Srila Gaura Govinda Swami about taking shelter of Srila Prabhupada

[Paramananda das]

ETERNALLY UNDER THE
GURU’S DISCIPLINE
Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami
Bhagavan descends in the form of words.
That is krsna"a-kathā, because krsna"a-kathā and

Krishna are nondifferent. So, Krishna descends
in the form of this kathā, and the hearing
of this krsna"a-kathā is eternal. In other
words, śisyatva, discipleship, is eternal, because
one who hears is a disciple. The śisya
hears, or does śravanam, and the guru does
kīrtana, or speaks. So, the guru’s kīrtana is eternal
and the śisya’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 vaisnava.” 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
śisyatva, 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’ vaisava” 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 vaisnava 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, vaisnava now,” then you cannot become
amānī and pay respect to one and all.
You will demand respect and your heart will
become contaminated. Pratisthāśā — you
will run after name, fame, prestige and adoration.
That is material gain and thus your
heart will become contaminated. pratisthāśa
āmi’ h daya dūhiba haiba nirayagāmī — Then
I will go to hell. That is the consequence
now. You will get lābha, pūjā, and pratisthā
 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?
Krsna"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.