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Professional guru

Expressions researched:
"That is guru. That is gosvami. Not that gosvami profession" |"guru Vaisnava, not professional" |"professional guru" |"professional gurus" |"smarta-guru. There are many caste gosvamis who professionally create some disciples"

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta

CC Madhya-lila

By acting as a professional guru, mystic yogī or miracle man, one may cheat and bluff the general public and gain fame as a wonderful mystic, but all this is considered to be dust, straw and grains of sand within the heart.
CC Madhya 12.135, Purport:

The word jīva-hiṁsā (envy of other living entities) actually means stopping the preaching of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Preaching work is described as paropakāra, welfare activity for others. Those who are ignorant of the benefits of devotional service must be educated by preaching. If one stops preaching and simply sits down in a solitary place, he is engaging in material activity. If one desires to make a compromise with the Māyāvādīs, he is also engaged in material activity. A devotee should never make compromises with nondevotees. By acting as a professional guru, mystic yogī or miracle man, one may cheat and bluff the general public and gain fame as a wonderful mystic, but all this is considered to be dust, straw and grains of sand within the heart. In addition, one should follow the regulative principles and not desire illicit sex, gambling, intoxicants or meat.

There are many caste gosvāmīs who professionally create some disciples who do not care for them or their instructions. Such spiritual masters are satisfied simply to get some material benefits from their disciples. Such a relationship is condemned by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, who calls such spiritual masters and disciples a society of cheaters and cheated.
CC Madhya 24.330, Purport:

A serious disciple must be alert when selecting a bona fide spiritual master. He must be sure that the spiritual master can deliver all the transcendental necessities. The spiritual master must observe how inquisitive the disciple is and how eager he is to understand the transcendental subject matter. The spiritual master should study the disciple's inquisitiveness for no less than six months or a year. A spiritual master should not be very anxious to accept a disciple because of his material opulences. Sometimes a big businessman or landlord may approach a spiritual master for initiation. Those who are materially interested are called viṣayīs (karmīs), which indicates that they are very fond of sense gratification. Such viṣayīs sometimes approach a famous guru and ask to become a disciple just as a matter of fashion. Sometimes viṣayīs pose as disciples of a reputed spiritual master just to cover their activities and advertise themselves as advanced in spiritual knowledge. In other words, they want to attain material success. A spiritual master must be very careful in this regard. Such business is going on all over the world. The spiritual master does not accept a materially opulent disciple just to advertise the fact that he has such a big disciple. He knows that by associating with such viṣayī disciples, he may fall down. One who accepts a viṣayī disciple is not a bona fide spiritual master. Even if he is, his position may be damaged due to association with an unscrupulous viṣayī. If a so-called spiritual master accepts a disciple for his personal benefit or for material gain, the relationship between the spiritual master and the disciple turns into a material affair, and the spiritual master becomes like a smārta-guru. There are many caste gosvāmīs who professionally create some disciples who do not care for them or their instructions. Such spiritual masters are satisfied simply to get some material benefits from their disciples. Such a relationship is condemned by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, who calls such spiritual masters and disciples a society of cheaters and cheated. They are also called bāulas or prākṛta-sahajiyās. Their aim is to make the connection between the spiritual master and the disciple into a very cheap thing. They are not serious in wanting to understand spiritual life.

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

The śūdra has no initiation. So in India there are professional gurus. They initiate śūdras, but do not eat foodstuff touched by the disciple.
Lecture on BG 1.40 -- London, July 28, 1973:

So at the present moment, because these purificatory processes are not accepted, even in India... Accepted, they're unable. Everything has topsy-turvied. Therefore the śāstra says that: "Accept everyone as śūdra." Kalau śūdraḥ sambhava. There is no more brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya or vaiśya. All śūdras. We have to accept. Because no Vedic culture, no Garbhādhāna saṁskāra. They are born like cats and dogs. So where is this division? There cannot be. Therefore, accept them as śūdra. Varṇa-saṅkara is less than śūdra. So at least, śūdra they should be. So there is no Vaidic dīkṣā. For śūdra, there is no dīkṣā, there is no initiation. Initiation is meant for the persons who are born in brāhmaṇa family, kṣatriya family, or vaiśya family. The śūdra has no initiation. So in India there are professional gurus. They initiate śūdras, but do not eat foodstuff touched by the disciple. So there are so many things, that if he's initiated, how he can remain śūdra? But they keep him śūdra; at the same time, they become guru. Sanātana Gosvāmī gives direction in the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa that: tathā dīkṣā-vidhānena dvijatvaṁ jāyate nṛṇām. If properly initiated, he becomes immediately brāhmaṇa. Dvijatvam. Dvija means second birth.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

