Śrī-Śrī-Prema-Bhakti-Candrikā, verse 5

cakṣu-dāna dila yei, janme janme prabhu sei,

dibya-jñāna hṛde prakāśita |
prema-bhakti yāṅhā haite, abidyā bināśa yāte,
bede gāya yāṅhāra carita || 5 ||
He who gave me the gift of sight is my master in birth after birth. He has awakened spiritual
knowledge within my heart. By this prema-bhakti all ignorance is destroyed. The Vedas sing of his
character and activities.
Divine Knowledge
Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: Though the spiritual nature of the jīva is that he is the eternal servant of
Kṛṣṇa, since immemorial time he has been forgetful of this nature, having been swallowed by the
gaping mouth of bahiraṅgā-māyā, the Lord’s external illusory energy._ Thinking in terms of ‘I’ and
‘mine’ concerning his material body and that which is related to it, he wanders from form to form
according to his desires and mental impressions, suffering the terrible worldly miseries of birth,
death, old age and disease. Taking shelter of Śrī Guru and performing śrī-kṛṣṇa-bhajana is the only
way to be freed from this misery.
kṛṣṇa-nitya-dāsa jība tāhā bhuli gela | sei doṣe māyā tāra galāya bāndhila ||
tāte kṛṣṇa-bhaje kare gurura sebana | māyā-jāla chuṭe pāya kṛṣṇera caraṇa ||
“When the jīva forgets that he is the eternal servant of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, māyā binds him by the throat.
Still, if he worships Kṛṣṇa and serves his guru, the net of māyā releases him and he obtains the
Lord’s lotus feet.” (CC.M.22.24-25)
After rescuing his disciple from the ocean of material life by giving him initiation and instructions,
Śrī Gurudeva covers the disciple’s materialistic eyes, which are incapable of seeing God directly,
and opens his spiritual eyes, suitable for seeing the supreme truth, as well as causing him to taste the
nectar of kṛṣṇa-bhajana. By designating the eyes, it is implied that the sādhaka’s other senses also
become spiritualized and thus capable of bhagavad-bhajana. The meaning is that the material body,
mind and senses are not capable of performing śrī-kṛṣṇa-bhajana. When Śrī Gurudeva,
overwhelmed by causeless compassion, gives him the dīkṣā-mantras, the disciple
exclaims, trāyasva bho jagannātha guro saṁsāra-vahninā, dagdhaṁ māṁ kāla-daṣṭaṁ ca tvām
ahaṁ śaraṇaṁ gataḥ. “Śrī Guru! You are the embodiment of the Lord’s compassion. Please rescue
me from being scorched by the fire of material life and swallowed by death! O Master, I seek your
refuge.” When the disciple receives Śrī Gurudeva’s shelter and dedicates his body, mind and soul,
then by the touch of the nectarous power of God known as Śrī Gurudeva’s mercy (just as iron is
turned to gold by contact with the philosopher’s stone), the disciple is infused with bhakti-śakti. His
body and senses become spiritualized and fit for performing bhajana to the lotus feet of Śrī
Bhagavān. The sādhaka’s body, mind and senses obtain that spirituality by assuming the same
nature as that of bhagavad-bhajana, and this transformation occurs solely by the mercy of Śrī Guru.
In this way, Śrī Guru’s mercy qualifies the disciple to worship the lotus feet of Bhagavān, delivers
him at the Lord’s lotus feet and establishes his particular relationship with the Lord. Therefore, Śrīla
Ṭhākura Mahāśaya says, cakṣu-dāna dila yei, janme janme prabhu sei, dibya-jñāna hṛde prakāśita.
“Śrī Guru, the giver of love of Kṛṣṇa and knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, is my master birth after birth, and I
am his servant birth after birth. Having freed me from materialistic vision, he has opened my
spiritual eyes of devotion, smeared with the ointment of love, which are suitable for seeing God. If
Śrī Guru is satisfied, he deposits the power of his compassion within one’s heart, and then the
divine knowledge embodied in kṛṣṇa-dīkṣā and his instructions is realized.” This clearly indicates
the master-servant relationship between Śrī Guru and the disciple, as well as the permanent nature
of that relationship. As the result of his past actions, the wandering jīva is born into various wombs,
and in each birth he establishes connections with a different mother and father, and with different
friends and relatives. But the guru-śiṣya relationship is not like that. At a suitable time after many
births, the very same Śrī Guru becomes present before his disciple and causes him to drink the
sweet rasa of bhajana, blesses him with the gift of prema and leads him into the kingdom of līlā for
the direct sevā of his beloved Lord. Ah! The mercy of Śrī Guru! Nothing compares to this!
