​How can a community avoid guru groupism?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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so how can a community avoid guru groupism ok actually just now before I came here I was just with his grace and he was telling me we were discussing various things so he said that you may say that I am a Radhanath Swami disciple and you may say that I am a disciple of Radhanath Swami is there a difference between the two so I thought about it I said I am a Radhanath Swami disciple when I say that means Radhanath Swami disciple is one group and I belong to that group so the identification is primarily with the group when I say I am a disciple of Radhanath Swami that means the focus is on the discipleship that I am a disciple of a spiritual master so quite often when we come to spiritual organization also we bring our material ego with us so for example in India there is nationalism so the idea is Mera Bharat Mahan many Indians say that but they don’t know anything about India’s spiritual world they ask they don’t even know one verse from Bhagavad Gita and why is Mera Bharat Mahan why is India great because I was born in India so for me the greatness of India is simply an extension of my false ego so like that unfortunately when we come to spiritual organizations we bring that ego into the spiritual circles also so we think yes I am great and therefore my Guru must be the greatest and therefore we try to promote our spiritual master Prabhupada in a very beautiful lecture which he gave on the Vyasa Puja offering of his spiritual master he said the Guru is one although he may manifest in many forms so ultimately Krishna Vande Jagat Guru it is Krishna who is manifesting to guide us through various spiritual masters and Krishna is unlimitedly attractive and Krishna manifests attractiveness through different spiritual masters that means Krishna to one soul Krishna manifests attractiveness through one spiritual master to another soul Krishna may manifest that same attractiveness through another spiritual master but it is Krishna who is attracting them it is Krishna who is attracting people and when we share Krishna consciousness with others and we attract people towards Krishna so if we have this mentality of extended false ego then we think that my group should become bigger so people who come to my group they should become new people should come to my group but if we think that actually this soul is a part of Krishna and my duty is to help this soul to become attracted to Krishna so whichever medium through which Krishna manifests his attractiveness and attract this soul that is fine that person is essentially meant to be attracted towards Krishna and when we have this spiritual understanding of the dynamics of what is happening it is not we who are bringing somebody to become a devotee you know we may think oh I preach to you so therefore you should take message from my spiritual master first of all to think that I preach to you I made you into a devotee that itself is an illusion now Prabhupada is Mahabhagavata and when Prabhupada is composing the Markhane Bhagavata Dharma Markhane Bhagavata Dharma is a song that Prabhupada composed when he was in Jalduta and there what is he praying he is not saying that I am going to make all these Americans into devotees Prabhupada is saying Krishna by your mercy please make my words understandable to them and then he says tomara ichchai sabahoy mayavash tomara ichchai nashe maya raparash he says it is by your will that all people have come under illusion it is by your will that people can come out of illusion if you desire oh lord that people come out of illusion then please make my words understandable so Prabhupada is himself not thinking that I am making someone into a devotee he is simply saying that Krishna by his will will remove illusion and inspire people to become devoted let me just be an instrument so if we have that mood of being an instrument then we can avoid this sort of guru groupism now there is another point here there is a natural identification yes if I am initiated by a particular spiritual master then others who are initiated by a spiritual master there is a natural affinity between them but this sort of affection cannot be legislated it cannot be legislated sometimes some of my closest friends are devotees who are disciples of other spiritual masters relationships cannot be mandated so if we focus too much on externals then we forget the principle of bhakti we want to develop relationship with Krishna we want to help others develop relationship with Krishna and we want to develop relationships with those who have relationship with Krishna so if others are also disciples of same spiritual master that may and that can act as an impetus for us to develop relationship with them but it is not necessary that our relationship will only be with them so we need to keep our spiritual focus in mind we want to love Krishna and we want to inspire others to love Krishna whatever is favorable for that we need to do that we are keeping the spiritual focus in mind