In India, there is a class of men, they are called gurus. The professional guru, rather.
Lecture on SB 1.3.19 -- Los Angeles, September 24, 1972:

So this Bali Mahārāja, he conquered all over the universe, and the demigods were defeated. So Vāmanadeva, He also one of the considered demigods, Upendra. So He went to Bali Mahārāja by a trick. Because Bali Mahārāja... Kṛṣṇa knows that Bali Mahārāja was the grandson of Prahlāda Mahārāja and he was a great devotee at heart. He knew that. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Lord is situated in everyone's heart. He knows everyone. So therefore, in order to return back the kingdoms taken from the demigods, He made a trick. He went there. Bali Mahārāja was performing a great sacrifice, Bali-dhare.(?) So He went there and asked Bali Mahārāja, "Bali Mahārāja, you are performing such a great sacrifice. I am at your door. I am brāhmaṇa. Will you kindly give Me some donation?" "Yes, why not? That is my... I will give you. Whatever You want, I will give You."

So immediately his spiritual master, the demon's spiritual master Śukrācārya... Śukrācārya means... Śukra means semina. Seminal ācārya. Means... You do not know. In India, there is a class of men, they are called gurus. The professional guru, rather. So Śukrācārya. Śukrācārya, he was very learned scholar. He knew everything, that "Here Vāmanadeva, He is incarnation of Viṣṇu. He has come to cheat Bali. He will ask something and then He will take everything from Bali." He knew it.

In India, there is a class of men, they are called gurus. The professional guru, rather. So Śukrācārya. Śukrācārya, he was very learned scholar.
Lecture on SB 1.3.19 -- Los Angeles, September 24, 1972:

So sometimes in asura's family also, there are Vaiṣṇavas. By the grace of Nārada. Nārada makes... Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja became a great devotee by the grace of Nārada, although he was born of a father, atheist father, Hiraṇyakaśipu. So Nārada Muni's business is to travel all over the universe and make Vaiṣṇava. So this Bali Mahārāja, he conquered all over the universe, and the demigods were defeated. So Vāmanadeva, He also one of the considered demigods, Upendra. So He went to Bali Mahārāja by a trick. Because Bali Mahārāja... Kṛṣṇa knows that Bali Mahārāja was the grandson of Prahlāda Mahārāja and he was a great devotee at heart. He knew that. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Lord is situated in everyone's heart. He knows everyone. So therefore, in order to return back the kingdoms taken from the demigods, He made a trick. He went there. Bali Mahārāja was performing a great sacrifice, Bali-dhare.(?) So He went there and asked Bali Mahārāja, "Bali Mahārāja, you are performing such a great sacrifice. I am at your door. I am brāhmaṇa. Will you kindly give Me some donation?" "Yes, why not? That is my... I will give you. Whatever You want, I will give You."

So immediately his spiritual master, the demon's spiritual master Śukrācārya... Śukrācārya means... Śukra means semina. Seminal ācārya. Means... You do not know. In India, there is a class of men, they are called gurus. The professional guru, rather. So Śukrācārya. Śukrācārya, he was very learned scholar. He knew everything, that "Here Vāmanadeva, He is incarnation of Viṣṇu. He has come to cheat Bali. He will ask something and then He will take everything from Bali." He knew it. So sometimes cheating also done by the Supreme Lord for the sake of the devotee. So this is not cheating. Just like father sometimes cheats a son. Suppose something is there, and two brothers, small children, they are fighting. One has taken, another is crying. So the one will not deliver to the other. So father says, "My dear child, will you kindly give me this." So he gives to the father and he delivers to the other child. (laughter) You see? So sometimes God has to do such cheating of affection. That is not cheating actually. But the cheating propensity is there in God. Otherwise where we get it? (laughter) But we use cheating for our personal sense gratification. But if you use that cheating propensity for Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction, then it is all right. Manimiti kṛtaṁ pāpaṁ puṇyāyaiva kalpate.(?)

