Eternally under the Gurus Discipline..a lecture by HH Gaura Govinda Maharaja

[Paramananda das]

Dear Vaisnavas
Please accept my humble obaisences
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
I pray Srila Prabhupada may discipline me in any way he sees fit, our material father may have sometimes unfairly chastised or even slapped us as a child ,when I was 17 I said dad, if you ever slap me again for no reason,I will slap you back hard,and you will forget about ever slapping me again.(that was due to western upbringing)
After that he never touched me again.I have seen in Vrindavan my friend Rajendra who is 60 something sometimes get a slap from his father (he must be almost 90), it makes me laugh as it is out of love.If Srila Prabhupada wants to "slap some sense into us we should be humble"..of course good diciples,very rarely needs chastisement of the Guru, but if it comes , a real disciple welcomes it.Srila Prabhupada is not physically here but he will see what we do and rectifie us, if we need to be.If we are sincere.It is all his mercy.This lecture by Gaura Govinda Maharaja just shows us ,Guru is always there.Srila Prabhupada is here to direct us.And Gaura Govinda Maharaja reminded us.I pray to Srila Prabhupada to never deviate from his lotusfeet again in any way.If Srila Prabhupada chastises us ,even that will help us develop Krsna prema.May Srila Prabhupada and Gaura Govinda Maharaja helps us to be humble so we can chant Hare Krsna with great respect for all beings.Gaura Govinda Swami had a strong vaisnava character, that has endeared him to all.
your humble servant
Payonidhi das

http://ebooks.iskcondesiretree.info/pdf/Sri_Krishna_Kathamrita_Bind...

ETERNALLY UNDER THE
GURU’S DISCIPLINE
Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami
Bhagavan descends in the form of words.
That is k -"a-kathā, because k -"a-kathā and
Krishna are nondifferent. So, Krishna descends
in the form of this kathā, and the hearing
of this k -"a-kathā is eternal. In other
words, śi-yatva, discipleship, is eternal, because
one who hears is a disciple. The śi-ya
hears, or does śrava"am, and the guru does
kīrtana, or speaks. So, the guru’s kīrtana is eternal
and the śi-ya’s hearing is eternal. “I am
eternally the servant, or disciple, of my guru.”
With this mood or attitude there is no question
of pride. Rather, surrender and humility
will be there. One should be disciplined by
the guru. “Unless I am being disciplined by
guru I will act whimsically. Pride will develop
in me. That means a demoniac attitude will
be there. I will become a demon instead of a
devotee, a vai-"ava.” So, this discipline is eternal.
“My guru is inflicting discipline on me
eternally, and I am eternally his disciple.”
What I speak is a very, very serious, deep and
subtle philosophy. It is not superfluous. This
śi-yatva, discipleship, is eternal. “I should be
disciplined eternally. The guru inflicts discipline
on me.” To remain a disciple means to remain
under discipline. Unless he catches hold of my
ear and slaps me, how can I become humble?
How can I surrender or dedicate myself?”
Don’t Demand Respect
Therefore Bhaktivinode Thakur says,
“āmi ta’ vai-"ava” ei buddhi ha-ile
amānī nā ha’ba āmi
prati-7hāśā āmi’, h daya dūhiba
ha-iba nirayagāmi
If this thing enters into your mind, “Oh, I
am a great vai-"ava or sādhu now,” a demon
enters into you. You will develop pride
and become puffed up. You will demand
respect; you will never pay respect. But
Mahaprabhu says, amānī mānada — “Don’t
demand respect, pay respect to one and
all.” But if someone thinks, “I am a great
sādhu, vai-"ava now,” then you cannot become
amānī and pay respect to one and all.
You will demand respect and your heart will
become contaminated. Prati-hāśā — you
will run after name, fame, prestige and adoration.
That is material gain and thus your
heart will become contaminated. prati-hāśa
āmi’ h daya dūhiba haiba nirayagāmī — Then
I will go to hell. That is the consequence
now. You will get lābha, pūjā, and prati-thā
 name, fame, prestige, and adoration.
Your heart will become contaminated and
you will go to hell. Your heart will not be
purified. So, this is the most important
thing. One should eternally be a disciple
and remain in that position of eternally
being disciplined by guru. This is our relationship.
It is a loving relationship. Otherwise,
how can we obtain that supreme
gain? And what is that supreme gain?
K -"a-prema. In other words, to serve
Krishna with love. That is the supreme
gain. Through that love of Krishna,
Krishna becomes bound up. One gets
Krishna and that is the supreme gain.8
— Excerpted from a lecture on Śrī Caitanya-caritām ta, ādi 11.7,
Bhubaneswar 1993.


There is some other amazing lectures by Gaura Govinda Maharaja at http://www.bvml.org/audio/index.html#SGGM