemen. Kibā vipra kibā śūdra nyāsī kene naya. Everyone.

Room Conversation -- April 4, 1976, Vrndavana:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: No, actually, he's from South Africa and he's from South Africa. These two devotees are going down for the first time, and Jagat-guru was preaching there once before.

Prabhupāda: So they will get visa?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They don't require visa except for Jagat-guru. He's British, he's Canadian. He's South African boy. He's South African.

Prabhupāda: Oh, they don't require visa.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Only Jagat-guru dāsa, American.

Prabhupāda: Oh. So he'll get visa?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yes.

Prabhupāda: So all five, you are going?

Evening Darsana -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Guest (3): Was it not true also Śaṅkarācārya Swamiji who said vande kṛṣṇa jagat-guru?

Prabhupāda: Yes, bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindam...

Guest (3): Vande Kṛṣṇa jagat-guru.

Prabhupāda: So he's the leader of the impersonalists, he accepts kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Sa bhagavān svayam kṛṣṇa. Then what to speak of the Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya. Rāmānujācārya has given Bhagavad-gītā comments, every line Vedic evidence.

Room Conversation -- July 27, 1976, London:

Jayatīrtha: Even that one gosvāmī in Vṛndāvana, he has got French dogs.

Prabhupāda: That poodles. He's rascal. And such a fool, "Jagat-guru." So you go.

Jayatīrtha: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Morning Walk -- December 5, 1976, Hyderabad:

Guest (3) (Indian man): Where is soul?

Jagad-guru: He is asking where is the soul.

Prabhupāda: Can you see? So soul is within the heart. When the soul goes away you cannot explain what happened. You say, "heart failure." So why the heart failure? The nerves and the bones and the muscle and the blood, everything is there, and still, you say that "It stopped. Heart failure."

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Second Meeting with Mr. Dwivedi -- April 24, 1977, Bombay:

Kārttikeya: He is jagad-guru.

Prabhupāda: He is... Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1), anādir ādir... Anādi. (Hindi) You have got so exalted knowledge in India. You have kept it packed. And you are going to beg from others? Take this knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā and assimilate it, make your life successful, and distribute it throughout the whole world.

Morning Conversation -- April 30, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We get a letter from Morarji Desai. It was written to Jagat-guru. Jagat-guru Swami got a letter from Morarji Desai.

Prabhupāda: Jagat-guru Swami, who is?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's your... He's that disciple that was in Africa for a while.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Tall sannyāsī.

Morning Conversation -- April 30, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: His name is Jagat-guru.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: He collected a big donation in Middle East once, and he gave it to you, twelve thousand dollars or some...

Prabhupāda: Our?

Morning Conversation -- April 30, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So he got a letter. Should I read it to Your Divine Grace? "Dear..." It's signed by Morarji Desai. "Dear Shree Jagat-guru Swami, I thank you for your letter of April 4th and am grateful to you for your good wishes. You have cited some very wise sūtras from our ancient writings. Although I have been called upon to shoulder heavy responsibilities, it has been my endeavor in the past and it will be so in future to see that there is no hiatus between my public and private life. This is what I have learned from Gandhiji, and I have thus saved my life from contradictions. Thank you once again for your kind sentiments. Yours sincerely..."

Prabhupāda: Hm. That's nice.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Jagat-guru Swami wrote to me that he is continuing his correspondence with Morarji Desai.

Prabhupāda: Then don't continue much. Then it will be spoiled.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Sankarasana -- Bombay 31 December, 1972:

You have got some desire to become a famous preacher and famous Vaisnava singer and also jagad-guru. This is a spiritual desire, so it is not like any material desire and it is all right to desire for Krsna in this way. but great Vaisnava or famous Vaisnava means that you have no sex desire. Whether you can be like that? First of all you be like that, without any sex desire, then you think famous Vaisnava. Vaisnava means he has no material desire, what to speak of sex desire.

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Cyavana -- Los Angeles 23 July, 1975:

Regarding your questions, you have to decide amongst yourselves if Jagad-guru is to come, but if you require his assistance since Brahmananda Swami is not there, that is different thing. Yes, there can be a separate bank account for Spiritual Sky.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Riddha -- Detroit 15 June, 1976:

Hold a fire yajna and you can have Jagat Guru Maharaja chant on their beads. The initiates are vowing before the Deity, the Spiritual Master, the fire, the Vaisnavas, and the Supersoul to follow the four regulative principles: namely no illicit sex-life, no intoxication, no meat-eating, and no gambling, and to chant daily at least 16 rounds of japa.

Letter to Ramesvara -- New Vrindaban 24 June, 1976:

Concerning the $12,000 given to me by Jagat Guru Maharaja, that has nothing to do with Nairobi debts. It was an individual contribution to the book fund. Contributions and debt clearing are two different things.

1977 Correspondence

Letter to Giriraja -- Bhuvanesvara 31 January, 1977:

It is good news hearing good preachers like Jagat Guru and Sridhara Swami Maharajas, and Madhavananda are arriving to Bombay to push on the membership, other preaching and collecting.