So the Bali Mahārāja was cheated by... But he, being cheated, he became conqueror. So this Śukrācārya said to Bali Mahārāja, "Don't promise to this Vāmana anything. He is Lord Viṣṇu. He has come to cheat you." Bali Mahārāja became more enlightened. "Oh, He is Lord Viṣṇu? But you have taught me that everything should be given to Viṣṇu. So if Viṣṇu has come at my door, why you are asking not to make any promise?" So that means Śukrācārya were playing duplicity. He taught something, and now he's saying another thing. Therefore Bali Mahārāja said that "I cannot accept. I give up your company from this day, that you are checking me to offer everything to Viṣṇu. Oh, I do not want such spiritual master"

So that means... That is the shastric injunction, that anyone who is not a Viṣṇu devotee, or Vaiṣṇava, he cannot become guru. That is the injunction of the śāstra. Ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipro mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ. A brāhmaṇa, very learned, he knows his duties, brahminical duties very well... Just like Śukrācārya. Ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇaḥ. Ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇaḥ. Brāhmaṇa have got six kinds of occupation: paṭhana-pāṭhana yajana-yājana dāna-pratigraha. Brāhmaṇa should be very learned, he should teach others also Vedic knowledge, paṭhana-pāṭhana. Yajana-yājana. He must be devotee or great worshiper, and he should teach others also how to worship. Yajana-yājana. Dāna-pratigraha. He will accept charity from others, and he will give in charity again to others. These are the six occupation of a brāhmaṇa. So śāstra says, ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipraḥ, "A brāhmaṇa, well conversed with these duties of brahminical duties," and mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ, "and expert in studying the mantras, Vedic mantras, and tantra, other Vedic literature," avaiṣṇavo gurur na sa syāt, "but if he is avaiṣṇava," means he does not worship Lord Viṣṇu but other demigods, "then he cannot become guru." That is not allowed. You cannot become guru. Ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipro mantra...

So we should hear from the realized person, guru Vaiṣṇava, not professional, no. That will not help us.
Lecture on SB 1.15.27 -- New York, March 6, 1975:

So it doesn't matter whether one is illiterate or literate. Everyone has got these ears. So we should hear from the realized person, guru Vaiṣṇava, not professional, no. That will not help us.

tad viddhi praṇipātena
paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ
(BG 4.34)

Tattva-darśinaḥ. Tattva-darśinaḥ means one has seen the truth, not superficially knowing. One who understood that this is the truth, so go there and submit there. Praṇipātena. Prakṛṣṭa-rūpeṇa nipātena. Fully surrender there and then question, then try to inquire if you cannot understand.

Whole world, whomever you meet, you speak of Kṛṣṇa. That is guru. That is gosvāmī. Not that gosvāmī profession means that I make a means of my livelihood, and I bring money from outside and engage in my son's marriage and daughter's marriage. That is not gosvāmī.
Lecture on SB 2.1.1 -- Vrndavana, March 16, 1974:

That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission. Yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). Whole world, whomever you meet, you speak of Kṛṣṇa. That is guru. That is gosvāmī. Not that gosvāmī profession means that I make a means of my livelihood, and I bring money from outside and engage in my son's marriage and daughter's marriage. That is not gosvāmī. One who is engaged in loka-hitam, spreading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam all over the world, that is gosvāmī.

The professional guru... His disciple will come: "Sir, doctor has advised me to take fish. Without taking fish my eyesight will be lost." He gives his permission. This is going on. Because the guru sees that "If I say no, this rich disciple will be lost. So better let him do whatever he likes. I get my fees. That's all."
Lecture on SB 6.1.6 -- Bombay, November 6, 1970:

Revatīnandana: The priests are all driving Lincoln-Continentals. All the priests drive very expensive automobiles. They're all dressed very nicely and they have very big cars, Catholic priests. They get so much money for forgiving sins.

Prabhupāda: They get money?

Revatīnandana: Yes, in Europe they used to sell indulgences. For a certain amount of money you get a certain indulgence.

Prabhupāda: Here also. The priests allow. The guru allow. The professional guru... His disciple will come: "Sir, doctor has advised me to take fish. Without taking fish my eyesight will be lost. He has advised. So what to do? You have asked me not to take fish. You said." "Oh, all right, I give you permission." He gives his permission. This is going on. "I give you per..." Because the guru sees that "If I say no, this rich disciple will be lost. So better let him do whatever he likes. I get my fees. That's all." This is going on. That statement of my Guru Mahārāja, "the society of the cheaters and the cheated," is a fact everywhere.