Then Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya says, prema-bhakti yāṅhā haite, abidyā bināśa yāte, bede gāya
yāṅhāra carita. We have said that it is as though the compassion of that boundless ocean of mercy,
Śrī Bhagavān, has condensed into the form of Śrī Guru and appeared here for the benefit of all
worldly souls. It is through Śrī Gurudeva, the avatāra of Śrī Bhagavān’s compassion, that we
experience the Lord’s mercy. Śrī Gurudeva’s heart is the jeweled throne of Śrī Bhakti Mahārāṇī, the
quintessence of the hlādinī and samvit śaktis._ Residing there, Bhaktirāṇī bestows her mercy upon
the people of the world. With Śrī Guru’s compassion as the vehicle, her mercy is set in motion
within the sādhaka, and he becomes blessed with the gift of prema. Because of this sambandha-
jñāna (knowledge of relationship) gained by the mercy of Śrī Guru, attachment for the body and
subject matters not related to Kṛṣṇa is lost, while a deep affection for Kṛṣṇa arises. Prema-
bhakti then appears within the sādhaka’s heart, having flowed through the guru-praṇālī like the
current of the Mandākinī. This mystical truth can also be known from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
(10.2.31):
svayaṁ samuttīrya sudustaraṁ dyuman bhavārṇavaṁ bhīmam adabhra-sauhṛdāḥ |
bhavat-padāmbhoruha-nāvam atra te nidhāya yātāḥ sad-anugraho bhavān ||
bhavat-padāmbhoruha-rūpāṁ nāvam atraiva nidhāya bhakti-mārga-sampradāyaṁ pravartety
arthaḥ pāraṁ yātāḥ | (Svāmi-Ṭīkā)
While offering prayers to Śrī Kṛṣṇa within the womb of Devakī Devī, Brahmā and the
other devas said, “O Self-manifested One! Your compassion for your devotees is boundless. By the
strength of that mercy, your devotees accept the shelter of your lotus feet, which are like sturdy
boats that carry them across the troublesome ocean of material life. Moreover, by the system
of guru-paramparā these devotees give their mercy to the souls of this world by keeping that boat
here in the form of the bhakti-mārga-sampradāya.” From this it is clearly understood that without
the shelter of the lotus feet of Śrī Guru there is no way to attain prema-bhakti and cross the ocean of
material life. The direct result of receiving shelter at the lotus feet of Śrī Guru is the attainment
of prema and sevā at the lotus feet of Śrī Bhagavān. A secondary result is the destruction of
ignorance, the basis of materialistic life. Therefore Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya says, abidyā bināśa
yāte. The forgetful_ jīva’s beginningless aversion to God has arisen due to Śrī Bhagavān’s
external māyā-śakti of avidyā. This avidyā is of five kinds: tamaḥ, moha, mahāmoha,
tāmisra and andha-tāmisra. Here tamaḥ indicates ignorance, or lack of knowledge. If one extends
his hand while in dense darkness, he is unable to see it or anything else around him. In the same
way, if ignorance doesn’t allow the jīva to ascertain his own nature, how in this state of darkness
shall he see Śrī Kṛṣṇa? Moha means the state of being unable to discern what should and shouldn’t
be done. Mahāmoha indicates desire for sensual enjoyment. Tāmisra means the angry state arising
when one’s enjoyment is hindered, and andha-tāmisra denotes being absorbed in guarding one’s
enjoyable things from possible loss. These are the functions of avidyā-māyā, and they are removed
as a secondary fruit of Śrī Guru’s mercy.
Those anarthas_ that disrupt the sādhaka’s bhajana are also known to be avidyā. They are of four
kinds: duṣkṛtottha (born of evil deeds), sukṛtottha (born of good deeds), aparādhottha(born of
offensive deeds) and bhaktyuttha (born of following the path of bhakti). The anarthasborn of
wicked acts have been described as comprised of kleśa, or misery and distress. Kleśais of five
kinds: avidyā, asmitā, rāga, dveṣa and abhiniveśa. Here avidyā means considering that which is
impermanent to be eternal, that which is impure to be pure, misery to be happiness and that which is
not the self to be the self. Asmitā means arrogance, pride, egotism. Rāga means desire or attachment
for happiness and comfort. Dveṣa means the desire to remove all misery or its
causes. Abhiniveśa means fear of death. Some also consider pious deeds aimed at sense enjoyment
as anarthas and are thus included as miseries. By the mercy of Śrī Guru, all these are easily
destroyed. By his mercy the sādhaka is also freed from the anarthas born of aparādha, namely the
ten offenses against the Holy Name, as well as the anarthas born of following the path of bhakti,
such as the desire for profit, adoration and fame. In this way, the sādhaka obtains the treasure of
pure bhajana.
bede gāya yāṅhāra carita: In the Vedas and the religious texts that follow the Vedas the importance
of Śrī Guru has been repeatedly described. The Vedas constantly sing of him by whose
mercy prema-bhakti is obtained and ignorance is thoroughly destroyed. ācāryavān puruṣo veda
(Chāndogya): “Having taken shelter of the lotus feet of Śrī Guru, a person devoted to the service of
Śrī Guru attains and remains situated in spiritual truth.” yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā
gurau, tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante mahātmanaḥ. “For one who studies the Vedic
literature with equal devotion to Śrī Hari and Śrī Guru, the power of that devotion causes the
meaning of the Vedas to awaken within him.” (Śvetāśvatara)
tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (Muṇḍaka).
In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the cream of all vedānta, Śrī Kṛṣṇa has said, ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyāt: “Śrī
Guru shall be understood as My own form.”
In the Chāndogya Upaniṣad of the Sāmaveda, one story concerning the importance of Śrī Guru is
found. Sent by Jābālā, Satyakāma Jābāla approached Maharṣi Gautama to receive spiritual
knowledge. When he arrived, Gautama initiated him and engaged him in the work of cow
protection and so on. Satisfied by Satyakāma’s devotion and service to his guru, Rṣabha (the bull),
Agni (the fire), Haṁsa (the swan) and others blessed him with spiritual knowledge. Gautama,
pleased by this, then also gave him instructions. When Upakauśala approached Satyakāma for
spiritual knowledge, Satyakāma engaged him in tending the fires and fetching things. Pleased by
Upakauśala’s devotion to Śrī Guru, Agni taught spiritual knowledge to him. Then, Satyakāma,
being pleased, also enlightened him. In the Veda-following Mahābhārata, there are also many well-
known stories about the guru-sevāand guru-niṣṭhā of Upamanyu, Uttaṅka, Uddālaka and
others. bede gāya yāṅhāra carita.