The vibration was so tumultuous that Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, who was sitting nearby, immediately joined the crowd with his disciples. As soon as he saw the beautiful body of Lord Caitanya and the Lord dancing with His associates, Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī also joined and began to sing: "Hari! Hari!" All the inhabitants of Benares were struck with wonder upon seeing the ecstatic dancing of Lord Caitanya. However, Lord Caitanya checked His continuous ecstasy and stopped dancing when He saw the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs. As soon as the Lord stopped chanting and dancing, Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī fell at His feet. 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. Although you have no vision of duality, for the sake of teaching the people in general you should not do this."
Spiritual master of the whole world
Expressions researched:
"spiritual master for all the people"
|"spiritual master for the entire world"
|"spiritual master of the entire world"
|"spiritual master of the whole world"
|"spiritual master of the world"
|"spiritual master, for the entire world"
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 3
Lord Kṛṣṇa was sent by Arjuna into the assembly as the spiritual master of the whole world, and although His words were heard by some (like Bhīṣma) as pure nectar, it was not so for the others, who were completely bereft of the last farthing of past pious works. The King (Dhṛtarāṣṭra or Duryodhana) did not take the words of Lord Kṛṣṇa very seriously.
SB Canto 4
Lord Śiva, the spiritual master of the entire world, is free from enmity, is a peaceful personality, and is always satisfied in himself. He is the greatest among the demigods. How is it possible that Dakṣa could be inimical towards such an auspicious personality?
One who is engaged in devotional service has not the least fear in material existence. This is because the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the Supersoul and friend of everyone. One who knows this secret is actually educated, and one thus educated can become the spiritual master of the world. One who is an actually bona fide spiritual master, representative of Kṛṣṇa, is not different from Kṛṣṇa.
SB Canto 6
This Citraketu is the lowest of kṣatriyas, for he has impudently overridden Brahmā and the other demigods by insulting Lord Śiva, upon whose lotus feet they always meditate. Lord Śiva is personified religion and the spiritual master of the entire world, and therefore Citraketu must be punished.
SB Canto 7
O my Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, original spiritual master of the entire world, what is the difficulty for You, who manage the affairs of the universe, in delivering the fallen souls engaged in Your devotional service? You are the friend of all suffering humanity, and for great personalities it is necessary to show mercy to the foolish. Therefore I think that You will show Your causeless mercy to persons like us, who engage in Your service.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
This is the benefit of Lord Caitanya's movement. If one somehow or other comes in contact with the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, without consideration of his being a śūdra, vaiśya, Jagāi, Mādhāi or even lower, he becomes advanced in spiritual consciousness and immediately develops love of Godhead. We now have actual experience that throughout the entire world this movement is making many such persons lovers of God simply by the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Actually, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has appeared as the spiritual master of the entire world. He does not discriminate between offenders and the innocent. Kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te: (CC Madhya 19.53) He liberally gives love of Godhead to anyone and everyone.
Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the spiritual master of the entire world, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, by whose mercy even a dog can swim across a great ocean.
CC Madhya-lila
If a spiritual master accepts such a person, he is contaminated. Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya therefore asked why Īśvara Purī accepted a servant or disciple born of a śūdra family. In answer to this question, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied that His spiritual master, Īśvara Purī, was so empowered that he was as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As such, Īśvara Purī was the spiritual master of the whole world. He was not a servant of any mundane rule or regulation. An empowered spiritual master like Īśvara Purī can bestow his mercy upon anyone, irrespective of caste or creed. The conclusion is that an empowered spiritual master is authorized by Kṛṣṇa and his own guru and should therefore be considered as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. That is the verdict of Viśvanātha Cakravartī: sākṣād-dharitvena. An authorized spiritual master is as good as Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As Hari is free to act as He likes, the empowered spiritual master is also free. As Hari is not subject to mundane rules and regulations, the spiritual master empowered by Him is also not subject.
In this Age of Kali, real religious propaganda should induce people to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. This is possible for someone who is especially empowered by Kṛṣṇa. No one can do this without being especially favored by Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura comments in this regard in his Anubhāṣya, wherein he quotes a verse from the Nārāyaṇa-saṁhitā:
- dvāparīyair janair viṣṇuḥ pañcarātrais tu kevalaiḥ
- kalau tu nāma-mātreṇa pūjyate bhagavān hariḥ
"In Dvāpara-yuga, devotees of Lord Viṣṇu and Kṛṣṇa rendered devotional service according to the principles of Pāñcarātra. In this Age of Kali, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is worshiped simply by the chanting of His holy names." Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura then comments, "Without being empowered by the direct potency of Lord Kṛṣṇa to fulfill His desire and without being specifically favored by the Lord, no human being can become the spiritual master of the whole world. He certainly cannot succeed by mental concoction, which is not meant for devotees or religious people. Only an empowered personality can distribute the holy name of the Lord and enjoin all fallen souls to worship Kṛṣṇa. By distributing the holy name of the Lord, he cleanses the hearts of the most fallen people; therefore he extinguishes the blazing fire of the material world. Not only that, he broadcasts the shining brightness of Kṛṣṇa's effulgence throughout the world. Such an ācārya, or spiritual master, should be considered nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa—that is, he should be considered the incarnation of Lord Kṛṣṇa's potency. Such a personality is kṛṣṇāliṅgita-vigraha—that is, he is always embraced by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Such a person is above the considerations of the varṇāśrama institution. He is the guru, or spiritual master, for the entire world, a devotee on the topmost platform, the mahā-bhāgavata stage, and a paramahaṁsa-ṭhākura, a spiritual form only fit to be addressed as paramahaṁsa or ṭhākura."
When Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī caught hold of the Lord's lotus feet, the Lord said, "My dear sir, you are the spiritual master of the whole world; therefore you are most worshipable. As far as I am concerned, I am not even on the level of the disciple of your disciple."
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. Out of His great magnanimity and humility, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu presented Himself as a subordinate disciple of Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī.
CC Antya-lila
You simultaneously perform both duties in relation to the holy name by your personal behavior and by your preaching. Therefore you are the spiritual master of the entire world, for you are the most advanced devotee in the world.”
"You simultaneously perform both duties in relation to the holy name by your personal behavior and by your preaching. Therefore you are the spiritual master of the entire world, for you are the most advanced devotee in the world."
Sanātana Gosvāmī clearly defines herein the bona fide spiritual master of the world. The qualifications expressed in this connection are that one must act according to the scriptural injunctions and at the same time preach. One who does so is a bona fide spiritual master. Haridāsa Ṭhākura was the ideal spiritual master because he regularly chanted on his beads a prescribed number of times. Indeed, he was chanting the holy name of the Lord 300,000 times a day. Similarly, the members of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement chant a minimum of sixteen rounds a day, which can be done without difficulty, and at the same time they must preach the cult of Caitanya Mahāprabhu according to the gospel of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. One who does so is quite fit to become a spiritual master for the entire world.
By the grace of the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu, anyone can be completely purified, become a preacher of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and become the spiritual master of the entire world. This principle is accepted in all Vedic literature. Evidence can be quoted from authoritative śāstras showing how a lowborn person can become the spiritual master of the entire world. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is to be considered the most munificent personality, for He distributes the real essence of the Vedic śāstras to anyone who becomes qualified by becoming His sincere servant.
To cut down the pride of these birthright brāhmaṇas and Māyāvādī sannyāsīs, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu proved that a person like Rāmānanda Rāya, although born in a śūdra family and situated in the gṛhastha-āśrama, can become the spiritual master of such exalted personalities as Himself and Pradyumna Miśra. This is the principle of the Vaiṣṇava cult, as evinced in the teachings of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. 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.
Śrī Madhvācārya has brought our attention to this quotation from the Nārāyaṇa-saṁhitā:
- dvāparīyair janair viṣṇuḥ pañcarātrais tu kevalaiḥ
- kalau tu nāma-mātreṇa pūjyate bhagavān hariḥ
"In the Dvāpara-yuga one could satisfy Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu only by worshiping opulently according to the pāñcarātrikī system, but in the Age of Kali one can satisfy and worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead Hari simply by chanting His holy name." 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. Thus the conditioned souls, purified by chanting the holy name, are liberated from the blazing fire of material existence. In this way, spiritual benefit grows increasingly full, like the waxing moon in the sky. The true ācārya, the spiritual master of the entire world, must be considered an incarnation of Kṛṣṇa's mercy. Indeed, he is personally embracing Kṛṣṇa. He is therefore the spiritual master of all the varṇas (brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra) and all the āśramas (brahmacarya, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa). Since he is understood to be the most advanced devotee, he is called paramahaṁsa-ṭhākura. Ṭhākura is a title of honor offered to the paramahaṁsa. Therefore one who acts as an ācārya, directly presenting Lord Kṛṣṇa by spreading His name and fame, is also to be called paramahaṁsa-ṭhākura.
“Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya perfectly knows the six philosophical theses. He is therefore the spiritual master of the entire world in teaching the six paths of philosophy. He is the best of devotees.
“Śrīdhara Svāmī is the spiritual master of the entire world because by his mercy we can understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. I therefore accept him as a spiritual master.
His Divine Grace Mādhavendra Purī, the spiritual master of the entire world, thus distributed ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa. While passing away from the material world, he chanted the following verse.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
If I want to enter into the kingdom of God, or Kṛṣṇa, if we want to be Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is no impediment. There is no impediment. Ahaituky apratihatā. In the Bhāgavata says that if one wants to cultivate the Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is without any cause and without any impediment. Because it is transcendental subject matter, it does not depend on any material condition, on any material condition. There is no consideration of material impediment. So it is open for everyone. Cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭam (BG 4.13). That is a chance given, that you can become a brāhmaṇa, you can become a great devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and you can become the spiritual master of the world. That is the... And I think you should take seriously. I am old man. If you, some of you at least understand this science and take up this science, you become future hope of the, this country or the world. That is my request to you, that you should take this chance and become a spiritual master for all the people.
| Page Title: | Spiritual master of the whole world |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti |
| Created: | 24 of Nov, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=5, CC=13, OB=1, Lec=1, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 20 |