The priests allow. The guru allow. The professional guru... His disciple will come.
Lecture on SB 6.1.6 -- Bombay, November 6, 1970:

Prabhupāda: So there is no value of this question of the atheist. They do not know what is the meaning of going to the church or going to the temple or church or spiritual master. That is a foolish question. The church does not allow. But if the church does not disclose this fact, that "Oh, I see every week you come. What is this nonsense?" But the priest, they get some money and they want to continue their church business to get some money. So this is going on, cheating and cheated. Therefore the society has become the full of cheaters and cheated. So the cheating cheaters are not encouraged. If in the church or if anywhere, in the court, they are all full of cheaters and cheated, then what can be done? But either the court or the church is not meant for that purpose, that they will excuse the sinners every week without questioning and without giving him full, nice instruction that "You cannot do this." But if they say like that, then no more, nobody will come. Their income will be lost. So therefore they are cheated and those people who are thinking that "I have gone to church and my priest has excused me. I have confessed," this is cheating. That's all. Actually the purpose is different.

Revatīnandana: The priests are all driving Lincoln-Continentals. All the priests drive very expensive automobiles. They're all dressed very nicely and they have very big cars, Catholic priests. They get so much money for forgiving sins.

Prabhupāda: They get money?

Revatīnandana: Yes, in Europe they used to sell indulgences. For a certain amount of money you get a certain indulgence.

Prabhupāda: Here also. The priests allow. The guru allow. The professional guru... His disciple will come: "Sir, doctor has advised me to take fish. Without taking fish my eyesight will be lost. He has advised. So what to do? You have asked me not to take fish. You said." "Oh, all right, I give you permission." He gives his permission. This is going on. "I give you per..." Because the guru sees that "If I say no, this rich disciple will be lost. So better let him do whatever he likes. I get my fees. That's all." This is going on. That statement of my Guru Mahārāja, "the society of the cheaters and the cheated," is a fact everywhere. In a law court also, you bribe; you get justice. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Arghyeṇa nyāya-rahitam: "If you have got no money, then you cannot get justice in this age. You cannot get justice." It is clearly stated here. That is the symptom of this age. In the law court you have to bribe. In the judges...

Conversations and Morning Walks

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

In Bengal there was professional guru. They travel from one house to another.
Conversation about Old Days in Calcutta -- July 1, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So they had to allow the prostitution. But they were happy. But in that income in those men, they had a guru. The guru would come.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They had a guru.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Even the maidservants.

Prabhupāda: In Bengal there was professional guru. They travel from one house to another. Our paternal guru was coming like that.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You had a professional guru also?

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You had a paternal guru?

Prabhupāda: Yes. I was initiated by that professional guru at the age of twelve years. Later on I rejected him.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I wonder if he had any thought that his disciple, Your Divine Grace, would be one day such a devotee all over the world. You always said that's the perfection of a guru, if he has good disciple. So your professional guru had a best disciple.

Prabhupāda: Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī later on, when I was young man, manager in Dr. Bose's laboratory... That my friend, Narend Mullik, he took me. There is direction. For real guru one can give up this professional guru.

In Bengal there was professional guru. They travel from one house to another.
Conversation about Old Days in Calcutta -- July 1, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: In Bengal there was professional guru. They travel from one house to another. Our paternal guru was coming like that.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You had a professional guru also?

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You had a paternal guru?

Prabhupāda: Yes. I was initiated by that professional guru at the age of twelve years. Later on I rejected him.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I wonder if he had any thought that his disciple, Your Divine Grace, would be one day such a devotee all over the world. You always said that's the perfection of a guru, if he has good disciple. So your professional guru had a best disciple.

Prabhupāda: Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī later on, when I was young man, manager in Dr. Bose's laboratory... That my friend, Narend Mullik, he took me. There is direction. For real guru one can give up this professional guru.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Prabhupāda: So all of a sudden I remember this Nanda Dulal Gosai. I was thinking of him. What a great devotee he was. He was observing some of the festivals, I think, Janmāṣṭamī or Nandotsava, something, inviting friends, offering good prasādam. And he was living in a quarter full of Muhammadans.

Page Title:Professional guru
Compiler:Peggy, Vraja-kumara
Created:20 of Jul, 2010
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=2, OB=0, Lec=7, Con=2, Let=0
No. of Quotes:11