Issue no. 10
Putana, False Gurus,
Institutions, and the Holy Name
Excerpts from the following articles:
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Two Considerations
By Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja
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Issue no. 10 Excerpts from the following articles: *
Two Considerations |
By Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja
In this article, we pose certain commonly asked questions about institutions and spiritual life, with answers from the teachings of Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja.
Should we accept someone as an authority if they have material attachments and are not situated on the spiritual platform?
We accept because we are in a society. Someone may be GBC of some region of the world, so according to the management system he is authority. But by the spiritual system, unless I am convinced, I cannot accept him as authority. That is up to me. I have independence. It is my choice. As far as the management system goes, I accept him because he is GBC. But as far as spiritual things go, unless I am convinced I cannot accept. "Please excuse me." Acceptance of someone as a spiritual authority should not be forced or compulsory. That is a principle. For me to accept someone as a spiritual authority my heart must be convinced, because it is based on the desire of the heart. It is not an external thing. It is internal. Acting in that way is not offensive. I am not disregarding him. He is a vaishnava, so I offer him obeisances. We pay obeisances to all vaishnava, regardless if they are kanishtha, madhyama, or whatever. That is etiquette. But accepting someone as spiritual master, that is something else. (Evening darshana, Bhubaneswar, 1990)
Is there any harm in going and hearing from a saintly person outside of the guru’s mission?
My opinion is that Srila Prabhupada will not be happy with these senior devotees going outside of ISKCON. Srila Prabhupada has said that everything is in his books. If you try to understand this, then by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada it will all be made clear to you. It is a fact that if an elevated vaiñëava is there, then one should go and take his association. There is no harm in that. But in this case, there is a danger that the discipline in our organization will be adversely affected. If the leaders are going outside of ISKCON, how will we be able to maintain discipline? Srila Prabhupada has formed this society, and this threat to his society will only cause him pain. With this consideration, they should not go. That will only lead to indiscipline in our society.
Two sides are there — philosophical and organizational. On the organizational side, this practice is not good. Therefore, we have this GBC body, which makes so many rules to maintain the discipline of the members of our society. But how will we be able to keep discipline now? No one will listen. "If the leaders are going, why should we listen. We will also go". This will create only trouble. (Letter dated 3 November 1994)
It is often said that a genuine guru must be a pure devotee. Understanding that, how do we see that today so many persons are accepting the position of guru?
Two sides are there: the spiritual side and the organizational side. This is an organizational matter. Unless they are allowed to accept disciples, the organization will collapse. There will be no cooperation. Only quarrelling and dissension. "Oh, he wants to be guru. All right, you do this thing." Anyhow, maintain the society. This is an organizational matter. They want to be gurus. They want some position. This is all material and nothing else. They are doing some work for the society. They are general heads, managing the zone. So how else can a worldwide organization be managed? (Evening darshana in Bhubaneswar, 4 July 1992)
Krishna's Pastime of Killing Putana
After consulting with his demoniac ministers, Kamsa instructed a witch named Putana, who knew the black art of killing small children by ghastly, sinful methods, to kill all kinds of children in the cities, villages and pasturing grounds. Such witches can play their black art only where there is no chanting or hearing of the holy name of Krishna. It is said that wherever the chanting of the holy name of Krishna is done, even negligently, all bad elements — witches, ghosts, and dangerous calamities — immediately disappear. And this is certainly true of the place where the chanting of the holy name of Krishna is done seriously — especially in Vrindavan when the Supreme Lord was personally present.
In his Sri Vaisnava-tosani commentary on the second verse of this chapter, Srila Jiva Goswami writes:
The word nighnanti in this verse means, “completely destroying”. That is, Putana would instantly kill children by giving them her poisoned breast. This is described in the Visnu Purana (5.5.8):
yasmai yasmai
stanam ratrau putana samprayacchati
tasya tasya ksanenangam balakasyopahanyate
Unto whichever child Putana supplied her breast at night, that child’s body would perish in a moment.
In the Form of a Bird
Putana was the sister of the demon Baka, who came in the form of a bird to kill Krishna. Like her brother, Putana also assumed the form of a bird when she entered Vraja. The Hari-vamsa Purana (2.6.22-23) describes:
kasya-cintvatha kalasya sakuni-vesa-dharini
dhatri kamsasya bhojasya putaneti parisruta
putana nama sakuni ghora prana-bhayankari
ajagamarddha-ratre vai paksau krodhad vidhunvati
Once upon a time, in the middle of the night, Kamsa’s nurse, the dreadful Putana, who created fear for one’s life and was capable of assuming different forms at will, went in the shape of a bird to the village of Vraja, angrily flapping her wings.
tato
’rddha-ratra-samaye putana praty adrsyata
vyaghra-gambhira-nirghosam vyaharanti punah punah
nililye sakatas yakso prasravotpida-varsini
dadau stanam ca krsnaya tasmin supte jane nisi
Entering Vraja in the middle of the night, roaring again and again like a tiger, Putana assumed the form of a woman. While all of the inhabitants of Vraja were sleeping, she lay down under the wheel of a cart and offered her breast to Krishna to suck. (24-25).
(This article is continued in the printed magazine.)
False Gurus, Institutions and the Holy Name
A robe of seeming truth and trust
Hid crafty Observation;
And secret hung, with poison’d crust,
The dirk of Defamation:
A mask that like the gorget show’d,
Dye-varying on the pigeon;
And for a mantle large and broad,
He wrapt him in Religion.
HYPOCRISY A-LA-MODE
— From “The Holy Fair” by Robert Burns (1759–1796).
Putana is the first demon killed by baby Krishna. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur describes that she represents the first obstacle encountered by a spiritual aspirant — acceptance of a false guru. Anyone who wants to achieve genuine love of Krishna must give up false teachers, whether they be mundane religionists, priests, secular teachers, materialistic counselors, friends, or family members.
False Gurus
Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur describes that there are two types of false gurus — internal and external. The external false guru is the pretentious hypocrite who presents himself as guru even though he is not qualified. The internal false guru is the mind of the living entity, which takes shelter of material logic and reason to understand the absolute truth.
(This article is continued in the printed magazine.)
